Guest

These are posts from people who are not regular contributors to ninebullets. You think you have a good idea for a ninebullets post? Hit me up and we’ll discuss it: autopsy4@gmail.com

GUEST POST: HOWARD ICEBERG & THE TITANICS – WELCOME ABOARD

Jul 072011

Autopsy IV note: A while back I posted a help wanted post on the site in an effort to find some additional (and consistent) contributors. For the time being I am gonna post their posts as guest posts as we nail down and fix the site since the great spam hack of 2011 and as they prove who will be consistent and who’s gonna decide this bloggery isn’t for them.

This post comes from our 9B Norwegian correspondent Rune Letrud. Lemme know what you guys think.

Let me introduce you to Howard Iceberg.

A man who is sadly overlooked on the Americana-scene, with the exception of his home town of Kansas City, where friends just a few weeks ago arranged a tribute show called “Raising the Titanic, An Evening with the Music of Howard Iceberg” – where over 50 musicians who came together to play their favorites from Howard Icebergs amazing repertoire. At the show he also released the seven cd-box Welcome Aboard – consisting of 105 songs spanning the last 8 years of his production.

The man known as “Kansas City’s Rock-Shaman” is actually named Howard Eisberg, and during the day he is a successful and busy lawyer. He turned 64 in May, and only started writing songs and performing around the age of 30. And in that time, he has written over 800 songs. Of which about 500 exist as simple sketches with Howard and his guitar, recorded in Pat Tomek’s studio. The remaining 300 have a little more meat on the bones, and has an ever-changing musician clientele.

I was first introduced to the concept that is Howard Iceberg when I met Pat Tomek, drummer of The Rainmakers, on their comeback tour of Norway. I was wearing a “No Depression” t-shirt, and one of the first things Pat said to me was that “have you heard of Howard Iceberg? The people in No Depression are big fans.”

Pat introduced me to a musician and songwriter who’s constantly writing songs and recording them in Tomek’s studio, in what Pat referred to as “draft form.” Howard calls the process “The never-ending recording project”. I first got a sampler with few songs, and I have to say that the feeling of hearing Howard Iceberg for the first time is almost indescribable.

What grabbed me was his lyrics. And first and foremost, in my ears I hear Howard Iceberg sounding like a Dylan around the time of “Blood On The Tracks”. He writes songs what I will not hesitate to place in the landscape around Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, Warren Zevon and Neil Young. But mainly it’s because Howard writes about people, relationships between people at all stages of their lives, about why we do what we do – and often have questions that you always pondered, but failed to put into words. Howard basically writes 4 minute novels, where you take part in the lives of characters who are painted with so strong and bright colors that before the song ends, they are presented as real people who you in many cases would like to meet. All in a way that was Dylan’s biggest strength around the time of “Blood On The Tracks”.

Continue reading »

GUEST POST: CENTRO-MATIC – CANDIDATE WALTZ

Jul 062011

Autopsy IV note: A couple of nights back I posted a help wanted post on the site in an effort to find some additional (and consistent) contributors. For the time being I am gonna post their posts as guest posts for a little while as we nail down the site since the great spam hack of 2011 and as they prove who will be consistent and who’s gonna decide this bloggery isn’t for them.

This post comes from 9B contributor pledge Charles Hale. Lemme know what you guys think.

Remember that one parade you saw that time. It was in the backyard a few yards down from yours, they were having a cookout, with beers and instruments and a couple of small kids, and you were wishing you had friends like that. You watched them having a good time and wondered what their jokes were about and then a parade broke out. Four or five guys began marching and their costumes were only the clothes they had on and the music they played was catchy and fun but you had to work a little bit to find the melody but once you found it you were humming along.

That was Centro-Matic who started the accidental parade and they were playing their new album Candidate Waltz. And the music was so good you were expecting them to march right out to the street and play their music for the people that surely must be waiting with flags waving and sunglasses on. But instead they stayed in the backyard and played with their eyes closed.

If you know anything about Centro-Matic it’s probably about how prolific their bandleader Will Johnson is. There are all the CM albums plus the South San Gabriel albums and the solo albums and with all these songs it’s unfair to expect all of them to be amazing. But Candidate Waltz is another very solid set from Centro-Matic. Is it better than my favorite Distance & Clime, or the popular Love You Just The Same, probably not, but Centro-Matic songs take a good while to set in. There are new pops and crackles on Candidate Waltz but what’s still there is carefully crafted and intelligently written songs. Very intelligent. Shit, their roadies are probably more intelligent than I am. Listen to “All The Talkers.” It’s about people in a bar checking out a band. The first half of the song is loud and cluttered then about halfway through the bar closes. People meander to the bar to close their tabs and try to figure out how to get home. The song slows, the melody wallows and wanders. Finally the door guy pushes the talkers to the sidewalk but they’re stoked. Just like you were when you watched the parade from two houses over.

Centro-Matic – All The Talkers
Centro-Matic – Iso Residue
Centro-Matic – Talk You Down

Centro-Matic’s Official Site, Centro-Matic on Facebook, Buy Candidate Waltz

GUEST POST: MADELINE – BLACK VELVET

Jul 052011

Autopsy IV note: A couple of nights back I posted a help wanted post on the site in an effort to find some additional (and consistent) contributors. For the time being I am gonna post their posts as guest posts for a little while as we nail down the site since the great spam hack of 2011 and as they prove who will be consistent and who’s gonna decide this bloggery isn’t for them.

This post comes from 9B contributor pledge Mike Ostrov. Lemme know what you guys think.

In her ten-plus years of making music, Athens-Georgia-based singer-songwriter Madeline Adams has never done the easy thing and settled into one sound. I try to tell people that Madeline songs sound like Neil Young and Flannery O’Connor getting drunk at sports bars, writing songs on cocktail napkins, and having Teenage Joni Mitchell sing them with Crazy Horse backing her. But with Black Velvet, her fourth studio full-length (and the inaugural release of Athens label This Will Be Our Summer Records), she’s even harder to pin down than that. Her 2003 debut offering Kissing and Dancing is a treasure chest of folk-punk strummers; she followed with the wintry, heartwrecking Slow Bang in 2007, and in 2009 she let loose her first album with a full backing band—the southern rocker White Flag. Black Velvet features the same band as White Flag (including one of the best drummers I’ve ever heard, Jim Wilson) and an expansion of her southern roots-bop sound.

Lyrically, the album is devoted to small-town lives or the lack thereof, wandering n’ wondering, with lots of animal imagery. But Madeline does it with better storytelling, especially in the song about Johnny Cash working a day job while he rots in heaven. Musically, there’s a dose of sugar in the rock, but the kind found in a sweeter bourbon, the electrifying kind, not the sorority house punch. If the radio still did its job, “Hurry Up Pronto” would be the song of the summer: rollicking, lyrical, with radioactive levels of catchiness. There’s also the trippy “Red Light Bulb,” the stripped-down “Night Owl,” and the devastating “Dollar Beer.” The Black Velvet Band can handle any of these paces, but perhaps they’re best on the shifty numbers “Dead Moon” and “Gather the Feathers” which both change tempo and really highlight the chemistry between Madeline, Jim Wilson, and the rest of the band.

Her voice is ethereal. Her writing substantial. Her band is tight with a capital “IGHT.” Black Velvet has the songs to cool off your summer, and it’ll stick around to thaw you from the chest-out in winter.

Madeline – Hurry Up Pronto
Madeline – Johnny Cash
Madeline – Gather The Feathers

Madeline’s Official Site, Madeline on Facebook, Buy Black Velvet

GUEST POST: NEWS: MICHELLE BACHMANN vs. TOM PETTY

Jun 292011

Autopsy IV note: A couple of nights back I posted a help wanted post on the site in an effort to find some additional (and consistent) contributors. For the time being I am gonna post their posts as guest posts for a little while as we nail down the site since the great spam hack of 2011 and as they prove who will be consistent and who’s gonna decide this bloggery isn’t for them.

This post comes from 9B contributor pledge Mike Ostrov. Lemme know what you guys think.

Politicians didn’t read the Patriot Act and it seems they hardly read song lyrics either. Tom Petty has asked Minnesota Congressperson and (as of yesterday, official) Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann to stop using “American Girl” as her campaign theme song (AIV Note: A request she seems to be ignoring). It’s easy to misunderstand “American Girl” because of it’s incredible guitars and catchy bass, and because it says the word “American” a whole lot, but it’s still a dark, ambiguous, song about a girl who contemplates jumping off her balcony into traffic. It’s a song about the debt of fulfillment and surplus regret that characterizes American youth. Living in Gainesville, I’ve seen herds of frat boys serenade their girlfriends with this song, but Bachmann’s usage is even more backward. However, it’s not as backwards as a scene in the movie Chasing Liberty where Mandy Moore, as the daughter of the President, gets dressed by way of dancing to this song. Or maybe that is how it should be used. I can’t tell anymore. At any rate, it’s an easy fix for Bachmann–just switch your song to Carrie Underwood’s “All-American Girl.” No potentially dangerous insight there.

But the moral is this: guitars, unlike politicians, are good at masking sinister creations. That’s why smart people become songwriters and not politicians. Hasn’t anybody learned from Ronald Reagan’s infamously thickheaded use of Springsteen’s “Born in the USA,” one of the most stark criticisms of American war mentality and cultural detachment ever committed to popular song?

Tom Petty rectified this situation in under a day, so he still rocks. Below is the demo of “Born in the USA” which takes a bit more of a straightforward angle.

Bruce Springsteen – Born In The U.S.A.
Tom Petty – American Girl

GUEST POST: JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD – TELL ME

Jun 282011

Autopsy IV note: A couple of nights back I posted a help wanted post on the site in an effort to find some additional (and consistent) contributors. For the time being I am gonna post their posts as guest posts for a little while as we nail down the site since the great spam hack of 2011 and as they prove who will be consistent and who’s gonna decide this bloggery isn’t for them.

This post comes from 9B contributor pledge Old Sad Bastard. Lemme know what you guys think.

When I first saw Jessica Lea Mayfield play live, on tour with Lucero in 2008, she was supporting here first record, With Blasphemy So Heartfelt. I was won over by her live show, especially her brother’s upright bass antics, and picked up the album immediately. After listening to it I gained a healthy appreciation for Mayfield’s songwriting chops, memorable voice and biting lyrics. I also had her squarely pegged in my mind as “country”, whatever that means.

I was expecting more of the same when Tell Me was released this year, but was pleasantly surprised. As the album took over the college radio charts (at least here in California) I discovered a much more sophisticated album that is still catchy as hell. If you ask me, this is a country album that nods none too subtly to Mayfield’s rock influences, and to producer/co-conspirator Dan Auerbach’s time in The Black Keys. The twang is still there, but this time its is augmented with some dreamy pop and psych rock moments. The arrangements still feel spare and transparent, but go far beyond traditional Americana with added keys, synths, and even electronic beats. (Yes, a drum machine. Don’t knock it till you’ve heard it.) “Nervous Lonely Night” even has some ooo-oohs, but they seem totally natural.

The shift in sound hasn’t brightened Mayfield’s lyrics any, but when her dark musings on heartbreak, sex and love are combined with such catchy, engaging music the overall feel is almost hopeful. Its totally cliché to say that an artists has matured from one album to the next, but now that she is finally old enough to legally drink in the clubs she has been playing for years, Jessica Lea Mayfield’s sound is more developed, more mature and pretty damn good.

Jessica Lea Mayfield – I’ll Be The One You Want Someday
Jessica Lea Mayfield – Sleepless
Jessica Lea Mayfield – Our Hearts Are Wrong

Jessica Lea Mayfield’s Official Site, Jessica Lea Mayfield on Facebook, Buy Tell Me

Older Entries Newer Entries