Thursday, February 27, 2020

Play Some New!

A great man - I think it was Freddie And The Dreamers - once wrote that "the quality of old music is not strained but droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven". The quality of new music, however, is strained like a hernia. I spin maybe a couple or three "new" (i.e. made by Millennials, who incidentally gave us the Corona Virus) albums a week in the vain hope that something will pin my hairy old ears back and reflex up some arthritic air guitar.

The Cave Flowers album has crept up on me like a hash cake high. It's Country Rock, see. Not Country, not Rock, but that elusive and heady mix frequently featured at Th' House O'Foam©, the genuine thing. These guys will spin your spurs off (not at all a given with new music). The drummer is a delight, and clearly enjoys his work. Most of these songs are mid-tempo, but he approaches each one with a subtly different feel, adding groovy little fills or crash cymbal, working his way round the kit. There's a keyboard player who is way better than he wants you to know, and a bass player who keeps to the shadows but you'd miss him if he was gone. And then there's the lead vox, nicely road-weary, and guitars that make you ache for more. If the album has a failing it's in leaving you wanting more. More steel guitar. More wah-wah guitar. I really, really need to hear their nine-minute wigout, ending in a piercing hail of feedback. And while you're at it, guys, a guest fiddle spot and some harmony backing vox maybe?

The songs are short, and have plain melodies and predictable chords, but if they didn't they'd be jazz. There's a few unexpected steps and stops to keep things interesting, and a couple of plays in they fit like those old jeans your wife wants to throw out.

There's very little about the band on the internet. They're from LA, and you can buy the album for seven lousy bucks at Bandcamp. Big, big fan of their work. Nice cover art, too, which matters.

16 comments:

  1. Look up a new band from Lafayette, LA -the Debtors. They have an ep and a full album to their discography. Not country rock, but some nice stuff nonetheless. And, it keeps the lead guitarist from having to move in with me.

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    1. I'm very attracted by the idea of the lead guitarist moving in with you. Sitting sideways in your armchair, leaving his socks in the sink. Hey - it is a he, ain't it?

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    2. yep- son of Pmac. He has a good, non-musical job ( he's an accountant), so there's a greater risk of me moving in with him. But, the band has really taken off, so my guess is he will be shortly trying to make a go of it as a full-time musician.

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    3. Pmac, he the one with the Tele or the Coronado? They sound good. There was once a badass band from Lafayette called Bas Clas...

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    4. tele. It was actually a custom made for a former original member of the Ventures - Grey McGee. McGee didn't like the width of the neck, and had it put up for sale through a guitar shop in Lafayette (McGee was from a small town north of there, Eunice). Son of Pmac knows the owner of the shop, and the rest is rock n' roll history.

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    5. Love it and teles. I know Eunice; born and raised in BRLA.

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    6. Wow. Color me impressed, Pmac! Makes me wish I hadn't bailed on that accountancy correspondence course. ("GUYS!! IMPRESS THE GALS!! BE A CERTIFIED ACCOUNTANT!!")

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    7. I had that same matchbook backside. Wanted to call the number to sign up and change my life, but used it as a fire starter to burn down the local,used furniture and sandwich shop when they sold me a used sofa who's pillows were stuffed with shellfish entrails. Comfy sofa, but stunk after a couple of days and couldn't keep the cats off of it.

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    8. This is the kind of infotainment you just don't get on an ordinary, run-of-the-mill internet. And this is why four or five guys have made Th' House O' Foam© their home away from home, relaxing in its Olympic-standard bandwidth and selecting the finest audio to suit their mood, be it whimsical detachment or howling insect despair.

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  2. I'll give the Cave Flowers a listen. It's good to try to give new bands a leg-up. With that in mind may I recommend a couple, perhaps not so new, but relatively unknown and both on bandcamp.
    Firstly, I SEE HAWKS IN L.A. Been going since the turn of the century, but I only came across them a year or so ago. As a taster this is their first album
    https://pixeldrain.com/u/H3KyxLSC
    Secondly THE PIEDMONT BROTHERS, a mixture of musicians from 2 Piedmonts, Italy and NC. This is their 3rd CD, with guest appearances from Herb Pedersen, Richie Furay and Jock Bartley, Rick Roberts and Pat Shanahan. Gene Parsons guests on another album and Buddy Cage. Sadly the band probably won't be around again as the Italian brother died of cancer a couple of years ago, but they produced some lovely stuff.
    https://pixeldrain.com/u/3E12hFDG

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    1. Thank you, Sam. At least you're not acting as a shill for your kids, like some people I could mention.

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  3. "I See Hawks In LA" is just swell - white-boy fist-bump to Mr. Godot for this one!

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  4. I didn't see nary a bit of begging, but I fer shure would like to hear such an album. Such as and not limited to, a title much like the Cave Flowers.

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