Album Review: Pree ‘Folly’
Damn it’s been a good year for NYC’s up-and-coming Paper Garden Records. The label is responsible for Thought on Tracks favs Little Tybee and Big Tree. Now enter Washington, D.C.-based electric-folk band Pree. The four-piece band is the brainchild of guitarist May Tabol, who formed the group after departing from Le Loup.
I’ll leave it to the band for an explanation of how they came together:
“Folly was written and recorded over the course of several heat waves and snow storms by May and her cohorts in a rotating cast of bedrooms, basements, and attics across the District, bearing witness to two foreclosures, a bit of squatting, a larger bit of eviction, and a subsequent life shuffle that would rival that of a wind-addled gypsy moth. The patchwork, guerilla style of recording which grew out of necessity ultimately served to instill a sense of tension throughout the record, leaving one hanging on despite the imminence of something so delicate falling apart.”
Their debut release Folly is anything but. Tabol’s cheerful, bouncy vocals weave in and out of her bandmates, melding together like the most beautifully constructed bar room conversation. The last line of their description of the album’s recording proves apt. Folly feels as if it’s built like a house of cards, were any individual element removed, it would all come crumbling toward the floor.
Pree is in the midst of a rigorous tour schedule until early December. Listen to tracks “Lemon Tree” and “Fresh Paint” below. Purchase Folly on CD or vinyl: HERE. It is also available via Spotify. Their debut came together like a perfect storm. It will prove interesting to see whether or not this quartet can create equally entertaining sounds once they’ve settled in.
Written by Rob Peoni
Album Review: Tom Waits ‘Bad as Me’
“The truth is overrated. Avoid it at all costs.”
-Tom Waits
In a few short months, Tom Waits will turn 62 years young. In January of this year, he released a book of 23 poems. In March, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On October 24th, he released his 19th studio album, Bad As Me.
The truth is, at any age, no one is as bad as Tom Waits.
Bad As Me enters popular culture amidst what, in many ways, is a Waits boom. His last studio record, Real Gone, was released in 2004. He subsequently released Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards, a collection of b-sides and oddities, in 2006 and Glitter and Doom, a live album, in 2009. It seems that, despite not releasing a studio record in seven years, Waits has ascended to a new height of renown, thanks in part to the highly acclaimed Orphans, but largely a result of his foray into Hollywood, playing roles in such films as Domino, Wristcutters: A Love Story, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Book of Eli and Le Tigre e la Neve. It is for this newfound popularity that Bad As Me stands to be his most commercially successful work yet, but for long-time fans, in waiting since 2004, Bad As Me is the scent of new blood in dry, dusty nostrils.
In the first bar of “Chicago”, the opening track on Bad As Me, one immediately hears the most distinctive quality separating this suite of songs from all the others in his oeuvre: polyrhythm. First, it’s the banjo, horns and piano, then joined by the bass and drums. It is repetitive, driving, shamanic, as if the notes of every instrument are being cast across hot coals, dancing over and into one another, gelling into a densely syncopated rhythm that is at once complex and accessible. But the rhythm does not settle. Instead, it is constantly shifting with each movement of the song, dust rising and swelling under the control of Waits the conjurer as he barks, “maybe things will be better in Chicago,” knowing full well that it wouldn’t matter either way.
“Talking At The Same Time” is a ghostly, exhausted blues dirge where metronomic horns engage with shake-seed percussion and haunting drone to create beautifully textured groundwork upon which Augie Myers’ astounding broken finger piano drizzles like rain. Thick and obscure like late summer mist in a moonlit graveyard, “Talking At The Same Time” exhibits the deceptively simple, incomprehensibly deep production quality of some of Waits’ best and most enigmatic work, executed with a sleepy confirmation of post-“Chicago” hopelessness and the usual effortless artifice.
“Kiss Me”, while not an example of the strong, overriding polyrhythmic aspects of this record, is for the author a standout and a song he could live in, blissfully, for the rest of his life. The only track on the album occupied almost entirely by Waits, with the exception of Marcus Shelby’s bass, “Kiss Me” plays like an early morning meditation on a night that, out of desire and perhaps desperation, never had an end, or simply never happened. “Kiss me like a stranger again,” Waits pleads, “There’s only one thing I’d like you to do / Kiss me … / … I won’t believe our love’s a mystery, I won’t believe our love’s a sin. / Kiss me like a stranger again.” The remembrance of love for one once in it is singular. This fact is echoed by Waits’ sparse, contemplative guitar and piano. Each give ample space to the other and play in conversation, perhaps remembering, and misremembering, once-love to one another, wishing, like everyone once in love has wished, to begin again together at the start. What better way, Waits asserts, than with another kiss, and with a growl and a hiss, he extends a prayer for a fatal peck.
No doubt the best example of the confounding polyrhythm at the center of Bad As Me is the album’s 12th track, “Hell Broke Luce”. So much is going on that the title’s suggestion of chaos is no secret. A big meaty steak in the mouth for all those disciples of Waits’ most cacophonous and insane moments, “Hell Broke Luce” is a mesmerizing and abrasive explosion of percussion, assaulting guitar and enough live artillery samples and military-style barking to force anyone into lockstep. Chanting like he has lulled himself into a trance, inhabiting the body, spirit and history of the modern soldier, Waits’ at times monotonous vocal performance is a terrifying testament to the deep and very real power he possesses as a storyteller, a power that appears to know no discipline, but the only thing that trumps Waits’ ability as a storyteller is his mastery of illusion.
Advised by his wife, co-songwriter and co-producer, Kathleen Brennan, Waits crafted Bad As Me as a short, direct and solid album. “Get in. Get out. No fucking around,” as his wife put it. In pursuit of this aim, he manages to tantalize, fascinate, delight and entrance with colorful yarns of all sorts, touching so often, but so softly, on wounds of hopelessness, despair, and perpetual forlornness, changing in a single measure to themes of celebration, escape and transformation. With guest performances from Keith Richards, Flea, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos and Les Claypool, whom more often than not are present only to thicken the application of color to his canvas, it is clear that Waits set out to make a methodical, deliberate record. A single arrow, carefully cast, to penetrate the center of getting in, getting out and not fucking around, but in the 13 songs and succinct 44:44 of Bad As Me, it is instantly apparent to all who listen that he far surpasses the task. In fact, the truth is not avoided, and especially not at all costs. It is confronted without fear and beheaded like a snake, the blood of which will continue to sting our nostrils, alluring those of many curious others, for what is sure to be a few long years before we hear again of the hands that killed it, and before we hear another whispered word of the conjurer’s spell.
Previous post: Sneak Peek: Tom Waits Bad As Me.
Stream Bad As Me in its entirety via NPR Music: First Listen.
Written by Ben Brundage. Check out Ben’s Tumblr: Damned Fine Lion.
Thought on Tracks 
The Age of Engagement with Musicians Through Social Media Platforms
Some bands just have it. These bands understand their market and strategically find ways to expand their brands. I believe we are seeing an unbelievable movement occur within the independent music scene. The bands that thrive and escape the one-and-done album lifecycle are those that truly own every element of their band. The good ones are true entrepreneurs and continue to find ways to make themselves interesting to us. They collaborate with their audiences and gather feedback to improve. We are experiencing the engagement era of the independent music scene. They are marketers and their product is the sound that transmits from a myriad of both traditional and unconventional instruments (i.e. guitar, bass guitar, drums, horns, synths, maracas, turntables, violins, cellos, beat box, harmonica, jazz flute, loop machine, and recorder). They provide the beat and then take the time to ask us how it felt.
We have seen bands build their brands out by using easily accessible free tools such as Twitter and Facebook. Wavves, Best Coast , Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Tyler the Creator have grown in popularity by communicating with their audiences. They understand the power that social media can provide and they are capitalizing on all of its projecting strengths.
Case in point:
RT @thefader: The FADER FORT by FIAT NYC lineup: @LIVELOVEASAP @wavveswavves @PURITY_RING @XDannyXBrownX +EVERYONE http://bit.ly/nwKfWO
This was a RT (retweet for non-social media users) by Wavves this week promoting their CMJ Showcase. The RT of the venue / promoter is a common move by engagement driven bands. A simple click of a button can drive more people to the door. I will bet my bottom dollar that this got the attention of a few Hipsters in NYC that saw this and said to themselves “Oh shit, Wavves is in town. I have something to do tonight”. I am thrilled writing this and finally sharing some of my observations with the readers of this blog. My other favorite part about Wavves front man, Nathan Williams, and his use of social media is that he builds off of the engagement. Another tweet he sent was so easy, but so thoughtful.
“Who’s coming to fader fort tonight?”
Williams not only chooses to promote his show, but opts to engage with his audience. This is so awesome and is a perfect display of someone who just gets it. Williams also lets his fans into his life of drug use, partying, and random whacky thoughts. I have never met Williams, but I know exactly who he is and this man is a character that I find interesting. He likes to party, write radical music, and eat at Applebees. I will always pay attention to him and always buy his records because he has earned this loyalty. An owner who is himself…and he creates pretty kick ass music.
These bands are allowing all of us to understand who they truly are and what they do when they are not behind the microphone. It is amazing that 146 characters can project as much power as a live show these days. An @ mention from a band you love truly makes a fan feel special. They are really out there, they are real people, they care enough to thank me for promoting their show. This is cool and causes me to build a special allegiance with these engagement-driven bands. It does not matter what musical direction they decide to turn to with their next album because I will automatically accept it. I trust them because they allow me to engage and connect with their vision. This is tremendously exciting not only for me, but it is also thrilling to these bands who are on a tight budget searching for easy promotional resources.
Here is my story:
One of my favorite independent band’s Hooray for Earth came through Indianapolis this Saturday night as the supporting act for Cymbals Eat Guitars. I was an early adopter of Hooray for Earth as they caught my attention when they released their six-song EP Momo in 2009. This band did a fantastic job of using social media to keep their audience engaged and after releasing their full-length True Loves, in June of this year, I was hooked. They are such a cool band and are a prime example of a band that finds as much value in their instruments as they do with social media. Noel Heroux is an incredibly fascinating visionary that displays his inner creative genius with his fans through many channels of communication. Heroux & Co. did an absolutely amazing job during their stop in Indianapolis. They verified everything that I thought about them because they had already built that impression with me via their Twitter account.
I left the White Rabbit Cabaret convinced on two fronts. This band rules as much as I thought because they sound incredible live and they are authentic. They truly care about building a relationship with their fan base.I was truly humbled after their set. I was sitting at the bar enjoying a Kentucky Lexington Bourbon Ale (which is perhaps the most fantastic brew I have had in ages – I am serious, if you are a beer drinker you MUST try this) when Heroux stepped off of the stage and approached me. He thanked me for using social media to pump them up and drive traffic to the show. He went on to tell me that he truly appreciated Indianapolis’ scene and fans. He felt a special energy in the room that night, people were connected with his vision. He gave me one of the best compliments I have received since I started promoting the music I love. Heroux told me that bands like Hooray for Earth could use another couple thousand people like me. This was an absolute honor for me. He gave me the opening to stay in touch and it is my greatest hope that I can continue to engage with amazing people like the guys from Hooray for Earth.
I tried to remain cool during this chat, but found myself playing the role of fan by the end of the conversation. I told Heroux that “No Love” was in contention for song of the year for me because it had an outstanding energy. I asked him what it was about and his response was fantastic. He attempted to piece together different reasons and themes for why the song was written and what it meant, but at the end of the day the song was just instinct. This song now has become not only my favorite song of the year, but an “indiegnma” (word I just created: noun, An authentic, good song in the independent scene that leaves you a bit puzzled). I left knowing less of what I thought the song was about, but I feel like I have gained so much more. This was truly a compelling dynamic.
I am so passionate about creating more stories like this that I have been working on a start-up company called IndiEngage (follow us on twitter @IndiEngage). This is a start-up company for start up fans and bands. My vision is to create an online interactive community for like-minded individuals to collaborate, influence, and be scene! I am spending a tremendous amount of work connecting with fans, bands, and promoters to help bring my vision to life.Saturday night was not just a routine night of attending a concert. Saturday night was an experience. I am hoping to build a unique unity during this new engagement era. I want more people to experience these experiences. Who knows how long it is gong to last and where it is going to go? What I do know is that I want it to blindly take me for a ride and then strategically build engagement with this time. I am happy that I have a good band to reach out to when this thing goes live. Hooray for Music, Hooray for Engagement, Hooray for Earth.
Written by Brett McGrath