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Deep Listening Time on your hands? Try diving in and unraveling these dense, multilayered albums
BY MIKE MCMAHAN A s COVID-19 ravages the land, many of us are living in a mashup of Groundhog Day and Outbreak. Music can be an escape from reality, a voyage to an astral plane where an LP may have as much world-building as Dune or Watership Down.
Appreciating albums with that kind of depth demands repeated listens, and that requires a time investment. During the quarantine, many serious music fans now have an abundance of time on their hands.
The Beatles pioneered the concept of a fl eshed-out alternate reality with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as a way to avoid touring, even though they dropped the concept before the end of the fi rst side. Much more insular is the second side of Abbey Road, a continuous piece that heralded the dawn of progressive rock. They even reprise the opening track “You Never Give Me Your Money” near the end.
So, with a Beatlesesque trumpet fanfare, here are six deep-listening albums to get you through the world pause.
Transatlantic — Bridge Across Forever (2001)
Prog-rock supergroup Transatlantic is led by Neal Morse, formerly of Spock’s Beard, himself heavily infl uenced by Abbey Road. Also including former Dream Theater skins pounder Mike Portnoy, The Flower Kings’ guitar monster Roine Stolt and Marillion bassist Pete Trewavas, Bridge Across Forever fi lls 79 minutes with just four tracks. The multimovement suites seem like standard Yes-borrowing prog, but the closing epic reprises virtually every melody and riff of the openers. It’s a hell of a lot to take in but exhilarating once you have internalized the pieces and they pop up like fl ashbacks. Caveat: some listeners may need to ignore the overtly Christian lyrics.
Dawn of Midi — Dysnomia (2015)
Dysnomia is like teleporting to the 1950s and looking through virtual reality goggles. Dawn of Midi features a standard trio lineup — piano, bass, drums. But standard thinking ends there, as this album unleashes a continuous piece that unspools more like a DJ set. The band created the album by improvising in an electronic-infl uenced style, cu ing the tapes into a composition, and learning the result to perform start to fi nish. The result is simultaneously loose and tight, combining the spirit of jamming with the control of a good DJ.
Phish – Live in Utica (2011)
For almost 40 years, jamband progenitors Phish have played three-hour concerts that pull from their massive, hit-free repertoire and presented them without opening acts to keeping the focus squarely on their music. There’s no particular jumping-off point for Phish, but this gig from 2010 does a good job highlighting their playful sense of continuity with spontaneous, repeated quotes — referred to as “teases” — from their prog rock opus “Guyute,” both before and after a performance of the song midway through the fi rst set. All told, the band teases “Guyute” musically or lyrically in no less than fi ve of the fi rst set’s 11 songs. And if that seems like a lot of tunes for these jam demigods, consider that the show contains 23 songs as a whole — 2010 is one of the versatile band’s least-jammy eras. When you roll in Phish standards such as “Birds Of A Feather,” “Split Open And Melt” and an encore of Zep’s “Good Times, Bad Times,” you’ve got yourself a great intro to a band that may demand further listening.
Afroskull — Monster for The Masses (2000)
Combining the funky horn-driven charts of Galactic or Le uce with doom-fl avored riff s played a bit up-tempo, Afroskull have an immediacy not usually associated with bands that grow with subsequent listens. However, despite the high energy instrumental funk, and one vocal tune, the compositions that make up Monster For The Masses have a complexity not apparent on casual listens or even initial in-depth listens. Music-theory heads may fi nd themselves counting obsessively, particularly on the polyrhythmic, Zappa-esque “Layers,” the album’s kookiest arrangement. Some listen
Subliminal Sounds
ers may wonder what a heavy, nuanced band might do with some of the underlying riff s, sans horns. The whole thing is tied together by hokey, fake news clips about a Godzilla a ack. Despite, you know, the vibe of B-movie monstrous destruction, the music is given its evil juju by tonality rather than kaiju.
Dungen — Ta Det Lungt (2005)
Swedish psych-rockers Dungen are a much more casual listen than virtually any other band on this list. The songs on Ta Det Lungt are drenched in a druggy, late ’60s California vibe that feels comforting right out of the gate. However, these songs are a tough fi t for a random playlist because they’re sung in Swedish. That, plus the strong sequencing, make a solid argument that the album demands to be listened to straight through. Bonus points to the band for releasing an insular recording that doesn’t require a dissertation to explain.
Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ — Fly Me Courageous (1991)
Radio rock listeners familiar with the anthemic title track may have done a low-level spit take on this choice. It’s true, the Southern rock gems of Fly Me Courageous are not diffi cult listens. Main man Kevn Kinney’s voice might be a bit of an acquired taste, but anyone able to deal with REM’s Michael Stipe should do just fi ne. The true brilliance of this album shines once it’s broken in like an old shoe, and the vintage AC/DC-to-Zeppelin-esque riff s are burned into your brain. The songs have stayed relevant in any number of eras, including this one. The imagery is straight out of a classic Southern novel, and the apocalyptic scenes are just as relevant right now as they were — gulp — 30 years ago.
Stream Scene SA musicians figuring out how to pivot to virtual performances during the pandemic
BY DARIAN MENDEZ W e’re living in strange and uncertain times, and the San Antonio music scene is feeling it. With empty bars and desolate venues, it’s unclear how soon the business of presenting live music will get back to normal.
“How is the local scene going to look? It’s an absolute 100% chance it’ll change, and you don’t know what’s going to happen,” said recording engineer Bob “Bobdog” Catlin, who also plays guitar in the industrial supergroup Pigface. “It’s weird right now.”
Pigface cancelled its most recent tour due to the outbreak. There was talk about livestreaming, but it seemed difficult since the band members live far apart. Plus, Catlin said livestreaming wouldn’t fully capture the magic that comes with playing live. Pigface is a collaborative experience he wants to communicate to audiences.
“It wasn’t going to be the same band as the band from last tour, anyway,” he added.
Catlin’s advice to bands looking to livestreaming is not to overthink things or become obsessed with video quality. Just make it sound good. While Go Pro cameras may be a good option, Catlin said iPhones can suffice, especially because most people already have one.
“They won’t give a shit! They want to hear you play,” he said. “No one’s going to judge what you did in the quarantine.”
However, does think artists should find creative ways to up the excitement and capture the thrill of live music. To that end, he suggests seing up a green screen to run graphics in the background, because “livestreaming can be so sterile.” Working Around It
Andria Rose, an eponymous dreampop project, is persevering during the pandemic. Rose is almost done with a new EP slated for a summer release and plans to release a new song this month. She plans to do a livestream performance once the song is out.
“[The pandemic] just affected timing and shows,” Rose said. “But it’s OK! We’ll work around what we’ve got.”
The full band has livestreamed in the past using a simple phone setup, and Rose said it was well received. She plans to do acoustic sets for the quarantine livestreams, which would feature herself and her boyfriend and bassist Bryan Austin. Because of
Sanford Nowlin
MGuitarist and recording engineer Bob
Catlin (right) says streaming shows need not involve expensive gear.
the quarantine, the pair haven’t met with their other bandmates in a month.
Hard rockers Donella Drive have kept themselves busy, making collaborative videos with Twin Productions, rehearsing to perfect their new set and writing for a new EP, which they hope to release by October.
To stay connected with fans, the band recently livestreamed a rehearsal and plans on working with Twin Productions to stream a performance along with a lineup of other artists. Until then, the band is rehearsing a new set revolving around its most recent EP, Bloomer, which came out March 14.
Donella Drive bassist Andrew Salazar said the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic became apparent on the night of its release party for the EP.
“We definitely felt it the night of the release show,” Salazar said. “At first we heard it was supposed to be no more than 500 people, then it dropped to 200, then gradually to 10, and I thought ‘Oh, no!’”
Despite the turmoil, the band sold out of physical copies of the release that night. Staying Social
For bands unable livestream, Catlin suggests making their social media accounts fun, especially because feeds have been so negative lately. Puing out new music out during the pandemic won’t hurt either, since people stuck at home may be 265
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Rose is taking advantage of social media. She’s been doing every interview she can to stay relevant and continue growing the band’s following. She’s also hoping to hustle up listeners on Spotify and Apple music.
“I think we’ll probably do livestreams even after this pandemic passes,” she said. “I think it’s a great way to connect with my fans that live abroad.”
The only diff erence is those post-pandemic streams will include the full band.
For Donella Drive, staying connected on social media means pu ing out new content regularly, even if it’s just a photo on Facebook.
The band recently put out a behindthe-scenes clip for their newest music video, which will be released soon. It also did a “Twin Talk” for Twin Productions — a PSA on staying safe during the pandemic. 5
Instagram / Andria Rose
MDream-pop singer Andria
Rose is using social media to stay connected with listeners during the pandemic.
Also in the works are livestream rehearsals and sets on YouTube and Facebook.
“If you sit stagnant, people get bored and eventually lose interest,” Salazar said, “and I’ve seen it happen all the time with local bands.”
While it’s hard to be sure what the aftermath of San Antonio’s lockdown will be for musicians, they’re clearly not le ing it stand in the way of their creativity and connecting with fans.
Despite genre diff erences, they say they’re feeling empathy for others trying to fi gure out how to make music during the crisis.
“I do hope all of San Antonio’s local artists stay strong and hang in there,” Rose said.
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