7 minute read
NEW MUSIC FROM NEW PLACES
By Terry Paquet
Terry Paquet is an award-winning copywriter with more than 20 years of experience. He wears pants (most of the time). He has never been to jail (except in Monopoly).
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As February is traditionally earmarked for celebrations of love (or so says Hallmark), this month’s compilation of artists is for people who love real music – the kind that doesn’t need bells, whistles, or Auto-Tune. (Well, maybe cowbells.) This month’s selection features four artists who can actually sing. (Hello, Kanye.) And play. And write. These are albums and songs where melodies matter and harmonies rock. If you’ve lost faith in new music, I’m here to show you it’s still as good as ever. You just have to know where to look.
TO LISTEN WHILE YOU READ, CHECK OUT THIS MONTH’S SIDEONE SPOTIFY PLAYLIST:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6MTtP5ZMPtyyymBneZIHHi?si=8wag-GqxTLeKqmAVvmsXPA
SON LITTLE
Son Little (aka Aaron Livingston) is a singer/ songwriter who was born in Los Angeles but relocated to Philadelphia after dropping out of university. Lest you think that was a dumb move (because you can’t build a career without a degree, blah blah blah), it wasn’t long before he connected with the Roots, which led to an appearance on their 2011 album, Undun. So much for the need of a formal education.
In 2011, he released Aaron Livingston’s Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 – a ballsy title, considering it was his fi rst album and he hadn’t had any hits. But sometimes you have to call your future into the present if you want to make shit happen. Once again, people started to notice, not the least of whom was the legendary Mavis Staples, who enlisted him to produce her 2015 four-song EP, which earned her a Grammy award.
Often compared to soul singer Leon Bridges, Son Little’s voice is raspy, tempered, and tenor-ish, which nicely frames his vintage-soul-meets-urban-bluesmeets-hip-hop sensibilities. It’s this reverence for the old combined with his search for something new that hits all the sweet spots and makes Little so pleasing to the ears.
His most recent album, Aloha, is a compilation of laid-back feels and restrained vocals that would perfectly soundtrack your late-night dinners or Sunday morning brunches.
On the album’s second track, About Her. Again, Little takes sparse production to a whole new level, letting his voice paint the picture in the verses while the guitar, bass and drums smoulder ever so quietly in the background. In the chorus, they let loose as Little exudes some serious Jaggeresque Play With Fire vibes, creating a hooky, emotional ode to unrequited love.
TRACKS TO CHECK OUT
• Mad About You from New Magic (2017)
• O Me O My from New Magic (2017)
• Number One (featuring Richie Havens and Son Little) from Portugal The Man’s album Woodstock (2017)
• About Her. Again from Aloha (2020)
• Never Give Up from Aloha (2020)
ANDERSON EAST
Hailing from Athens, Ga., East is a southern soul singer with a mighty catalogue of tunes that fl ow in the same veins as those of Amos Lee, Joe Cocker and Ray LaMontagne. It’s soulful, emotional, countrifi ed, and packs a gospel-like kind of wallop – which is no surprise, given his family tree. When he was a child, his grandfather was a Baptist preacher, his father sang in a choir, and his mother played piano in church. You can feel that heavenly infl uence on tracks like All I’ll Ever Need from his 2015 album, Delilah, and This Too Shall Last, featured on his 2018 album, Encore.
Like a good chunk of musicians, Anderson East honed his chops in the early days by playing smoky bars with nothing more than his voice, an acoustic guitar, and a boatload of confi dence. As the story goes, during one of those shows, East began his set and abruptly stopped singing to inform the audience that he had to pee. After a quick visit to the porcelain palace, he climbed back on stage, apologized to the audience, and picked up right where he left off.
That kind of move would get lesser acts booted off the stage, but for some reason the crowd loved him even more – which speaks volumes about his ability to hold an audience’s attention, even when he can’t hold his bladder. That honesty and aversion to rock-star posing is still winning over fans all these years later.
TRACKS TO CHECK OUT
• What Would It Take from the Fifty Shades Darker motion picture soundtrack (2017)
• Always Be My Baby from Spotify Singles (2018)
• Keep the Fire Burning from Delilah (2015)
• This Too Shall Last from Encore (2018)
• Learning from the compilation album Southern Family (2016)
THE RECORD COMPANY
The Record Company is Chris Vos on vocals and guitars, Alex Stiff on bass, and Marc Cazorla on drums, three friends who went from listening to their favourite blues records to actually making them. But as Vos cautioned in an interview with journalist Kate Wertheimer, don’t call them a blues band. “We’ve got too much respect for the genre to lump ourselves into it. We’re more similar to an early rock and roll band.”
Like the Black Keys, the Heavy and the Black Crowes, the Record Company effectively utilizes the crunchy guitars, pounding beats, driving bass lines and hooky choruses that make their aggressive sound so listenable. Musical infl uences include the obvious, like Jimi Hendrix, John Lee Hooker, the Rolling Stones, and the Stooges, but the guys have also expressed a surprising affi nity for artists like George Michael, Radiohead, and Laurie Anderson.
The group’s fi rst release, 2016’s Give It Back to You, put them on the proverbial musical map. Written, recorded, and mixed in a living room in Los Angeles, it features a tight mix of punchy songs that bump and grind, thanks to some awesome harmonica, pedal steel, and dobro slide work. The album was nominated for a Grammy award and spawned three fan faves, including Off The Ground, which reached the No. 1 spot on the U.S. Billboard Adult Alternative Songs Chart.
Their most recent album, Early Songs & Rarities, is a collection of demos, B-sides and alternative takes that includes covers of Jimmy Reed’s Bright Lights, Big City, and a bluesy rendition of the Beastie Boys’ So What’cha Want. Although the album’s title would suggest it was meant for serious collectors only, it’s as good as anything the band has put out and is defi nitely worthy of a spin on your turntable.
TRACKS TO CHECK OUT
• Rita Mae Young from Give It Back To You (2016)
• Off The Ground from Give It Back To You (2016)
• Medicine Man from Early Songs & Rarities (2020)
• Baby I’m Broken Single (2017)
• Goodbye Sad Eyes from Early Songs & Rarities (2020)
ZACH GILL
Zach Gill has been lead singer for ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra) since 1988. Despite the fact that band has never really hit mainstream, they’ve been prolifi c nonetheless, cranking out 12 albums so far.
You might not know Zach Gill by name, but you’ve probably heard his work with Jack Johnson. As keyboardist and accordion player on some of Johnson’s biggest-selling albums, Gill took the surfer’s repertoire to new spaces musically, fi lling the holes with unique arrangements and memorable melodies.
Like Johnson, Gill’s solo catalogue is breezy, fun, and easy on the ears -- often, and intentionally, transporting the listener to simpler times. The difference is it’s less beach vibe and more ’50s TV dad, particularly on songs like Family and the lounge-y Fine Wine, both off his 2008 album Zach Gill’s Stuff.
During the pandemic, Gill has had nothing to do but make music. Alone in his garage (which he dubbed Creativity Lounge), he came up with Cocktail Yoga, a collection of mostly instrumentals that originally were intended as ideas for future songs.
One of Gill’s many strengths is his ability to craft a great line, so the album misses the mark for me, but every song is intriguing from a musical perspective. As Gill defi nes it, “When the news of the day was stressful and life felt chaotic with too many voices in my head, I’d put on my headphones, fi re up the recording gear, and escape to these sonic planets without words, each time adding new elements and whittling away old, until one day I realized I’d accidentally made an album.”
TRACKS TO CHECK OUT
• Joy (Goodbye Guilty Pleasures) (featuring Michael McDonald) from Life in the Multiverse (2018)
• 96 Likes from Life in the Multiverse (2018)
• Family from Zach Gill’s Stuff (2008)
• Cocktail Yoga from Cocktail Yoga (2020)
• Back in the Day from Zach Gill’s Stuff (2008)
