Going to kick off a new feature on the blog entitled “Under The Radar”, which will feature overlooked releases from multiple unsung bands from years past.  Kicking off first is I Mother Earth and their debut disc, entitled “Dig”.

In 1993 (before I made my “career move”), I was living the high life as a record store (remember those?) employee in Cincinnati, Ohio.  As a music junkie you couldn’t ask for a better job-  stock CDs, chat up customers, listen to tunes all day, and sort through all sorts of promo goodies from the labels and other groups.  One of these other groups was Concrete Marketing, who would supply our store with promotional materials (posters, CD and cassette samplers, etc) every so often to market some of the newer hard rock/heavy metal releases at the time.  It was through one of these samplers that I got my first taste of Dig.

My first exposure to I Mother Earth was via their song “No One”, which I’d never heard anything quite like at the time:  a mix of soaring guitar, punchy bass, aggressive but melodic vocal, and a percussive attack unique to the metal/hard rock genre.  And one at almost seven minutes at that!  This song builds and builds with more twists and turns for those more adventurous listeners out there.  An aural treat:

Naturally, I had to grab the disc when it came out and was immediately hooked from first listen.  Manic funk, spacy/trippy jamming, guitar histrionics, mellow grooving, and flat out rock are only some of the words I can use to describe this thing, with much of it happening within EACH song!  I hear elements of Hendrix, Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, Pink Floyd, The Doors, and Santana weaving throughout as songs build and morph from one style to another.  Layers of cleanly picked passages awash in reverb suddenly switch to heavy distortion, with rhythm and lead work swinging between both.  Listen to how the mellow intro of “Lost My America” changes sharply to a heavy riff and then to smooth jazz as an example of how guitarist Jag Tanna deftly moves between the light and shade:

Or check out the build of something like “And The Experience”, where Tanna’s guitar swirls across a simmering bass groove (Tanna also performed bass on this disc) and drumwork of brother Christian Tanna until it explodes with funk frenzy around the 2:30 mark:

Are all of those changes too distracting?  How about “Rain Will Fall” for those that want non-stop jamming:

Or “Undone” for those that want something more laid back:

You get the point:  Dig, as a whole, has a lot to offer.  If you like heavy rock with excellent musicianship that can easily swing between light and shade at a moment’s notice, by all means get this disc.  They made one additional disc with lead singer Edwin (the quite excellent but less manic Scenery and Fish) before new singer Brian Byrne came on board for the next two discs (both quite good) until going on a self imposed hiatus around 2003.  Good news though!  The band has been performing live off and on since 2012 and may soon hit the studio.  Stay tuned to http://imotherearth.ca for the latest.

Lucky you… two posts from me in one day!  Everybody’s shufflin shufflin…

“Tonight Is Fine” – Danko Jones, Below The Belt

Mix up a little AC/DC, Motorhead, Thin Lizzy, and a bit of cock rock and you get Danko Jones.  Reminds me of that early 80s era before hair metal started to take over, and somewhat reminiscent of the NWOBHM days.  Single note bass holding down the bottom end with some heavy riffing o’er top with yer typical macho boy/girl lyric.  A hint of AC/DC gang vocal in the chorus too.  Good stuff.

“Stax” – Galactic, Coolin’ Off

The New Orleans cats are downright nasty, although this cut is a bit more spacier than some of their other tunes but it is groovy nonetheless.  Stanton Moore lays down a typically solid backbeat while the rest of the gang adds a seriously funky keyboard line with some sparse wah wah guitar and a spot on bassline.  This is gonna sound weird, but I’m getting an odd Pink Floyd vibe out of the keys (didn’t I say “spacier” before???).  All instrumental and booty shakin’ to boot.

“Wonderful World” – Spiritual Beggars, Ad Astra

An absolutely killer song, Spiritual Beggars was one of those finds that came along at the right time for me.  Grunge had pretty much gone by the wayside and I was looking for ANYTHING that leaned heavy.  Around this time I started to get into what was being tagged as “stoner rock” and these guys quickly grabbed my ear.  A lot of stoner rock was watered down Sabbath but these guys took a lot from the 70s element and really came into their own with “Ad Astra”, especially with this song.  Mix in a strong keyboard and guitar riff, a killer hook, and some seriously slammin’ drums and you’ve got “Wonderful World”.  HIGHLY recommended.

“Grapevine Fires” – Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs

A bit of a Purdie shuffle on the drums kicks off one of Ben Gibbard’s more picturesque lyrics and melodic songs from Death Cab.  Gibbard’s talk/sing style has a definite charm and the sparse keyboard/guitar accompaniment and gorgeous harmony background vocals make this one of the better cuts from the album.  A nice segue/bridge(?) after the second chorus is a great touch.

“Snake Oil” – Steve Earle, The Essential Steve Earle

There was a brief period in college where I flirted with the “new country” movement at the time and some of the more rock/country crossovers like Hank Jr, Kentucky Headhunters, and Steve Earle.  “Snake Oil” is certainly more in the rock vein, crossing boogie woogie piano, slide guitar, and a Presley playfulness to make a flat out rock/country song (and no, I ain’t talking “country rock” like the Eagles).  Think Mellencamp fronting the Georgia Satellites with Billy Powell guesting on keys and you’re in the ballpark.

“Land Of The Rising Slum” – Skyclad, Prince of the Poverty Line

Fronted by pun king and clever lyricist Martin Walkyier, Skyclad was certainly the leader of the pack in the folk metal movement, although in the band’s early days they were certainly more metal but mixed in some folky elements here and there.  On “Land Of The Rising Slum” the band throws in a bit of everything:  a catchy percussive loop followed by a brief piano pattern before Martin’s spitting, venomous vocal delivery and even heavier riff from the band.  Then… surprise!  we’re off in psychedelia land with a brief keyboard solo until the metal returns with an absolute ace of a solo from Steve Ramsey.  Martin-  we need you to reclaim your throne!

“Shakin’ All Over” – The Who, Can We Have Eternal Live boot

From ’68-’70 or so The ‘Oo may have been at the absolute peak of their live prowess.  Daltrey was really coming into his own as a singer/frontman, Townshend was relying more on soundscape and texture with effective use of power chords and feedback (and the ever present windmilling), Entwistle was laying down the heaviest bottom end in England, and Moon was an unstoppable dynamo/whirling dervish pushing the band ever onward.  Not my fave live version of this song (that would be from Leeds) but great nonetheless.  You can NEVER go wrong with live Who during this period.  Maximum R&B indeed.

“Medicine Train” – The Cult, Sonic Temple

Once Rick Rubin got his hooks into The Cult come Electric the band suddenly shifted gears into a more guitar-centric, ballsy band from the more textured, layered approach on Love.  Come Sonic Temple, the band took those balls and shifted into an even more heavier realm with songs like “Medicine Train”.  Mix in a heavy dose of bloozy Aerosmith swagger and Zep-esque stomp with the roaring vocal of Ian Astbury and you’ve got yourself a winner.  Brownie points for the double time punked out ending.

“Mean” – John Mellencamp, Life, Death, Love, and Freedom

A departure for Mellencamp, “Mean” is a bit of a darker cut that unfortunately lasts only 2:35.  The world weary, almost defeated tone of the vocal is most effective as he asks “would you please stop being so mean” over top a haunting piano and acoustic track.  T Bone Burnette’s production is most excellent on this one.  So stark but with much beauty.

“Truth Hits Everybody” – The Police, Outlandos d’Amour

Early Police had quite a bit of freneticism and punky joie de vivre that is flat out amazing when you compare a song like this with hits such as “King of Pain” or “Every Breath You Take”.  Those songs are OK (overplayed, unfortunately) but something like “Truth” is just unstoppable fun, driven by the percussive genius of Stewart Copeland and relentless riff of Andy Summers.  Nary a hint of reggae, just flat out punk rock.

That’s it for this week!  A nice eclectic mix this time, which is why I’m a shufflin’ fool.  Fave cut of the week goes out to “Wonderful World” from Spiritual Beggars.

• The Vintage Trouble show was absolutely fantastic.  The guys were ON from the beginning and didn’t let up until an hour and a half later.  An excellent live band that is very tight with an extremely soulful singer.  The crowd was into them big time from “Strike A Match” through the encore.  Dug the show so much that I picked up their DVD (“72 Shows in 80 Days”) and my brother grabbed me a copy of the “Swing House Sessions” EP (Thanks Steve!)  Met the dudes in the band and got both signed.  They mentioned a new CD coming at the beginning of the year-  I hope they can capture their live energy!  If they are in your neck of the woods, do not miss it!
• My awesome wife bought me some Bose noise cancelling headphones for my birthday and they are absolutely fantastic.  Great sound and the noise cancelling is an outstanding feature.  Will be great when I’m on a plane or out mowing the lawn (or when I want to disappear into what I am listening to).
• The rumors are true…  Microsoft is no longer carrying the iPod Classic line.  I’ll need to track down a backup quickly and can hopefully track down a 160 GB version as I’ve got more music that can fit on the 120 GB that I have right now.  And I sure as hell DO NOT want to have one device that has my phone, iPod, apps, email, etc etc etc.  Who will step up to fill the void?  We shall see…

You ever have a band out there that intrigues you but you’ve not quite “bought in” yet?  Sure, we’ve all got our favorite bands out there where you religiously buy everything they put out but there are those bands where you may catch a song or two on the radio (HA, does that still happen?) or maybe see a YouTube link or catch them live via a late night talk show.  Vintage Trouble is like that for me-  my first exposure was a brief article in Classic Rock magazine that I didn’t really pay much attention to other than noticing the fancy “vintage” clothes they were sporting:

Second exposure was via photographer extraordinairre Ross Halfin’s diary with more fancy clothing pics.  However!  The third time was the charm as I was perusing a guitar blog and there was a post in there raving about these guys and a recent live performance on Letterman.  So I clicked on the link and was GOBSMACKED:

HOLY… SHIT…

The drum intro got my attention but once I heard that scream from lead singer Ty Taylor and that nasty riff I was hooked.  Talk about a band that was just going for it!  No cookie cutter, autotuned, choreographed dance routine crap here; these guys took their five minutes on stage, grabbed you by the throat, and knocked it out of the park. So much so that even Letterman wanted more!  Visions of James Brown, Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson, or Corey Glover fronting Led Zeppelin or Booker T and the MGs raced through my mind.  Now THIS is was a commanding performance.  By the end, I’d forgotten about the fashion (which is actually pretty cool, by the way) and wanted to seek out the release.

Which brings me to my “not quite bought in” comment from before-  as much as I’d loved the Letterman performance (and check out their Leno clip too) I didn’t quite fall in love with The Bomb Shelter Sessions.  Don’t get me wrong; I like it A LOT but my love isn’t quite there yet, which is probably due to just how hot that Letterman performance was.  The songs are good (some are very good) but something is missing as if they were playing it safe in the studio by having everyone record their parts separately instead of facing off and pushing/pulling against each other.  On the rocking tracks, dirty up that guitar a little more and bump it up in the mix.  Lay back on some of the soulful cuts and let the track breathe a little- keep it in the pocket, no need to rush your performance.  The elements are there to make a great record down the road as these guys are good players and they do a fine job mixing the rock with the soul-  a bit of Black Crowes, Rolling Stones, James Brown, Al Green, Wilson Pickett, ZZ Top, Zeppelin all thrown into the same stew.  Fave cuts are “Blues Hand Me Down”, “Still And Always Will” (great Stones-y vibe), “Total Strangers”, “Pelvis Pusher” (kin to “Land of 1000 Dances”), “Run Like The River”, and the gospel-ish “Gracefully”.

That said… based on those live performances I’m bought in enough to check these guys out this Thursday at the Thompson House in Newport, Kentucky!  Hey fellas-  BRING IT!