Raleigh Music Review No. 3

Local Band Album Reviews

The Love Language 11 songs, 40 minutes and 31 seconds, self-released

When I asked Stuart McLamb about any thoughts he had while recording this, all he could say was that it was “Pretty much me in a storage unit alone with a couple 40’s of King Cobra.” A funny thought, but likely true. Drinking to pass the time is believable. Playing music to pass the time is believable. Drinking to write music about the passing of love is 100% believable and sometimes dangerous. Yes, this record is about that. Well, love and the hindsight that alcohol brings. He never says that “this is about love and alcohol” straight up. Regardless, one can easily imagine the place McLamb is coming from. He recorded the whole thing by himself, so you can’t help but think this record is a little personal.

Carnival piano and cave dwelling vocals (and harmonies, too) are the primary weapons used to make this record. The albums opener “Hey Hey” stumbles drunkenly for the entire length of the song until someone interrupts him. “Two Rabbits” picks up where “Hey Hey” left off, with his vocals sometimes overpowering the levels way over the red. “Lalita” has been played on WKNC a number of times. This song is catchy, with a rolling beat and a guitar lead that demands attention. I’ve heard this parodied when I’ve talked about this song. If someone is willing to poke fun, it could be a love/hate thing or some type of necessary evil. But the person poking fun said that they still liked it, so I guess its all right.

“Stars” country flare seems to be hanging out with bad company. Lyrics like “Little girls tell the biggest lies” sound like GP could’ve wrote it (or sound trite, however you want to look at it.) Track No. 5 seems to rise above it all. So much so, that sometimes I imagine the song will leave the record to form its own album. The alternative percussion, smooth guitar and organ conjures up images of a calvary, with the last man telling his story. “Nocturne” is a great song. This omega tune seems to have combined all of McLamb’s best efforts. The vocal harmonizin’, piano playin’, guitar strumin’, beat keepin’, overdrive lovin’ cowboy passes all the calvary after that first chorus. He keeps riding on. The others have parked their horses, but he’s not stopping. “Sparxxx” drastically changes its predecessors beat, but not its mood. It picks up the pace, along with “Equinox”, the albums longest number. “Manteo”, the radio b-side to “Lalita” brings some closure to the album. “Graycourt” is the album’s closer. It sounds like the afterthoughts of an entire night alone in a saloon with a bottle of whiskey. But in McLamb’s case, its more like a few bottles of the KC up the street hidden in a row of garage doors.

There’s a chance you might miss someone after hearing this record, but the chances of a hangover from listening alone are pretty slim. Visit The Love Language for information on accessing this record. Listen to some songs while you’re at it.

Grass Widow 4 songs, 11 minutes and 5 seconds, self-released

Grass Widow’s first show, that I remember seeing anyway, was opening for the Country Teasers at Kings. They had a different drummer and he wasn’t too prolific to say the least. The music then suffered as a result, but the songs were there and sounded real good. It just needed a year hiatus and Evan Williams (not this) to bring it back.

If you’ve ever seen them live, you know they get rowdy. Its all in good fun, of course. Before and after they play, they carry on a more subdued vibe. The recording captures an element of Grass Widow that usually eludes them when they perform live: A clean, straight presentation. I’m not saying that Grass Widow are sloppy, not at all. When you see them live, you can tell they play loose and without boundaries. But anyone who’s recorded in a studio knows being “loose” isn’t necessarily encouraged. The band features 4 people that have had more than their share of experience playing in other groups (Spader, Taija Rae, Black Mona Lisas to name a slight few).

That experience comes through in this recording.  Its tight.

“Pistol Parlour”, the opening track does its best to represent the live performance. Its short, fast and glues itself to your brain. Then all of the sudden, there are all of these “oohhhs” and other harmonious vocal riffs and you begin to realize that they’re not as loose as one would believe. Just when you think its about to get back to that third-verse-same-as-the-first mentality, its gone. Next song. “Sailboat Photo Locker” captures the two different guitar tones in Grass Widow: Drew Wood’s dirty fuzz in contrast with Brian Cruz’s jabbing jangle. Another advantage to recording is having extra instruments to mess around with. Enjoy the toy piano, everyone. “Black Lodge” was the first the song I ever heard by Grass Widow. Not only am glad that its available, but it sounds like I thought a recorded version of this song would sound (and more). When the end of “Out of the Woods” pumps through your stereo, you want more. Let’s hope the wait isn’t too long.

The EP was recorded by Chester Gwazda for his Guild of Birthdays project. Gwazda produced Dan Deacon’s upcoming full length, Bromst, Ecstatic Sunshine and local Raleigh via Greenville faves Future Islands. His method of recording is unique. Gwazda gets in his car, records a band, then takes recommendations from his friends and travels the country to record other bands for free. Bassist Mike Dillon was recommended to Gwazda by his friends in Future Islands. Grass Widow were more than happy to oblige. All Gwazda asked for was a place to crash, gas money and some food. Ah, the joys of bartering.

This EP will be available at their shows starting on Thursday, June 5th at Tir-Na-Nog. I’m sure if you holla at them, you can barter one for yourself.

Noncanon 5 songs, 28 minutes, self-released

Noncanon’s EP became available when they opened up for Polvo. The cover above is a doctored photo, and not actually the original packaging. The CD came in a flat brown paper bag with an hand-painted bright indigo circle. It reminded me of that Germs album cover. But Noncanon sound nothing like the Germs. They’re not from LA and they don’t seem to have as many destructive tendencies in their music. Guitarist/Vocalist Danny Vaughn does seem to have a sense of hushed urgency in his voice, though.

“Mother & Fighter” starts out pretty slow. Then it starts to pick up. Just as a the song progresses and your ears are locked in, Noncanon throw a bit of a curve ball. The song changes in that last minute. This track can give the listener the type warning needed for the rest of the EP. “Come Dumb King” is the shortest and most straight-forward of the set. A simple guitar riff with a running, not walking bass line accompanied by Rob Koegler’s quick drumming. Even this song has that last 40 seconds at the end where it changes face. Noncanon seem to be conditioned at executing the quick change a song can take without destroying the initial structure of it. The first two songs are a nice build up to “Lake Areola”, which runs at 7:43. A song in three acts, the first part finds Vaughn accenting his storyteller lyrics with an antagonist guitar lead. Bassist Lee Huber plays like the narrator in a story (it is some of the best bass playing I’ve heard from a Raleigh band in quite a while). Act Two sounds like the confrontation; the Third, like the resolution. All of the sudden, almost 8 minutes passed by quickly.

“Where the Glass Glows” atmosphere is a little spacey, with delay and soft drum beat. Vaughn’s voice contrast with the music to the songs benefit. The song stays soft throughout, like they used the cotton effect on the mixing board. OK, that’s probably not true, but it still makes for a closer. It makes the demo version of “Love?” seem out of place. The song is good, but I hear how it would benefit without its “demo” status. It doesn’t say “demo” on the label, but when I put it in my car cd-player, it reads “Love (demo)”. Who is to say. Maybe they tagged it that way by mistake. It definitely sounds less produced than the others, but I’ll say it again, its a good song. Maybe it’ll become a Noncanon rarity years down the road. People will argue whether the demo version is better than the album version.

For our previous installments:
Raleigh Music Review No. 1
Raleigh Music Review No. 2

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