MR. MCNAMARA SAYS FALL INTO WORMTOWN WITH THESE NEW SOUNDS BY BORDERLAND, CARRY THE ZERO AND SCUBA

Summer’s over and it’s time to get serious. I for instance parted with my longtime taxicab driving job and scaled back on my carnival job to begin working as a substitute teacher. If you’ve read my writing, don’t like it and are from Southbridge, well get your kids the hell out of Southbridge High School before I corrupt their poor impressionable young minds. This month Wormtown has received CDs from bands that got serious when it came to making a damn good Cd., fun loving locals Borderland, Carry the Zero, and Boston visitors, Scuba. Enjoy. – Phil McNamara

BORDERLAND ALL STARS – “ONE SPORE FOR THE ROAD” (SELF RELEASED)

(Produced and Engineered by Jason Buhl and Borderland at Artist Fall Sanctuary and Rutland Remote Recording Facility, New Hampshire; Mixed By Jason Buhl and Borderland at The City of Champions; Mastered by Bob Katz at Digital Domain)

Borderland formed out at UMASS/ Amherst back at the very end of the 1980s. Over 17 years they’ve established and kept up a reputation for sweat filled smokin’ hot live sets with one ear towards soulful, danceable, funky jams, and the other towards improvisation, and a…um … third ear towards witty social commentary. Along with their penchant for high energy and soulful tunes came a penchant for mind-altering substances. Their album’s title is a drug reference, but if you don’t know it, I’m not going to explain it to you.

This time around along with their rock and funk influences I hear Stax/Volts soul, 50s doo wop, and old school gospel reggae influences. On the opener “So Fine” lead singer/ guitarist Dave Spagone comes up with a Sam Cooke-like croon for a great soulful love song. “A Little Longer” conjures up a classic soulful Percy Sledge tune meeting with the soul/gospel/reggae of early Bob Marley and the Wailers. It will make you want to find a partner and turn the lights down low. “Again and Again” keeps it at slow ballad speed. Spagone’s voice wails James Brown style as he comes up with a seductive slow jam that would give Barry White a run for his money.

“Follow” opens with a flute solo from Jason Buhl that gives the song an early 60s feel. The band brings on classic sounding jam mixing grooving keyboards, psychedelic guitar soloing, and a super funky backbeat from drummer Jeff Woods and bassist Chris Houston. Spagone mixes his soulful voice with Zappa like political commentary, knocking television, consumerism, and conformity. It’s my favorite song on the disc so far. “The Hard Way” slows things down with a bluesy jam and Spagone stretching out his soulful voice for this ballad. As pleasant as it is, at five and a half minutes, it starts to drag towards the end.

The title track is a jazzy calypso influenced instrumental that would get folks to samba if they knew how. A blast of flute and saxophone propels the song along. As cool as this would be to see at the local bar, I could picture it being done by a high school orchestra, one that had its chops up. “The Day Ken Lay Died” comes in subtly as Spagone offers his commentary on modern day greed and hypocrisy. Borderland closes it out with the memorable bouncy calypso tune “Nieves.” Funky guitars, whimsical flute solos, and airy group vocals that remind me of something from Steve Miller make this song memorable. On first listen I was thinking that I would be disappointed by the lack of funk jams, but the more I listen to it, the more I like everything else that Borderland has to offer. After almost 20 years, you can still teach old dogs new tricks.

(For more information, visit http://www.borderlandallstars.com)

CARRY THE ZERO – “HEY, HEY, HEY” (M80 STUDIOS)

(Produced, Engineered, and Mixed by Roger Lavallee At Tremolo Lounge West Boylston, MA; Mastered by Jessica Thompson at Peerless Mastering Newtonville, MA)

Carry the Zero came out of nowhere to blow a breath of fresh air into the Wormtown scene upon arriving back at the beginning of the century. They had a great demo Ep and a memorable live set. They looked to be the next band to break out of the scene until their abrupt breakup. This seven-song disc picks up where they left off and adds something new to their modern pop meets bar rock sound. “Title Track” opens the disc with a whirl of chaotic charging guitars and keyboards, before settling into a tight catchy hip shaking jam. Drummer Bill Gaudette’s speedy and head bobbing beats take over as they finish off the song with a burning 70s sounding blues rock jam that really makes the song. On “Monocane” lead singer Matt Ehartic lets his inner blue-eyed soul singer out and belts out a catchy tune with a voice that resembles David Bowie as much as any modern rocker. Producer Roger Lavallee throws in some studio tricks to give the opening of “Start a Fire” an AM radio feel before it eases into a poppy Beatlesque sounding tune. The spacey low toned keyboard that opens “Rev ‘Em Up” still sounds fresh even thought the song itself is over half dozen years old. The song doesn’t offer anything too profound, but is still damn fun to sing along to.

By mid-disc they’ve melded their love for modern rock and classic sixties sing along tunes seamlessly with “Hell Like a Hurricane.” Keyboardist Ed Paquette rides a high psychedelic groove throughout the song as Ehartic follows on guitar with a mix of scrawling leads and catchy acoustic parts, while all three members harmonize early 60s style. Some of the most subtle studio work happens here as the band adds in background shouts, falsetto tracks, and enough studio trickery from Lavallee to make him a fourth member.

Carry the Zero brings it into the home stretch with “Midnight Confession,” a cover of the Grass Roots’ classic love song from the 1960s, well it would be a classic love song if it wasn’t about being in love with someone’s wife. They close out the disc with one of their old tunes, “Bad Intentions.” It’s a quirky dissonant bar rocker that wouldn’t be out of place as background music in a murder mystery movie. This disc is like a perfect wedding present; something old, something new, and something borrowed. Not a lot going on here that I’d call blue (in the sad sense anyway, but maybe in the dirty and perverted way). You can’t have everything, but “Hey, Hey, Hey” has just enough.

(For news on the latest Carry The Zero gigs and to sample their music, visit http://www.myspace.com/ctzrock)

SCUBA – “SCUBA” (MIDRIFF RECORDS)

(Produced by Scuba and Dennis Grabowski;
Engineered and Mixed by Dennis Grabowski; Mastered by Mike Quinn at Moontower Studios Cambridge, MA)

Ah yes, there’s something familiar yet refreshing about Scuba. The band features Beatings drummer Dennis Grabowski on guitar and vocals. The opener “You Break my Heart in 1000 Different Ways” hums with airy, shimmering guitars that are part surf and part modern rock that plunk you down somewhere in 1988, during the first few Pixies and Throwing Muses records. Yeah it’s retro, but sometimes I don’t mind retro. Anyone who’s had their heart broken will relate and want to sing along with the title chorus. After half a dozen listens it’s still my favorite song on the disc. I can’t help but notice that Grabowski’s low toned Peter Murphy / Ian Curtis/ Tom Verlaine like voice isn’t far off from that of Beating’s band mate Eldridge Rodriguez. It’s emo from guys who don’t sound whiney. “Gary Power’s Spy Plane” flows in with a soothing wash of effect-layered guitars. 90s shoe gazer pop bands like My Bloody Valentine and Teenage Fanclub come to mind as much as The Cure. It’s not far off from locals The Curtain Society, which I never would have expected from a guy in The Beatings. “Fish with Some Lixx” is closer to what I expected, a dissonant mix of math rock, 90’s Dischord like tension, and killer lyrics. They start with a beautifully condescending opening sentence of “Let me explain it in a way that will make sense, even to you,” and the even more jovial refrain of “Get in the car turn the radio on, only corporate shills are on.”

The bass and guitar interplay in the opening of “Freight” make it memorable. They mix with Grabowski’s voice to bring Joy Division to mind. (Google them if you never heard of them). You might enjoy it more if you don’t think about the lyrics, about pregnant ex-girlfriends too much. Grabowski comes up a song grim enough to match Ian Curtis (who incidentally killed himself) when he sings:

“Well I’m sorry father, sorry mum. No new mouths, new shoes, and new sadness.
Baby the name ends here, so does the madness, I swear on this mattress.”

“Treat” somehow wipes out that mood with an upbeat jangly guitar rocker. Rather than modern rock bands, The Byrds come to mind…and I swear I hear a Tom Petty guitar riff in it too…does that count as modern? Mid-song they break out a funky disco breakdown (kinda like Petty’s “American Girl” before returning to the noise. They come up with the catchiest of spacey airy guitar riffs to open “Maybe It’s Different with Johnny” another grim song about what a bunch of jerks and perverts guys are, except this guy Johnny…maybe. I got to hand it to Grabowski and guitarist Steve Calnan. They come up with killer guitar riffs to open every song and keep it pretty interesting throughout most songs. Bassist Tom Becker and drummer Jason Keisch keep a solid backbeat, keeping it grooving and danceable without ever overplaying. No song shows this off better than “Into the Water, Down to the Bottom.” Just reading the title “Hate It When you Laugh” makes me wonder if Grabowski is competing with Beatings band mate Rodriguez to see who can come up with the grimmest titles and lyrics. Scuba keeps it pessimistic with lyrics like, “Whatever they started off loving you for they end up hating you for but they come back for more.”

Scuba finishes it off with “King of Infinite Space” which opens of course, with a killer guitar riff and throws in lyrics about sedation by television, dirty money, dirty sex, and a line about “a crippled clown in a cocktail lounge,” that I appreciate. All and all the disc leaves me pretty blown away and curious about what the solo projects from Tony Skalicki and Erin Dalbec (the other two Beatings) might sound like and openly asking whether The Beatings are poised to become the Wu Tang Clan of Boston’s grim pop punk scene.

(For more on Scuba, visit http://www.midriffrecords.com)


Coming in Late October : Reviews of new CDs from
Clear the Way, The Guns of Navarone and Hated

(You can contact Phil McNamara at spaceguy3@charter.net )