WORMTOWN'S ENDLESS SUMMER: PHIL DIGS THE LATEST CDS FROM A PONY FOR MY BIRTHDAY, ONE LANE BRIDGE, THE SIFT, SINGUYA, TRAPHIQ

It’s here folks. Some people in the worm say that it’s their favorite time of year, others just like to complain about the heat. Me, I’m psyched to finally get all of these CDs that bands told me they were going to put out in January (and to finally have time to write reviews that I said I was going to write in February). So let’s hear about five different CDs that will suit your many moods.

A PONY FOR MY BIRTHDAY – 3 SONG DEMO – SELF RELEASED (Produced, Engineered, and Mixed by Roger Lavallee at Tremolo Lounge, West Boylston, MA)

Scott Riccutti, the man responsible for some of Worcester’s best pop songs with his band Huck has gotten together with Evelyn Pope of the group Ashby and gone old school. That’s my impression of these three songs anyway. The opener, “Newport Jai Lai” introduces itself with melodically strummed guitars that bring to mind John Sebastian and the Lovin’ Spoonfuls. That’s an old time reference, but modern references don’t cut it when describing this. To this day no one matches Sebastian in bringing on a peaceful sunny feeling. The guitars are strummed so softly and basically that they sound like they could be ukuleles. Much like Riccutti’s work in Huck, a plethora of Beatles influences can be heard.

“Pray for Rain” swings a little more energetically. The “Bad um bah bah bah” vocals give it a Beach Boys and early 70s feel. The final tune, “West Virginia” is a soft catchy tune filled with nostalgia for childhood memories of county fairs somewhere in West Virginia. Doesn’t sound like there’s anything super profound going on here, but it’s a fun if not quick listen. Imagine that? the guy from Huck making something too brief. Here’s hoping that they make more soon.

http://www.myspace.com/aponyformybirthday

ONE LANE BRIDGE – LONG TIME COMING - SELF RELEASED
(Produced by Wayne Winslow and Roger Lavallee; Engineered, Mixed, and Mastered by Roger Lavallee at Tremolo Lounge, West Boylston, MA)

The first thing that strikes me with this CD is its appropriate title. This local rock band put out an emotion filled hard rock EP back at the beginning of 2007 and announced that a new full length was just around the corner. By just around the corner they no doubt meant almost two years later. Me, I’d rather hear an album that’s complete and well thought out instead of one that’s rushed just to get merchandise out. The disc opens with the hard catchy groove of “Hazel.” A swirl of layered guitars opens the song as lead singer Jaimie Loader’s soulful vocals tell a story of sadness and loneliness. “Alone” slows things down to a rock ballad pace while Loader keeps it soulful and lyrically sad. “Spots Lie” brings the pace back up with it’s shuffling drums and speedy opening. Though I like Loader’s vocals most of the time, this one reminds me of that guy from the group Boston.

“What I Got to Do” draws the listener in with a catchy “Yeah, yeah” chorus and funky distortion heavy guitars. It’s my pick for radio hit on the CD (on radio stations that still actually play music) though I caution that I’m usually not accurate at gauging what flies on mainstream radio. The disc slows down for a classic rock feel on “We Tried to Help You” and the title cut. “We Tried to Help You” kicks off with a bluesy wailing guitar solo that wouldn’t be out of place on an AlLman Brothers or Black Crowes album. Loader sings in a dramatic slow blues rock style alternating between a low croon and a high metal ballad voice. The title cut opens with a mellow before going into a heartfelt love song about putting the past behind you. “Meta4” kicks off with Iron Maiden like angular Euro-metal styling similar to what you hear from American metal bands like God Forbid and The Sword. From here the disc goes back to their EP for “Driving” and “In My Arms.” Over two years later I still get tripped up by the line, “Holding you in my arms is like lying in soft flowers.”

Fortunately One Lane Bridge isn’t trying to cultivate a tough guy image. Otherwise, this song would destroy that. I suppose that you gotta give a little something to the ladies. They’re half of the audience you know, even in heavy metal and hard rock. “A.k.A., The Prom Song” is OLB’s cover of Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight” that drummer Keith McGrath kicks off with a nice solo before the band go into a chugga chugga cover of the tune. No slow dance here. They go into the home stretch with “Change” from their EP, “Confusion,” and the finale “Restless.” The guitars on “Change” run somewhere between classic rock and grunge; reminiscent of old Screaming Trees albums. “Confusion” shifts into a catchy distorted funky groove for a song about signs of the times.

“Restless” finishes things up with some speedy math rock for a decisive ending, bringing 13 songs and 51 minutes to a close. What can I tell you? Some bands put together a short tight disc to please radio stations and record store shoppers; while others try to make something that gives the fans that come to see them the most bang for the buck. This falls under the later category. I’d say that the disc is a little long, but I couldn’t tell you which songs to cut. They’re all pretty good. Maybe they could’ve saved a couple of tunes for their next album like the Rolling Stones used to do.

http://www.onelanebridgema.com

THE SIFT – PINK STORM – SELF RELEASED (Recording information unavailable)

Over the past half dozen years, Worcester has given birth to a handful of bands that can best be described as quirky with a capital Q. Bastille, Hip Tanaka, and The Rectangle Club all qualified as that. Castine, the band from which members of The Sift comes from could do the Foo Fighterish emo rock thing pretty well, but also had a quirky side. That quirky side is in full bloom on The Sift’s debut disc “The Pink Storm.” It kicks off with the quirkily titled “Kathy Griffin Encroaches Upon Two Asian Children.” The jam they come up with a funky calypso groove driven workout is funkier than anything I’d associate with Kathy Griffin, then again, I’ve never watched her show. They end the second tune in surreal Beatlesque form, announcing the title “I Appreciate Your Willingness to Cook Some Uruguayan Beef” (with what appears to be a sample of former President George W. Bush. The tune, a basic bluesy instrumental jam, is a nice diversion. It’s about now that I start to wonder whether these guys are going to be all-instrumental or are actually going to have some lyrics at some point. It turns out that they don’t for almost the entire album.

Bunny Colorado is the mellowest of mellowest of slow jams, but four over four minutes, they keep it pretty interesting, harking back to mid-90s bands like Codeine, Rodan and June 0f ’44. It reminds me of the sound that locals Stricken for Catherine were working on back in the 90s. From here the song cuts a rockin’ funky groove that reminds me a little of 60s band The Edgar Winter Group. The title cut (an instrumental interlude on a mostly instrumental album) rolls in with a strummed blissed out mellow haze before blasting off into the freedom rock fist pumper “WOW, Best Falafel” which oddly enough retains that Edgar Winter Group jam feel. It’s technically not an instrumental as someone, through a Peter Frampton like talk box is repeating the words, “Wow.” Much like Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein,” this one’s got a five-minute drum solo in it that loses me after the first 30 seconds as most drum solos do. By anyone but a drummer’s standard, it’s between 2 or 4 minutes too long.

“Welcome to Ferguson” briefly breaks things up with a cool T Rex groove. “GI-BRALTAR” spends two and a half minutes in a groove that’s way too mellow. Sometimes mellow can be interesting in its intricacies and sometimes mellow can be sleepy time music. In this case, by the time they get to the speedy Wolf Mother like psychedelic jam halfway through the song, I’m already conked out. They save the vocals for the finale, “Lloyd’s Lament,” a song of elementary school heartbreak. How do the vocals sound? you ask. Quirky would be an understatement, this guy sounds plum nuts. His voice starts out sounding unbalanced before going into completely psychotic ranting. Well...they sound like they’re having fun anyways. After the vocals end they go into a spacey jam that sounds like it could turn into The Grateful Dead’s “Wharf Rat,” but never does. That goes on for another 10 minutes (no lie) before the disc finally ends. I must admit, I did like half of the disc, the half at the beginning that wasn’t ridiculously long. The other 30 minutes I could take or leave on as background music, unless I’m driving. I’m pretty sure it would make me fall asleep.

http://www.thesift.org

SINGUYA – BET ON RED – SELF RELEASED (Produced by Singuya; Recorded and Mixed by Pete Degraff at M-80 Studios Worcester, MA; Mastered by Dorian Gatej at Vemplore Studios Worcester, MA)

What we’ve got here is three wise guys mixing hard rock, punk, funk, reggae, hip hop, country, and whatever else suits their fancy. Other bands have mixed the first five genres to some success, but add in the last one and things can get awkward. Most country hip-hop I’ve heard sounds so silly that it’s ridiculous. Country and reggae? I’ve always assumed that they were exact polar opposites. Folks I know who play music allot, say in general business wedding bands, cover bands, and original bands in any given week tell me that going from reggae to country doesn’t take that much of an adjustment at all. Go figure. All rocket science aside, this disc is a lot of fun.

“Hey,” with its shout along King of the Hill rockin’ oi punk sounds like just the right way to kick off a fun time. They go into a low down skankin’ groove for “The Legend of Bonnie Amiss.” Guitarist/vocalist Brian “Boom Boom” Howa sings what sounds like an old pirate sea shanty in a truly soulful voice that sounds older than his years. Looking at their picture on the CD, I’m going to guess that they’re all in their mid-20s. That same soulful voice cracks quite a bit during “Sweet Sanity,” but I like the song anyway. “10:10” brings back the shout along punk, with a sad tale of heartbreak that Boom Boom sings in a choked up Mike Ness meets Iggy Pop style. On “The Shanty,” Boom sings of suffering for your rock and roll and to be yourself. They sound like kindred spirits of Boston / Amherst punk rock reggae warriors Jaya the Cat when they sing, “I’ve slept in my car, been tossed out of bars. I’ve been beaten by unruly thugs; from broken bottles, to kicks in the head, to blows from the cop’s billy clubs.”

“Lonely as it Comes” slows things down to a crawl as Boom emotes and his starts to crack much like it did in “Sweet Sanity” when he goes higher than his natural range. Singuya goes into a bluesy jazzy shuffle for “She’s with Me.” While the band plays this happy tune, local Steve Lefebvre lends a honkin’ trumpet. They start out “The Raft” with some happy lounge jazz before blasting into double barrel one two f**k you punk and skip into some infectious rock groove jammin’ ska pop for “Sunshine Funk Mama.” Both are actually heartfelt love songs that could make a girl feel really touched…or really awkward. “Rats” starts out with some jangly strummed guitar before moving into a punk rock shout along. If theirs a handclapping tune on the album, this is it. This ends up winding down to a slow jazz tune as Boom sings of arguing with his girl. For such a seemingly happy guy, Boom sure seems to have his share of relationship problems. “$3 Vodka” reenacts an aggressive panhandling scene similar to those I’ve personally witnessed while working in a liquor store in Main South in Worcester. They crack me up with the line, “ Three dollar vodka don’t taste good, but man it gets you drunk.”

They go into the home stretch with the demented ska of “Space Cake (David Geffen Here We Come)” and the chilled out funk of “Make Moves.” I’m partial to make moves because it keeps me dancing. They break things up with the western movie soundtrack sounding “Fall Hiva.” Flutes and mariachi sounding music fill the air as Bomm sings of a mysterious lady that visits him in Hudson (something about these guys made me suspect that they were from Hudson). “The Reggae Joint” finishes things off with a bouncy tune about how time catches up with everyone, good music and good songwriting to wrap up this 48 minute disc. I got a lot of long CDs this month. Radio stations frown on that, but you may have noticed that many of those aren’t playing music anymore anyways. When they’re all gone, all you got left is your fans. Singuya fans should really like this disc. People who didn’t know them in the first place, this disc will win them over.

http://www.singuya.com

TRAPHIQ – 3 SONG DEMO – SELF RELEASED (Recording information unavailable)

What we got here are three locals with a foot in this century and the other foot in the ‘80s. The chiming keyboards bring to mind ‘80s bands like The Cars, Thompson Twins and Flock of Seagulls. When the vocals on the opener “Liquid Paranoia” kick in I’m thrown as I’m expecting more of a low toned gothic sound. Instead, keyboardist/ vocalist Stefano Trefecante sings in a poppy midrange voice. Brandon Flowers from The Killers comes to mind, which is both good and bad. “Looking Back” is a slower more dramatic tune. Classical piano opens the song, as Trefecante’s voice gets more expressive. Guitarist Danielle Leveile lays down a pretty cool winding blues-rock solo. It’s my favorite tune out of the three on this disc.

For the finale, “Berkshires” creeps in with low funeral tones as Trefecante sings of his people taking over and creating a new civilization. By his people, I assume he means 80s obsessed rockers. They end the tune with a groove driven syncopated jam and lots of “ahs.” Not bad, three different sounding tunes from three folks who sound like they could go in any given direction. What’ll their next disc sound like? It’ll be fun to find out.

http://www.myspace.com/traphiq

The summer break hasn’t stopped the CDs from finding my mailbox or me from reviewing them. If your band has recently made one, drop me a line at spaceguy3@charter.net and we’ll figure out how to get one in my hands.

Coming in September – Reviews of new CDs Age of Punishment, Borderland, and Ray Mason