Sound Stories & Interviews

Whatcha looking at? Did Jerry just drop out of the clouds?In the hip circle of music critics to which I pretend to belong,
admitting that you like jam bands is akin to wearing Velcro shoes in
public or showing off the collection of G.I. Joes you keep beneath your
bed - it isn't going to give you too many cool points. I like indie
rock, indie folk, indie power pop, indie hip-hop (indie, while once an
abbreviation of "independent," now seems to mean "cool") and a good
deal of other genres and styles, but I've held fast to my fascination
with the noodles and genre mashing only found in the poorly labeled
"jam band" arena.
Jeff Mattson plays guitar and sings in The Zen
Tricksters, a New York-based quartet with heavy Grateful Dead
influences and affiliations, and he too likes jam bands - probably
because he plays in one (two, actually). While Zen Tricksters has been
Mattson's band for the past couple of decades, he, along with the rest
of his band, also meet up and tour with former Dead vocalist Donna Jean
Godchaux McKay to form Donna Jean and the Tricksters.

Soldiers of Jah Army, honorary mayors of Reggaetown.We've pounded it into these pages more than enough in the past six
months, and a sincere apology to all if this seems like a message from
the Department of Redundancy Department, but … what is up with all the
friggin' reggae going down in this town? At this point, I'm not even
sure how I feel about it, but I sure as hell can't avoid it. And maybe
we shouldn't even worry - the Benders (we're taking a week off from
mentioning "Bendites" in the paper) seem to love it.
This weekend could very well be the peak of the local reggae movement with three separate reggae shows in a matter
of 48 hours. Here's a rundown of what
you can (if you so choose) sway, bob and swing your dreads to:

Keeping the steel in the family.In a weird way, it's accurate to call the Campbell Brothers "church
music," because, technically they play their tunes in a church, just as
they've been doing since they were kids. But this isn't the church
music of organs, autoharps and white-haired women singing falsetto with
one hand raised, leading a drowsy congregation though a down-tempo hymn
- this is pretty much rock music.

Chuck Campbell grew up in the House
of God Church, a Pentecostal, predominately African-American
denomination that shies away from the pipe organ, opting for the steel
guitar to lift the spirits of the congregation, and get them moving
their feet. This isn't a whining, yawning county Western slide guitar -
the House of God sound, often referred to as "Sacred Steel," is more of
a shouting, screaming, wailing manipulation of the instrument that,
when accompanied by a band, is pretty hard not to dance to.

The Wu Tang Clan of the North? Whether it's warranted or not, we tend to think of Canadians as nicer than us. Maybe it's because they put gravy on their French fries, or their health care system keeps them in tip-top shape. Whatever the reason, these neighbors to the north seem less pissed off.

And even when it comes to hip-hop music, which all too often in the States digresses into a battle of egos and semi automatic firearms, Canadians rappers just seem like they're in a better mood. Such is the case with Vancouver, B.C.'s seven-piece rap squad, Sweatshop Union.

Black and White, yes. But not old timey.Langhorne Slim is in North Carolina gearing up for a friend's wedding and he's telling me about the iPod that his girlfriend gave him for Christmas. But he's not talking about the new Radiohead he just dumped onto the device - like a whole lot of new iPod owners probably did in the wake of the holidays - he's telling me about all the Lee Hazlewood tracks he loaded up.

Hazlewood, the iconic country music rebel who died of cancer just this past summer, isn't who I'd expected Langhorne Slim - one of the most promising young songwriters playing today - to be listening to. Then again, after a few more listens to Langhorne's tunes, it makes sense.

If you're not watching and listening carefully, the Emma Hills of the world can slip right past you. Like so many other young artists, Hill finds herself in the often crowded and sometimes vanilla-flavored waiting room known as the female singer/songwriter genre.
But thankfully, Hill is toward the front of the line and there's a good chance her number will be called before most of the soft strumming, tender-voiced songstresses waiting behind her. And nothing against the rest of the room, most are probably talented and hardworking, it's just that they all seem to get buried amongst each other and it takes someone like Hill to get out front.