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05 June 2006
John Fahey & Friends, Friends of Fahey Tribute (Slackertone)
I first discovered the music of John Fahey 10 years ago, which is also when I began playing guitar. All I've ever really wanted to do with the instrument write and play fairly simple pop songs. Still, Fahey's innovative fingerstyle technique and, more importantly, his beautiful and haunted melodies, are a part of me now and inform my music in subtle ways. This influence of John Fahey's has traveled far and wide, his plaintive mix of folk, blues, classical, and raga birthing scores of followers. So great was his reach that this winter saw the release of two tributes to his music. While Vanguard's I Am the Resurrection mostly featured the young indie crowd, Friends of Fahey Tribute is performed largely by his contemporaries, former associates, and his friends. Peter Lang, who contributes two tracks, was on Fahey's Takoma label, and both Terry Robb and Woody Mann often played and recorded with the man. Two famous fingerstylists who emerged shortly after Fahey, Stefan Grossman and John Renbourn, join together on one track, "Under the Volcano". Like most of the selections on this warm and lovely disc, that track is an original composition meant to honor Fahey's approach. On other tracks, the artists play older songs that informed Fahey's musical studies. New age pianist George Winston covers Fahey, offering two renditions of "Steamboat Gwine 'Round De Bend", from the latter's atypically New Orleansy album Of Riverboats and Religion. The vast majority of the tracks here, however, look to the unadorned fingerstyle recordings Fahey made in the 1960s. Those marvelous albums were the highlight of his career, although he continued to remain vital and interesting up until his death in 2001. Friends of Fahey Tribute is a very nice collection and, if you're a fan of the great man's classic output, you'll find his spirit here in abundance.
[Insound]
— Michael Keefe
multiple song samples: [official site]
Folk 
Ichinchilla, Record Player (Coney Island Discs)
Record Player is the first wide release for Paddy Wright, a.k.a. Ichinchilla, and it stays very much true to his website's description of his art: "A hook, a beat, some Devo, some Chic". "Record Player" is all hook, actually, stringing a repeated phrase along for a minute until it switches gears and settles on another repeated phrase. Record Player contains three versions of the title track, the most interesting of which is actually the original -- survive the first minute of stilted synthpop and the song launches into a long stretch of indie rawk, complete with handclaps, tambourines, a big dominant three-chord guitar riff, and programmed percussion so intricate and quick that it borders on silly. "Def Disco Player (Ichinchilla and White Rabbit Re-Vamp)" adds new bass vocals and makes the whole affair sound like a big yellow smilie face dancing to Kraftwerk, and "Les Voleurs-Player (Les Voleurs Re-Model)" sounds kind of like Underworld making a disco anthem with bonus tom toms. Add to those three tracks a video that features Wright (and his swirly hairdo) dancing incredibly self-consciously to his own song, and we have a release that half of me finds hilarious and the other half is just confused by, all of which means I've likely overthought it. It's cute novelty, and you can dance to it.
[Insound]
— Mike Schiller
multiple songs: [player]
video: Ichinchilla - Record Player
Pop / Synthpop 
Bob Cheevers, Texas to Tennessee (Back 9)
Sometimes the best thing about the liner notes is that you can probably tell how credible the musician is by the company he keeps or chooses to work with. Spooner Oldham, Fats Kaplan and Joy Lynn White are three of the many supporting cast on this album by Bob Cheevers. But it is his smooth, Willie Nelson-esque delivery that seems to pull it all together as it does during the pretty, mid-tempo "Drivin' That Mercury" and the rootsy but moody, cocksure swagger of "Bag and Bone Man". But sometimes he doesn't know when to stop, as the ending of "Pearls of Ivy Road" seems too long. Fans of JJ Cale or Ramsay Midwood would enjoy the bluesy boogie nature of the title track yet again it jams a tad too long at the end. Fortunately he hits the mark in terms of tone and time with "I Need to Slow Down" that brings Bruce Hornsby to mind. Perhaps the highlight is the tender but toe-tapping "Downhome Backwoods Hillbilly Fool". Cheevers is able to make the most of his blues/roots/country style that is both laidback and punchy at the same time.
[Insound]
— Jason MacNeil
multiple songs: [Mperia]
Country-Folk / Folk-Blues / Adult Alternative
Pie Eyed Pete, Dandelion Wine (self-released)
Hey! You got your pop-rock in my country and western! Fortunately it's for the better: Dandelion Wine, the new LP from Pie Eyed Pete, is a pleasant sip. Never waving around anything spectacular, the album is pleased enough to be well above its average peers. What's most astounding about Pete's sound is that it actually does straddle the line between pop and country extremely well, though if push came to shove, they'd have more rock fans than country, but only just barely. Their sound could be argued as a modern-day update of The Band, but it doesn't really matter when you're just going to be rocking out anyway. The ballads ("Southbound" and "Sleep on It") are merely average, but the more up-tempo tracks like "Barstow" and "Let's Go" really pack an oomph. The country charts may not enjoy their presence (too rock), the rock charts may not either (too country), but the important thing is that you will -- and that's all that matters.
[Insound]
— Evan Sawdey
multiple songs: [MySpace]
Rock / Indie / Folk Rock
.: posted by Editor 7:30 AM
