|
VELVET REVOLVER
Contraband
(BMG)
Subtract Axl Rose from Guns N’ Roses, add Scott Weiland
from the Stone Temple Pilots, and what do you get? Velvet
Revolver, the new supergroup anchored by former Guns axe-man
Slash. And as easy as it may be to wax cynical about the rehabbed,
re-treaded resumes of the assembled cast, Contraband is a
strong album currently proving itself on the charts. If we
needed a reminder that Slash was the primal force behind Guns
N’ Roses, his supple guitar work, running from the psychedelia
of “Illegal Song” to the vaguely “Sweet Child
o’ Mine” sounding melodies of “Fall to Pieces,”
makes the point. And in Scott Weiland, they have a frontman
as narcissistic as Axl ever was, but with a more contemporary
androgyny. With Contraband, Velvet Revolver not only prove
they can go head-to-head with current hard rock revivalists
like The Darkness, but also that supergroups are not always
a bad idea.
THE STILLS
Logic Will Break Your Heart
(Warner)
The upcoming rock festival season provides
a chance for record companies to push bands that may not have
been heard before in Japan. Among the new acts to be showcased
this year are this group of Montreal expatriates in New York,
slated to play the Fuji Rock Festival. Released last fall
in North America and only now in Japan, their debut album
is very much in the revivalist mode of the moment, but instead
of looking back to garage or hard rock, they look back to
the pointed guitar work of bands like My Funny Valentine or
The Cure. Logic Will Break Your Heart is carefully crafted
potpourri of melodic Fender guitar lines and lyrics about
the agonies of teen love (“Still In Love Song”)
and general existential angst (“Love and Death”).
At the Fuji Rock Festival, the Stills are scheduled to play
the Red Marquee on Sunday, August 1.
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Osaka 2008 Roomusika Compilation
(LD&K)
Osaka, as Japanese will observe, offers a
directness and emotional immediacy that contrasts to Tokyo’s
cool. Its music scene has long taken its own road, producing
noise-rock acts like The Boredoms, and more recently, flashy,
jazz-tinged acts such as Ego-Wrappin. Osaka 2008 from boutique
label LD&K’s Roomusika imprint offers an easy-to-digest,
one-stop compilation of some of Osaka’s better current
acts. Sounds range from the breezy reggae of Baghdad Café
The Trench Town’s “Just For You” to the big
band schmaltz of A Million Bamboo’s “Become One”
to the mournful accordion work of Mama! Milk’s “06
Sone.” Other bands represented include Sugar Mama and
Osaka Monaural. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this
album is the high level of musicianship and confidence of
what is a rather young cast of singers and musicians. For
a taste of what’s going on in Kansai right now, one could
do far worse.
DONNA BURKE
Goodbye Nakamura
(Dagmusic)
A few years ago while singing at the Australian
Embassy in Tokyo, expatriate Aussie singer Donna Burke was
approached by an elderly Japanese man who asked her if she
knew of the song “Goodbye Nakamura,” the only song
linking Australia and Japan. The result of that meeting is
this maxi-single, in which Burke and musical partner Bill
Benfield have reworked the song about the young pearl diver
Nakamura, who died on his final diving trip before he was
due to return from Broome to Okinawa to marry his true love.
An unabashedly sentimental number that conjures up the languid,
tropical feel of northern Australia, “Goodbye Nakamura”
sets off Burke’s translucent vocals against Benfield’s
understated guitar work. Also included on the album are two
Burke originals: the jazz ballad “A Quiet Night”
and “Don’t I Look Pretty,” a plea to men to
compliment their partners. Burke, Benfield and friends play
JZ Brat on July 28.
CANDELA
Rise Above
(Zabu Tone)
Many efforts have been made over the years
to merge traditional Japanese and Western music forms. Among
them, Tokyo-based, shakuhachi-fronted jazz sextet Candela
have achieved a fusion that doesn’t feel forced. Returning
with the follow-up to their 2002 debut Mogami, they explore
the contrast in textures provided by their unique instrumentation,
which also includes the French horn and Indian tabla. The
opener “Johmon Love” sets the pace with a cheerful,
straight-ahead melody by shakuhachi virtuoso Bruce Huebner,
followed by seven more songs that range from the South Asian
mood of “Nepali Bicycle Song” to the brooding, Oriental
exotica of “Soma.” Having represented Japan at the
Toronto Jazz Festival and also having played the Blue Note
in New York City, Candela now return their focus to Japan,
where they will debut Rise Above at STB 139 in Roppongi on
July 24.
top
|