Each year the Christmas Revels adopts the music, dance, and storytelling traditions of a different world culture (in addition to some annual Revels traditions). Every so often that theme comes home and focuses on American cultures. If you’ve been reading my Revels reviews for a while, you’ll remember that I participated in the Revels chorus in 2009 when it had an American theme. Ten years later, I’m fascinated to see another Americana performance from the audience.
I’ve long had an idea for a Revels performance set on the stoops of a row of tenements in an American city in the 1920s/30s. Immigrants from various parts of the world (Ireland, Germany, Italy, Eastern Europe, China, etc.) and African American migrants from the South could come together and share their cultural songs, stories, and traditions of the winter season.
This performance isn’t quite my imagined Revels, but it does come close! Set during the Dust Bowl/Depression era, a radio station host (Steven Barkhimer) offers guidance to a man named Johnny Johnson (Jeff Song), who is lost his memory and his direction. Johnny travels the country experiencing various American cultural traditions and repeatedly meeting a mysterious woman (Chris Everett-Hussey).
I always say that you don’t go to Revels for the plot. But in recent years they’ve been working on their narrative threads more, so this year’s story feels like a reversion to thinner storylines of the past. It also doesn’t make much sense. Needless to say the song and dance are great so it doesn’t need much else.
Several numbers from the 2009 show are revived in new settings, including:
A Shaker circle dance
Cherry Tree Carol – illustrated as a “movie” the cast watches
Children, Go Where I Send Thee – one of several numbers featuring the excellent vocals of Carolyn Saxon.
Longsword Dance to the Southern tune “Sandy Boys.”
Old time music is provided by Tui and Squirrel Butter on several numbers. Ana Vlieg Paulin provides a wonderful solo on “I Wonder as I Wander.” And long-time master of ceremonies keeps the audience on key and on in rhythm. My favorite numbers include:
“Dark as a Dungeon” – featuring tired coal miners walking through the audience to return to their families.
“Old Grandma Hobble-Gobble” – the Revels Children play a game with storyteller Bobbie Steinbach.
Sing-a-long with “I’ll Fly Away.”
The gospel of “Trouble All About My Soul.”
Medley of “Can the Circle Be Unbroken/This Land is Your Land.”
Performances of the Christmas Revels continue until December 29, so see it if you get the chance. And even if you miss it, mark you calendar for the 50th anniversary show in December 2020.
The Boston hip hop act STL GLD is well-regarded as one of the best groups in the area by local media. Boston isn’t a notable location on the hip hop map compared with other cities, but The New Normal should draw attention to our city. Moe Pope, Christopher Talken, and Jonathan Ulman perform songs that speak to the present moment of the Trump era, and all the political and personal turmoil that entails, but also offering a positive alternative vision. And STL GLD is not shy about getting their message out, including holding a listening party for the album’s premier in the unlikely setting of the Museum of Fine Arts. I admit that I don’t know enough about hip hop to write a thorough review, but I know what I like, and The New Normal, lyrically and musically, is worth listening to.
This is the second album (following 2014’s Rips) from the Washington, DC based trio of Mary Timony on guitar, bassist Betsy Wright and drummer Laura Harris. It’s got a mix of 80s punk and hardrock with touches of power pop and 60s girl groups thrown in. There’s nothing quite original here, but it is a well-crafted collection of raging guitar solos and sweet harmonies.
Do you like 1980s power pop, but want to hear it from a young, contemporary artist? Australia’s Alex Lahey fits the bill on this album that just totally rocks. She even rips out a sax solo on “Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself.” A year ago this week, I reviewed an album by Lahey’s fellow Australian Courtney Barnett, which I completely loved, and I feel just as strongly for The Best of Luck Club. Lahey is maybe a bit less edgy musically than Barnett, but her lyrics are empowering and uplifting. And even on the ballads the pair of ballads that close out the album – “Black RMs” and “I Want to Live With You” – Lahey express the contended domesticity of a loving relationship while still being a rock & roller.
I have a soft spot for punk rock that features women’s voices shouting over shredding guitars. The Petrol Girls website bears the tagline “Raging Feminist Post Hardcore from the UK and Austria” which about sums it up. And while the shouted lyrics may not always be easy to understand, I appreciate that they’re saying important things, the emotion behind them is clear.
Lizzo is one of those artists that excels in making music that fits into multiple genres – pop, hip hop, soul, funk, & R&B – so much so that her music is kind of it’s own Lizzo genre. I was going to compare the music on Cuz I Love You to the work of Prince, and that was before I learned that Lizzo is from Minneapolis (in fact she appeared on the Prince and 3rdeyegirl album Plectrumelectrum). The other obvious comparison is Janelle Monáe, and again there’s a direct connection as the pair performed together at Coachella last week and Lizzo interviewed Monáe for them.magazine. What sets Lizzo apart is her joyful exuberance. A large, black woman gets discriminated at from every angle, but Lizzo has embraced self-love, and much of the theme of this album is sharing the message of empowerment. And she sounds she’s having so much fun while doing it.
I only recently learned of this tune from the Said the Gramophone Best Songs of 2019 list. Jaimie Branch is a jazz saxophonist and composer based in Baltimore who as some things to say about the state of our country.
This was the first song I heard by Billie Eilish, about a month or so before she was suddenly a BIG DEAL, and it’s still my favorite. Billie Eilish’s music is weird, a little bit creepy, yet you can still dance to it. I never in a million years expected her to have chart success so good on her for redefining pop music. And she’s just turned 18.
Ex Hex :: Cosmic Cave
Mary Timony’s latest band returns for a second album of pure, unadorned post-punk rock.
Gato Preto featuring the LusAfro Allstars :: Mendinga Carnival
Afrofuturist music arising from the collaboration of a German producer and a pan-African band of artists.
Like Ex-Hex, the 26-year-old Australian Lahey brings straightforward pop-punk excellence (and an 80s sax solo!) to this song about resisting the pressure to do it all.
40+ years ago, rap music emerged as an urban style of music before spreading to the suburbs and exurbs, and into cultures around the world. Lil Nas X has at last brought rap into a thoroughly rural area on this track that – no matter what the Billboard Country Chart says – is thoroughly country.
A theme of this year is artists who draw on punk influences to do new things. The Priests musical interpretation of Thomas Frank’s What’s The Matter With Kansas?fits the bill.
This is another track introduced to me by the Said the Gramophone list. Rapsody, aka Marlanna Evans, is a rapper from North Carolina. The title of this track pays tribute to Ibtihaj Muhammad, a fencer who became the first Muslim American woman to wear a hijab while competing for the United States in 2016 Summer Olympics. It also has an amazing groove.
Kelsie Hogue, who performs under the name Sir Babygirl and has ties to the Boston music scene, performs intense indie pop where they belt out lyrics with trilling vibrato. This song, as I interpret it, explores the inner emotions an introvert may feel about having to go to a party when they really don’t want to.
Comeback Kid introduced Van Etten’s new harder rock sound with 80s synthpop styling. Thematically it’s about trying to assert your own identity when the people you love still see you as a kid.
In Music Discoveries, I find artists and bands that I’ve liked but have only listened to a small portion of their output, and do a complete listen of their discography. In the case of the Clash, this is a band I have listened to a more extensively but nevertheless have still found new-to-me music.
Back when the Clash was an active band I was a child who decidedly did not like punk music. Of course, I didn’t really know what punk music was since I basically equated it with heavy metal (and honestly I didn’t really know what heavy metal was either). I first became acquainted with the Clash like many mainstream Americans with their 1982 hit songs “Rock the Casbah” and “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” In 1989, I was reading a “Best of the 80s” issue of Rolling Stone that ranked the Clash’s London Calling as the #1 album of the decade (despite being released in December 1979). I got a copy from the library and gave it a listen, surprised by what I heard and more surprised that I loved it.
A couple of years later, I started college and many of the people in my dorm listened to the Clash so I got exposed to their other recordings, including the more raw punk of the earlier days. And so, five years after the Clash broke up, I became a fan.
Lately I’ve been trying to learn more about the band by listening to a podcast produced by the BBC and Spotify called Stay Free: The Story of the Clash hosted by Chuck D of Public Enemy fame. That prompted me to give the Clash the Music Discovery treatment.
Album: The Clash Release Date: April 8, 1977 Favorite Tracks: “Remote Control,” “I’m So Bored With the U.S.A.,” “White Riot,” “Career Opportunities,” and “Police & Thieves.” Thoughts:
The Clash come in with a roar on one of the most remarkable debut albums of all time. This is The Clash at their most raw, most punk rock, and yet already melodic enough to be appealing to squares like me. They even cover a reggae song, “Police & Thieves,” which was innovative at the time. The album also stands as a legacy of the social unrest, inequality, and racial strife of the UK in the 1970s.
Rating: ****1/2
Album: Give ‘Em Enough Rope Release Date: November 10, 1978 Favorite Tracks: “Guns on the Roof,” “Drug-Stabbing Time,” Thoughts:
The sophomore effort feels more stripped down and raw than the debut, although the second side is poppier (and “Drug-Stabbing Time” sounds deceptively cheerful). Lyrically there’s a broadening of topical issues beyond the band’s experiences in London to global political events. This album doesn’t grab me as much as The Clash, but it’s still quality.
Rating: ***
Album: London Calling Release Date: December 14, 1979 Favorite Tracks: “London Calling,” “Hateful,” “Rudie Can’t Fail,” “The Right Profile,” “Lost in the Supermarket,” “Guns of Brixton,” “Death or Glory,” “Revolution Rock,” “Train in Vain” Thoughts:
It’s hard to find anything new to say about what many people consider one of the greatest albums of all time, except to say it is one of the greatest albums of all time. It’s hard to single out my favorite songs, although “Lost in the Supermarket” has always resonated with me. I wonder what it would’ve been like to hear this album for the first time in 1979. It must’ve been so unexpected for most listeners of the time.
Rating: *****
Album: Sandinista! Release Date: December 12, 1980 Favorite Tracks: “The Magnificent Seven,” “Hitsville, U.K.,” “Somebody Got Murdered,” “The Sound of Sinners,” “Lose This Skin” Thoughts:
Almost a year to the date of releasing a double album, the Clash follow up with a triple album! Sandinista!is reminiscent of the Beatles “White Album” in it’s diversity of musical styles, large list of guest musicians, and the sense that one could pare down this sprawl into a great single album, but what would you cut? The new wave and “world music” sounds of the album seem to be years ahead of the rest of music world.
Rating: ***1/2
Album: Combat Rock Release Date: May 14, 1982 Favorite Tracks: “Know Your Rights,” “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” and “Straight to Hell” Thoughts: The band’s best-selling album is more radio-friendly with tracks like “Rock the Casbah” and “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” but I don’t think the band compromised too much for commercial success. Other tracks on the album like “Know Your Rights” hearken back to their early punk rock sound. And then there’s music that doesn’t sound like anything else ever made, like “Straight to Hell,” one of my all-time favorite songs by any band. Rating: ***1/2
Album: Cut the Crap Release Date: November 5, 1985 Favorite Tracks: none Thoughts: This is the much-maligned final album of the disillusioned remnant of a once great band. The songs are formulaic, recorded over cheezy 80s synth with shout-along choruses that sound like a crowd of drunken football supporters. It’s not terrible, but it it is boring, which is about the worst thing one can say about the Clash. Rating: *
My Clash All-Time Top Ten Songs
Aramagideon Time (Live at Shea Stadium)
(NOTE: The live performance combines Armagideon Time with The Magnificent Seven which is not evident from the YouTube clip)
Norman Lear’s groundbreaking show All in the Family depicted the real divisions within American family. The famed overstuffed armchair remains on display at the Smithsonian as recognition of the show’s place in history. By the way, I’ve never before noticed how much Donald Trump’s vocal intonations resemble Archie Bunker’s.
What if I didn’t review any albums for some time and then did a bunch at once? Again?
Album: The Competition Artist: Lower Dens Release Date: September 6, 2019 Favorite Tracks: “Two Faced Love” and “Young Republicans” Thoughts: These songs have a lush sound reminiscent of the 1980s New Romantics. Which is fine, if you’ve listened to all of that 35+ year old music and yearn for more. The big twist is that lyrically it is much more political than romantic. Rating: **1/2
Album: Close It Quietly Artist: Frankie Cosmos Release Date: September 6, 2019 Favorite Tracks: “41st,” “So Blue,” Thoughts: Greta Kline follows up on 2018’s Vessel with another collection of lo-fi folk rock tunes. Her sweet voice clearly sings ruminative lyrics about growing into adulthood. Rating: ***
Album: Crush Artist: Floating Points Release Date: October 18, 2019 Thoughts: This collection of minimalist electronic music from UK musician Sam Shepherd was just what I needed to hear right now. Rating: ****
Album: There Existed an Addiction to Blood Artist: clipping. Release Date: October 18, 2019 Favorite Tracks: “Nothing is Safe,” “The Show, and “Blood of the Fang” Thoughts: This the third album from this experimental hip-hop act from Los Angeles, and first since 2016’s Splendor & Money. There are two great things about this album: 1. the rapid rhymes of Daveed Diggs (of Hamilton fame) and 2. the deep-textured synth sounds he raps over. The lyrics are grim and gory, making it an appropriate addition to your Halloween party playlist. Rating: ****
