Ketchup Vol. 11
Another 10 recently-released records I can’t give the full attention they deserve.
The Stark brothers caught the world’s attention when their song “Love Bug” highlighted the soundtrack to the TV show The Walking Dead. The Louisiana duo goes less for atmosphere and more for blood on its debut EP, blasting out blues rock with just the right touch of sleaze. Picks to click: “Shake Off the Shame,” “Jet Black”
Boy + Kite – We Can Go Anywhere We Want (self-released)
Dreamy co-ed guitar pop quartets are a dime a baker’s dozen these days, so it’s difficult to say what makes Austin’s Boy + Kite stand out of the very large pack. Could it be…songs? Given how finely crafted and catchy they are, that must be it. Picks to click: “Fall,” “Right Above Me (extended)”
Davell Crawford – My Gift to You (Basin Street)
Keyboardist Davell Crawford has been a New Orleans fixture since the mid-90s, and My Gift to You pays tribute with a lush, varied journey through melody and groove. The LP includes appearances by N’awlins notables Dr. John, Nicholas Payton, Donald Harrison, Jr., Steve Riley, Walter Wolfman Washington and Big Freedia, though the song selection (James Taylor? Billy Joel?) leans toward the gooey. Picks to click: “Creole Man,” “Don’t Ever Be Blue”
Hymn For Her – Lucy and Wayne’s Smokin Flames (self-released)
Co-ed duo allegedly from Philly, though in truth the couple’s home is a van cruising down the open road to the next gig. The pair’s grungy, punk-rocking folkabilly – played on a homemade cigar-box guitar, among other things – shivers and shakes with the energy of the proto-punk bands from the Detroit locale in which it was recorded, except when it’s lyrical and lovely. Picks to click: “Glistening Cowgirl,” “Burn This”
Having evolved out of the late Katzenjammer Kabarett, Paris’s KatzKab traffics in the same hybrid of electronica, goth rock and cabaret music. Sounding like a demented Berlin (both the band and the city), the quartet filters the Weimar era through a *Giorgio Moroder* filter for some distinctly stylish kicks. Picks to click: “Harold and the Body,” “The Silent Guest”
The Machine & Sungrazer – s/t (Elektrohasch)
A pair of Netherlands-based stoner rock troupes share this record. The Machine scans heavier and Sungrazer more psychedelic, but both are masters of crunchy, melodic acid grunge. Picks to click: “Not Only,” “Yo La Tengo”
Pinata Protest – El Valiente (Saustex/Cosmica)
Only San Antonio could produce a band like this – accordion-fueled conjunto meets slamming punk rock over beers, and nobody gets hurt. More Flogging Molly than Manic Hispanic, the band keeps a sense of humor about its mash-up without being a gimmicky joke. Picks to click: “Life On the Border,” “Vato Perron”
Way back in 1988, Madison, Wisconsin’s Semi-Twang released Salty Tears, a minor classic of American roots rock. A quarter century later, the band rises again, with another solid collection of unpretentious rockers and tasteful ballads that prove leader John Sieger hasn’t let his songcrafting chops lie fallow. Picks to click: “The Wrong Side of the Tracks,” “Foghorn”
Drummer Denis Rodier and guitarist Martin Vanier make up this progressive rock band, but it’s their studio collaborators that turn heads. The presence of Tony Levin, Markus Reuter, Trey Gunn, Adrian Benavides and others pushes this LP out of the realm of Yes and Genesis and into far more experimental and challenging waters. Picks to click: “Juggernaut,” “Torngat”
Way to Blue stands out in a sea of tribute albums by virtue of picking its artists via compatibility, rather than marquee value, and by being produced by Joe Boyd, who worked with Drake in Ye Olden Tymes. Robyn Hitchcock shares these traditionalist takes with Green Gartside of Scritti Politti, Lisa Hannigan, Teddy Thompson, Danny Thompson,Shane Nicholson, Luluc and more. Picks to click: “Poor Boy” by Shane Nicholson, “One of These Things First” by Danny Thompson and Zoe Rahman, "Saturday Sun" by Luluc and Lisa Hannigan
