Telekinesis - Effluxion

(This review first appeared in issue #88 of Shindig! magazine.)


An album title to increase your knowledge, (Latin for flow, in case you were wondering), Effluxion is the fifth full-length offering from Seattle-based musician Michael Benjamin Lerner, fresh from a stint as touring keyboard player with Teenage Fanclub. The album was self-produced over two years in the basement of his home, with Lerner taking on all instrumental duties. He's songwriter who knows how to knock out a decent hook-laden tune or ten. Be it the quiet/loud dynamics of 'Set A Course', the piano-led pop of 'How Do I Get Rid Of Sunlight?', or the playfully dancing bassline on 'Cut The Quick' the attention is focused on songcraft with properly pleasing choruses and twist-laden mid-eights throughout.

Containing only ten taut tracks Effluxion may be a short listen, but after spending 32 minutes in its company the world will seem a brighter, more hopeful place. As Teenage Fanclub would say – ain't that enough?

Stag - Midtown Sizzler

(This review first appeared in issue #70 of Shindig! magazine.)

Self-release CD

Crunch, hook and swagger are the key words that summarise this Seattle-based quintet's latest release. Their collective listening pile may lean heavily towards the glam rock of the early to mid '70s (think Sweet, Slade & T Rex), but the gutsy rock/pop they make has been given a contemporary speaker-pushing sheen. It's an in-yer-face guitar wall of sound topped with catchy melodies.

'Come On' channels Rod and The Faces, all bluesy bar-room boogie whereas 'The Bedazzler' passes itself off as a lost Chinnichap production, a feelgood glam stomper up there with anything Giuda and Faz Waltz have made.

Vocalist Steve Mack, best known from his days with That Petrol Emotion, is in fine voice, just the right side of raspy, and is backed by a band whose joy in playing is palpable. It's the sound of a band not trying to change the world but having fun playing music they love. Ain't nothing wrong with that!

Prana Crafter - MindStreamBlessing

Mindful and meditative music from the Washington woodlands.

I've written before about the American musician William Sol, who musical nom-de-plume is Prana Crafter. His previous LP Rupture of Planes (on US label Deep Water Acres) mixed UK acid-folk with textural soundscapes to great effect. MindStreamBlessing, Sol's latest LP, freshly released on Eiderdown Records doesn't give away its influences as much but that's no bad thing. The finger-picked guitar is still there as are the electric flights of fancy but this time round the inspiration comes from deep within his own range of emotions.

Using a simple palette of guitar, drums and organ the music has a timeless, elemental quality, inspired by nature and vistas and the feeling of being far from the madding crowd. Fans of the much-missed Windham Hill label will feel an affinity with the music here. This six song LP is the perfect soundtrack for insomniac nights and the stillness and of early mornings. Don't expect hooks, riffs or gimmicks, but do expect subtle, slow-burning pieces that given time will have a deeper, longer lasting satisfaction. A fine example of solitary yet subtly cosmic Americana.

Released on digital download or as a limited edition cassette (100 copies only).

Click here for Prana Crafter on Twitter.

Click here for Eiderdown Records.

My Goodness - C'Mon Doll

It wasn't all that long ago that blues duos could only be found in juke houses of America's deep south. However since Jack and Meg White saved rock 'n' roll 10 years ago in the time honoured fashion of re-packaging  music of black origin for white folk, it looks like the duo format is here to stay. I'm all for it. Just geetar, drums and voice. Such a stripped down sound means you better have something to say and it better be said succinctly, make people feel good, and be punky and funky. There's nothing extraneous. No overdubs, no hiding behind smoke, mirrors or massive production so you'd best make it good punks.

A pleasure then to learn that Seattle garage duo are currently on tour in the UK this May supporting We Are Augustines. A double pleasure to find that their debut single C'Mon Doll is released at the end of the month. If you dig Fat Possum Records, The White Stripes, The Black Keys, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, raw blues, or gritty and grainy garage rock this is right up your alley. There's to be a full length album later in the year but for now this will do nicely.


Click over the jump to see the video for C'Mon Doll by My Goodness.