Music

Manu Chao

Music Notes:

Greg Brown, Kelly Richey, Fiona Boyes, and more

Manu Chao

We gathered the first night of August at the Shrine Auditorium to see a very powerful man: Manu Chao. Few places like L.A. to draw such an eclectic crowd; people from all corners of the world came down to see this rare U.S. appearance of Manu with his band Radio Bemba Sound System. His anti-imperialist stance has long kept him away from the U.S., giving this special show a dissident overtone.

Although many fans have endured Manu Chao’s explorations in music since his beginning with the punk-Ska band Mano Negra with whom he recorded hits like “King of the Bongo” and “Mala Vida,” it wasn’t until the 1998 release of his solo album Clandestino and the 2001 follow-up Próxima Estación Esperanza that the world opened its arms to Manu Chao. But if you had never heard of this French 45 year-old, music revolutionary, pioneer of the new world music explosion, regarded by many as the guru of peaceful iconoclastic struggle, you are not the only one. Manu Chao has focused his efforts in Europe and Latin America where he is very well known.

The lights dimmed and one by one, starting with the drummer on the stripped down drum kit, the band members came on stage vigorously as if alerting crowd of what was to come. The middle-aged Manu Chao came on stage and throughout the next 2 hours was to transport the audience with the sound of the streets of Algiers, Barcelona, Bogotá, Dakar, and the world about in a frenzy of the human spirit. He sang in Spanish, English, Portuguese, Arabic, Galician and Wolof, often within the same song. He dedicated songs to the prisoners of Guantánamo, cried for peace, justice and equal rights. It became evident that one of the purposes for his visit was to support “la raza” in their struggle with immigration laws. “Esta va para todos aquellos que muririeron al tratar de cruzar esa absurda frontera.”

The nostalgia for a Bob Marley, Che Guevara-like prophet was mitigated by the coming of Manu Chao, and so at the end he departed leaving us his message “Próxima Estación: Esperanza,” Next station: Hope. manuchao.net - Andres Ospina

Music Notes

If it’s dark and raining this coming Tuesday, I welcome you to dig deep into the Blues and huddle up to some misery sharing company in three excellent new CD’s that continue the lonesome soul tradition. My pick of the week is one of these new Blues gems to hunt for - Greg Brown’s The Evening Call - a sinewy, wandering philosopher’s masterpiece, a slow motion, story telling Americana diary that waltzes to the witty, pensive, poetic beat of Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Todd Snider. Politically charged in the sense of Folk music’s soft-spoken yet poignant everyman, this is Tom Joad’s road trip CD for the new decade. With memorable, cinematic lyrical twists around every guitar bend, this hypnotic Red House Records release brings to mind the Latin Playboys backing Utah Phillips, kicking up the sand of concrete urban gutters instead of hobo encampments.

Looking, instead, to bang your head to the electrified, nasty, knife-edged funk of get-down shredder Blues? Hands down, I think Kelly Richey would have kicked the snot out of both Steve Vai and the “Karate Kid” if she could step into the film Crossroads. Next week brings the Cincinnati-based guitarist’s new CD, Speechless, well titled for an instrumental stunner that hovers and dives under the blistering influence of Roy Buchanan, Joe Walsh and Warren Haynes. Taking a breather in the acoustic “Only the Bird Knows” and the British Invasion-tinged “Stand Alone,” this incense and black light basement smoker can be found on the Sweet Lucy Records imprint.

Next stop – down under - for Australia’s Fiona Boyes, the first woman to win the Blues Foundation’s Interna-tional Blues Challenge. With a handful of solo albums under her belt, and those with her previous group, The Mojos, the new Yellow Dog Records CD, Lucky 13, features guests Marcia Ball and Bob Margolin.

Television Alert
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno counts down 30 Seconds to Mars on Friday and Five For Fighting on Monday; The Late Show with David Letterman hosts Dashboard Confessional on Thursday and Yellowcard on Monday; The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson boasts Tally Hall this evening overnight, Michael Franti on Thursday overnight, Natasha Bedingfield on Friday overnight, and Cheyenne Kimball on Monday overnight; Last Call with Carson Daly howls at the moon with Wolfmother on Thursday overnight and Seether on Friday overnight; and The Henry Rollins Show presents an intimate session with Ani DiFranco this weekend.

New Releases
and like the winds, young grasshopper, are subject to change...
Accepted - original motion picture soundtrack (Shout Factory) with selections from Weezer, The Hives, Le Tigre, the Pixies, and Ryan Adams, the film’s collegiate cast band, The Ringers, turning in “Keepin’ Your Head Up” for extra credit
The Art of Noise - What Have You Done With My Body God (ZZT) import-only 3-CD box set featuring a bonus DVD
Blood Meridian - Kick Up the Dust (V2) new from Matthew Camirand of Black Mountain
Breaking Benjamin - Phobia (Hollywood) enhanced CD
The Damned - Fiendish Shadows (Cleopatra) live recordings from 1985 and 1986, featuring a cover of Iggy Pop’s “Lust For Life”
The Daughters - Hell Songs (Hydra Head)
Davison / Coleman - Forward Motion (DHW) a customer favorite at Borders Books from their hundreds of in-store concerts nationwide, the lush guitar work features the Laud, a medieval age instrument, and the acoustic duo‘s cover of Cat Steven’s “Moonshadow”
Ani DiFranco – Reprieve (Righteous Babe) recorded in New Orleans under the undeniable influence of hurricane Katrina, forcing the singer to abandon her home studio as the waters rose
DJ Krush - Stepping Stones (Red Ink) with guests Zap Mama, Mos Def, Company Flow, and The Roots, this new album is released in three separate editions, with the 2-CD “self-remixed best of” and single disc “lyricism” and “soundscapes” versions
Deryl Dodd - Full Circle (Dualtone) boot-scootin’ honky-tonkin’ boogie and sad barroom blues from the hot-shot Texan who paid his dues as Martina McBride’s touring guitarist
Ensemble – “Disown, Delete” (FatCat) CD single with guest Chan Marshall
Forget Cassettes – Salt (Theory 8) Nashville trio lead by Beth Cameron
Matthew Friedberger - Winter Women / Holy Ghost Language School (859 Recordings) two-CD solo set from half of The Fiery Furnaces duo, featuring on disc of quirky, funky pop and a second CD of experimental guitar and sampled treatments
Gin Blossoms - Major Lodge Victory (Hybrid) featuring the first single, “Learning the Hard Way”
Green Day - Can You Rock? Sing and Play the Songs of Green Day (School of Rock) budding six-string punters can get their learn on with this CD, featuring 5 songs stripped down of guitar and vocal tracks in various configurations so you play or sing along
Heartless Bastards - All This Time (Fat Possum) majestic, wall-of-sound jangle with a melodious sweetness from this hot Cincinnati trio, soothing the tumbling, driving buzz with violin and viola in “I Swallowed a Dragonfly”
Hello Goodbye - Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! (Drive-Thru) touring this past year with Panic! At the Disco and All American Rejects
Kaki King - Until We Felt Red (Velour)
Left Alone - Dead American Radio (Hellcat) with guest Patricia Day of the Horrorpops
Lola Ray – Liars (226 Records)
The M’s - The M’s (Polyvinyl) audiophile reissue on 180-gram vinyl, featuring a bonus 7-inch single covering The Isley Brothers’ “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out”
Moshav – Misplaced (Jewish Music Group) featuring a cover of Tom Waits’ “Jockey Full of Bourbon”
Jim Noir - Tower of Love (Barsuk / Atlantic) catch Adidas using his “Eanie Meanie” in their World Cup advertising campaign
Judith Owen – Here (Courgette) eight original tablespoons of sweeping, honey sweet, pensive pop perfection from this masterful vocalist, capturing the pin-drop stillness in the air in must-hear interpretations of Ray Davies’ “I Go to Sleep,” and dig this – Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger”
Primal Scream - “Dolls (Sweet Rock n’ Roll)” (Columbia) import-only CD single feat. cover Johnny Thunders’ “It’s Not Enough,” and the intriguingly titled “Zeppelin Blues While Thinking of Robert Parker”
The Sadies - The Sadies in Concert: Volume 1 (Yep Roc) feat. cover of Pink Floyd’s “Lucifer Sam,” this 2-CD live album was recorded earlier this year by Steve Albini, packed with guests Jon Spencer, Kelly Hogan, Neco Case, the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris, The Band’s Garth Hudson, Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keeler, & the Mekons’ Jon Langford
Sebadoh – III (Domino) expanded CD reissue with a bonus disc of 4-track cassette recordings and new liner notes featuring the band’s history by Jason Loewenstein
Sigur Ros – Saeglopur (Worker’s Institute) CD EP and DVD set
The Slow Signal Fade – Steady (In Music We Trust) debut from this buzzing, shoegazing quartet fueled by the dreamy vocals of Sri Lankan born Marguerite Olivelle
Tegan & Sara - It’s Not Fun: Don’t Do It (Vapor/Sanctuary) live concert DVD with bonus videos, a behind the scenes tour documentary, and photo gallery
Velvet - Juggernaut (Double Decker Bus) prod. by Athens, Georgia wunderkid Mitch Easter

John James yeahyeah@cinci.rr.com