Review: Benyaro, Good Day Better

Benyaro

Good Day Better

B

Brooklyn’s acoustic folk quartet Benyaro returns with Good Day Better, a strong collection of upbeat rootsy tunes. Ben Musser and Meg Chamberlin’s vocals drive the album forward behind a steady mix of some acoustic folk, blues and country influences. “Call off Forever” best demonstrates Benyaro’s blissful strumming and singing as Chamberlin sings, “Try to find yourself some soul brother / get on down and be someone”. That attitude though, when combined with some overly ambitious vocals from Musser, can get downright annoying, like in “Eureka”. It feels like the joyful vocals are just a bit too loud in more than a few songs—and that can get in the way of an otherwise solid album. If Benyaro could just turn down the vocal mix and sing some more sad songs, they could be on to greater heights. Good Day Better is still an overall enjoyable listen.

-- Cole Stangler

"The Cosmic American Radio Music Hour," Fridays 2-4 pm on WGTB

Review: John Clinebell, Make it Land

 John Clinebell

Make it Land

C-

John Clinebell's latest release Make It Land ultimately produces one question after a painful
forty-five minute listening session - Why do people continue to make this kind of music?
Clinebell's latest effort is an ultimately uninspiring attempt at something that has failed so miserably
countless times before: the sentimental singer/songwriter who adds a heavy dose of uninspiring lyrics
to overly predictable chord changes and expects some kind of powerful emotional effect. Go ahead
and add Clinebell to that list of sappy songwriters who lack musicianship and serious stories to tell.
There are a couple decent songs in the middle of this work - Lay Back and Die and Go On Your Way, but that doesn't salvage the rest of the album. There's nothing wrong with heartfelt lyrics but Clinebell's are flat out affective and uninteresting at best. He may very well go on to have a decent career and there's certainly an audience for this brand of acoustic pop and catchy guitar hooks, but this isn't an album worth listening to.


-- Cole Stangler
The Cosmic American Radio Music Hour, Saturdays 2-4 pm on WGTB

Review: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Beat The Devil's Tattoo

 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Beat The Devil's Tattoo

B

In Beat the Devil’s Tattoo, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club remains loyal to their emblematic sound—pounding out some hard-rocking, grungy tunes full of distortion while throwing in a few doses of some blues and more rootsier sounds. While certainly not at the same level as 2005’s Howl, BRMC’s greatest exploration of American blues and folk music, the band does incorporate more of that sound into this effort than their 2007 release Baby 81—and it lends the group a more sophisticated sound. The title track “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo” begins with a simple blues lick before developing into a full-scale shredfest. “River Styx” also follows a comparable pattern. They know how to play loud, and make no mistake, they do it pretty damn well, but it’s the simpler, softer tracks like “Sweet Feeling” that they could use more of. The very heavy garage rock gets a bit repetitive in more than a few instances—for example “Shadow’s Keeper”. In any case, though, Beat the Devil’s Tattoo is a strong release. BRMC clearly knows how to turn the volume up and play some no-nonsense rock and roll. Although some of their tracks gets a bit tiring at times, the band has an authentic sound to it—and that’s definitely worth something these days.

-- Cole Stangler

"The Cosmic American Radio Music Hour," Saturdays 2-4 pm on WGTB

Concert Review (and Interview!): Cedric Burnside & Lightnin' Malcolm

Cedric Burnside & Lightnin' Malcolm

9:30 Club, Washington DC

Feb. 8, 2010

by Cole Stangler and Mark Waterman

Hosts, "The Cosmic American Music Radio Hour," Saturdays 2-4 pm on WGTB

At a mostly empty 9:30 Club—in stark contrast to the crowd that saw Galactic later—Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm took the stage for a short set of some hill country blues. Despite the sparse crowd, Burnside and Malcolm, known as the Juke Joint Duo and The Two Man Wrecking Crew, were not short on energy as they pounded out some edgy country blues.

With its’ gritty and unpretentious sound, the duo channels the great hill country and blues tradition of north Mississippi—launching into extensive trances without the smoother and predictable chord changes of standard blues. Although Cedric and Malcolm performed all original songs, their sound is unmistakably derived from hill country legends Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside, Cedric’s grandfather.

“Me, when I was six, seven years old…and a bunch of other grandkids…we be out there kickin’ up dust, you know to that music. That was our music. And that’s how me myself—I feel like I am the blues ‘cause I just grew up with the blues and it’s always been in me,” Cedric said.

(Read more and hear the full interview after the jump!)