Mitch Easter predicts a... reckoning?
Plus new music from Mr. Bunch, Sledding, and Cindy Lawson
MITCH EASTER - “Fine Forever Wanting” (Self-released)
It’s hard name anyone besides Steve Albini who’s had more of an influence on indie rock from the 80’s onward than Mitch Easter - musician, songwriter, producer/engineer, influence, and mentor to half the musicians from the American South since Reagan. On his first solo recording in a decade, Easter goes for broke - or rather, the baroque - as off-kilter rhythms and varying synth sounds conspire to create a sense of mystery and foreboding. Easter’s voice comes across as gentle and plaintive until, abruptly, it isn’t; the music crescendos, melody fades into discord, his vocal rises in pitch and urgency. The words get lost in the - excuse the expression - murmur, but clearly, something’s coming. “Fine Forever Wanting” might be a world away from the jangly power pop of Lets Active, but we’re a world away from the Eighties. These are dire times - politically, environmentally, emotionally. Mitch Easter is sounding the alarm.
MR. BRUNCH - My Old Life (Self-released)
Mr. Brunch is Gavin Salerno, younger brother to Griffin (of Zalerno) and son of James, the drummer in dad-rock band Cyclone Static. Gavin may still be a year away from a learner’s permit but there’s no age limit on talent; he wrote, performed and recorded this impressive 7-song album by himself, wrapping his vocals in a gauzy filter and using layered guitars, synths, and percussion to create a varied palette of intriguing songs.
There’s indie-rock on “He’s Gone,” symphonic electro-pop on “Mr. Brunch,” a happy-go-lucky pop song on “Cherry,” and an introspective ballad with a motorik beat and chiming guitars, “Find Myself.” That would have been plenty to delight any listener, but Mr. Brunch throws in a dreamy, electro-pop instrumental, an experimental Dub track, and closes things out with “Up In Smoke,” a smoldering, repetitive, guitar-driven instrumental with voices buried in the mix like an overheard conversation.
The last young’un who impressed me like this was a Manahawkin kid called Joseph Ferocious, and he only went on to play Lollapalooza and other festivals fronting Cymbals Eat Guitars. New Jersey, you are on notice. Get on board or miss the boat on this one.
SLEDDING - “My Golden Tempo” (Self-released)
Anyone remember Friction Wheel, Fordham students whose band became a favorite at Maxwell’s? Now Fordham’s given us Sledding - vocalist/guitarist Aidan Drouse, vocalist/guitarist Khadija "Deej" Aslam, bassist Kelsey Kussman, and guitarist/ keyboardist Woods Prewitt - with a debut single that arrives with an exclamation point. “My Golden Tempo” serves up a thick melange of layered bass, guitars, keyboards and two intertwining lead vocals with touchstones in New Wave, the Velvet Underground, shoegaze, and industrial. The sound is heavy yet propulsive, a melodic drone with a compelling rhythm and stabs of distorted electric guitars. Even though the lyrics are indecipherable, the track offers a sense of mystery and foreboding, asking the musical question: What is going on here? I hope Sledding provides the answer - with more music. Stat!
CINDY LAWSON - The Reckoning (Rum Bar)
Cindy Lawson’s a Minneapolitan lifer who competed eyeballs with Husker Du and the Replacements back in the day. She’s happily found a home at the last bastion of rock ‘n’ roll, Rum Bar Records, and “The Reckoning” announces her October album “Long Live The Resistance!,” a EP with song titles like “Eat The Rich” and “Howard Zinn Died For Your Sins.” On “The Reckoning,” she purrs, bellows, snarls, and squeals with not just power but command, an amalgam of Ronnie Spector, Joan Jett, the Runaways, and Tina Turner, while her band roars like the Stooges meets Motorhead. The lyrics tell the tale of a cad who gets his due. Inspirational verse: “Karma’s a bitch… but so am I.”