|
Archives
Charlie
Daniels Ravi Shankar Knitters
Duran Duran Vishwa
Mohan Bhatt
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Resurrecting the Renaissance
Blackmore's Night takes rock legend back in
time
BY Samir Shukla
Published 10.24.07 in Creative Loafing,
Charlotte
It's one of the most recognizable rock 'n' roll
riffs ever. Even if you don't know the rest of the song, you know the opening
riff. All you need to hear are the first three chords to start humming the hard
rock nugget "Smoke on the Water."
Ritchie Blackmore's signature guitar will live
on in that one song even if nothing else he did matters. But it does.
Blackmore's stints in Deep Purple and Rainbow are forever etched in the
eardrum-battered alleyways of rock.
But for the last decade Blackmore's music has
traveled to the past going back centuries, way back to the Renaissance.
Blackmore and vocalist/lyricist Candice Night have been bringing back the
romanticism and aura of that epoch with their Renaissance-inspired band,
Blackmore's Night, since the late '90s.
"Ritchie was always inspired by the
Renaissance," Night says. "Whenever he would get off the stage he
would listen to traditional music, even though he's been playing rock music for
40 years. He's always kind of reveled in that; he has a passion for this music.
He's challenged by the musical instruments as well such as hurdy-gurdy or the
nickel harp.
"Even in Rainbow, when you listen to
'Temple of the King' Ritchie was incorporating sixteenth century melodies. So
for him, it's nothing new, but with a softer, female vocalist. Adding some newer
arrangements, keeps it interesting," she adds.
Blackmore and Night met in 1989 when Deep
Purple played a soccer match against employees of a Long Island radio station
where she worked. The duo discovered their shared love of Renaissance culture
and, shortly after, became a couple.
Night wrote some songs for Rainbow and sang
back-up in the early '90s. In 1997, Blackmore began playing and recording
Renaissance-inspired music. He would play the acoustic music at home and Night
would casually start singing along. This informal jamming blossomed into
Blackmore's Night and the band's debut album, Shadow of the Moon, was
released in 1998.
This fantasy music could have come off as
kitschy new age, but the couple instills a moody, ethereal feel to it all. And
they evoke bygone eras with touches of Celtic and world folk rhythms.
In this band, Blackmore largely plays acoustic
guitar where Night's voice adds a haunting and seductive layering. Her lyrics
dabble in romanticism and although some sappiness seeps in, she writes from the
heart and her words slow-dance with the music. This is contemporary music,
though, not an academic study in dated Renaissance music.
Long-running fans can rest assured; Blackmore
hasn't given up his Fender Stratocaster. The band polishes off old hard-rock
classics, replete with a Renaissance touch, during their live performances.
Blackmore recruited other musicians from around
the globe to combine bits of world music, new age, rock and folk for his current
band's musical backdrop. It all revolves around Night's voice and Blackmore's
acoustic guitar along with mandolins, keyboards, pennywhistles, violins,
tambourines, military drums and hurdy-gurdies.
This band of 21st century wandering minstrels
and troubadours revel in the Renaissance and, over the past decade, Blackmore's
Night has toured and played in castles and historic locales in several European
countries. The six-piece band performs material inspired by sounds dating back
to the 1700s, 1600s and 1500s.
They also incorporate visuals from the era into
their performances to create an "escape from the daily lives," as
Night likes to describe it. Many fans, young and old, attend their shows in
traditional clothing. The band has created its own sub-genre of folk-rock that
is mystical and unique. It's a journey to a simpler time where art, music and
romance flourished.
Candice Night weaves her vocals into her
lyrical myths and fairy tales. She writes the words after Blackmore plays her a
tune, opposite of what a lot of bands do when they compose music around a
written song. "He is the man in the music and I'm the woman in the
words," she says describing their creative partnership.
The band released the CD The Village
Lanterne last year and there's a new DVD set to be released in November
called Paris Moon.
QC Secret Society
Local CD releases reviewed
BY SAMIR SHUKLA and TIMOTHY C. DAVIS
Published 05.24.06 in Creative Loafing,
Charlotte
Charlotte is too often accused
of having a lackluster music scene. The much smaller Chapel Hill gets all the
hip, Pitchfork-friendly acts, and many bands of all sizes still quietly bypass
the Queen City on their way from the Triangle area to Atlanta or even Asheville.
But look around, pop into the clubs or gin joints on any given night -- there's
a chance a hot local band will be playing. Here's the latest round of
Charlotte-area releases that have come through our doors recently. Check the
Loaf's Soundboard listings, and go see one of these acts at their next local
gig. That's how ya build a scene.
Blanco Diablo
Paper Poison Revolution
www.rockridgemusic.com
These Charlotte-area rockers
open each track with a blistering riff. But there's also some nice interplay
going on here that's part-Prong and part-Faster Pussycat. The pared-down attack
of guitars, bass and drums sounds bigger than the three-piece combo. The whole
record rolls along full-steam ahead, slowing only on the last track, the epic
"Stop the Bleeding," which starts out as a ballad and then booms. (Shukla)
Kimberly Carper
Quarter 'till Three
www.kimberlycarper.com
On this debut recording, jazz
and blues singer Carper interprets songs of Sting, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits,
Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie, Goffin & King and others. With the help of
local music veterans, she nails down a smooth and soulful musical backdrop
throughout the disc. Quarter 'till Three evokes the wee hours, and the covers
make for a varied and finely-tuned homage. (Shukla)
Scoot Pittman
Lake Montonia Road
www.scootmusic.com
Pittman is a talented tunesmith
who's been writing and playing music around these parts for years. There's nary
a hint of pretension in his work. It's the "music first" attitude that coaxes
heart-felt songs from Pittman's muse. On Lake Montonia Road, Pittman gets a
little help from locals Eric Lovell, Gigi Dover, Michael Reno Harrell and other
NC music vets. (Shukla)
Green Light
Patient like the Moon
www.greenlightmusic.net
The instrumental trio Green
Light -- Kevin Gill (guitar), Dustin Hofsess (bass) and Adam Snow (drums) --
weaves jazz, global beats and funk into a surreal improv and groove-laden vibe.
Patient like the Moon opens with the funky "Action Packed" and the rest of the
album follows that lead. (Shukla)
The Turnstiles
Step Right Up
www.theturnstiles.net
The Turnstiles play Southern rock in the "rambling down the highway" vein of the
Allman Brothers Band. Then there's fiddle and mandolin courtesy of Tom Eure.
Principal songwriters Brad Thomas and Jon Frye have the knack to craft literate
songs, and each sings lead on his own compositions, enhancing the disc's
distinction. (Shukla)
Tom Eure
Back Woods
Simple Tune Records
Eure's 2004 release, Let's Put it to Music, was clearheaded in tone and
delivery, and claustrophobic in its examinations of life and relationships. The
singer-songwriter's latest, Back Woods, isn't as genre-pure as the
bluegrass-based Music, but it's no less worthy of a listen for local roots music
fans. Pick hits: "Tattered and Torn," "Lost Highway," "Boston." (Davis)
Elevator Action
Society, Secret
MoRisen Records
Elevator Action's previous
release on Charlotte-based MoRisen Records, It's Just Addiction, was a solid
debut outing, to be sure. Produced by John Agnello, a man with a knack for
recording guitar-heavy, meat-and-potatoes rock records, there were
riffs-a-plenty, lots of trebly screamed choruses and enough atmosphere to
populate a small planet. It was volatile, and sometimes seemed to exist in a
vacuum. Society, Secret suggests that vacuum might have been the oft-incestuous
QC music scene. The new disc examines the pleasures and pains of nightlife and
relationships, both lasting and liquored-up. Songs like "Miss Congeniality" and
the title track take advantage of an admirable male/female, he said/she said
dynamic (courtesy guitarist Eric Gilstrap and bassist Laurie Ruroden) to give
the album a lyrical and emotional thread that never fails to hold strong. Quite
possibly MoRisen's best release to date. (Davis)
Trip Rogers Trio
Live ... On the Ragged Edge
www.triprogers.com
Trip Rogers has often called
his style "coffeehouse combat guitar," which is a fair enough descriptive for
the 10 songs on Ragged Edge. Recorded live at the Milestone Club and SK Net
Café, Edge suffers from the usual problems of on-a-budget live recordings
(namely, it's often trebly as hell and the vocals are sky-high in the mix). But
at the same time, it showcases Southern-fried wit (see the industry-skewering
"Where's the Hook" and "New Barbarians") and some able and assured acoustic
picking. A must-have for the Charlotte coffeehouse set. (Davis)
The Sammies
The Sammies
MoRisen Records
Recorded with Jamie Hoover and
John Agnello at Charlotte's Hooverama studios, this album has a lot in common
with most MoRisen releases: a focus on chorus-centric, guitar-heavy, mid-tempo
pop rock; a playful sense of pacing; and just enough studio sheen to give it at
least a glancing chance at radio play (or, in MoRisen's case, TV and movie
placement). The title song, "Coming Out Wild," bodes well but never quite rises
to the promise of its title. Thankfully, the album heats up with "Falling Out,"
a Sammies live staple, and continues its slow boil through "Trainwreck," a
barroom stomp par excellence that might more aptly be titled "Runaway
Locomotive." "Panther Leap," a tribute to the boys' favorite football team, is a
fun romp for those black, blue and silver-inclined. (Davis)
Lenny and
Kenny
Bell-bottom blues
Lenny Kravitz & Kenny Floyd salute classic rock
By Samir Shukla
Published January 11, 2006 -
Creative Loafing, Charlotte
There's
comfort in being retro. There're also rules. To turn your retro vibe into a
lasting musical statement and style, you must have some element of originality,
flair and musical know-how. The trick is to avoid crossing the line where the
rock & roll salute crumbles into tepid imitation. Any would-be
classics-miner should create a joyous, complex reinterpretation of music that
has become a part of the pop-culture pantheon.
Enter
progressive retro-funk rocker and soul man Lenny Kravitz. What's that you say?
Aren't progressive and retro contradictory? Not really. Kravitz has managed to
bring his own personality into his retro shtick.
Kravitz
has long lurked in other musicians' shadows - especially Prince's regal,
monomaniacal, purple one. In Kravitz's early Romeo Blue period, he positively
aped Prince's persona. But Kravitz has produced a stack of subsequent music
that, in the end, bears his own Afrohippie signature even as it flirts with
sounds from the Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Hendrix and Zeppelin catalogs. It
only makes sense that this 1970s-loving style hipster would be opening for
original '70s rockers Aerosmith at Bobcats Arena this Thursday.
Charlotte
musician and
South Carolina
native Kenny Floyd is also a retro rocker of sorts. His new album, Water,
overlaps with the style of his hero, Lenny. Floyd's songs, like "Flat Bed
Truck," "Just Friends" and "Go 4 Me," show kinship and
retro-bonding with early Kravitz (not to mention a thing 4 Prince-like titles).
Floyd's ballad, "Just Friends," could have come from the Kravitz
songbook.
It's
obvious Floyd loves not only classic rock & roll, but musical freethinkers
as well. He puts those elements to work on Water, an amalgam of rock, pop and
metal. Floyd's vocal sound straddles between those of Darius Rucker and Eddie
Vedder, but with a hint of soaring falsetto. Like Kravitz, Floyd fills his
good-time music with funk and classic-rock riffs. Whether he's playing originals
with his band or rocking a bar doing covers on an acoustic guitar, Floyd manages
to create a party atmosphere without the aid of mack-daddy sequined duds or
flashy sunglasses. (Floyd resembles George Foreman - the provenance of his
recent Halloween costume - more than any Hendrixesque sex god.)
You can
catch Floyd on Jan. 13 at Boardwalk Billys and the following night at Galway
Hooker in
Lake
Norman
. But these back-to-back gigs are rare: "I have chosen to only play one
full band show a month at [local bar] Tipsy McStumbles. They are one of the few
venues that I know of that ... allow us to play 100-percent originals. You just
can't beat that."
There
are times an independent musician begins to lose faith after repeated setbacks,
but Floyd carries on. "A co-worker told me, 'Kenny, you being a musician is
a blessing not a curse.' I let him hear some of my work from my college band,
Shades of Grey. He told me, 'You don't belong in an office setting; you need to
be out making music.' That is one of the things I use when I feel like I want to
quit."
When
queried about the dearth of black rockers who have succeeded, Floyd is blunt:
"The only time someone's race or ethnic background seems to come into play
is when you talk about the marketability of music. I think there are black,
Asian, Indian, fat, skinny, tall, short, rich, poor and all other kinds of
rockers out there. The industry chooses what they think people will like enough
to produce a profit. I have no control in that. I am who I am. I have dealt with
various blatant racist situations throughout my musical career. I don't focus on
those isolated instances. I am there to play my heart out, so that is what I
do."
Retroman
Kravitz has experimented with his music, but never strays far from his template
of Hendrix, Beatles and 1970s funk-rock. Indeed, his long-shelved Funk opus,
recorded in
New Orleans
in the late 1990s, is finally on the front burner for release. Kenny Floyd is a
likeminded compatriot, donning his cowpoke hat and strapping on his geetar to
ably lay down tunes that stand the test of time. Kravitz may be critically
maligned and mocked, but his perseverance and good tunes have swelled his legion
of fans. There's no reason why a songcrafter the caliber of Floyd, from
Charlotte
, can't also reach arena-rock heights.
"You
don't like me, fine, you don't like the music or styles I play, fine," says
Floyd, "but neither of those are valid reasons
Charlotte
,
NC
, should not have one of the strongest music scenes on the East Coast. We have
the talent. Most importantly, we have the support of the people."
To push
Water, Floyd is planning a springtime tour with local band Extra Medium. He's
also done a music video for "Go 4 Me" that's awaiting editing for
airplay. A huge fan of Aerosmith and Kravitz, Floyd dreams of the day his band
can share that bill: "Well," he says, "a man can dream, can't he?
I would flip a wig on that stage."
Lenny
Kravitz opens for Aerosmith on Jan. 12 at their sold-out show in the Charlotte
Bobcats Arena. Kenny Floyd plays on Jan. 13 at Boardwalk Billys and Jan. 14 at
Galway Hooker in
Lake
Norman
. For music and more details, visit kennyfloyd.com and cdbaby.com.
Charlie
Daniels
Namaste Carolina
How Charlie Daniels brought out my Indian Southern boy
Published November 23, 2005 -
Creative Loafing, Charlotte
I'm a Southern boy,
Southern born and bred,
I got '
Sweet Home
Alabama
' buzzing all around in my head. . .
- The Charlie Daniels Band, "Southern Boy"
American rabble-rouser Charlie
Daniels, the fiddle and guitar-playing rock, country and gospel singer, is the
uber-Southern boy. Forget about those who wear their patriotism on their
sleeves: Daniels wraps himself in layers of it. His over-the-top lyrics in
"This Ain't No Rag, It's a Flag" are just one example of his obsession
with
America
, and his definitive 70s song, "The South's Gonna Do It," is the
requisite sing-a-long anthem for those self-identifying southerners with a need
to express their regional pride.
Charles Edward Daniels was born
in
Wilmington
, but has called
Tennessee
home for decades. His flag-waving, hard-talking, god-fearing music and lyrics
have gotten him into a heap of trouble since the early 80s, when he went from
being a Southern rock pioneer to being a conservative blowhard. But Daniels'
twangy, post-Allmans jam-country sound has always been peerless. Before he hit
his stride in the early 70s, Daniels wrote a song for Elvis and later toured
with Leonard Cohen, produced the Youngbloods, played on four Bob Dylan albums
and fiddled on Ringo Starr's Beaucoups of Blues.
Daniels' songs are a tad too heavy on the ideology and too region-centric to a
first-generation immigrant like me, who also loves
America
and the South, but doesn't want his nose pushed into it. I pondered his hits
closely when I first heard them years ago: The South's gonna do what again?
Return to the pre-Civil Rights era? It took time for me to understand the
South's distinct, complex character. When Daniels sings, it's about heritage -
even if some of that heritage is stained with dark deeds.
Willie Chandran, the protagonist of V.S. Naipaul's saga Half a Life, spoke the
following words in another story of heritage, involving immigrants: "I
don't know where I am. I don't think I can pick my way back. I don't ever want
this view to become familiar. I must not unpack. I must never behave as though I
am staying."
These words would be anathema to Daniels, who would happily eat
Georgia
red clay to prove his loyalty. But it's the space where Chandran and Daniels
meet that defines my sensibility.
When my family left
India
, I was old enough to remember vivid details of childhood and yet young enough
to experience this new land and its people with a sense of awe. My family
immigrated to the
US
via
New York
in 1974, the year Daniels' buddies in Lynyrd Skynyrd hit the Top 10 with "
Sweet Home
Alabama
." Our migration to
North Carolina
in 1979 is what helped cement my identity as an American - or, more
specifically, a Southern American. Culture shock did rear its head on our move
from the Northeast to
North Carolina
. I was not only in
America
, but now I was in the South. I had just begun to feel at home in
New Jersey
when we left. Soon after our arrival in
Charlotte
, I began to absorb the Southern state of mind to the degree that I now consider
myself genuinely Southern. I can blast "The South's Gonna Do It" on my
boombox with a sense of belonging, all the while not denying my own Eastern
origins - the drone of harmonium overlaid with the scatting of tablas and shower
of sitar notes. Because the South accepted me, I am at ease with this
duality.
It was Charlie Daniels' musical South, along with records by the Allman Brothers
Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd, that served as a catalyst to my record-geek tendencies
during the late 70s and early 80s. Ultimately I would move on to the Clash and
the Ramones, but Southern rockers were prominent among my sonic pals who got me
through late-teen hormonal years. In my jukebox, Daniels' "The Devil went
Down to Georgia" and "The South's Gonna Do It" fit right in with
the Clash's "I'm So Bored with the USA." I immediately identified with
the songs' common spirit of rebellion.
Daniels' latest recording, a collection of gospel-bluegrass music called Songs
from the Longleaf Pines, showcases his more subdued side, but the
fiddlemaster still takes a rebel stand in front of fans and American soldiers.
But today it's a more obvious excessive patriotic bravado with heavy Christian
overtones. Of course, he's also kept a boothold in outlaw country, most recently
in a cameo appearance alongside Larry the Cable Guy, Kid Rock and Hank Williams,
Jr. in rebel-gal Gretchen Wilson's video for "All Jacked Up."
However hypocritical and dubious Daniels' politics may be, he remains an
essential figure in the shaping of the New South. This region, although still
riddled with social ills, is changing as more and more immigrants arrive here,
adding to the South's rich distinctiveness. Perhaps even Naipaul's protagonist
would agree.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ravi
Shankar
Published October, 2005 - Raleigh
News & Observer
Indian
classical music would likely have entered Western consciousness about now, along
with the recent popularity of Bollywood musical fusion, if sitar master Ravi
Shankar had not gently opened the doors decades ago. Shankar, who is 85, still
tours every year and has been guiding his daughter Anoushka Shankar’s
increasingly prolific career as a sitarist for the past few years.
Shankar’s
newest release is a two-CD set of some of his best material culled into a
collection called The Essential Ravi Shankar (Legacy). And Anoushka Shankar just
released Rise (Angel), a recording that uses sitar and traditional rhythms as a
base but expands and colors the sound with jazz, pop and textural vocals. She is
clearly the torchbearer of the Shankar legacy, as proud papa softly boasted in a
recent phone conversation.
Shankar
said he is proud of the handpicked group of musicians assembled for his current
tour. The ensemble features 10 musicians - two singers and eight
instrumentalists. Shankar has created a show that will present a “mélange of
Hindustani and Carnatic styles consisting of four original compositions.”
Anoushka Shankar and the ensemble joined Ravi Shankar in a performance at
Duke
University
in late October.
The
maestro, composer, teacher and writer has been bringing Indian music to all
parts of the globe, while attaining a fatherly stature as a renaissance man of
traditions in his native land for most of his life.
There
are two schools of Indian classical music, Hindustani (North Indian) and
Carnatic (South Indian). Ravi Shankar is mostly a proponent of Hindustani music.
Ragas, which in Sanskrit mean “color” or “passion,” are the essence and
foundation of all Indian classical music. A raga can loosely be described as a
combination of several different characteristics, but at the same time it is not
a tune, melody, scale, mode or any concept associated with Western music.
“Spontaneous,
creative ragas are created by open minds,” Ravi Shankar explained.
“I
have experimented for 60 years (with music) and have created many new ragas over
those years. New ragas are created using permutations and combination of
tones.”
Shankar
feels many new ragas await creation in the future, and it’s this
characteristic of Indian music that has kept his creative juices flowing for
years. There are also “old, forgotten and lost ragas that are recalled and
re-created” by enlightened musicians, he said.
The
sitar sounds soothing to plain listeners, yet those that listen without
preconceptions can transport to a trancelike state wrought with emotions. Those
that “open their minds” absorb the distinct auras and feelings of ragas.
There are numerous ragas, which have evolved over centuries, and each can be
specific to particular times of day, moods and even locations.
A
disciple of Baba Allaudin Khan, Ravi Shankar first began performing at an early
age with his brother Uday Shankar’s group. He honed his skills and developed
an expansive view of the world through travels with Uday Shankar’s troupe. By
the late 60s, Ravi Shankar was the most famous Indian musician on the planet,
and even with the blossoming recognition of Bollywood music today, he still
towers above the rest. A prolific composer, Ravi Shankar has worked with and
influenced Philip Glass, Yehudi Menuhin, George Harrison, Zubin Mehta and other
groundbreakers while inspiring jazz legend John Coltrane to name his son
Ravi
.
Ravi
Shankar said he has played three times in
Bangladesh
over the years, but has yet to perform in
Pakistan
. “We have tried and even confirmed playing there a few times, but something
always kept us from doing the shows.”
All
those years ago, the winds from the East carried with them the subtle drone of
Shankar’s sitar, creating possibilities of musical evolution, and we are
better for it.
Look for
a wonderful primer on Indian music and ragas on the website: www.ravishankar.org.
The
Shankar sound: A sampler of Ravi Shankar essential listening:
Chants
of
India
(EMI/Angel)
Improvisations
(EMI/Angel)
Ragas
with Ali Akbar Khan (Fantasy)
West
Meets East: Historic Shankar/Menuhin Sessions (EMI/Angel)
Concert
for Peace - Live at Royal Albert Hall (Moment Records)
Homage
to Mahatma Gandhi (Deutsche Grammophon)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Knitters
Published
August 17, 2005 - Creative Loafing, Charlotte
I still
recall my scrawny fingers excitedly tearing the shrink-wrap off the cover of my
vinyl copy of the Knitters' 1985 classic Poor Little Critter on the Road. The
feeling was no less palpable two decades later as I popped open the CD of the
recent Modern Sounds of the Knitters.
The
Knitters' more popular alter ego, the seminal LA punk band X, had lit up the
rock world in 1980 with their debut album
Los Angeles
. John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom and D.J. Bonebrake's love of roots music
was always apparent, even on X's loudest, fastest early punk albums. The Key to
the band's roots glory was Zoom's lightning-speed rockabilly lead guitar parts.
In 1985, when the band hooked up with Blasters front man Dave Alvin and upright
bassist Jonny Ray Bartel to record Poor Little Critter for punk label Slash
Records, Zoom sat in as producer. The album was a relaxed collection of country
classics, folk, swing and rockabilly. It also was one of the turning points of
the punk era, inspiring the plethora of alt.country acts that followed.
Now, 20
years later, the Knitters are back with their second album, Modern Sounds, which
is as perky and witty as the debut, although with more mature and cohesive
songs. In the years book-ended by Critter and Modern Sounds, there have been
many great country and folk albums that owe more than a small debt to punk and
the freewheeling spirit of X. My list of essentials would vary on any given day,
but right now this handful of alt.country milestones should well prepare you for
the Knitters' Wednesday night show at the Visulite.
Lone
Justice, Shelter (Geffen, 1986)
Singer Maria McKee's soulful voice and tearful songwriting helped make Shelter a
permanent addition to the CD collections of those in the know - long before the
term alt.country became a household term.
Cowboy
Junkies, The Trinity Sessions (RCA, 1988)
OK, the only thing punk about Cowboy Junkies is that cover of the Velvet
Underground's "Sweet Jane." But they are all about country and folk
and how subtlety can be as effective as a punch in the face. The Trinity
Sessions is a timeless recording.
Uncle
Tupelo, No Depression (
Rockville
, 1990)
This is the Koran of alternative country. With its mix of Sonic Youth and them
Skynyrd boys, these guys perfected the country-grunge sound that came to be
known as alt.country. Somebody even named an alt.country fanzine after this
album.
Mike
Ness, Cheating at Solitaire (Epic, 1999)
The front man for long-running roots-punk band Social Distortion,
Ness
went solo here with a little help from his friends Bruce Springsteen, Brian
Setzer and X-man Billy Zoom. An album of originals and covers, the desperation
just oozes from these tracks, especially in his version of Hank Williams'
"You Win Again."
Two
Dollar Pistols, Hands Up (Yep Roc!, 2004)
North Carolina
desperados continue the tradition of infusing honky tonk with the punk ethos.
Hello? Calling
Nashville
. Anybody listening?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duran
Duran
Through
the (video) ages, fashionably
Published
July 19, 2005,
Creative Loafing, Charlotte
At
the end of the 70s, New Wave went from referencing a style of French film to
describing a new, punk-inspired pop sound. But just what the hell did it mean?
According to legend, Sire Records owner Seymour Stein began using the term to
separate his loud-fast punk bands like the Ramones from the evolving dance- and
synthesizer-generated music of such groups on his roster as Blondie.
Enter
Duran Duran. Love 'em or hate 'em, these British pretty boys became the
frontrunners of the New Wave, not to mention the burgeoning music-video
phenomenon. Duran Duran was a boy-band teen sensation long before the New Kids
or Backstreet Boys, but the music of Simon LeBon and company also was spun at
hipster dance clubs. The group's mix of Roxy Music debonair with stylish videos
and catchy songs catapulted Duran Duran to superstardom and contributed to the
success of a new network called MTV.
It's
no secret that Duran Duran's image-driven music built the band's reputation and
following. In fact, had it not been for the advent of music videos, Duran
Duran's popularity would likely have been much smaller.
Believe
it or not, in its 27 years, Duran Duran never broke up and has continued to tour
and release records, albeit in several incarnations. So, soccer mom, stop
fumbling through your purse. It's likely your son borrowed your mauve lipstick
for the show. You'll just have to share when Duran Duran hits the stage this
week at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre.
Highlights
from a fashionable career:
1980:
The most famous line-up gels when singer Simon Le Bon, drummer Roger Taylor and
bassist Andy Taylor join founding members Nick Rhodes (keyboards) and John
Taylor (bass).
1981:
Duran Duran releases the ground-breaking "Girls on Film" video, which
is met with much controversy over its then-frank sexual imagery. The band goes
on to release numerous stylish music videos over the next few years including
"
Rio
" and "Hungry Like the Wolf." It is the dawning of the Age of the
Video.
1984:
George Orwell's prophetic year of doom belongs to Duran Duran as Rolling Stone
magazine hails the band as "The Fab Five" in a cover story. The group
wins two Grammys for its videos and embarks on its first major arena tour of the
US
.
1985:
John and Andy Taylor form popular supergroup the Power Station with singer
Robert Palmer and ex-Chic member Tony Thompson. LeBon, Rhodes and Roger Taylor
draw a line in the sand by forming their own side project, the forgotten
Arcadia
.
1995:
In a desperate attempt at a comeback in the alt-rock 90s, Duran Duran performs
the Grandmaster Flash rap classic "White Lines" on the Late Show with
David Letterman, accompanied by MC Melle Mel and DJ Flash himself. The band also
releases a thoroughly embarrassing tribute disc, Thank You, that includes covers
of classic trax by Lou Reed, Zeppelin, Iggy Pop, Elvis Costello, Dylan and even
(believe it or not) Public Enemy. (Curiously, nothing by Roxy Music, the band to
which Duran Duran owes its biggest debt.)
1996:
Founding member John Taylor leaves to pursue a solo career, but you don't
remember it because this was the year Radiohead and Beck were making the big
video headlines.
2000:
Puff Daddy samples Duran Duran's "Notorious" for a Notorious B.I.G.
song.
2004:
The original quintet reunites for the album Astronaut and sets off on a world
tour, cashing in on the nostalgia tip.
2005:
Duran Duran lands in
Charlotte
with New Wave wannabes Stimulator in tow. (There are currently more than 50,000
web pages dedicated to Duran Duran on the worldwide web.)
Duran
Duran performs tonight, July 20, at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre. Tickets are
$23.50-$53. The show starts at 7:30pm. For more details call 704-522-6500 or
visit cellardoor.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indian with a Twist
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt has recorded with Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal
Published 05.11.05 - Creative Loafing Charlotte
Bhatt with his slide guitar creationA musical meeting of two cultures helped expose slide guitarist Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and his instrument, the mohan veena, to a Western audience. A subsequent recording of two different schools of music brought Bhatt's forward-leaning Indian classical music to these shores. "We started recording within half hour of pulling out our instruments," recalls Bhatt, who made the improvisational "east meets west" recording A Meeting by The River with Ry Cooder (the Rolling Stones, Buena Vista Social Club) in 1994. The album, with Cooder on bottleneck slide guitar and Bhatt on his own creation (the mohan veena) brought Bhatt critical praise in the West.
A Meeting by the River was recorded live in a chapel in Santa Barbara, Calif. "It was a completely natural, acoustic sound, with no equalization," Bhatt says. The record won the Grammy for world music that year.
The mohan veena is a modified arch-top acoustic guitar played in the lap. It is based on the more traditional vichitra veena, which is like a sitar but played more like a lap-steel.
"I made the instrument because I was looking for a new sound, which could be very expressive, sort of like the human voice," Bhatt explains, adding that the mohan veena impersonates vocal nuances, known in Hindustani music as gayaki ang, or singing style.
Bhatt brings his new twist on Hindustani music to Barnes Recital Hall on the campus of Winthrop University Sunday. He performs his tradional Indian music with acclaimed tabla player Subhen Chatterjee.
There are two schools of Indian classical music, Carnatic (South Indian) and Hindustani (North Indian). Bhatt is a proponent of the latter style, which is what you hear from musicians such as the sitar player Ravi Shankar. Bhatt also plays Carnatic ragas in Hindustani style when the mood suits the occasion.
He studied sitar with the great Pandit Shankar, but Bhatt also comes from a long musical lineage.
"It's a 300-year tradition as I learned from my father, who learned from his father and both my sons are established musicians and composers. I made the first mohan veena in 1967 and then had a sitar player add the sympathetic strings and it turned into a real instrument. My favorite is one made in 1980, it has the most pure and natural sound of any instrument I've ever played. I use that one mostly in performances. It is loud at times and tender at times, imitating ras and bhav, the mood and emotions, of a human."
Bhatt favors the sustaining vibrations unfurled by his creation.
"I like to sustain the sound as much as possible," he says. The mohan veena is more suitable for this kind of nuance, which imitates the human voice and its subtleties.
Bhatt is based in the city of Jaipur in the state of Rajasthan in western India, where he also teaches the instrument when not on tour.
"I just want to spread Indian classical music. And musicians in the West are very curious about my instrument," he says. "Music flows in your blood, there are only a handful of true musicians who can play well."
Bhatt's numerous works and meditative compositions are imbued with subtle hues of different ragas. Whether on an uplifting morning raga or a resplendent evening raga, Bhatt's skill lies in invoking the mood with a non-traditional instrument. The mohan veena's atmospheric twang appeases even the most hard-nosed traditionalists.
It was Bhatt's expressive interpretation of Hindustani music combined with Cooder's laid-back blues that made A Meeting by the River such a masterwork.
Since then, Bhatt has recorded with Taj Mahal, Bela Fleck, Arabian Oudh player Simon Shaheen, Jerry Douglas, Edgar Meyer and others. Bhatt continues his own musical heritage, but has broken new ground and helped expand and evolve Hindustani music.
Indian Performing Arts Association of Charlotte presents the duo at 4pm this Sunday, May 15. Tickets are $15-$50. Details, log onto http://ipaac.tripod.com or send email: ipaac2000@yahoo.com. For further details on the mohan veena go to www.mohanveena.com.
All Reviews and features by Samir Shukla
Back to top
|