Vessels – Bryan Estepa (Laughing Outlaw)

This is the third album from this Sydney based artist and although the first two have apparently attracted a sizeable following in Australia and internationally, he remains one of those “best kept secret” type artists.

Lets hope that changes.

Bryan Estepa is a tremendously talented pop songwriter – and by ‘pop’ I mean the sort of pop that owes its existence to writers like Lennon and McCartney, Ray Davies and Brian Wilson, rather than ‘pop’ that is currently exemplified by Justin Bieber or Katy Perry. (If you don’t know who they are, don’t worry)

Digging deeper into the Estepa lineage you will find traces of Difford and Tilbrook, Alex Chilton and more obscure influences such as Mitch Easter – that is to say his ‘pop’ is breezy and melodic on the surface but beautifully constructed and layered as you scrape that very same surface.

Thus, by definition, this album doesn’t consist of a collection of genre-breaking, revolutionary, new frontier type music – rather its an example of the fact that a lot can be achieved by those old faithful ingredients of sweet melody, memorable hooks, and spirited performances. Songs such as Alone, Tongue Tied and the closer Ball and Chain contain all three ingredients in abundance and are spectacularly successful as a result.

There are a couple of darker songs on the album, when Estepa channels Tom Petty in a more somber moments – one of these is Let It Go which also manages to rachet up the instrumental textures a bit.

As the album evolves there’s a lit more time spent on working a slower, slinkier groove into some of the songs with the soulful Shade being an example. Another strain of influences that might include The Raspberries and some Otis Redding may even come into play. The Raspberries and Big Star impact is best felt on Instincts which is the sort of song that would have held pride of place on a Matthew Sweet album a decade or so ago.

Obviously for reviewers of my vintage playing “spot the influence” is fun and instructive – and if you are a fan of any of the above-mentioned acts you will find a lot to like about Vessels and its creator.  But if you are a youngster taking your first tentative steps on a voyage of discovery that goes beyond Video Hits, then you couldn’t find a better roadmap than this album.

Darker My Love

If ever a band qualified for the “new bands that sound like old bands” section of this website its Darker My Love.

After a few listens to their third album Alive As You Are here’s a partial list of bands that they sound like – The Beatles, The Byrds, Dream Syndicate , The Church, The Hollies, The Fleshtones, Flamin Groovies, R.E.M., Tom Petty, Lets Active, Game Theory, Guadacanal Diary, Big Star and The Stems.

Now that’s not to say that they are necessarily as good as any of those bands but if you like anyone of that list then you would be well advised to give these guys a listen.

The following extracts from the bands bio for Alive As You Are gives some indication of what they are about:

“When you get right down to it,” Darker My Love’s Tim Presley says, “this record is about loss and hard work.”

Informed by profound personal tragedy, Alive As You Are is the Los Angeles-based band’s most musically focused and emotionally direct collection to date. Songs like June Bloom and Dear Author see DML traveling away from their trademark psychedelic power drones to a more evocative approach reliant on bold, straightforward songcraft and earthy, intricate arrangements. The band’s third Dangerbird Records album, Alive As You Are marks an extraordinary reinvention for Darker My Love – a rambling, powerfully realized work of great nuance and even greater heart.

“I think it was just prime time to try something new,” Presley says. “It just felt right. It wasn’t this pre-conceived thing, like, ‘Okay, we have to be different.’ I think this is secretly the music we always wanted to make. We wanted to make an album that you could listen to and not just rock out to. Something you can throw on on Sunday morning.”

Which is exactly what I did to good effect.

Presley formed the band with drummer Andy Granelli, after both had been members of hardcore punk band, The Nerve Agents. They were joined by Boston-based singer/bassist Rob Barbato and guitarist Jared Everett. The band made its recorded debut shortly thereafter with a self-titled Tarantulas Records EP, followed two years later by their eponymous Dangerbird Records debut album.

In quite a twist that same year also saw Presley and Barbato join the long list of musicians who have served time accompanying Mark E. Smith in The Fall, playing on the post-punk band’s 26th studio album, 2007’s Reformation Post TLC.

The addition of keyboardist Will Canzoneri on organ and clavinet brought richer textures to 2008’s 2, which received across-the-map critical acclaim for its mind-bending neo-psychedelic grooves and hazily anthemic hooks. “(An) album so deep in aural and emotional layers you don’t quite know what to call it,” enthused the Los Angeles Times, while the Village Voice simply declared 2 “one of the most indelible indie-pop records of ’08.”

Alas, Granelli decided to leave Darker My Love to concentrate on his family in the midst of the long touring cycle that followed 2. The band found themselves in “drummer purgatory,” playing with a number of fill-ins until finally hooking up with The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Dan Allaire.

A deeper, more significant transformation came with the August 2008 death of Presley’s father. The experience knocked Presley for a loop, but eventually led him to a complete rethink of how he went about his art.

“It’s pretty crazy,” he says, “it really was life-changing. I know that’s a cliché, but it’s true. It changed everything for me. I realized that if it doesn’t mean anything, then it’s not worth doing. The lyrics have to mean something, they just have to.”

When the time arrived to make a new album, the band considered some name producers, but ultimately opted to work with their friend Nick Huntington, known as co-founder of Attacknine Records and member of duos both electronica (Freescha) and acoustica (The Surf, The Sundried).

“We wanted to try the buddy system,” Presley says. “Instead of having someone you don’t really know tell you about your songs, have a friend there, almost a collaborator of sorts. More like a peer group than a recording team. We’ve known Nick for years, so he fit the bill for that.”

As DML explored new kinds of hooks and melodies and songcraft, it was handy to have an expert on the subject in Huntington, who, in addition to his various glitch/folk/dance projects, has also penned songs for some seriously A List pop stars.

“Nick has a really good folk sense,” Presley says, “but then he writes songs for Britney Spears. But because this record was very much about songwriting, he was a good person to have around.”

In January 2010, DML headed north to record the album at San Francisco’s legendary Hyde Street Studios, located smack in the seedy heart of the Tenderloin.

“We wanted to use a real studio,” Presley says. “but we didn’t want to pay Los Angeles prices. We just couldn’t afford it. But then we had this epiphany moment – ‘Hyde Street would be perfect!’ We really really loved the whole vibe of it. It’s dirty, it’s gross, it’s old. It was just the perfect middle ground between a real studio and home recording.”

It also didn’t hurt that in its original guise as Wally Heider Recording, the studio was the source of some of the greatest records of the 60’s and 70’s, beginning with Jefferson Airplane’s Volunteers and continuing through classics from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the Grateful Dead.

“A lot of amazing records have been made there,” Presley agrees. “Whenever you go into a recording studio, you always go, like, ‘Oh wow, this person recorded here!’ I guess you kinda want that to rub off onto your record.”

Alex Chilton Dies

Alex Chilton, singer and guitarist of Big Star, one of the most influential rock groups to emerge from the early 1970s, has died at the age of 59. Chilton  suffered a heart attack today in New Orleans.

Chilton had been complaining about his health earlier in the day, and was eventually taken to a New Orleans hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Big Star drummer Jody Stephens confirmed Chilton’s passing, “Alex passed away a couple of hours ago,” Stephens said. “I don’t have a lot of particulars, but they kind of suspect that it was a heart attack.”

Chilton’s influence far outstripped his mainstream popularity.  There’s a fair chance that even if you dont have an intimate knowledge of Chiltons music a lot of your favorite bands do.

For guitar bands of every generation since Big Star that band came to be of almost mythical importance. Whether it be The Posies or Even or The Replacements or Ice Cream Hands,  anywhere there was  jaggling guitars, sublime pop melodies and the wide eyed belief in the power of rock n’ roll to see life in a quirky, innocent and yet knowing way there is a fair chance there was a Big Star fan lurking.

Chilton began his musical career in his teens as a member of the Box Tops before returning to his native Memphis to form Big Star with guitarist/co-songwriter Chris Bell, drummer Jody Stephens and bassist Andy Hummel.

Described by Rolling Stone as “Blending power pop with the sound of the Beatles and the Beach Boys, Big Star were critically acclaimed but largely ignored commercially.”

Big Star only released three studio albums 1972’s #1 Record, 1974’s Radio City and 1978’s Third/Sister Lovers. Bell left the band after #1 Record, Hummel after Radio City but all three albums  featured on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and their classic tracks “Thirteen” and “September Gurls” both made the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

R.E.M. and the Replacements have both named Big Star and Alex Chilton as major influences, and the Replacements’ Pleased to Meet Me features a song titled “Alex Chilton” which served to introduce his name and subsequently his music to new audiences.

Chilton became a cult musical icon, and artists as diverse as Beck, Wilco, Elliott Smith, Cheap Trick, Jeff Buckley, Garbage,the Bangles and Whiskeytown have covered Big Star’s songs.

Renewed interest in the band’s music led to a reunion of sorts in the early ’90s and a new album in 2005’s In Space, which featured two members of the Posies, Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer.

Last year, a box set of Big Star’s entire catalogue, Keep An Eye On The Sky was released.

Chilton said in a 1987 interview with The Associated Press that he didn’t mind flying under the radar with Big Star and later as a solo artist.

“What would be ideal would be to make a ton of money and have nobody know about you,” he said. “Fame has a lot of baggage to carry around. I wouldn’t want to be like Bruce Springsteen. I don’t need that much money and wouldn’t want to have 20 bodyguards following me.”

“If I did become really popular, the critics probably wouldn’t like me all that much,” he said. “They like to root for the underdog.”

Chilton had been scheduled to perform with Big Star at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. That performance went ahead as a tribute to Chilton with members of Big Star including Andy Hummel being joined by the likes of Mike Mills and Chuck Prophet

“Alex Chilton always messed with your head, charming and amazing you while doing so. His gift for melody was second to none, yet he frequently seemed in disdain of that gift,” the festival’s creative director, Brent Gulke, said in an e-mail.

Chilton also discussed his status as a “cult artist with Rolling Stone in 2000, making reference to the irony of the name of his best known band.

“It’s not like I’m a ‘big star’ constantly getting noticed, but I do get recognized, What’s nice is that the people in my neighborhood just know me as Alex. It’s funny, because I spent so much of my life moving from place to place and I went through a few dark periods, but in the last few years I’ve kind of settled down.”

Chilton is survived by his wife Laura and son Timothy.

Laura made her feelings known via a statement read at the Chilton tribute performance at SXSW last Saturday as read by publicist Heather West.

Even though Alex left this world way too soon, I feel so fortunate to have been his friend and wife. I would like to say a few things about his relationship with music and also speak of what he was about as a person. He was an individual who did what he pleased. However, he was also the most considerate and sincere person I’ve ever known. He loved life and people and usually befriended the underdogs. He saw beautyin what other people would just dismiss; old rickety-houses about to fall down- he would say, “now that’s a great house worth buying.” He would spend 10 minutes chatting with a homeless person on the street and always helped them out with some money. He was a good listener and was very compassionate. He was extremely generous, always giving time, energy and money to his friends with a no strings attached attitude.

There is one aspect to his personality that seemed to define how he approached and interpreted life and that is a consistent tendency to be absolutely clear in expression and communication. His mind worked analytically; he had a low tolerance level for vagueness and carelessness. His relationship with music was all about analysis. When listening and appreciating a piece of music, whether it be a Beach Boys tune or a Bach partita, he was able to pay attention to individual elements simultaneously; harmony, rhythm, melody, meter, etc.

I believe this is why he loved working in the studio producing records. He spoke a lot about John Fry (Founder of Ardent Studios) teaching him how to do work in the studio and how he enjoyed playing around with the different elements. The one thing he was absolutely proud of was producing The Cramps records. He would play them at home and just talk and talk about the experience. He was also quite proud of the Detroit garage band The Gories, both his work with them and the band itself. He was very excited for them now that they are playing shows again.

At home in New Orleans Alex lived a simple and relaxed life. He watched a lot of TV while fooling around on the keyboard and guitar. We played music together, both classical and pop. He rode around town on his bike and loved to strike up conversation with whoever he came across. For the past few years, when I lived with him, he listened and played classical Baroque music, Scott Joplin rag tunes and ’60s pop music. Names that often came up include the following: Carole King, Petula Clark, Brian Wilson, The Byrds, Frederick Knight, the band Free, George Frideric Handel, Georges Muffat, Haydn and the baroque performance group Musica Antiqua Koln. There are dozens more but these names come to mind as I’m writing this.

The final point I would like to draw attention to his valued spontaneity. This would seem to contradict his insistence on analysis and accuracy but somehow he managed to be both at the same time. Honestly, this remains a mystery to me and is probably why he has been described as a genius and a musician’s musician. I am only speculating on this but I am thinking it is probable. I will miss him forever and will honor him by maintaining and developing what I’ve learned from him: compassion, spontaneity, honesty, directness, generosity an excellent listener and enthusiasm about what life has to offer. He had a blase attitude towards death, it didn’t interest him. The same goes for sleep, he just said the other day that he wished he could be awake 24/7, life was too interesting and he didn’t want to waste it sleeping. I laughed at that but I knew he was serious.