One night you’re at the House of Blues playing in front of a shocking number of cute young women who identify with every word headliner Deana Carter sings, then the next day you’re painting your neighbor’s fence. “I was painting one neighbor’s house,” Jim McCormick explained, “then everybody started coming out saying, ‘Oh, I was thinking about painting my house, fence, whatever, would you mind . . . ?’”
While his neighbors appreciate McCormick’s skill with a paint brush, the young Deanas and the frat boys who love them understood the songs from McCormick’s new self-titled CD. Every song was greeted with cheers and warm applause, and when he finished the first chorus of “Love Will Find a Way,” they whooped with approval of the sentiment, which they all knew was really true.
“Love Will Find a Way” was co-written with professional Nashville songwriter Jimbeau Hinson, “and writing for Nashville teaches you deliberateness and focus,” McCormick said. “I played that song for him and he said, ‘I like the first verse,’” McCormick remembered, but when they were done with the song, only the first half of the first verse remained and all the vagueness in his original was gone. “For a moment it was tough” to have much of his song so summarily dismissed, “but it was a chance to learn,” McCormick remembered. It might seem like writing to accommodate Nashville’s format constricts or diminishes McCormick as a writer, but he doesn’t see it that way. “I like the challenge to make personal art in a public sphere,” he explained.
For those who remember McCormick from the Bingemen, his current sound may be a surprise. The band’s genre-straddling sound obscured the traditional roots at the heart of McCormick’s songs, but the decision to play country songs and to play more quietly helped him both as a writer and as a singer. “Playing quieter shows let me hear my voice,” he said, “and that I had something I could shape instead of just use as a volume instrument.” Now McCormick sounds like he would be at home in Austin if not on Music Row, where the working class sensibility in his songs is still a little foreign. You can hear McCormick in a rare appearance with a band at his CD release party at Carrollton Station July 21.
Muvovum
“There is no repetition—no catchy parts,” Brian Karas explained, but bandmate Scott Magee of Muvovum disagreed. “My girlfriend can hum one of the ‘Axolotls’,” he explained. And they’re both right, depending on how you define “catchy.” The music on their new self-titled CD is attractive and engaging in the intelligent, experimental way you’d expect from a band that refers to Boulez, Varese and Cage in conversation. The pieces are intricate and obviously composed—their notation systems form the basis for the cover art—and in the pieces, they hope to “expand the language of rock,” Karas said.
Muvovum has been around since the late 1990s and used to play live fairly regularly. After they lost their bass player though, they took 16 months to retire all the music they had been playing and wrote new pieces for the new line-up, including bassist Brad Guillory and percussionist Will Gilbert. In their original incarnation, their shows were initially entirely improvised, but on the new album, only one song is entirely improvised. As time went on more traditional rock elements crept into their material, but that has been intentionally “weeded out,” Magee said, leaving something fascinating that is neither fish nor carefully composed fowl.
Live Notes
Sugartank isn’t in any immediate danger of overwhelming its audiences with technique, but the band understands rock ‘n’ roll. This punky all-girl trio has attitude, personality, and the sheer fun they have making a racket onstage comes through. On top of that, they have two songs—“Rockin’ Baby” and “I Don’t Care About You”—that I want to hear again.
I love the Sophisticats strip joint R&B setlist, but boy do I wish they played like they weren’t afraid of the loud noises that come out of their instruments.
This summer Sue and Jimmy Ford have hosted a series of “pool” parties—there’s a pool outside, but there’s no water in it so nobody swims—at the Howlin’ Wolf. Last month, I saw the wonderfully enigmatic song stylings of Tito Mambo, ’70s rock/soul from Don Barry and King Soul, and whitely soulful guitar pop from Mal. I just missed the Violet Era, and the night ended with Black Mountain and Motorway. The musical smorgasbords the shows present make them a fine way to spend part of a Sunday, and the proceeds are going to help the Fords get a pool for their children with MS. This month, there will be one, and the plan is for the bands performing to cover classic rock acts. Check your listings for details.
New Discs or Shiny Skeet?
Fred Weaver—Those Ancient Skies . . . Came Sweeping Wide: Applying punk aesthetics to folk music gives Weaver’s acoustic album a pretty raucous feel, and he delivers literate lyrics with an interesting, personal yearning. The songs work well enough, but this never quite reaches me because no matter how hard you play it, folk’s folk and I don’t feel folk. Acoustic guitars sound like tuned scrub boards to me.
Piggy—Love Letter to Halifax (Cinnamon Toast): One-time New Orleanian Paul Gailiunas formed Piggy in Nova Scotia partially inspired by the sound of the Klezmer Allstars. The sense of humor is cleverly ham-fisted in the style of early Zappa while the music bounces like the Klezmers or Paul Cebar and the Milwaukeeans. Gailunas has returned to New Orleans and plans to start a new band called The Troublemakers, so keep an eye out.
Catch Velvet—Catch Velvet (Independent): The post-grunge/alternative sound is a strange one—a lot of heaviness that seems designed to signify rather than communicate, which leaves me looking for content I don’t find as often as I wish. Three of four songs on Catch Velvet’s e.p. are thankfully catchy and reminiscent of Montreal’s Doughboys, but the busy “Downtime” is so complicated I can’t find the chorus, much less the hook.
Dexter—Blood on the Bass (MoDex): Dexter Braud can really play all those little tiny, two-handed notes, and he has a little of the ’90s Ozzy in his voice. Unfortunately, both attributes are employed in so unironic a way it makes me wonder if the band learned their musical history exclusively from WCKW. A lot of bands could use a little big rock in ’em, but a lot of interesting things happened since Back in Black. A pleasant disc caught in a time warp (with too much compression on everything).
Utah Lust—Support the Bottom (Independent): Some people make CDs too soon, and such is the case with Utah Lust. There are the seeds of the three or four different acts on this disc, but I can’t figure out which one they’re supposed to be. I like the abrasively electronic band and can imagine people liking the electronic Peter Gabriel band, but it’s hard to imagine who’d like the priggish, unfunny social satire band.
Upcoming Shows
mp3.com Tour at the Howlin’ Wolf July 7: The night before Endfest, Motorway, Orange Eye and Overtone all rock with more personality and style than the faceless Marshall owners who will be onstage in Marconi Meadows the next day.
Raw Power at the Dixie Taverne July 10: This Italian hardcore act has been around since 1981, and if they don’t sound as ferocious as they once did, it’s only because times have changed because they sure haven’t. With South 74 and the Pallbearers.
Restless Kelly at Tipitina’s July 12: This Austin band has more than a touch of outlaw country in their souls and their third CD, The Day, suggests that live, the big rock in their high school record collections will show up. With the Puerto Rican Rum Drunks.
