Javi Garcia

Javi's been rockin' the Monastery...

http://www.thecoldcoldground.com/site/hearsay-2/

GALLEYWINTER – MARCH 2013
JAVI GARCIA – THE GREAT CONTROVERSY

Life, love and the pursuit of happiness can get pretty bloody during the journey. Javi Garcia isn’t afraid to tell such stories. “I’ve got a fire in my belly. And coal in my throat. The words that I spit. Would make most writers choke.”

Javi’s latest release, The Great Controversy is his latest collection of these happy endings. Javi’s newest release The Great Controversy is act 3 to a Southern Horror. It creeps in with the familiar outro from Flood, thumping into the clapping, stomping and dirty garage guitar licks of the records first track The Sound. A song about a girl who through choices of her own isn’t the apple of her Daddy’s eye anymore. She doesn’t like to hear her fathers truth about her life choices of drug abuse and being a whore, truth hurts sometimes. Nightfall, a story of self destruction by making the same choices over and over expecting a different result.“And you fall. And you fall. Just like the last time. Your doing it again. When you crawl. When you crawl. Right back to nightfall. You just can’t win.” The title track to the record The Great Controversy, the cosmic battle between good and evil from the devils perspective with a killer honky tonk guitar lick. “You can whisper a prayer. You can shout out a hymn. But it doesn’t change the fact that your more like me than him.” Josephine is the Black Tambourine on this record. Horns, grand piano, slide guitar, shaker and more shaker. This Rolling Stones-esque track is a rock and roll jam session. “We both know baby you weren’t born to be queen. So get down honey and don’t stop until its clean. Josephine.”

Savanna, a story of avenge for the rape and murder of a father’s daughter. Forgiveness from the Lord is the only refuge he seeks. Another punch you in your face, push you down, driving rhythm, To Be Free feels like a conversation with Satan about breaking free from his stranglehold. The horns, accordian and percussion in Cut Throat delivers like the theme song to a Robert Rodriguez flick. The song tells a tale of a barber or in this case barber surgeon who starts cutting the throats of his clientele with his straight razor. He ends up getting the electric chair in the end. Again, Javi and his bedtime stories. 30 Years , eventually nobody is going to give a shit about you. That is my take on it. Stick to the facts is a truth punch to the face. In a world where we are filled with lies, conspiracy and propaganda let’s try to stick to the facts.

“Through spider web cracked and broken glass. I let all the world before me pass. This ruthless toothless grinning mask. Ain’t held in place with candle wax. So let’s try to stick to the facts. Try to stick to the facts. Stick to the facts.”

This record sounds like Javi and the players went into a garage, shut the doors, broke the knob off, recorded this record and burnt the place to the ground. There were no survivors and no better understanding of The Great Controversy, all according to the master plan of questions without answers.

Play this record loud

Cannery Row

 

 

been diggin on the latest DSB effort...

http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/album/cannery-row-lp

In 2010, the Deadstring Brothers founder and frontman Kurt Marschke reversed the great Southern Migration, de-camped from his hometown and moved to Nashville. And while you can never, ever take all the Detroit out of a Detroiter, the latest Deadstring album throws the doors open wide to an even broader sound, his new home clearly influencing the lyrics and style. Cannery Row has a loose-limbed melancholy reminiscent of the Laurel Canyon folk scene, the outlaw Nashville days, as well as the Upstate New York counterculture spirit of the Band. Like a hitchhiker with a dirty backpack, a beat up guitar case and a wistful distant smile, the Brothers have piled up stories like the highway miles and created something pretty damn close to that old Gram Parsons dream of Cosmic American Music.
In the spring 2012, Kurt and old friend and fellow Detroiter, bassist JD Mack (formerly of Whitey Morgan & the 78s), started planning new tours, seeking out other members and making a plan for the new record. The stellar cast they recruited carries some hefty resumes: Brad Pemberton(Ryan Adams & the Cardinals) on drums, Mike Webb (Poco) on organ, piano and mandolin, Pete Finney (Dixie Chicks, Hank Jr.) on steel and dobro, Kim Collins (Smoking Flowers) on backing vocals and Mickey Raphael (Willie Nelson’slongtime harp player). At times mellow, breezy, joyous and longing, Cannery Row treads the rich waters brewing between heavy country, singer/songwriter elegance and the classic rock that runs through our collective DNA.
The music roams far and free. The swirling pedal steel and sitting–in-the-back-of-the-pocket drums evokes smoky fires and west coast stoner sunsets in “Like a California Wildfire.” “The Mansion” soars beyond the Nashville skyline with enough
polish to turn the heads on Music Row, but enough soul to hit the storied stages of lower Broadway. “It’s Morning Irene” brims with the romance and possibilities of riding the rails,singing the dust bowl gospel and waking up in the church of the outdoors. The stellar keyboards anchor a range of moods from the elegiac title track to the muscular, ride-with-the-top-down “Long Lonely Road.” And while “Just A Deck of Cards” conjures the contemplative open spaces of the southwest, “Lucille’s Honky Tonk” fires with Hank Sr.’s lanky jitter.
The album artwork includes photographs from an out-of-use train loading dock below Marschke’s loft home located on Nashville, TN’s actual Cannery Row.

Constant Rain

Constant Rain - it can feel that way sometimes...

http://www.jaybowcott.com/bio

Jay Bowcott has been performing regularly for the last two years and has found quite a bit of success within southern Alberta. Alongside his solo performances he has performed as the lead singer / songwriter in the band The Big Smoke of 52, who have done some sold out gigs and played an opening slot for Ed Kowalczyk of LIVE. Jay can be found playing at jams around southern Alberta or playing every Friday evening at the Silver Buckle in Medicine Hat. His touring history includes gigs that span all of Western Canada and he has done a couple across Canada tours with various groups. This debut album was released on February 1st 2013,  It is a ten song work recorded entirely in Jay's basement studio and spans from a few heartfelt folk / country tunes to some delta blues and rock and roll. It's his most progressive work yet spanning a 42 minute experience that is bound to catch your attention. Keep an eye out for him as he will be heading on the road in Spring 2013 and will also be recording another collection of songs in the summer.

Songs From the Shipyards

This is the 3rd release in what is, at the moment, a trilogy of side projects, Diversions Vol 3 is a score written for a new film by Richard Fenwick, Songs from the Shipyards, tracing the history of the shipbuilding industry using a compilation of archive footage. I have been a Unthanks fan since first I heard their angelic voices meld in harmony. Big Steamers is a favourite here at the Monastery.
But even alone, the album’s jigsaw puzzle mix of song, spoken word and shipyard sound is a haunting folk portrait of a community bearing the emotional and physical weight of industry.
The intimacy of the freshly cut-back band distills the power of a capella showstopper ‘Fairfield Crane’, performed with characteristic sharpness by Rachel Unthank. Jez Lowe’s ‘Taking on Men’ becomes a short and bittersweet recession anthem, immediate as carol singers at your front door, while a cover of ‘Shipbuilding’ is equally focused but rounded out with a lush arrangement, almost choral.
At just a nudge under ten minutes long, ‘The Romantic Tees’ is comparatively expansive, a mix of spoken word, working boat launch sounds and song in three parts, with a patchwork feel. With Graeme Miles’ words rejecting romanticisation of the river with an audible raised eyebrow (‘The ‘romantic’ Tees?’), producer and ‘deviser’ Adrian McNally finds a break in the at times chocolate box melodies of the album at large.
Elsewhere, sweet, impressionistic lullabies and eerie seaside waltzes are again undercut by lyrics insisting on the reality of declining industry and its impact. Diversions Vol 3 paints an incisive portrait of England’s industrial heritage, even beyond the rivers of the North East.

Stillhouse

When I first heard the initial iteration of this project I was speechless. Of course, I'm not generally given to oration as a rule, but the sweet simplicity of this work just seemed so right.
I was immediately enamored with the title track.
A vision realised...
Steinar Raknes is a man of many tastes. A founding member of the fiery modern jazz quartet The Core, a collaborator with lyrical jazz violinist Ola Kvernberg, co-leader of the SKÁIDI duo with yoik vocalist Inga Juuso, and leader of his own quartet that covers tango and bossa-nova classics, on Stillhouse, this Norwegian double bassist features his abilities as a vocalist and interpreter of eclectic, iconic American songs from the past few decades, as well as a few originals.
Raknes’ acoustic arrangements are straightforward.
His vocals are warm but his delivery direct and reserved, largely reciting the lyrics as matter-of- fact reporting, and never attempting to compete with memorable, existing vocal versions. His confident and powerful finger-picked playing strips the melodic content of these songs to their basic skeletal lines, his humble and intimate attitude stressing their emotional impact.
Raknes hosts Nashville harmonicist Mickey Raphael and several Norwegian vocalists on a few songs. Solveig Slettahjell brilliantly adds her warm voice to Raknes’ on John Prine's “Killing the Blues.” Raphael is a perfect partner on the arresting, melancholic cover of Gillian Welch’s “Tear My Stillhouse Down.” Gently, with vocalist Unni Wilhelmsen, Raknes adds touching emotional insight to The Band’s “Twilight.”
Raknes couples Prince’s “Kiss” with Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire,” transforming the originals’ explicit, seductive and reckless desire with the experience of mature and patient passion. This kind of peace-making with his own past serves Raknes beautifully on his original, “Time to Go” while a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock” adds a distant and skeptical view of the historic event.
Raknes’ best cover is John Prine’s classic “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness,” where his modest and sober approach fits perfectly with the words. He concludes this set with two originals, the bluesy “Down the Drain” and optimistic farewell “Walkin.’”
Surprising, beautiful and highly rewarding.
Personnel: Steinar Raknes: double bass, vocals; Mickey Raphael: harmonica (1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13) Solveig Slettahjell: vocals (1); Unni Wilhelmsen: vocals (5); Kaja Bremnes: vocals (12); Paolo Vinaccia: snare drum (8); Andrew Utnem: harmonium (9, 14).

Hello Black Halo

Just like the late Jessie Mae Hemphill, Becky Lee is a renegade and Lonely She-Wolf in the world of men dominated Blues Rock’n’Roll. She is one of the world’s few female one (wo)man bands. She plays guitar, kick drum, snare w/a foot pedal and floor tom with her strum hand with such co-ordination you could swear it was a 4 piece band.
Hello Black Halo, her debut album on Voodoo Rhythm Records, rolls in with  dark clouds of betrayal, death, and lust, as Becky Lee abuses the hell out of her guitar using the drums only to drive the song into the open country of your speakers and her voice strikes with the power of lightning.
In “Killer Mouse”, she breaks from the beating drum into a small lead that proves Lee understands how a song needs to break down for the words or music to have the desired power.
The tracks that follow are all great and enjoyable, but the track that stands out is “Hip Kids”, a suburban summer lament. In this track, Lee channels the Shondells in a 1950′s dirge about being finished with the posturing multitudes who are too cool to do anything loose or reckless (or even treat a woman right).

frank lee artseen

Former Freight Hopper Lee on banjo and guitar, in a set of old-time songs, tunes and blues: "Fully Saved Today," "Riley the Furniture Man," "Shout Lula," "Ragged and Dirty," eight more; with singer Jessica Johnson and Joey Damiano on upright bass. This is a fine collection of tunes.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/franklee
Album Notes

A passion for traditional songs and tunes from the rural South has fueled Frank's love of performing for the past 25 years. As a founding member of the Freight Hoppers, he has shared this passion with audiences all over the United States and Canada, as well as much of Northern Europe. He presents a range of old-time music that spans from raw Blues from the Mississippi delta, to the hillbilly music recorded in the South in the 1920's.

Growing up just south of Atlanta, Frank recalls hearing stories about the exploits of his banjo-playing grandfathers, as well as hearing about Fiddlin' John Carson and Riley Puckett. As a kid a neighbor introduced him to the music of Ralph Stanley, Frank became fascinated by the banjo. Immediately after high school graduation, Frank broke his femur in a motorcycle racing accident. His father bought him a banjo to pass the time in traction, and Frank's been playing ever since.

Frank began giving banjo lessons while he was in art school, and in the mid-80's started traveling with Clearwater, a bluegrass band that toured throughout the U.S. and released an acclaimed album, Willow of Time (produced by Rhonda Vincent). His focus gradually moved toward older, more archaic styles of Southern music. Clawhammer banjo styles took his attention away from the slick 3 finger bluegrass styles.

A few years later Frank moved to Bryson City, NC to take a job playing music for the tourists on the Great Smoky Mountain Railway, where he met fiddler David Bass. The two of them began playing old-time music at the train depot in Bryson City, and the Freight Hoppers stringband grew out of this gig. The daily work of the depot created a particularly tight band sound, and the group placed first in the stringband competition at the Appalachian Stringband Music Festival (a.k.a. Clifftop), appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, and signed on with Rounder Records.

The Freight Hoppers toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe, released three albums, and achieved a level of public recognition previously unheard of for a modern old-time band. Frank's old-time banjo playing can be heard on the three Freight Hopper albums, as well on a Freight Hoppers live concert video. He has a banjo instructional video out on Homespun Video. Slide guitar has become a part of Frank's concerts. A 1932 National Steel Duolian was added to the arsenal of banjos, along with a love for the oldest recorded blues players from the South, Son House, Willie Brown, and Blind Willie Johnson. Spirituals and blues round out a performance of unique arrangements of Old-time music from the deep Southeast.