Music of the Month: 2008 Recommendations

The Pale Young Gentlemen aren't - well, they are relatively young and certainly pale, being from Madison, Wisconsin,but the band is not comprised solely of men, gentle or otherwise. The smaller touring group includes two women and the recording group of an even dozen is evenly divided by gender. But that's not what I wanted to say about them. Truly, I've been absorbed by the recent gypsy-folk upwelling of late, in the indie music scene. The Pale Young Gentlemen ride that swell, with the sort of string-heavy zest that keeps sucking me into the burgeoning genre.

My introduction to Pale Young Gentlemen was The Crook of My Good Arm, but I quickly found that they had more to share than that rather obscure, if beautifully played, song. The group does slow, but I don't think the mellower tunes like Kettle Drum are as successful as the more up-tempo selections like the very gypsy-like Clap Your Hands. My favorite of their tunes, Saturday Night, demonstrates the sort of energy and love that Pale Young Gentlemen have for their music. They're clearly having a field day, building up to the almost wailing chorus from the simple piano-and-drum introduction. All of these songs appear on their second album, "Black Forest (tra-la-la)", the name of which rather sums up the sort of sound you can expect from it.

If you want more information,try reviews from Stylus Magazine or Crawdaddy. Visit the Pale Young Gentlemen web site, and give them a listen on their MySpace profile.

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African, Arabic, and European influences are brightly outlined by Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio in their complicated and exuberant performances, melded with jazz and classical music to form a beautiful mess of world music. That's likely attributable to the fact that, though the member currently reside in Rome, Italy, they were born as far away as Hungary, India, and Ecuador, from Senegal to Cuba to Romania. Just to keep you guessing, some of the folks in the Orchestra were born in Italy, and the group bills themselves as "Roman".

None of that background information tells you about how Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio sounds. It's difficult to specify, as their music ranges across so much territory and so many moods. Perhaps that is what makes their music so attractive: you can find a piece for every occasion on their two albums, "Suite Ninderli" and "Sona". Up-tempo jazz plays between Indian-influenced contemplations and Senegalese-inspired acoustic numbers. With sixteen people to play at any one given time, you never know what will happen next, and that's just how the Orchestra likes it.

You can visit them on MySpace and preview half a dozen of the tracks on their newest album, including the fabulous rendition of an allegro from The Magic Flute mentioned in the New York Times review. Unfortunately, I can't include previews of the individual tracks, but you can pick up both of their albums at Amazon. You can, of course, visit the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio on their web site, as well.

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This month I was introduced to the "gypsy punk" genre, one I'd not thought to research before. The two terms weren't quite musically exclusive in my mind, but they were close. Thanks to Gogol Bordello, they're now inextricably linked. Some of their songs, like Start Wearing Purple, lie more on the gypsy side of the line, while tunes like Ultimate and Sally definitely explain the punk label and Wanderlust King straddles the line between beautifully. Whatever their composition, most songs sound like a bunch of folks dancing, drinking, singing, and generally having the time of their lives.

The history of the New York City-based troupe makes for a good read alone, and makes their lyrics the more interesting, when you can understand them. Often Gogol Bordello wanders off into Eugene Hutz's mother tongue, perhaps even more often than he slips in naughty words. Be warned that these folks aim to talk about the things they find important, and sex and anger surface explicitly in several of their songs.

You can listen to them on their dime on their MySpace profile (speaking of profanity, this site is not for those offended by the f-bomb) or on their record label's page. Visit the official Gogol Bordello web site, while you're at it. You can also find a bunch of their songs and reviews of the band on the Hype Machine.

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If James Bond had mad dance skills, the Propellerheads would do all of his music. Their funky, driving beats have been featured in some of the 007 movies, as well as The Matrix and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. One of their most famous songs is, indeed, a remake of the theme for On Her Majesty's Secret Service. You can even see their Bond affection on the cover for "Decksanddrumsandrockandroll". (That's not a series of typos; the album title is all one word.)

The track that really seals the James Bond deal is History Repeating. You'll rack your brain trying to remember a 007 movie with that title, the first time you hear it. Propellerheads combine modern music with the voice of Dame Shirley Bassey, who sang the title songs for Diamonds Are Forever and Goldfinger 'way back in the 1960s. Alas, there's no Bond film to accompany the song.

But you've got to dig a little deeper to really enjoy Propellerheads. Take a listen to Velvet Pants for some jazzy beats and playful sampling. They're known for frenetic live shows where their turntable work is paired with live organ and drum performances.

The pair has worked with De la Soul and Prince, the Jungle Brothers, and the Black Eyed Peas in the ten years since their full-length album was released. There were rumors of a new disc with kd lang and Rufus Wainwright, but they seem to have come to naught. You can give Propellerheads a listen on their LastFM profile and on a pile of YouTube videos like this one for Bang On!.

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My introduction to Pink Martini, an amazing, 12-piece ensemble, was the relatively straightforward Hey Eugene, the title track of their third album. It's an enjoyable story tune, until the chorus. Suddenly, fantastic harmonies explode out of this cute but unremarkable song. I had to hear more.

What I found was a band that did pop music, sambas, big-band retro, and even Japanese-film-inspired tracks, sung in Japanese. They tour the world and no two of their songs are alike. You can enjoy the mellow swing of Hang on Little Tomato, tap your toes to the Gypsy beat of Dosvedanya Mio Bombino, picture the Parisian café around you with Sympathetique, practice your Japanese with Taya Tan, and salsa dance to Tempo Perdido.

Pink Martini may not be from any of these places, but they will give you a clean introduction to half a dozen varieties of world music. China Forbes powers her voice over all of these sounds, smoothing any rough edges and harmonizing with everything. Her powerful pipes tie the varied experiments into a recognizable whole. And with strings, horns, and a healthy sense of fun these folks deserve to be around for a long time adding to it.

You can listen to a few Pink Martini songs on their MySpace profile and more through the Hype Machine. Unfortunately, they don't have any full tracks available on LastFM, so I couldn't add one to my playlist, below. You can also visit their official web site for a blog, press clippings, and to read about the band members.

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I'm not a fan of the banjo in general. I thought I'd get that out in front, as a warning that the Two Man Gentlemen Band plies the banjo in every tune. I do, however, love clever and witty lyrics, which these guys have, in spades. I'm also a sucker for a good kazoo solo.

This bouncy band combines Dixieland jazz and ragtime razz with a Vaudevillian sense of the naughty. The song names alone give you a good idea from the Gentlemen are coming. Such titles as William Howard Taft and Stonewall Jackson's Arm display their irreverent take on historical events. Indeed, Their second album was entitled "Great Calamities".

Their newest album, "Heavy Petting", was released in February, 2008. These tracks include When Your Lips Are Playing My Kazoo and Dippin' Sauce, as well as the title track and They Can't Prohibit Love!. For the geekier of us, they Two Man Gentlemen Band has also included such numerical hits as Prime Numbers and The Square Root of Two.

You can listen to a few songs from each of their three albums on their official web site. You can hear more on their MySpace profile and even more at LastFM.

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If Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn had Tower of Power's children, then bred them with James Brown, they'd have created Robert Randolph and the Family Band. I'm pretty sure that's not what happened, but somehow these folks have found an incredible sound that blends all of these folks with their own creativity and spirit. They've hit the studio to record a couple of albums' worth of it, and I have high hopes that more is coming. Their first album was a live recording released in 2002. Later, they released "Colorblind", featuring tracks with Eric Clapton and Dave Matthews.

I was so excited to discover these folks on the World Café (David Dye, you are my hero!) that I was sad to find that they'd already been introduced to the world through Gray's Anatomy on television and the movie Stomp the Yard. I missed them on Austin City Limits. Apparently, they played at the Grammy Award show and on The Tonight Show in 2004, as well. I don't watch enough TV, I guess.

Robert Randolph has been all over the place, but he and the Family Band haven't gotten the sort of attention that their talent and energy deserve. Check out their MySpace profile and give them a listen on LastFM. Then head over to their web site or your favorite music retailer and buy their albums.

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If Marilyn Monroe had sung with the Mamas & the Papas, it would have sounded like The Pierces' Boy in a Rock-N-Roll Band, off of their 2007 album Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge. Imagine Dream a Little Dream of Me with a bump-and-grind feel to it.

The Pierce sisters, Amanda and Catherine, have a beautiful sound, in some songs breathy and sexy (like the creepy Secret), while on other tracks, like Sticks and Stones, their voices are powerful and clear. They harmonize on darker, more wistful songs like Three Wishes and on the country-bluesy, macabre Kill! Kill! Kill! and blend their ethereal voices on Go to Heaven for a especially misleading sound.

It's a rare pair that can pull off a combination of folk, disco, and what has been oft-referred to as a "twee" pop sound, then follow it up with a tribute to Billie Holiday. The eerie Boring sounds like a song Paris Hilton and Britney Spears could have written, if they were honest about their lives.

Check out their LastFM profile and their MySpace page for some free listens and head over to their website for more information on what these naughty girls have up their sleeves.

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While they label themselves "gypsy jazz", The Cook Trio offers a wider perspective than the mental image that description creates. The Cook brothers, Ian and Jason, ply their wiles on acoustic guitars while Kyle Jones backs them up on the upright bass.

Don't let their referring to French "Jazz Manouche" and Django Reinhardt's unique take on jazz in 1930s and '40s Paris mislead you. These boys combine fast fingers with jazz standards and their own creativity to build a terrific sound. Their bouncy beats, catchy riffs, and percussive style offer more range than the pre-Nazi, Parisian bistro image implies.

Listen to them on their LastFM profile, explore their own website (where you can listen to full-length versions of forty of their songs), or communicate on their MySpace profile. You can buy their self-titled album through Amazon.com, as well.

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It's impossible to be a new band without someone listing the bands you've combined into your own sound. Reviewers do that, however, to give listeners an idea of what to expect. When I tell you that Vampire Weekend is a cross between Paul Simon, The Connells, and Sting it should give you an idea of whether you're interested in hearing more.

Vampire Weekend's music isn't really a cross of those at all. It's more that each song has a somewhat different style. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa calls Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mombazo to mind, while A-Punk sounds a lot like The Police. I can hear some David Byrne in their lyrics, as well.

If you've heard the crazy buzz around these four Ivy-League geeks, you may have been as resistant as I was when I saw their name and the typical "These guys are great!" raves that don't give specifics. In then end, I was drawn to them because their debut album (and the pre-released EP) includes a track entitled Oxford Comma I, as a grammar blogger, felt that it was my duty to listen.

Their style refreshes you by being cleanly produced and crisp. The band displays a sense of humor and a complete lack of the goth obsessions that their name implies. While they've denigrated a critical piece of punctuation, that one song led me to listen to more. The bouncy, irreverent style made me a fan. You can hear four of the tracks at their MySpace profile and another on their Last.fm profile.

Update 5/10/08 - You don't have to take my word for it, either. Check out this detailed write-up of Vampire Weekend's first album at Evolving Music. See? They're good. Update 4/24/09 - Rumor has the band making their way back to the studio for a second album. Watch this space!

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If you like albums that tell a story, rather than simply being a collection of unrelated songs, I've got a treat for you this month. A latter-day Beatle on the rise, Ferraby Lionheart creates fairy-tale folk-pop that will catch your fancy. He self-released a six-song EP in 2006 and a second album came out in September of 2007 through Nettwerk Music Group.

His lyrics swerve between fantasy and serious commentary. The music ranges from smooth piano ballads through bouncy horns to acoustic guitar. Ferraby Lionheart's voice carries you through the whole, reminding you of other indie musicians in his folkier moments and very strongly of The Beatles when he's at his most whimsical.

Visit Mr. Lionheart on-line at his web site, where you'll find links to his MySpace page, a little photo gallery, and places to buy his albums. You can listen to his music and buy individual tracks directly from his MySpace profile. If you listen to nothing else of his, make sure you catch Before We're Dead from "Catch the Brass Ring". It'll leave you wanting more. Failing that, find his cover of REM's Man on the Moon. With apologies to Smuckers, with a name like Ferraby, he's got to be good.

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My first exposure to the Los Angeles quartet Goldfinger was on the soundtrack of a video game. I had to find that song that kept getting stuck in my head. If you love horns and a driving beat but haven't listened to the new breed of ska, these guys are a good introduction to the energy that you've been missing. Newer ska and ska-punk crossover bands like The Toasters, Mehpiskapheles, and No Doubt offer a sound reminiscent of the original, 1960s Jamaican ska but with more musical bite.

Goldfinger was formed in 1994 and issued their six-track demo EP, "Richter", in 1995. This led to a contract with Universal Records and "Hang-Ups", containing the elusive Superman and I Need to Know. Their version of the song More Today Than Yesterday appeared on the soundtrack of the hit Adam Sandler movie The Waterboy. The eight-track, all-covers EP, Darrin's Coconut Ass: Live, came out in 1998 followed by "Stomping Ground" and the live "Foot in Mouth" in 2000, "Open Your Eyes" in 2002, and "Disconnection Notice" in 2005. They're previewing their new album, due out this spring at their Goldfinger MySpace page.

They may not be the most consistent rock/ska band out there, but they showcase the blending of classic Jamaican ska and hard-core punk that has spread since the late 1990s. Try The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Scofflaws, and Big D and the Kids Table for more modern ska, and a taste of Boston's contribution to the scene.

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