New Music: Menomena, Rafter, Catherine Howe

Menomena - Wet and Rusting (mp3) - Friend and Foe (Barsuk 2007)


Menomena - Friend and Foe / Barsuk

Portland-based trio Menomena snagged me with a gimmick; hook, line and sinker. Their 2003 debut album was packaged with a large flipbook depicting in motion not only the members playing their instruments, but the actual rearranging of the letters from the album title ‘I Am the Fun Blame Monster!’ to it’s anagram ‘the first Menomena album!’ I mean c’mon, you can’t just ignore something like that… and I didn’t… and the album was stuck on repeat for a good while after initially popped it in. Now two and a half years and a dance performance accompaniment/concept album later comes their second proper full-length, Friend and Foe. The obtuse song structures (created in a computer program and recreated live by the players) that separated IATFBM from its peers remain but in a more fluid, fleshed-out form. It is pretty blatant that Justin Harris, Brent Knopf and Danny Seim matured in their songwriting and musicianship thanks to the numerous shows since their first outing. The biggest difference with Friend or Foe is that it builds more in a vertical direction with layers rather than the jerky horizontal motion of loops that progressed IATFBM. The instrumental core of chunky bass, simple drum patterns and short piano melodies as well as accentuating baritone sax bellows remain intact, but added are a good number synth, percussion and sound effect doodles that help brighten the sound considerably. Vocal harmonizing is another pleasing added attraction, though they veer off into slightly over-dramatic flares now and again. With what I am assuming is a stronger financial backing, Friend or Foe benefits from the extended studio time and abilities, but I have to admit that it loses some of the endearing quality that came with the self-pieced IATFBM. It’s still a very solid album though, and will only rightfully enhance the fan base and praise for the band. And of course, the artwork is excellent, this time featuring the schizophrenic cartoons of Craig Thompson.







Rafter - Tragedy (mp3) - Music for Total Chickens (Asthmatic Kitty 2007)


Rafter - Music for Total Chickens / Asthmatic Kitty

I was quite a big fan of my first introduction to the awkward musical world of Rafter Roberts this past year with the re-release of his self-recorded 1998 album, Ten Songs. The multi-faceted recording and mastering engineer, who has manned the boards for everyone from Kill Me Tomorrow to Fiery Furnaces to Hot Snakes to any other off-center quality indie-minded band in the last 5 years, has a wonderful penchant for two seemingly polar musical opposites, indie-pop sweetness and avant-garde mania. A key member of the artsy San Diego community called the Go-Homes (also a starting point for Pinback among others), Rafter’s first official full-length for Asthmatic Kitty is a product a mind riddled with eclectic influences. The patchwork avant-pop of Music for Total Chickens will keep your ears guessing (and slightly fretting) where he’ll go next. For instance, Your War ends with a crescendo of soft harmonizing vocals and bright guitar strumming that you hear regularly on Sufjan recordings (yet another artist Rafter has engineered for), but it’s followed quickly by a spitting, Lightning Bolt-like electric guitar solo that connects a chorus of chunky drums, triangle pings and his Rob Crow-like singing voice that actually opens up into a triumphant, horn-clad conclusion. You can almost think of it as an accessible introduction to Anthony Braxton’s experimental sound structures for indie-poppers. Music for Total Chickens is an enjoyable and challenging (within its genre) record of sonic contrasts and crazy-quilt pop that deserves your attention as a much needed break from the norm.






Catherine Howe - On a Misty Morning (mp3) - What a Beautiful Place (Numero Group 2007)

Catherine Howe - What a Beautiful Place / Numero Group

For a label renown for releasing compiled discs of long-lost funky gospel tunes, electro-samba cuts and mashed Caribbean genres of all kinds, it seems almost anticlimactic that they’d be releasing an album of pretty straight-forward orchestrated folk. But this is Numero Group we’re talking about, and nothing sports the triple digit emblem without deserving the recognition that callously swept by it the first go-around. For their first release of 07, the Chicago crate-diggers clean-up and repackage a gorgeous folk-pop album by Catherine Howe, who at the time of recording was barely out of her teens. The much talented British singer/songwriter gained the most recognition for her sophomore album, Harry, which was released in 1975, but her true apex of creativity and songwriting came with her first attempt at the music business. Recorded in 1970 with multi-instrumental jazz artist and producer Bobby Scott and the help of the London Symphony Orchestra, What a Beautiful Place is a lush, poignant folk album that acts as an almost eerie sister recording to Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter. Recorded in the same year (WaBP wasn’t released till 1971 though due to label problems), both albums enlist a quiet passion through sultry vocals and observational lyrics while being garnished with gorgeous orchestrated accompaniment that swim with jazzy undertones. The only significant difference between the two is that Howe composes with a piano and Drake is guitar-oriented, but that really is neither here nor there. Like most excellent obscure albums, What a Beautiful Place never really had a chance (though it did get significant attention from the BBC’s Radio One) thanks to idiotic label heads, this time at CBS. Tiny UK imprint Reflection Records did release the album in ’71, but with little distribution mostly limited to solely the media releases. Catherine Howe has returned to the music industry in 2005 after a 25 year absence with a full-length of new material on Proper Access, which seems appropriate since artists like Beth Orton and Norah Jones are somewhat mimicking her sound (though probably unknowingly). What a Beautiful Place is a must have for fans of folk-pop, soft-psyche and those desperately looking for a Nick Drake accompany.