New Music: Bobby Conn, Caetano Veloso, Aja West

Bobby Conn - Love Let Me Down (Thrill Jockey 2007)

Bobby Conn – King for a Day / Thrill Jockey

I’m 23. By the time I was born in 1983, David Bowie had already succumb to about a dozen style changes, redefined glam rock, invented and killed off Ziggy Stardust and was beginning his descent from world-wide rock icon to inspiring pop legend. I missed it all. Never will I get to experience the androgynous and way over-the-top stage shows or the avant-pop operettas as they shocked audiences in real time as it effected the current climate of popular music. I agree, it sucks, but there is no need to live depressingly in the past because we have probably the closest artist to being a straight descendent of Bowie right here in Chicago: (drum roll) Bobby Conn.

Quite fittingly, my introduction to Mr. Conn came through the music video; a 5-minute, heavily contrasted capture of one of his widely renowned stage shows complete with flamboyant costumes and sweat-dripping make-up. Since leaving the prog-rock trio Conducent in 1994, Conn has spent more than a decade refining his prog-pop sound and colorful performances with six themed full-length records and relentless touring. With always a close eye on the popular media, Conn taps the self-delusion of the American dream and riding the line between the mental fantasy world of self-centered indulgence by our current herd of celebrities and the inevitability of being dragged back down by the somewhat grimness of reality. Based loosely on true stories of Conn’s own experiences, King for a Day is a narrative album prime for soundtracking an epic 70s musical, which by no coincidence is being converted into just that as we speak. The music was written and then rehearsed in front of live audience to make certain that the peak emotional impact was being pulled out of every climactic falsetto or sparkling guitar solo by Conn and his band, the Glass Gypsies, as well as members of The Zincs, Detholz!, Mahjongg and other local musicians. The finished compositions were then taken to Key Club Studios in Michigan and recorded on the same vintage equipment and mixing desk Sly Stone used in 1970, and I have to admit, it sounds amazing.

The music is refined, rehearsed and pristine and builds upon his typical prog-pop sound with infusions of glam rock, bossa nova, indie-pop, moments of light metal and touches of other exotic genres. Like Bowie himself, Conn’s greatest asset is his ability to switch up style effortlessly while always sounding decisively like Bobby Conn. “Vanitas” opens with a sprawling 8-minute burner of Latin choir chants building from violin and bells before exploding with a heavy 80s metal guitar and pounding drums and finally giving way to bird chirps and lightly plucked acoustic. “When the Money’s Gone” follows as a Bowie-esqe sci-fi pop ditty which concludes with an orchestrated climax, while the title track has a loose bossa nova groove that gives way to a crunchy, screaming bridge. My personal favorite, “Love Let Me Down” is a stomping pop tune highlighted by clavinet and trumpet that sounds like Axelrod jamming with Queen. “Twenty-one” shuffles with a Sea and Cake-like groove while “Anybody” is a disorienting all-out rock tune. And so the album progresses between groovy pop and rock opera with instrumental outbursts, spoken word and more theatrical tricks than you can count.

The biggest concern for showmen like Conn is being able to reproduce such a huge sound that is so obviously made for the stage to recorded format. With King for a Day, Bobby Conn was able to lay all his energy and showmanship to tape without losing any of his many dimensions. It’s an epic, well-written album that is simply more fun than should be available on a small silicone disc, and I can hardly wait for the visual representation to complete the experience.







Caetano Veloso - Musa Hibrida (Nonesuch 2006)

Caetano Veloso – Cê / Nonesuch

You have to be impressed with the longevity of the artists that made up the Tropicalia movement in Brazil. It was a controversial style of MPB, art-folk and jazz with rebellious implications that blasted out of the Brazilian underground in the very late 1960s and was smothered by the government just as quickly. Though the genre itself was so short-lived, the main core of artists (save Os Mutantes though they did just reunite), Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Tom Zé, and Caetano Veloso, have recorded consistently and productively over the past 40 years. All now approaching the big 7-0, their music is no less fiery or creative as it was in their early 20s. This is especially true for Zé, whose quirky Estudando o Pogode made the Audiversity Top 60 of 06, and Veloso, whose 2004 covers album of American standards, A Foreign Sound, received critical praise. His latest though, Cê, seems to have drifted by sorely unnoticed.

Released in the fall of 2006, Cê finds the shape-changing musician in a stripped down setting featuring just guitar, bass, drums and the occasional keyboard. Though regarded as not nearly as exciting as some of his early records, I find the album very enjoyable as Veloso puts his unmistakable fingerprint on music that could almost be regarded as pop-punk. Tracks like “Outro,” “Rocks” and “Odeio” for example sound like a Brazilian take on the lighter side of Dischord… I kid you not. But sadly/thankfully (depending on your opinion) Veloso doesn’t tie himself to that one sound: “Musa Híbrida” features a post-bossa nova bubble-funk groove that’s simply irresistible, “Deusa Urbana” is a bit more slow-burning with a laid-back stoner rock guitar and closer “O Herói” would sound very comfortable on Zé’s aforementioned Estudando o Pogode. Featuring the crisp production of Veloso’s son, Moreno, most of Cê’s songs clock in at a comfortable four-minutes and the music chooses to just groove rather than challenge which is probably the biggest argument for mediocrity from such a heralded songwriter. Personally though, I dig the sparseness and simplicity of the sound and find it a refreshing listen. It certainly doesn’t approach any of his albums prior to 1980 but for a man who is turning 65 this year, it sounds decisively fresh.







Aja West - In Preparation (Mackrosoft 2006)

Aja West – The Olympian / Mackrosoft

"It's imperative you understand calling the funk B is in no way, shape or form a putdown. By definition, B-Funk was once A-Funk. A B-Funk band must still be touring, letting you know by definition that they're both legends and survivors. The fittest of the seventies funk scene." –Aja West in an interview for stoner mag Heads

I think it's pretty essential to understand this is the mindset of West, co-founder (with his brother Cheeba) of retro-funk label Mackrosoft and band leader of the funk super group of the same name, while listening to his first solo album in seven years, The Olympian. It not only explains the cheesy nature of his music but also the artwork pulled straight off every smooth jazz album in the early 90s. Though not currently in vogue, it's the brand of funk plagued with disco undertones and produced by brothers decked out in neon sweat pants. It's Kool & the Gang circa 1979, it's what makes the women take their clothes off for an Ohio Players LP cover, it's the IBM-produced Dali-ripping graphic design motif of the late 80s, it's whatever inspired Tower of Power to do what they do, and it's kind of infectious.

These days we have the throw back funky soul of Jamie Lidell and Nino Moschella, who pull heavily from Al Green and Sly and the Family Stone respectively, the hip-hop inspired future funk of Sa Ra, Platinum Pied Pipers and company as well as the sampled vintage butter funk of Stones Throw, but very few people are pulling from this era of smooth funk and cheesy synthetic soul. West certainly has the music chops to pull it off as we have seen from his work conducting The Mackrosoft orchestra and as a session player for The Cheebacabra, and he puts every resource available to use. Everything you want from a good funk record is here, drum breaks for days, blaring horns, deep electric bass lines, quick guitar riffs, more synthesizers than I can count, but be wary because he strings it all through a impressive collection neon processors. West's singing voice is not bad either; he typically sticks to an unforced croon with a backing choir and old school Beck overdubs. It's not outstanding, but it could certainly be worse. The songs are pretty diverse: "In Preparation" sounds like a Lyrics Born track fronted by a robot doing the… sigh… robot, "Snakes and Harpies" is more a smooth soul track but buried underneath bubbling synths and a murky underwater groove, and "Manhood Tookin'" features a pretty hilarious Bootsy Collins-meets-Beck sing/rap narrative over a leaping bass line, cymbal break and bubble-bursting wop-wops. The Olympian is not going to cause any rampant hype or reach any year-end-lists (in fact I doubt many people will even notice at all), but it will send Mackrosoft fans running for their glittery shirts and dancing shoes. And I seriously doubt Aja West would want anything more than that.