CD Odyssey Disc 1796: Mean Mary

Whew! That last entry had a lot of links. Time to get back to good old regular writin’ and reviewin’ of the collection.

This next record landed at #2 on the Top 10 albums of 2024. So yeah, I liked it.

Disc 1796 is…Woman Creature (Portrait of a Woman, Part 2)

Artist: Mean Mary

Year of Release: 2024

What’s up with the Cover? It is the aforementioned woman creature, long rumoured to stalk these very woods and trails!

Those creeps from Deliverance better hope they don’t run into Woman Creature. In addition to teeth and claws and an immunity to any and all bullets not made of silver she also has a banjo, and she knows how to use it.

How I Came To Know It: I read a review over at my latest music review website, Americana Highways. It is fair to say my purchases in 2024 skewed slightly toward folk and Americana as a result of adding that site to my regular visits.

How It Stacks Up: I have fallen hard for Mean Mary. I have two of her albums so far, a third is on the way and five more are on my wish list.

For now, it is just the two, and of those “Woman Creature” comes in at #1.

Ratings: 5 stars

I am always discovering new music, to the point where the experience of ‘newness’ itself can become fairly routine. Yes, I’m having a good time, but it is within the context of expecting a good time. But every now and then in my musical journey an artist comes along that stops me in my tracks, forcing my full and immediate attention, and making the hair on my arms raise at the excitement of it all. Mean Mary did this to me. So if I wax poetic in the paragraphs to follow, please forgive a love that is new and unbridled.

Mean Mary (aka Mary James) is not a new artist, with eight studio albums under her belt, and plenty more of live playing and appearances prior to that. I still have properly explore her back catalogue, but listening to “Woman Creature” it was hard not to feel like everything she’s been working at was destined to culminate in this record, which reflects a bit of every facet of the best of what folk music has to offer, and a bit more besides.

One of the first things I noticed was the songwriting, which is top notch, landing exactly in the right spot between folksy narrative tale and literary mood poem. “Woman Creature” explores multiple facets of womanhood, including delving into the artificial and unfair expectations of society that pull – sometimes painfully – on that experience. James explores how self-expression gets misrepresented as something monstrous (“Woman Creature”), the dangers of how self-loathing can lead to settling for a self-aggrandizing jackass (“Mr. What A Catch I Am”) and the destructive force of ill-placed competition (“Murder Creek”).

“Murder Creek” is the best song on the record, an eight-minute ballad of envy, murder, revenge and possibly even a ghost. The song would be exquisite as a poem, but set to music its terrible and twisted crimes properly come to life. The opening stanzas eerie tone are the harbinger of things to come:

“I can’t close my eyes in the dark
I dream in black and bleak
I get chills when a rooster crows in the night
And I find myself at Murder Creek.”

“I wade through the water to the fallen tree
That’s been down since the storm in July
I sit until the dark begins to fade
And I’m staring at a bloodstained sky”

It goes downhill from here, with our narrator finding motivation to do fell deeds, motivated by the flash of a shirt on a clothesline (perhaps a certain man’s?), and a knowing laugh from a rival signaling she has what our narrator covets. I won’t give away the ending, but I will note the name of the song is “Murder Creek”.

Add to this songwriting prowess a prodigious talent on the banjo. James plays with exceptional range. She can be fierce and fast on “Woman Creature” and its frantic themes, light and playful on the whimsical “Tarzan” and downright gentle on the pastoral instrumental “Sweet Spring”.

Completing the trifecta is her voice: a classic folk birdsong warble with many octaves of range, which James is not afraid to put to the test. She mostly sings in a high clarion bell of a belt, but she is equally adept at reverberating power in her lower register, or a breathy whisper when the tale calls for it. Because she is a natural storyteller you might be momentarily fooled into thinking she’s more style and delivery than substance, but that would be a mistake. This record tells many brilliant tales, yes, but without Mean Mary’s voice they wouldn’t have half their dread import.

As if to prove her mettle, the album’s final song, “Bring Down the Rain,” sees James shelving the warble in favour of something between a seventies country crooner and a forties lounge diva. The result is sublime.  

If you don’t like folk music, you may find “Woman Creature” is not your cup of tea. That’ll be your loss. Sometimes greatness reveals itself in heavy metal, sometimes punk, sometimes pop. Today, folk gets its day. Embrace it and enjoy.

Best tracks: all tracks

The Best Albums of 2024

The vast majority of A Creative Maelstrom is me working my way through my music collection, one review at a time, but I like to share my favourite albums released each year as well.

I have found 84 albums worth buying that were released in 2024, and that number is only likely to grow. If you haven’t found any good new music in the past year, that’s on you, not the music.

But I’m not here to throw blame, I’m here to assist you in your journey, with a quick overview of ten of 2024’s best, as well as five more ‘honourable mentions’ for those with the same insatiable desire as I have for discovering new music. The usual caveat applies – I am almost certain to discover some other album from 2024 that should make this list, but that I don’t know yet, or haven’t properly grokked in their fullness.

OK, on with the action. For albums that I have already reviewed, you can click the link on the album title to read more about why I liked it. If you’re done reading (which, given that you’ve gotten this far, is surprising) you can enjoy a rare bit of multimedia on the CD Odyssey by listening to a track from the album to whet your appetite.

10 Cheekface – It’s Sorted

-          Cheekface’s 2021 album, “Emphatically No” landed #7 on that year’s list, and they’ve once again broken the top 10 with “It’s Sorted”. Cheekface does a post-punk vibe full of clever turns of phrase that is so funky and catchy you don’t just forgive the verbal gymnastics, you welcome it.  Here’s a live version of Popular 2 performed live at KEXP. 

9 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Wild God

-          Nick Cave has been in a pretty dark place over the last decade, having gone through more than anyone’s fair share of tragedy. He still made great music (hitting #3 on my list with Carnage back in 2021). On Wild God he re-infuses the majesty and grandiosity back into his dark journey, to glorious and fell effect. Here’s Long Dark Night: 

8 Sierra Ferrell – Trail of Flowers

-          I didn’t give this album a chance at first, probably because it wasn’t Long Time Coming (#2 from 2021) but over time I realized it didn’t have to be that, and it was brilliant all on its own. Ferrell is as raw and real as she ever was with her quavering voice and homespun honesty. Here’s American Dreamin’.

7 St. Vincent – All Born Screaming

-          I’ve been a St. Vincent fan along time and a big part of it is her constant willingness to reimagine her approach to music. One of the great guitar players of our generation, St. Vincent is always happy to let the guitar be just one part of her creativity, bending it and all the sounds it can make to her will. A lot of my favourite albums never see the light of radio play, but it is nice when one or two do. On that note, here’s Broken Man.

6 Doechii – Alligator Bites Never Heal

-          I’ll always be a sucker for lightning fast phrasing and clever wordplay though, and Doechii is this year’s best. It is impossible to pick a song by Doechii without a LOT of vulgarity and harsh imagery, so if that offends you DO NOT watch this video for Denial is a River. OK, you’ve been warned. Here's the song. The best song on the album is Nissan Altima, but it is a whole other magnitude of crude. By all means look Nissan Altima on your own, but as with Denial Is a River you’ve been warned. Twice.

5 Grace Cummings – Ramona

-          Grace Cummings “Storm Queen” was my number one album of 2022 and she’s back two years later cracking the top five. There is nothing quite like that ghostlike warble of Cummings’ voice. Transcendent, and once again paired with thoughtful tunes. Here’s On and On: 

4 Benjamin Tod – Shooting Star

-          I wasn’t sure about this record on my first listen, fearing it might just be another derivative country record. Not so. Benjamin Tod is grit like you ain’t seen in these parts in a while, and I’ll be doing some serious diving into his back catalogue in the months ahead. If you love an angry tune about being swallowed whole by Nashville like I do (or just like great music) then here’s  the title track, Shooting Star.

3 Willi Carlisle – Critterland

-          Critterland is a showcase for singer-songwriter, and Carlisle is up with the greats in the genre, after only a couple records. I haven’t heard a vibrato-loaded storyteller like this since Stan Rogers, and it reminded me how much I’d missed it. If you can handle harsh songs about bad fathers then consider that your trigger warning and here’s The Arrangements, played live for maximum sting. 

2 Mean Mary – Woman Creature (Portrait of a Woman Part 2)

-          The highest ranked of the four established artists that were only newly discovered by me in 2024 (the others being Willi Carlisle, Benjamin Tod, and Doechii), Mean Mary is another voice that, like Grace Cummings, is one of a kind. Mean Mary devotes her instrument to folksy tales that have a lot more to say than just what’s on the surface, and this record is everything its provocative title promises and then some. It also features one of my favourite murder ballads of all time, Murder Creek. Yes, it is almost eight minutes long, but it’s worth the time spent. 

1 Amyl and the Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness

-          My friend Nick introduced me to Amyl and the Sniffers back in 2019 and I’ve been hooked ever since. They’re punk brilliance from Australia, and while Cartoon Darkness may be their least rough and raw recording, it more than makes up for it with range, dynamics and composition. Despite that it still hits hard as hell. The album is raunchy, and the single I've chosen has some offensive language, so if that offends you don't listen. OK, warning over. Here’s Tiny Bikini. 

Honourable Mention – all great, but fell short because I could only pick a top 10. Here are 5 more in no particular order in the event you aren’t sated by the official winners:

• Mary Timony – Untame the Tiger; Hurray for the Riff Raff – The Past is Still Alive; The Paranoid Style – The Interrogator; Vera Sola – Peacemaker; Dehd – Poetry

And for those new to the Top Ten Experience, click on the year below to get the full from that year (I’ve proved #1 as a teaser):

Best of 2023 (#1 was Boy Golden)

Best of 2022 (#1 was Grace Cummings)

Best of 2021 (#1 was Lucy Dacus)

Best of 2020 (#1 was Katie Pruitt)

CD Odyssey Disc 1795: Wild Pink

I have exciting news – I have selected my top 10 albums of 2025. Surely the mountains themselves will reverberate with the triumphant return of the yearly top 10!

But before that, I am afraid there is this nagging commitment to review ALL the albums in my collection so bonus end-of-year list coverage – however exciting – will have to wait a couple of days.

And with that teaser, let’s get on with the review.

Disc 1795 is…Yolk in the Fur

Artist: Wild Pink

Year of Release: 2018

What’s up with the Cover? This is a satellite photo of the burning oil fires in Kuwait following the Gulf War. I remember when this environmental disaster was happening live. As memories go, not a great one to revisit.

Maybe Wild Pink would choose to go for something with a “wild pink” kind of vibe next time. Something frivolous and fun. (Spoiler alert: they do not. The next cover once again features a lot of brown).

How I Came To Know It: In the boring way I have come to know many records – I read a review, was sufficiently intrigued to give it a listen, and liked what I heard. Purchased at my local record store, which is the number one place one (meaning anyone) should purchase an album if the opportunity exists. Support local business! Support brick-and-mortar stores!

How It Stacks Up: I have three Wild Pink albums and I am on the lookout for their 2024 album, “Dulling the Horns”. I don’t have it yet though, and things only stack against what is already in my collection. Of the albums I currently have, “Yolk in the Fur” is #1.

Ratings: 3 stars

Ambient, mood-heavy indie folk music does not usually appeal to me, but every once in a while, someone comes along (Band of Horses, Lord Huron) that wins me over. Wild Pink is one of those bands, making music I can’t bring myself to dislike, despite every honest effort.

“Yolk in the Fur” is Wild Pink’s second album, but it was the first for me to have me engaging in this tug-of-war between what I want to like, and what my ears choose to like. Did it blow me away? Reader, it did not, but it did begrudgingly win me over.

It helps that the band puts the best song first (always a good move when fishing for album devotees). “Burger Hill” is a mood piece that immediately puts you in a peaceful and contemplative headspace.

The song is ostensibly about sitting on a hill looking down on houses below. It’s a winter scene captured amid falling snow, and quite pretty lyrically, but in all honesty, I had to look that up. Unlike a lot of my musical preferences, “Yolk in the Fur” puts soundscapes ahead of lyrics. The lyrics to “Burger Hill” are good, but the vocals are low and farther back in the mix and the song – like most of the record – is a soft and soothing soundscape.

This works well for John Ross’ voice, which is high and airy to the point of ghostlike. He’s still the star of the show, but more like how Steve Harris plays bass in Iron Maiden: critical to the sound, but content to be part of the experience, rather than in front of it.

There are also tracks with a bit of jump in them, like “Lake Eerie” but here it is the percussion driving the show, and while there isn’t anything groundbreaking about a well-playing snare hitting at the front of the pocket, it’s the kind of familiarity that breeds content, rather than contempt.

“Yolk in the Fur” is a subtle record, and it requires an active ear and a quiet room (or headphones) to be enjoyed to its fullest. I’ve had this album in my collection for years (six, to be exact) and this particular listen was in the most unforgiving environment, entirely enjoyed while competing with the growl of my car engine on my morning and evening commute. It nevertheless fared well overall.

That said, there are times when I longed for a little more dynamic range in the record. The melodies are pretty, but the nature of Wild Pink’s approach to the arrangements means they are sometimes buried deeper than they need to be. Like any dreamy experience, this meant that at times I drifted away when I wanted to be present. That’s a bit on me, and a bit on the car, but it’s also a bit on the record.

And so we land at a friendly but not excessive three stars. Enjoyable but not enough to land on 2018’s “top 10” list by any stretch. What will land on 2024’s list? We end where we began, my friends…with a teaser.

Best tracks: Burger Hill, Lake Eerie, There Is a Ledger, The Séance on St. Augustine Street

CD Odyssey Disc 1794: John Cougar Mellencamp

Apologies for my absence, gentle readers. The holidays take a bite out of the kind of time needed that meet the criteria of Rule #4 (listening only counts when done alone when I’m doing nothing more than driving, walking, or painting).

As a result, this album took a whole week to get through, but it was an enjoyable week.

Disc 1794 is…Uh-huh

Artist: John Cougar Mellencamp

Year of Release: 1983

What’s up with the Cover? This looks like a photograph that’s been painted on to look ‘arty’. It depicts John Cougar Mellencamp with an array of angels behind his head. I do not understand what the addition of these angels are supposed to represent, although angels are represented (by their absence) in the song “Golden Gates”.

However, it is not the angels that caught and held my attention with a horrified fascination, it was the shoes. That is one ugly pair of loafers, Mr. Mellencamp. And while I know it was the style at the time, the flash of white socks does not help.

Attention folks that are currently white-socking it around out there: you do you, but know that this is not a look that time treats kindly.

How I Came To Know It: This album was everywhere when it came out, and I know it from years of music videos, high school dances, house parties and general media exposure, much of which I considered unwelcome at the time.

Most recently this comes to me via my wife Sheila’s recent penchant for picking up albums at bargain-bin prices from thrift stores and bringing them home on spec. While this has eaten up a lot of additional real estate for the music collection, it has also been welcome for at least three reasons.

First and most obvious – you get a lot of deals and the misses are inexpensive. Case in point: this CD set her back a mere $4.

Second, it is fun to live dangerously and not know whether you’ll like something or not. Reminds me of the adventure of shopping for music back in the days before I stalked prospective records on Youtube and Bandcamp before purchasing.

Third, I don’t acquiesce to AI algorithms finding music for me, and this is one more avenue to expand my musical horizons in ways I otherwise might not.

How It Stacks Up: John Cougar’s “Jack and Diane” was one of my first two ever purchased 45s (the other was Steve Miller Band’s “Abracadabra”) but as far CDs go, this is my only Mellencamp album, so it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 4 stars but almost 5

Four stars will be a shock to all those who have heard me – usually after one too many cocktails – refer to Mellencamp as “shitty Bruce Springsteen”. A very unkind and unfair moniker indeed for an artist that is so much a part of the fabric of American rock music. My other favourite falsehood is deeming Lynyrd Skynyrd “shitty Molly Hatchet” but that is more about getting a rise out of Skynyrd fans. Besides, who doesn’t love Molly Hatchet?

Please put your hands down, Skynyrd fans; I don’t have time to spend the afternoon tallying all your votes, and we’re here to praise “Uh Huh” not start a second round of “Sweet Home Alabama”.

Let’s return to Mr. Mellencamp, and “Uh Huh”, one of the seminal albums of eighties rock and roll, that holds up admirably more than forty years after its release. This record is a master class of how some simple rock and roll riffs and heartfelt lyrics, delivered with honesty and integrity, are more than enough to make a classic record.

First and foremost a shout-out to the production decisions. This was 1983, and rock musicians everywhere were starting to experiment with all manner of bad ideas. Synthesizers, drum machines, saxophone solos (excepting the great Clarence Clemons) – the list is long and abhorrent. These aren’t bad ideas overall, but they belong to New Wave and pop music and tend to suck the life out of the grit required to make good old rock and roll.

Mellencamp doubles down on what makes rock be rock, going so far as to include a song, “Play Guitar” which is essentially about this idea. Sure he also includes the very Casio-sounding “Jackie O” on this record, but it is the exception that proves the rule, and so I (mostly) forgive it.

Lyrically, this record digs into the plight of working-class America, and people struggling to get by and realize the American dream. “Pink Houses”, “Authority Song” and “Golden Gates” all capture the sentiment, and the upbeat rock vibe is a nice juxtaposition against the hard message underneath. As Mellencamp himself sings on “Authority Song”, when he rails against the system he “comes out grinnin’”. Not because he wins (n.b. the song makes clear that ‘authority’ always wins) but smiling means not giving “the man” the satisfaction. Sometimes that’s enough.

In many ways the album is the flip side to the darker tones of Springsteen’s “Darkness at the Edge of Town” and “Born in the USA”, telling similar stories with a blush of optimism and bravado. Same outcome but delivered with more major chords.

So does this mean I’ll forever stop that unfair (and incorrect) comparison I’ve made over the years? Given that I’ve just waxed poetic about the brilliance of “Uh huh”? Given that I still have that 45 of “Jack and Diane” squirrelled away somewhere? Given that I continued to harbour a secret (until now) and abiding love for the song “Paper in Fire” since its initial release?

Reader, I cannot promise that. Mostly because cognitive dissonance is a powerful force. I will say that “Uh Huh” is a great record, and I’m going to leave this review a humbled and wiser man. I’ll also go explore both “Scarecrow” (1985) and “The Lonesome Jubilee” (1987) and see how they suit me now that my eyes have been opened.

I’ll also do my best to upgrade the reference to “upbeat Bruce Springsteen”, or maybe even “the Underboss”. Take the win, John.

Best tracks: Crumblin’ Down, Pink Houses, Authority Song, Play Guitar, Serious Business, Golden Gates

CD Odyssey Disc 1793: Matt Patershuk

I am currently enjoyed a bit of holiday time. I recently visited family out of town for Christmas and now I’m back and settling in good and proper for some home-based rest and relaxation.

Disc 1793 is…Outside the Lights of Town

Artist: Matt Patershuk

Year of Release: 2013

What’s up with the Cover? A stamp collection! These are all stamps depicting various aspects of rural life in Canada which, not coincidentally, is also the overall theme of the record.

Having visited my mom earlier this week these stamps remind me of the time she sold her stamp collection so she could afford to buy me a new bike for my birthday (it would not have happened otherwise).

We didn’t have a lot when I was young, but we did have a great mom.

How I Came To Know It: I have been a fan of Matt Patershuk since I learned about him through an article in folk music magazine Penguin Egg around 2017.

This particular album wasn’t available for sale on his website (which is not well maintained), but I was able to snap it up at a live show he put on at the Oak Bay Recreation Centre in December of 2019. One of the last shows I saw before “pandemic interruptus” that began in early 2020. At the merch table I secured this record as well as a friendly chat with Mr. Patershuk himself. You can read a review of the show alongside my review of “If Wishes Were Horses” back at Disc 1322.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Matt Patershuk albums, which a short internet search has revealed is no longer all of them. He released a fifth album called “An Honest Effort” in November of 2021. However, the Matt Patershuk website lists this event as future-based (i.e. “coming soon in November 2021 – pre-order here!” A bit more searching reveals that it does in fact exist and will now be going on my “to get” list.

For now, however, I have reviewed all four albums in my collection, so as tradition dictates here’s a full recap:

1. I Was So Fond of You: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1380)
2. Same as I Ever Have Been: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1234)
3. If Wishes Were Horses: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1322)
4. Outside the Lights of Town: 4 stars (reviewed right here)

Ratings: 4 stars

“Outside the Lights of Town” is Matt Patershuk’s first record, but it reveals an artist with a clear vision of the kind of music he wants to make. Or in Patershuk’s terms, a person who knows what he is about and shares it straight up, no frills.

That vision is a love letter to rural Canada (more specifically Northern Alberta) and the hard-working, honest folk who help give those wild and beautiful spaces their character. The music is like the subject matter – folk/country crossover music delivered in plain and candid melodic structures and lyrics.

Don’t let the simplicity of the arrangements fool you. The musicianship on the record provided by backing banc “The Dirty Plaid Orchestra” is excellent. There is a laid back but confident settling into the style that keeps the songs moving along but never in a hurry, each story taking exactly as long as is needed to reveal its secrets.

The stories are aided by Patershuk’s vocals. In addition to being a talented lyricist, Patershuk’s high baritone has a gravelly tone that was born to tell tales. His phrasing is excellent, and while you won’t get any vocal theatrics, you won’t ever wish they were there.

“Mill Towns” is my favourite, the story about the collapse of the forest industry in Alberta, hastened by the arrival of the Mountain Pine Beetle. I admit as a British Columbian from a mill town myself, this song had particular resonance, all the way down to lines like…

“Now the swallows are nesting around the green chain door"

…that had me thinking about my own summers on a green chain, now silenced by circumstance, where I learned some valuable lessons as well as some much-needed humility.

“King of this Town” is also an excellent descriptor of that guy who was once a big deal and still likes to talk about those days. This song gets bonus points for referencing the greatest hockey team ever, the Boston Bruins.

There are many love songs, often focused on the small courtesies and courtships that accompany that form the awkward and delightful dance of first meeting someone. Notable titles in this sub-genre include “Better Man” (not the Pearl Jam song), “Let’s Get It On” (not the Marvin Gaye song) and “Silver Bangles”. “Let’s Get It On” may not be Marvin Gaye but it is a rural approximation of the experience, and deliberately borrows a hook from that song for the bridge, which was a nice nod.

“Colour Song” is a murder ballad, which usually means I’m going to like it, but Patershuk focuses a bit too much on the imagery of colour. It’s the theme holding the song together, but it feels forced into the narrative a bit too often. It is the only song on the record where the fact that this is Patershuk’s first record feels evident.

A very minor quibble, however, on a record that consistently delivers great stories, well played, by people who live and breathe the experiences they speak of (OK, maybe not the murder bits…). I wanted to give this record 3 stars and demonstrate it was my least favourite of his records, but the truth is it is just one more great album by an artist that deserves a whole lot more recognition that he gets. 4 stars.

Best tracks: King of This Town, Mill Town, First Now, Better Man, Outside the Lights of Town

CD Odyssey Disc 1791 and 1792: The Paranoid Style

Today we get a two for one review, with a full-length album by the Paranoid Style and then an EP they released the following year. The total is only 16 items and 46 songs, so when I downloaded them through Bandcamp it was a natural fit to turn them into a single listen.

While the listen was combined, I’m still listing them as separate entries. Rules are rules.

Disc 1791 is…Rolling Disclosure

Disc 1792 is…Underworld USA (EP)

Artist: The Paranoid Style

Year of Release: 2016 (Rolling Disclosure) and 2017 (Underworld USA)

What’s up with the Cover? Lead singer Elizabeth Nelson likes sitting down. There is really no occasion that doesn’t call for a good sit down.

Reading a book in the middle of some railroad tracks? Best done sitting – just remember to bring a folding chair; railroad ties can be dirty, and you wore that nice dress.

Feel a bit out of breath on the way up the stairs to your apartment? Another good opportunity for a sit. These stairs could also be dirty, but stairs are generally more conducive for a good sit than railroad ties, so by all means, take a seat.

Spoiler alert, future reviews are currently 67% likely to feature Nelson sitting somewhere. The woman sits a lot.

How I Came To Know It: Earlier this year I discovered the Paranoid Style through a review of their 2024 release, “The Interrogator” I read on Pitchfork. I instantly loved their sound and began digging through their back catalogue.

It is all available on Bandcamp, which is where I got these two albums. Unfortunately, they don’t seem inclined to release on CD, so it had to be a download. Nobody’s perfect…

How It Stacks Up: I have five Paranoid Style albums, including one EP. Of those albums I put “Rolling Disclosure” in at #5 and “Underworld USA” at #2.

Ratings: Rolling Disclosure: 3 stars; Underworld USA: 4 stars

Rolling Disclosure:

Rolling Disclosure is the Paranoid Style’s first album, but from the first notes you can tell this is a band who knows what they are about. Fully formed, like Athena being born directly out of Zeus’ head, the Paranoid Style lock in early to their sound.

That sound is a punk garage rock combined with frenetic New Wave that felt like the second coming of Blondie. Not derivative, but more the inheritor of that sound. The music often sits in front of the beat (as New Wave is wont to do) but it also utilizes that post-disco sway that Blondie evokes.

Elizabeth Nelson’s voice is a low register vibrato, and carefully enunciated words that are the paragon of phrasing and timing (another must-have for New Wave style sound, lest it drag).

Paranoid Style songs never drag, and I found myself breathlessly anticipating what Nelson was going to sing about next. In this regard, the Athena reference is doubly apt, with songs that are a word soup of phrases and images that have no business being successfully sung into a bar of music, and yet somehow work anyway.

Case in point, the opening track, “The Ambassador’s Morning Lift” (one of many songs with long complicated titles), featuring such clever turns of phrase as “It’s useful to keep up disappearances” that trips by so fast you might miss it the first time, and then you deliciously anticipate it on future listens. That’s the pop centre to all of the Paranoid Style’s punk coating.

“Giving Up Early (On Tomorrow)” makes the chorus the most interesting line (and the title). For anyone who has ever had a night out where you set out to make bad drink decisions, and early morning starts be damned. Or maybe it isn’t alcohol fueled at all, just an internally generated existential crisis. This is the song for both those things. It also has a line:

“I was caught somewhere between
Jupiter and Apollo
And tonight I'm giving up early
On tomorrow” 

That had me thinking about that Athena thing all over again.

My biggest issue with “Rolling Disclosure” is the production, which is a bit too garage-y for my tastes. This is clearly deliberate and speaks more to my biases than anything wrong. Nevertheless, I found the mix was a bit too muddy, taking away from the sharp and witty delivery of Nelson’s lyrics.

Underworld USA

Underworld USA gives us more of the same New Wave/punk crossover we were introduced to on “Rolling Disclosure”, but overall a consistently higher quality of both songwriting and production.

For production, things are crisper and the backing band gets a greater chance to shine, which they put to good use, and the arrangements are a bit more thoughtful overall. Is it less punk as a result? Maybe, but not in a bad way.

For songwriting, the Paranoid Style add in elements of hard rock and sixties pop into their mix. It doesn’t change the overall flavour of what they do, but presents a few more layers and makes the songs each stand out more individually.

The opening and title track explore the grubby underbelly of corporate America or maybe politics (the band does hail from Washington DC) or maybe some combination of both. This track, and many that follow on “Underworld USA” aren’t afraid to use the clever wordplay to twist the knife into institutional malaise.

My favourite bit of beat poetry (which is a bit what it sounds like to listen to Nelson sing) is this stanza from “Dominoes in Drag”:

“Making short work
Of a long night
In your slit skirt
With your steak knives
With the stakes high”

This song ranges all over, but this glitzy but predatory descriptor of a fancy dinner event rings out with apocalyptic beauty. Fun fact – later in the song they once again reference Apollo!

The album ends with “Revision of Love” which is more of a seventies barroom banger, converted into a critique of economic models, philosophy and the whys and wherefores of making art, ostensibly wrapped around writing a song about some woman named Loretta. Like most Paranoid Style songs, there is a lot going on here, and the dense and fast-moving imagery requires multiple listens, but the effort is worth it.

Even if you decide you don’t want to explore just why that guy Apollo keeps showing up, or to go learn more about Pascal’s Wager (also referenced), you’ll still have fun, because the music is fucking great.

Best tracks (Rolling Disclosure: The Ambassador’s Morning Lift, Giving Up Early (On Toorrow), Daniel in the Basement

Best Tracks (Underworld USA): Underworld USA, Dominoes in Drag, Hawk vs. Prez, Dedicated Glare, Revision of Love, 

CD Odyssey Disc 1790: Anna Tivel

‘Tis the season to not have enough time to get everything done, but tonight I’m making time for a music review. Not just a music review either – a coveted concert review as well! To read that just scroll down

Disc 1790 is…Living Thing

Artist: Anna Tivel

Year of Release: 2024

What’s up with the Cover? A whole lot of huggin’ Last week I received a hug from the best hugger in the world (you know who you are) so this cover is timely.

The hugs depicted here look pretty great also. Not a lot of half-assed side-hugs or awkward steepling going on. Just good clean body hugs that are firm and heartfelt, but don’t stray over the line into creepy.

How I Came To Know It: I have been a fan of Anna Tivel for a long time, dating back to 2017, so this was just me buying her new album when it came out.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Anna Tivel albums and am on the lookout for a sixth. Of the five I currently have, “Living Thing” comes in at…#5. Hey, something had to be last.

Ratings: 2 stars but almost 3

Most of my listens to “Living Thing” were in my car driving to and from work. This was not ideal, as Anna Tivel has a gentle grace, and her albums require a bit of quiet around you for best effect.

Despite the growl of engine and surrounding traffic, Anna Tivel still brought me under her spell yet again. “Living Thing” has a bit more production and “to do” than I’m used to on her records, but her thoughtful folk music still shone through in key moments. Perhaps it is singing over all the extra instrumentation, or just Tivel finding increased confidence with all those other records under her belt, but she sings here with more force and richness than on previous records.

At times I missed the predominant whisper vocals from earlier records, but this loss is offset with her showcasing just how sneaky good her voice is. Besides, there is still plenty of whispered brilliance mixed in.

Subject-wise, there aren’t as many great character studies on “Living Thing” as with previous work, replaced with a bit more straight-up philosophy. Tivel’s thesis seems to be some form of “life’s a mix of good and bad – embrace the journey”. Not overly creative, but a welcome message overall.

The best song on the album is “Disposable Camera” an up tempo (for Tivel) song that takes soft rock disco-adjacent radio from the early eighties and folk-i-fies it. I liked the effect – like if Blondie was really relaxed and singing to you in a library. In the song Tivel reminds us that life’s mysteries may never fully reveal themselves to you, and that’s OK. It isn’t particularly profound, but Tivel’s vocals have a “I’m sharing secrets” kind of tone to it that leaves you feel a bit wiser just by listening.

All of this was most welcome, but the vaguely electronica elements that intruded on other songs was unwelcome to my folk-anticipating ears. Anticipation is a bastard like that. Try as I might, I couldn’t shake my initial and insatiable desire for less.

Despite all this, the album was cruising for a three-star review when the final track took six minutes to do very little, and the part that didn’t do anything was just the sound of heavy rain on a roof. This, I could not abide and resulted in what was probably an uncharitable ranking for the otherwise always charming and thoughtful Ms. Tivel.

Best tracks: Real Things, Disposable Camera

The Concert – December 14, 2024 at the Royal Theatre, Victoria

This is not an Anna Tivel concert, per se, but it was for me. She was the first opening act during the 16^th annual Jon and Roy Christmas concert. Jon and Roy are a bit of a Victoria music institution for the past twenty years and are widely loved through the town.

Six of us attended (three couples) with each of my fellow concertgoers looking for something different. I was there for Anna Tivel, one of us wanted to hear M. Ward (the next opening act) and a couple more people were Jon and Roy fans. In the end we all got what we came for.

Anna Tivel

Anna Tivel came on stage first, her slight unassuming frame swimming in the ill-fitting but comfortable clothes her generation prefers, all the way down to white socks, no shoes.

Tivel has a quiet grace about her records, and this translated and then some into her live performance. Within a few notes she had the audience quietened down and eating out of the palm of her hand.

The guitar work was dead simple, but well played, and Tivel’s vocals came off in that quiet but powerful way that makes me a fan. Despite the simple arrangement and melody of her work, she hit a couple of surprising notes in there that were sublime.

Tivel didn’t play my favourite song of hers (that would be “Dark Chandelier”) but she did play some favourites. Notably “Riverside Hotel” about a homeless man watching a building get constructed, and a song about New York street life that I recognized but couldn’t name. Tivel didn’t say what the songs were called (I had to look up the name of “Riverside Hotel” after the show) but they still cut through the night.

As an opener to an opener Tivel only played five songs. I knew this was going to happen going in, but it was still hard to watch her part the stage so soon.

Usually I save the merch table comments to the end, but since I don’t care overmuch about the other two bands, I’ll cover it here. Tivel’s merch selection was…not great. Basically it was just her last couple of records, which I had. I was really hoping for a copy of 2014’s “Before Machines” or failing that, a t-shirt, but came up empty on both accounts. Still, a great show.

M. Ward

My favourite M. Ward music is from his partnership with Zooey Deschanel as one half of “She & Him”. Given “She & Him” had done a Christmas record, and this being a Christmas concert and all, I thought there was a chance (maybe 5%) that Zooey might show up to sing. Sadly, no.

That left me with M. Ward. I had bought his album “Post War” (reviewed way back at Disc 1121), for the song “Chinese Translation” but didn’t love the record and long ago parted with it.

But how would it go live? Turns out very well. M. Ward surprised me with his virtuosity on the guitar. Many of his songs were completely or largely instrumental, but he was so talented, and the melodies were so soothing, I never once felt like me was noodling without purpose. He also did some funky “record and loop” antics to add his own background players.

M. Ward did play “Chinese Translation” but it sounded forced and uninspired. I suspect he’s had to play that song a lot, and it may be time to retire it for a while. The Who did that for “Magic Bus”, M., and you can too.

He also played a version of Buddy Holly’s “Rave On” which I did not like (too slow/plodding) but overall it was solid.

Jon and Roy

As I mentioned earlier, Jon and Roy are a bit of a Victoria institution, and the welcome from the crowd was full throated and joyous. People were definitely amped for the experience, and despite my earlier encounters with their music being of the “didn’t dig it” variety, I was initially hopeful.

Sadly, that optimism was short lived. Jon and Roy are a mix of folk, alternative nineties rock and reggae. That should be a fun mix, but they insist on turning every promising start to a song to a sludgy jam session. I felt like I was hearing the same song over and over again.

They could play well enough, and the singer’s vocals are big and bold (sort of Gord Downey crossed with Kurt Cobain) but the songs had very little dynamics, and quickly bored me. They did establish a groove (the reggae part) and did that well, but I wasn’t feeling it or when I was feeling it, I was done with the feeling long before J&R were done with the groove.

What I was feeling was the guest trombone player. Yeah - there's a reason the photo above features him centre-stage.

I didn’t know who this dude is (but later found out his name was Dave St. Jean from another article by someone obviously more in the know than me) but he was the true star of the show.

When not featured in a song, he would stand on a riser in the back with his trombone in his hand making every groovy dance move known to man that doesn’t require you to move your feet. Head sways, hip sways, arm shifts, Dave had it all.

When he was called on to lead or solo, he thrust himself to the front of the stage like a force of nature, pumping that trombone with a jaunty fury. He was a joy.

Sadly, he was the only joy. Inevitably, Jon and Roy would return with their soupy mood grooves and lose me all over again.

I will say I was in the minority, and the room was full of J&R disciples, many of whom were up out of their seats by the end, gyrating away to what approached a religious experience.

Having long marveled at how beloved Jon and Roy are in this town, this could have irritated me but did not. I am a Frank Turner fan, and have many times been overly effusive in the face of other attendees wondering what the hell all the excitement was about. I’m glad those super fans had a great time, even if I was left, once again, in a profound state of “didn’t dig it”.

CD Odyssey Disc 1789: Benjamin Tod

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey where we just keep sailin’ randomly into whatever album happens to come up next. Today…it’s country!

Disc 1789 is…Shooting Star

Artist: Benjamin Tod

Year of Release: 2024

What’s up with the Cover? This cover is a paradox of old and new. The picture looks old timey, if you overlook that rather prominent neck tattoo that Mr. Tod is sporting.

The music itself matches the style of the photo, but as per that aforementioned neck tattoo Mr.Tod is very much a modern artist.

How I Came To Know It: I read a review on one of my favourite newly discovered music review sites, “Americana Highways”. I find a lot of new and obscure music here and if you like Americana music you should check it out.

After you read my blog first, of course.

How It Stacks Up: While I have plans to check out Benjamin Tod’s earlier albums, for now this is my only one, so it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 4 stars

An average album gets tiresome at about the third listen, but a good one just gets better every time through. It was this latter experience that I had with “Shooting Star” which had me go from hearing it as derivative, to recognizing that it was, in fact, timeless. The separation is subtle but distinct and usually based on one simple thing: quality.

Benjamin Tod is a throwback to a simpler age, peppered with a few modern sensibilities updating old themes of love, heartache, and hard livin’. His nasal delivery and mournful Hank Williams style songwriting. It is so evocative of the elder Hank’s style I was initially suspicious. However, like Hank III and Justin Townes Earle before him, Tod is not stealing a sound – he is injecting it with new energy. “Shooting Star” is a love letter to an earlier simpler time of music, but with its heart planted firmly in the twenty-twenties.

After a round of admission that he’s far from perfect (“I Ain’t The Man”) Tod digs in with some powerful and evocative imagery on the mournful and romantic “Saguaro’s Flower”., a song filled with all kinds of hurt. The chorus grounds the experience:

“So believe me when I say
I miss your love like desert rain
You are a cloud
I'm a saguaro's flower
I'm thirsty as hell
Let your love down”

The image of a flower growing atop a cactus is exactly what this tune calls for, prickly, painful and filled with a frail and desperate beauty.

The other standout on the record is the title track. “Shooting Star” falls into the long tradition of non-commercial musicians taking the boots to Nashville. The song tracks the all-too-common experience of artists going to Nashville only to pour their blood and sweat out for tips on Honky Tonk row. While the bright lights of Nashville draw thousands of hopefuls, for most Tod’s observation of “Nothing can be beautiful when you're trapped inside” is laden with impotent fury.

The fiddle-work on “Shooting Star” strains against itself like the artists trapped inside the web of the city. Setting the imagery early makes the chorus of:

“And the gate is shut up tight
I'm a stick of dynamite
And I've paid every due that's ever come
But I don't kneel for you or anyone”

…doubly powerful. First because you know the gates are keeping the souls of the angry and damned musicians in, not out. Second because Tod turns that experience into a victory through something as simple as refusing to submit. Sometimes just refusing to kneel can be enough.

In his youth, Tod was known to ride the rails and in addition to this giving him true country cred, it also fuels many songs, as he draws on the experience and imagery. In the case of “Mary Could You” he even tells the story of a woman eking out a living stitching up tramps that have gotten beaten or stabbed in the course of their risky adventures.

The record isn’t perfect, and some of the songs just feel old timey without original much to say, but even in those tunes you tend to get a clever turn of phrase or two that makes it all worthwhile.

“Shooting Star” is true to its roots yet willing to flower in unexpected ways if you give it a chance. It definitely has me on the lookout for Tod’s earlier work.

Best tracks: I Ain’t the Man, Saguaros Flower, Mary Could You, Shooting Star, Nothing More

CD Odyssey Disc 1788: Wagakki Band

I was out last night with a friend who showed me how to do retirement right – namely by doing whatever you want with your time. I am not retired yet, but I am committed to also doing it right.

Disc 1788 is…Shikisai

Artist: Wagakki Band

Year of Release: 2017

What’s up with the Cover? Do you like portraits of Wagakki Band? Do you like expensive wallpaper? Can’t decide which you like better? Then this cover is for you.

How I Came To Know It: I discovered the band through an article, but “Shikisai” is one of a glut of albums my buddy Nick picked up for me when he was in Japan last year.

How It Stacks Up: I have seven Wagakki Band albums, and “Shikisai” is the best of them all so #1!

Ratings: 4 stars

Do you like a lot of key changes? How about music played so skillfully in front of the beat it feels like its going to trip and fall down a ravine, but never does? Then Wagakki Band may be for you and if they are, you can’t do much better than their 2017 bloated but brilliant work, “Shikisai”.

Whenever I review a Wagakki band album I feel compelled to explain what strange concoction of styles you should expect. Dear reader, I don’t want to lead you astray, and to Western ears, Wagakki Band can be a lot. They incorporate J-Pop, metal, hard rock and a fair bit of traditional Japanese folk. The blend is unlike anything you’ve heard but give it a chance and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

When Nick brought back the albums from Japan, he brought a lot of them – six in total, and I’ve been excited to review “Shikisai” since I first heard it. Wagakki Band blends all their disparate styles as perfectly as they’ve ever accomplished, and front woman Suzuhana Yuko has never sounded better. She is still as sweet and pure a pop vocalist as ever, soaring majestically over some of the band’s best compositions.

Yuko is powerful and pure in an otherworldly way, like a Valkyrie flying over a field of the slain, calling them home. Or maybe flying over a field of brightly coloured flowers on her day off. With Wagakki Band you get music that evokes both images, sometimes in the same song. Note these songs are in Japanese – I cannot confirm the presence of Valkyries, flowers or corpses.

Case in point, “Bogetsu (Full Moon)” which is one of the heaviest tracks on the record…until it’s not. This one crunches from the very beginning, but then in comes Yuko to smooth and sweeten things out in what I believe is the B section (or the chorus – Wagakki Band compositions can have a lot of movements, and my limited musical vocabulary gets quickly overwhelmed). The song also features whole chunks that feature furious playing of various wooden folk percussion instruments to add a third element ‘ere the end.

On “Okinotayuu (Albatross)” and “Tori no Yo ni (Like a Bird)” they slow things down, and the structure of the song strongly evoked the cosmopolitan Celtic folk of Capercaillie. Karen Matheson’s singing is hard to match, but Yuko is up to the task, and while I have no idea what this song is about (I’m going to guess an albatross, but it could just be a metaphor) I was drawn in with the sheer beauty of the melody and vocals.

As noted earlier, this album is entirely in Japanese. You will hear a lot of words sung quickly, but unless you speak Japanese you won’t know what is being said. On that note, a weird thing has just happened. When I am listening in the car or my device, I can’t see the names of the songs, and I don’t usually remember them (without lyrics it is hard to hang a title with a tune) but lo as I listened and wrote this review I find that Track 10 is titled  “Valkyrie”. Beautiful song, but my evocation of the image above was entirely by chance, dear reader. But I digress…

Back to the music, which continues to astound with its sheer variety. On “Watashi Shijo Shugi (My Supreme Principle)” you get fast singing, then anthemic singing, then fast singing then anthemic singing. It bounces back and forth but all the potential for busyness is swept away with the exceptional talent of the musicians. Keeping eight musicians this tight isn’t easy, but Wagakki Band delivers.

“Yuki yo Maichire Sonata ni Mukete (Snow Dancing and Falling Towards You)” has a lot of flute mixed with the guitar, and reminded me favourably of other folk/rock fusion bands like D’Artagnan and Wucan, although those guys are singing in German.

My only gripe with “Shikisai” is the length, at 17 songs and 71 minutes in length, it is a lot of a good thing. The final track is listed as a bonus track, but I didn’t find it a bonus at that point.

My copy of the album has other bonus features I liked more, including a DVD performance and yet another collectible card (this is a thing many of the albums come with) featuring the entire band including – scandalously – one member sans shirt!

One too many songs but a bonus DVD and a collectible card is a fair trade off for me, particularly when it is the best Wagakki Band album out there.

Best tracks: Kishikaisei (Death and Rebirth), Howling, Yuki yo Maichire Sonata ni Mukete (Snow Dancing and Falling Towards You), Watashi Shijo Shugi (My Supreme Principle), Bogetsu (Full Moon), Okinotayuu (Albatross)

CD Odyssey Disc 1787: Ruth Moody

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey. This next record got listens on all manner of transport – car, bus and good ole fashion walking. Not fancy walking, just regular walking.

Disc 1787 is…Wanderer

Artist: Ruth Moody

Year of Release: 2024

What’s up with the Cover? An artist rendition of some spirit or goddess. I’d guess she is the goddess of the night and of the wilds, given her power to turn her hair into a river, her dress into an enormous tree, and her banner into both the night sky, and the earth beneath that same sky.

How is this possible, you ask? Magic!

How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a fan of Ruth Moody since way back to when I first heard her as one third of the folk group, the Waiin’ Jennys. This is just me buying her latest solo album when it came out.

How It Stacks Up: I have Ruth Moody on five Wailin’ Jennys albums as well as an earlier effort as part of nineties folk band Scruj Macduhk. She also features as a guest vocalist on a couple of Mark Knopfler records in my collection.

This is my third record from her solo offerings, and I’ll stack it up against just those. “Wanderer” comes in…third. Something had to be last. As this completes my solo journey into Ruth Moody albums (for now) here’s the full recap:

1. The Garden: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 848)
2. These Wilder Things: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 760)
3. Wanderer: 2 stars (reviewed right here)

Ratings: 3stars

It was 11 years between Ruth Moody solo records, but you wouldn’t know it from her vocals, which are as pure and golden as the day I first heard her sing. While “Wanderer” sometimes let me down in other ways, it was never Moody’s voice, which was and is a revelation.

There were many moments on “Wanderer” where Moody’s vocals completely pulled me under her spell. Vocals that make you smile and just shake your head at the notion that mortal human lungs can do that. It’s ever-present on the record, but there are sections where it still manages to lilt up in a way that catches you by surprise all over again. For this reason alone, this record gets a thumb’s up.

Moody is no slouch on the guitar either, and she plucks a folksy but relaxed acoustic style that matches well with the easy flow of her vocals. Much like the singing, the guitar work is more about warmth and tone than it is about complicated pattern or virtuosity. Like most good folk singers, she knows a song should be sung and played skillfully, simply and with unforced but earnest passion.

That’s the best parts of the record, but the songs themselves (all Moody originals) were not as consistent as on previous records. While there were some standouts (see “best tracks” below) there were many others that were just OK, melodically or lyrically. These often had to rely on Moody’s natural talents to buoy them up. I didn’t mind the simple imagery (plenty of that in folk music) but I didn’t always feel the story or character shining through.

The other surprise was my bad reaction to the production. “Wanderer” does it exactly like I usually like it. There isn’t a lot of busyness, and the notes are given lots of space to reverberate and fill the stillness. Still, there was something wrong, mostly in the low end that was a bit too “loud”. The bass was bossy, and the drums boomed just a bit too hard, both thumping in a way that took away from the lighthearted joy of Moody’s vocals and guitar work.

Over time, even the songs that didn’t light my fire originally grew on me, but that didn’t surprise me since resisting the desire to hear Ruth Moody sing would be like resisting nature itself. I never did fully shake that calling for a little bit more story, or a bit more dynamics in the melody here and there. Not a deal breaker, but enough to nestle this record just below her two previous efforts.

Best tracks: The Spell of Lilac Bloom, Michigan, Wanderer, Comin’ Round the Bend