Backbone > Ear Whacks

CD Reviews

CARL MATEO: big white house
HAIRY MARY'S VINTAGE PRODUCTIONS, 2003

Can a voice be both gruff and slinky at once? Yes, if it belongs to Carl Mateo. In Big White House he’s putting it to fine use over straightforward melodic rock, work reminiscent of Paul Westerberg or bands like Whiskeytown and Gin Blossoms.

Lyrically, Mateo has to work a little harder, as some of his poetic themes are good ideas that simply need to be taken a few steps further to reach full fruition. As a balance, he makes some obvious attempts at out-of-the-box production elements—such as doubled vocal parts—to keep things lively.
Fuzzy guitars, swirling Hammond B-3, George Rush’s bass contributions, and Brian Mellick’s intriguing percussion paint a fine landscape on tunes such as “Kool Man,” “Open Sky,” “Sabotage,” and “One Day.”

Mateo comes from a musical family and obviously has a small bucket of talent to get as far as he did with this effort. Overall, his Big White House is not a bad place to spend 45 minutes or so. For the live experience, he’ll gig the Tides Festival at the Saugerties Lighthouse on August 17; also look for him at Joshua’s in Woodstock some time this month. www.cdbaby.com.

—Kelly McCartney

KAT MILLS: long time
SWEETCUT MUSIC, 2003

Kat Mills and friends grew into the scene with Grass, a neo-bluegrass band that plowed the field for current area groups like the Mammals and Big Deep. But after her days in the sun with Grass, Mills blossomed into a solo performer and songwriter, and still tours constantly nationwide. She fills in her original set with appropriate covers from favorite songwriters (James Taylor, Tom Petty), but her ear for a catchy chorus only bolsters the selections on Long Time.

The album’s title serves a dual purpose, describing Mills’ four-year journey to the new release, as well as her shift from bluegrass barnburners to mature, self-aware compositions. Her years on the scene led her to producer Scott Petito of NRS studios in Catskill, who plays several instruments here. Somewhat of a perfectionist, Mills engaged fiddler Rachel Handman (of Barebones and Wildflowers), ace percussionist Brian Melick, and mandolin whiz Will “Hoss” Solomon to adorn her songs. The result is a balance of spare guitar-and-voice tracks plus bouncy numbers with the band.

—DJ Wavy Davy

NORMAL: American Enough
TRANZOIDAL PRODUCTIONS, 2003

Disasters have always inspired poetry. Normal, a longtime contributor to Chronogram, makes no mystery about the theme of his new CD of jazz poetry, American Enough. The cover art depicts, among a stars-and-bars motif, a weeping Statue of Liberty with a New York City skyline crown and burning twin towers.
The first poem, “An Hour Before,” begins, “September 11, 2001 / Early morning / Not a cloud in the sky.” Avoiding words like “plane”, “hijackers”, “death”, and “terror”, the poem never enters Manhattan. Haiku-like, it sets the stage from afar; to approach it any closer would mean sacrificing feeling to emotion. “Squirrels hop from branch to branch / Twigs snap / Frost crawls just above the roots. / Autumn approaches.”

The poet then explores a host of issues shaken loose from the American psyche by the shock of 9/11. American Enough asserts, “I am American enough to chase an irrepressible dream eight times around a stricken television set.”
Normal is accompanied by musicians Rich Holler, Samuel Lapidus, Sayyed Klerfield, and Barbara Lubell, who stay mostly in the background, though the poet’s voice is certainly strong enough to withstand challenges. He ricochets between whiny and Waits, and is best when not overacting.

—Todd Paul