The great CD Roundup

Nov. 23, 2005

Our bad. In between moving to new offices this summer and having submissions from various local musicians chucked away in a dozen storage places on par with a
series of inscrutable Chinese boxes, the time managed to slip away on reviewing the following discs.
At least that’s our story and we’re sticking to it with all the candor of “Scooter” Libby on a whoopie cushion. Thankfully, the ground shifted last week, revealing these treasures beneath the rubble at Express HQ. Here’s the rundown on the latest and greatest...

Bad Side • Bad Side
Fans of WKLT’s compilation series, “Northern Michigan Rocks Vol. I-V” will recognize Bad Side from their song, “Revenge,” on the latest disc. Vocal firecracker Melissa “Lissa” Krahnke and agile, inventive guitarist Jason Mapes are at the core of their follow-up CD which includes an assist from Dan Furmanik, Rich “Richie B!” Blair, Carol Lee Cooper, Mike Vollman and Wayne
Lawrence.
The result is straight-ahead hard rock with a strut in a mode that carries on with bands such as Velvet Revolver. You have to give Bad Side credit for pursuing an old school direction in the age of hip-hop, alt rock and MCs; yet considering that female-led headbanger bands such as Nashville Pussy are packing clubs in Chicagoland, there’s obviously still a market for that old-time rock & roll.
On that score Bad Side carries rock’s torch high and proud with a shot of blues and some vocal asides borrowed from KLT. On the down side, however, Krahnke’s talents are wasted at times with crude material such as “filthy nasty dirty and trashy” and the lamebrain song, “I’m a Moron.” These would (perhaps) be okay songs delivered by a neo-punk group like Green Day, where smearing on the irony like a heavy coat of Crisco is a good thing, but the songs are miscast here. Krahnke is better served by occupying the power pop territory of Joan Jett or Pat Benatar where the natural husk of her voice moves the music forward.
She’s an angel, for instance on the soul-searching “I Will Come to You,” a song that makes the listener strain to hear more. “Revenge” has also proved a hit with KLT listeners. That’s the upside on where Bad Side’s good side gets it on the inside.

Before I Forget • Ron Getz, Don Julin, Wes Ivankovich & David Collini
Give us this disc on our iPod with a view of the Grand Canal in Venice, a bottle of Chianti, some crusty Italian bread, prosciutto, a mild cheese and a blonde with Bergman sunglasses and we’ll say, “bellissimo” -- life is good.
That’s because this CD is a collaboration by musical paisans united by a yearly trip to northern Italy, where Collini, et. al. jam in the environs of Florence and Perugia.
In fact, their story may be more interesting than the music, sublime though it may be. Bassist Ivankovich married an Italian woman and moved to Florence 12 years ago, while drummer/keyboardist Collini was hanging his hat in Perugia, having lived Europe for two years. Invites led to visits across the pond by guitarist Getz and mandolinist Julin to perform in Italian joints such as Club Eskimo, said to have the same level of smoky ambiance as L’il Bo’s in TC.
The result is nine instrumentals with a dash of Italian seasoning. Getz’s guitar on the masterpiece “Collateral Damage” is inspiration on strings, and did we hear a touch of reggae in Ivankoch’s bass on “Under the Trees”? Toss with pasta and serve at your next Italian dinner.

Upland • Dennis Palmer
A highly-respected songwriter from Leelanau County, this is Dennis Palmer’s third CD and arguably his best. For starters, the production values are closer to Palmer’s live sound than his 2003 CD, “Cherry Town,” and the result is a distilled-in-the-bottle iration that flows straight and true, generating a satisfying warmth.
Palmer has taken an unusual approach to “Upland,” collecting snatches of sound drifting up from his musical subconscious through the years. “Through the process of songwriting, I’ve accumulated little snippets of creativity,” he writes in the liner notes. “A bag full of riffs, melodies, chord changes and such that never truly evolved into “Songs.”
He’s interspersed a number of these acoustic snippets between genuine songs, performing on guitar, mandolin, bass and percussion, all of which are delivered in a laid-back, laconic style. The result is a peaceful, easy feelin’, Leelanau County style.

Savanna • The Pryde
The Pryde is a Detroit-area duo made up of Iam Post on acoustic guitar and Amy Kucera on keyboards. Iam has roots in Leelanau County while Amy hails from Iowa. In Northern Michigan, you’re most likely to connect with them at their HorizonShine Cafe performances every few months in Traverse City.
Post’s guitar delivers a spritely, punchy tone on “Savanna,” while Kucera’s chief contribution is that of her soul-mamma bluesy vocals. In fact, her voice has enough heft to get us thinking of a soul-oriented Ian & Sylvia of ‘60s reknown. But that’s not where this duo is coming from -- their songs are focused on a misty, indeterminate spirituality in homage to chaps such as “The Eternal Spirit” and the “Creator-Spirit.” Of note, Amy has served as a choir director at her First Congregational Church in Rochester; yet since there are no overt threads tying their tunes to the Christian music genre, one might surmise that The Pryde are giving voice to more of a deist viewpoint or somesuch other form of Eastern mysticism-meets-hippie spiritual high that’s not yet fully formed on the mainstream radar. For that, we give them credit for achieving a breath of the new.

Life After Life • Simplicity
The real thing: an electric pop band with an acoustic vibe that’s square on the jam scene in the style of The Beatles channeling the Dave Matthews Band or the Grateful Dead.
Simplicity has performed several times at City Park Grill in Petoskey and Union Street Station in TC. If they’re as good live as they are on this 12-song CD, then they deserve a spot high on your “must see” list this winter. Led by songwriter Brian Sheehan, Simplicity mixes Beatlesque melodies with a fat bass dance groove, an epic keyboard attack and after-hours jazz joint guitar leads that go down as smooth as Courvoisier. The great thing about this mercurial band is they’re hard to pin down: they’re a bit Britpop with shades of the old dancehall era. There’s nothing to suggest a “Detroit” band here in terms of the city’s iconic garage rock sound -- the ethos of alt rock Motown has been cold-filtered out of the music and barely exists as an aftertaste. Yet in fact, the band has won several Detroit Music Awards for songwriting, recording, and their live act. Sheehan was also a top 10 finalist in the John Lennon Songwriting Competion, and it’s easy to hear why. Highly recommended.

Zack Weber • Heightened Disinterest
This is a first effort by 18-year-old Zack Weber of Northport, offering a genre-defying collection of 10 songs ranging from atonal noodling to neo-psychedelia with the phaser contrails on full throttle.
Weber’s vocals remind us of a cross between Trent Reznor and John Lennon with a touch of the Clash’s squawky phrasing -- not a bad combo, come to think of it. And he’s layered his guitar and piano work with a good deal of electronica and lo-fi sampling. The risk here is of wandering into the realm of the clichè: sampling Hitler in full freak-out mode along with Nixon and other notorious leaders on “Hail to the Victors,” for instance, has already been cooked to the point of being well done by bands going back to Pink Floyd.
Weber’s CD is typical of a lot of the college scrapbook-o’-sound dabbling you hear late at night on WNMC public radio. But there’s a three-dimensionality to Weber’s CD that demands respect for his recording and mixing skills. His layered skyscape makes for an interesting flight through the clouds.