{"id":774,"date":"2016-08-12T03:51:01","date_gmt":"2016-08-12T07:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/?p=774"},"modified":"2016-11-09T00:11:44","modified_gmt":"2016-11-09T05:11:44","slug":"new-release-roundup-jeff-the-brotherhood-evening-bell-grifters-reissues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/2016\/08\/12\/new-release-roundup-jeff-the-brotherhood-evening-bell-grifters-reissues\/","title":{"rendered":"New Release Roundup: JEFF the Brotherhood, Evening Bell, Grifters Reissues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>MUSIC <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffthebrotherhood.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">JEFF the Brotherhood<\/a> \u2013 <em>Zone<\/em><br \/>\nIf you\u2019ve heard the advance single \u201cPunishmemt,\u201d you know what you\u2019re in for with <em>Zone<\/em>, Nashville duo JEFF the Brotherhood\u2019s new studio album. It\u2019s punchy with plenty of guitar crunch. A blazing guitar solo (with a nice rangy wah pedal to warp the tone) nestled in a bed of thick synth and chugging distortion. Noisy rock and roll fun. But there\u2019s a little more to it. It doesn\u2019t have a typical verse\/chorus arrangement \u2013 it\u2019s kind of a sonic sandwich, opening and closing with verses with instrumental sections and a solo in the middle. It took me a couple of spins for <em>Zone<\/em> to blossom for me. (After the first listen through the album, I thought, does this prove guitar rock\u2019s not dead? Then I thought, really? Don\u2019t be that guy.) There are a lot of references to getting stoned and partying, which is just the goofy sheen that covers some smart and unusual musical choices. The title track throbs and drones, but the dissonance of the synth lines create movement. \u201cJuice\u201d sounds like the Ramones doing metal, with the appropriate level of goofy mischief. \u201cCruising space just making trouble,\u201d they sing, \u201cI\u2019m getting busted in my space shuttle.\u201d It\u2019s not all that complicated. You don\u2019t have to dig too deep to enjoy <em>Zone<\/em>, but if you do dig, the band has a treat or two for you.  <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/273870883&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;visual=true\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/270233544&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;visual=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>2. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/griftersmemphis\/about\/?entry_point=page_nav_about_item&#038;tab=page_info\" target=\"_blank\">Grifters<\/a> \u2013 <em>Crappin\u2019 You Negative<\/em> and <em>One Sock Missing<\/em> (Reissues)<br \/>\nI have to cop to being unfamiliar with Memphis indie rockers Grifters until recently when I listened to <em>One Sock Missing<\/em> (1993) and <em>Crappin\u2019 You Negative<\/em> (1994), both getting reissued today from <a href=\"http:\/\/fatpossum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Fat Possum Records<\/a>. It\u2019s a wonderful mixed feeling when you run across material like this. I have a lot to explore, but I could have been listening to this stuff for 20 years. <em>One Sock Missing<\/em> is low-fi to the point where you can hear tape hiss, and sometimes it sounds like the whole thing was recorded with the band playing in one room into a single mic set up by a buddy testing out his recording equipment. But there are some moments, as on \u201cJust Passing Out,\u201d where the band is experimenting with overdubbing drums, that give it an abstract feel. \u201cSain\u201d sounds like a field recording of a band playing an apocalyptic basement party, the sonic equivalent of Mikey in the corner at the end of Blair Witch Project (sorry \u2013 spoilers!). <em>Crappin\u2019 You Negative<\/em> is more polished. The band is tighter and production is smoother, but the music retains some of the rougher elements that make <em>One Sock Missing<\/em> so appealing. The guitars are a tad out of tune on the intro, adding a bluesy bite to \u201cGet Outta That Spaceship &#038; Fight Like a Man.\u201d The band is patient with the elegiac \u201cJunkie Blood,\u201d giving it plenty of space to breathe between movements. There\u2019s something very pure about this music. It sounds like the band was never too far from its initial impulses, even in their stranger moment. The band called it quits sometime around 2000, but have been playing shows again since their 2013 reunion. And then there\u2019s this intriguing note from the press release for the reissues: \u201cNew songs? Yeah, there are one or two. New recordings? That\u2019s up to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>(On a side note, Blue Mountain, one of my favorite bands from the 90s, recorded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zOGws_KFkT4\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cA Band Called Bud\u201d<\/a> on their second album, Dog Days, as a tribute to the band that eventually became Grifters).  <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d-4RzxmG3xs\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d50mUlnpQzA\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>3. <a href=\"http:\/\/eveningbellmusic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Evening Bell<\/a> \u2013 <em>Dying Stars<\/em><br \/>\nEvening Bell covers a lot of ground within the Americana genre on this, their full-length debut. The opening track, \u201cThis Bar Room Ain\u2019t Your Church,\u201d is strongly reminiscent of The Jayhawks, with its simple vocal harmonies and dreamy steel guitar. A few songs later comes \u201cWestern Theme,\u201d which sounds exactly how you\u2019d think it would, with a lush arrangement and twangy guitars perfectly suited the opening credits of a movie about a lonesome cowboy riding through the desert. Except his horse would have a name. Singers and songwriters Hart Kingsbury and Caitlin Sherman have great chemistry, and sound equally convincing singing dramatic ballads (\u201cTail Light\u201d) or cheeky kiss-offs (\u201cDead End Friends &#038; Fair Weather Lovers.\u201d) Evening Bell is a versatile collective. Hopefully there\u2019s more where this came from.    <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/O9R9qsqZNWs\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MUSIC 1. JEFF the Brotherhood \u2013 Zone If you\u2019ve heard the advance single \u201cPunishmemt,\u201d you know what you\u2019re in for with Zone, Nashville&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[500,499,498,501,496,497],"class_list":["post-774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-a-band-called-bud","tag-blue-mountain","tag-evening-bell","tag-fat-possum-records","tag-grifters","tag-jeff-the-brotherhood"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/New-Release-Roundup-Aug-12-2016.gif","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lGwW-cu","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1169,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions\/1169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}