Measuring the impact and offerings of a single ingredient in the magical Monty Python is nearly impossible.
The UK has a storied history of "double acts," Python is honestly the writing result of two doubles (Cleese/Chapman and Palin/Jones), Eric Idle writing on his own and Terry Gilliam linking it all together from left field. Still, it is fascinating to look at the early work of Palin/Jones ("Do Not Adjust Your Set" with future Python members and "The Complete and Utter History of Britain) to see how they changed comedy.
Their panache for the silent filmed pieces and having fun breaking that fourth wall was first criticized and then oddly enough co-opted by Cleese/ Chapman. Unlike the rest of the cast, Jones was more of a utility. Still, his parts no matter how small were eminently important. Perhaps it was the dark Welsh seriousness that Palin first saw in him as part of the Oxford Revue, Jones only needed a brief appearance to have an impact. Wildly seated at the organ for the "Blackmail" game show or dressed as a woman eagerly awaiting the milkman or poet-reader before tearing into them, Jones could act without words. These shows were the greatest gift to comedy and I will forever study the lessons they imparted.
Now let’s take a look at what’s new this week:
DAN DEACON BEN WATT
Mystic Familiar Storm Damage
[LP/CD] (Domino) [LP/CD] (Caroline)
DRIVE-BY-TRUCKERS
The Unraveling
[LP/CD] (ATO)
So it's come to this. A fresh start to a new year with three different glimpses of just where we are.
Baltimore's Dan Deacon was once the synth-slinging madman who burned up audiences in small clubs after a scorched earth tour of local TV talk shows.
Ten years later, his music is quieter and bubbles more underneath the surface. His songs are rooted in humility. "Sat By A Tree" is both a song of reflection ("It's a short life/And sadly unrehearsed") and a celebration of chasing the true joy of living that is out there. "Become a Mountain" is closest to both the music of his past and a beautiful future where he composes in Glass-ian streams of piano melody and Reich-ian polyrhythms. "Mystic Familiar" is most interesting because it feels so personal. Years after those barn-burning live shows, Deacon has made a record that belongs with you as a solitary experience.
Ben Watt is probably better known as a collaborator. Watt has been around since the glory days of Indie music in England having worked with Kevin Coyne and Robert Wyatt before joining his future wife in Everything But The Girl. Tracey Thorn and Watt had one massive US hit in "Missing." Watt cashed it all in to be a DJ, producer, author and even go back to solo work in 2014. "Storm Damage" covers a rough period for Watt. Weathering the loss of his half-brother and half-sister, Watt sat down to write the darkest songs of his career only to discover that you have to let the light in. When he soulfully remembers the love of his past ("Irene") its imagery resonates within you. When he follows the absolutes of life, he discovers that love is always on the horizon in the beautiful ballad ("Sunlight Follows The Night.") One could think the latter would be a big hit with the powerful voice of his now-wife Thorn. However, when Watt sings "when you find it, how you need it/when you lose it, how you feel it" - it feels even more powerful and poignant. The deserts truly miss the rain.
Alabama/Athens' Drive-By Truckers have long been the voice of thinking man's Southern Rock. Never one to shy away from the political landscape, they have always carried themselves with some hint of regionality. The days of thumbnail sketches ended with the worldview of their last album "American Band." What were once stories of the people around them, became stories of the nation itself. "The Unraveling" continues that trend - albeit with a heavier hand. The lead single "Thoughts and Prayers" throws them straight into the divide with a song that meanders around its central message only to nail it on the final verse. "When my children's eyes look at me and they ask me to explain/It hurts me that I have to look away" may be one of the most riveting couplets Patterson Hood has ever cranked out. Still, the music stays in that nexus between folky and soulful, and DBT take another unflinching look at America today.
DESTROYER
Have We Met
[LP/CD] (Merge)
FRANCIS QUINLAN
Likewise
[LP/CD] (Saddle Creek)
Dan Bejar has long been the enfant terrible of Indie Rock. When he was with The New Pornographers, he would only take the stage to sing his songs and then disappear like a mysterious apparition. Nonetheless, his presence could not be denied. As Bejar has grown older in his main project Destroyer, he has edged closer to Pop and farther away from his normal cryptic and lengthy lyrics. "Have We Met" proves Bejar can truly say a lot with a little. Over its swelling synths, he intones "the funeral's insane" like a more adenoidal Leonard Cohen. While the true single "Cue Synthesizer" masterfully builds to its chorus of "Cue Synthesizer/Cue Guitar" over a hip-hop beat and wild guitar. Since 2009's "Bay of Pigs" single and this Springsteen-ian sweep of 2015's "Poison Season," Bejar has been pushing a less-is-more philosophy. "Have We Met" could be his breakthrough.
Frances Quinlan has written some fantastic emotional songs while in Hop Along. She takes a break from the band to tackle a series of very wordy, very personal yet still cryptic songs on her own. Her voice is so unique as it reaches toward the higher registers for effect and impact, that a lot of her words and phrases are lost in the shuffle. Quinlan is smart enough to keep the instrumentation minimal, with most songs sounding like they were written for the piano. "Rare Thing" fares the best as she links her words across chord changes and balances her verse and chorus like the songwriter she truly is.
POLICA
When We Stay Alive
[LP/CD] (Memphis Industries)
Minneapolis band Polica have been one of those bands that is a larger hit in Europe than at home because of their heavy synthpop/danceable sound. "When We Stay Alive" finds the group chasing more evocative textures with success. "Driving" sounds a lot like 2012's "Wandering Star" but its grim lyrics and synth bleeps and blips speak to a strange grasp at maturity. While "Forget Me Now" feels like a song written inside out with an opening chorus leading into a modern power ballad. The deep Eighties sounds of "See Through Blue" bode well for it, but the beautiful ballad "Steady" is the real departure and possible hit.
REISSUES:
THE METERS
Gettin’ Funkier All the Time: The Josie, Reprise and Warner Recordings (68-77)
[CD] (Soul Music)
All the history you need in one box of six CDs. The essential Meters roll through New Orleans history only to arrive back at it (1975's seminal "Fire On The Bayou) before breaking off into The Wild Tchoupitoulas and The Neville Brothers. "The Meters," "Look-A-Py-Py" and "Struttin'" are all studies in Funk as it coalesces into its own style of music.
Once they leave for Los Angeles, the gritty urban sound of "Cabbage Alley" and "Rejuvenation" prove their worth even if the singles ran dry.
So when Cyril Neville joins for "Fire," the Meters bring it all full circle and put New Orleans music on the map to stay.
Essential.
