Ra Ra Riotous!

It has been an interesting phenomenon to see the emergence of the popularity of alternative instruments in the typical rock band format - not just as a novelty act, and mere ear candy like you get in studio albums and such - but alternative instruments becoming solid members of the band. For example, with groups like Arcade Fire, DeVotchka, Matt Pond PA, and the Decemberists, instruments like harps, violins, cellos, accordions, etc. are helping to expand on the archetypal rock sound.

A group out of Syracuse, NY, and contemporaries of the popular group Vampire Weekend, Ra Ra Riot is the newest Chamber Pop Rock group to hit the mainstream market. The upstate New York sextet recently released their first full length album 'The Rhumb Line' on August 19, 2008 to a generally welcoming reception. The album is full of nautical and dark themes such as death and water, but never gets too bogged down in depression, and has some light upbeat moments to help balance out the album.

I personally have to admit that I'm a sucker for groups which incorporate strings into their ranks, and as for Ra Ra Riot, the co-ed band has a cellist (Alexandra Lawn) and violinist (Rebecca Zeller). This supplementation adds a darker, more lush layer of sound to the group, which proves to be their secret weapon to their success. The song 'Too Too Too Fast' on the album strangely enough doesn't feature Rebecca or Alexandra playing prominently, and proves to be the dullest, and weakest track on the album. Without the prominence of the strings, the track begins to sound like a poor 80's covers, laden too thick with synthesizers to help cover up the lack of the strings.

One of my personal favorite tracks on the album is the song 'Ghost Under Rocks', which begins with a moody cello and bass line which helps introduce the album. The Chorus embodies the nautical death theme prevalent on the album with the lyrics:

"Here you are you are breathing life into
Ghosts under rocks like notes found
In pocket coats of your fathers
Lost and forgotten
All all all your soaking wet dreams
You've spent them
You have gone and dreamt them
Dry, now you ask your babies why, why, why"

The song was actually on the bands EP which they released before the death of their old drummer John Ryan Pike (who co-wrote a majority of the songs on the Rhumb Line Album.)The eerie thing about this track is that it seems to foreshadow the recent tragic death of John Ryan Pike who was found drowned early last summer after a show in Providence, Rhode Island. Even after the death of a founding member of the group, Ra Ra Riot soldiered on.

Other tracks such "Each Year" (with images of cemetery flowers) 'Winter 05,' and 'Dying is Fine' continue the darker motifs of the album. Dying is Fine, (the first single promoted for the album), pulls some of its lyrics from the e.e.cummings poem by the same name - and even though it appears macabre, it never falls too much into darker pessimism, and remains pretty optisimistic with the strings being upbeat and the lead singer Wes Miles vocals gently singing the lyrics.

Winter 05' written by the groups new lead vocalist Wes Miles is regal and has a tinge of 'Eleanor Rigby' in it as the violin and cello compose a wonderful baroque melody. Once again, the music helps disguise the darker meaning of the lyrics:

'If you were here/Winter wouldn't pass quite so slow/And if you were here/Then i'd have a choice to live not be alone/But instead I sit atop the crest/Looking down on the valley where the dead rest/And every morning I wake beside myself'

The lighter tracks on the album, like 'Can you Tell','St. Peter's Day Festival', 'Oh, La', 'Suspended in Gaffa' (Kate Bush cover) are a nice change of pace from the deeper songs of the album. The song St. Peter's Day Festival has a similar drive and beat like Vampire Weekend's M79, and this proves to be one of the shortcomings of Ra Ra Riot- they are too overshadowed by Vampire Weekend's previous success, and their lead singer Wes Miles, sounds way too much like Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend.

To sum up- Ra Ra Riots album is a nice little gem of chamber pop melodies - their supplementation of the strings in their arrangements helps set the band apart from other Indie Rock groups. Song wise, the album never becomes too dark or too bright and poppy to make it feel unbalanced - however I would be worried about this group becoming too 80's synthesizer, discotheque driven like their tracks (Too Too Fast, and 'Can You Tell' {Epochs Remix}) in future albums they put out.

~Andrew Joslyn

Summer Meltdown 08' - Part 2

Later on August 9, 2008 at the Summer Meltdown up in Darrington, Flowmotion headlined the entire festival Saturday night.


I've seen Flowmotion a number of times live before hand, and they always have a nice mix of original material as well as cover songs. Their set started off with a cover of "Sergeant Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band" right into "With a Little Help from My Friends." At first I was a little thrown off to hear covers beginning a set immediately.... however the effect on the audience was palpable since everyone was instantly electrified and dancing, even though the constant downpour in Darrington that night had not let up.

The epic moment of the set was when Flowmotion had the artist 'That 1 Guy' come out and jam with them during on of their songs. If you've never heard of That 1 Guy, I urge you to check him out online or on Youtube. I was honestly blown away by his presentation! Originally, That 1 Guy (aka Mike Silverman) was a bass player with extensive knowledge of electronics. Over time, he hand created his own instrument which looks like a giant metal question mark. It is a series of tubes, a bass string, and joints, with kick drum pedals all linked up by analog triggers... so whenever he hits, strikes, rubs or touches the pipe- depending on the location- it will trigger a digital signal which will create some bizarre sound, or drum sample. He lovingly calls it his 'Magic Pipe.' The concept of the 'one man orchestra' has never come so close to being a complete reality until I saw That 1 Guy.

Watching his solo was a totally different experience. Unfortunately since I was unable to come to Darrington until Saturday, I was unable to see his own solo performance which was Friday night... I hear it was incredible, and a sight to see! However, when he jammed with Flowmotion, it was odd to hear the band rocking out and than these bizarre noises, pops, grindings, stand up bass bowings all emanating from his 'Magic Pipe.' That 1 Guy is another one of those incredible musicians which has an eccentric marketing image - like Buckethead... which is strange to mention since they have been doing joint shows lately this past summer. That 1 Guys songs range from Weird Al Yankovic-esque parodies like 'Butt Machine', to unearthly sound scapes like "The Moon is Disgusting - because it is made out of Cheese." All in all, I feel the bizarre presentation is trivial and gets in the way of the music- but once again it is all highly memorable.



After That 1 Guy had left the stage, Flowmotion rocked the end of the set and the crowd exploded into applause -- Flowmotion were in their element, and this was their moment.

As the audience began to disperse yet another hidden gem of the Northwests music scene came out - AriSawkaDoria. Honestly I've heard about the band in passing a number of times during shows around town, but nothing could have prepared me for their set. AriSawkaDoria is essentially three extremely talented local artists that banded together for this group - KJ Sawka (the incredible Jungle Beat, Drum Machine); Joe Doria (one of the best Hammond B3 organists on the West Coast) and Ari Zucker (Guitarist and sampler.) Between the three of them, they created an acid jazz, techno, surreal sound. Their musicianship was flawless - however I had to admit that by this point the night, and the rain had began to take its toll - it was well after midnight, and I began to loose interest in AriSawkaDoria. Nothing against their sound, but at that point, it began to all blur together and I found I just wasn't in the mood for their set. I had wandered off at this point, however I instantly regretted my decision when I was informed that Blake Lewis had taken the stage and was singing lead vocals for the group on top of their powerhouse of sound. At this point, I gave up and wandered around the Meltdown during the late night before planning on falling asleep.



The very last planned performance of the evening was the All Star Jam - which grabbed up artists from a variety of different bands that had been performing at Summer Meltdown, and threw them together for a late night event. I stumbled into the tent where they were performing, trying to keep myself awake. The show featured members of McTuff (who performed Friday); That 1 Guy, Discs of Fury (who were performing Sunday Night); Viking from Delta Nove, Flowmotion, AriSawkaDoria, etc. to name a few. I was hoping for Buckethead to come out a do some face melting solo some time during the night.... but that never happened. At this point, I was seriously tired and out of it, but the real stand out moments were when Lee Oskar of the classic rock band War came out and did a cover of 'Low Rider' with the assembled performers. Also another highlight was when RL Heyer (the newest member of Flowmotion) came out a did a cover of Dear Prudence, and a rousing version of Hot for Teacher by Van Halen. The Beatles cover which the group did was touching and captivating - and emotionally raw. I talked to Heyer the next day about the performance and he admitted that he had two margaritas right before he went on stage. (well done) - He seriously kept my attention for that song with his guitar and vocals.

During the last song of the All Star Jam - I retired to my tent and passed out, lulled to sleep by the driving bass and reverberating screech of a guitar.


For over the last decade, Flowmotion have hosted this camping and music festival annually, and with each year the quality increases. Even though this year was my first year attending the festival, I thoroughly enjoyed the event. As a festival overall, Summer Meltdown is underrated by all means. The caliber of musicians which it brings in, Tea Leaf Green, AriSawkaDoria, Blake Lewis, Flowmotion, Buckethead, attests to the quality of the musicians which it invites. Between how the festival treats its audience with plenty of food, activities, events... etc. and how they treat their artists (and I can personally vouch for this)- the Summer Meltdown is a great Northwestern live music treasure which I hope continues to thrive moving forward.

When Sunday rolled around, it was time for me to pack up and leave Darrington and head back to Seattle -- I missed a couple of other great acts and to name a few, On the One, Blue Turtle Seduction, Discs of Fury, and Panda Conspiracy. Next year at Summer Meltdown, I sincerely plan on staying the full three days so I can experience the whole festival fully.


~Andrew Joslyn

Summer Meltdown 08' - Part 1

I had the pleasure of coming out to Darrington, WA for Flowmotion's Summer Meltdown 2008, which is a large northwestern festival crammed full of great musical acts from all over, especially drawing from the Northwest and West Coast rock/folk/jazz/jam band/world music scenes.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get into Darrington until mid Saturday Afternoon (so I regrettably missed some of the great acts which the festival had on Friday including, McTuff, Tea Leaf Green, That 1 Guy, and Blake Lewis.) After my band had played I enjoyed the laid back set of multi-instrumentalist Dave Brogan, the drummer/occasional lead singer for Animal Liberation Orchestra (ALO) signed to the Indie Label Brushfire Records - Jack Johnson's label. He mostly sang lead vocals and played guitar during the entire set -- and it was nice and relaxing. To be honest, not a lot of it stood out to me though based on preliminary impressions- nothing against Dave Brogan, but his style of music, the 'jam bandy', Phish style, takes more than just a single listen to really appreciate, and it also can get pretty boring since it all starts sounding the same after 3-4 songs. I would recommend the ALO releases on Brushfire for sure, I just recently picked them up after coming home.

Moving onward, I caught only a part of the next band's set, Delta Nove, but was instantly impressed. With a combination of funk and World music, they got a hold of the audiences attention- unfortunately as I had mentioned earlier, I was unable to catch their whole set- and had to run set up my tent for the evening. In retrospect, and after having reviewed more of their music online, they are worth the listen! They have a huge roster of major bands they have opened for and have shared the stage with such acts as Michael Franti and Spearhead, G. Love and Special Sauce, Trey Anastasio (Phish), and a veritable who's who in the Jam Band scene around the country.

One of the main acts which I was really excited to see was Buckethead. The Man, The Myth, and the Chicken Coop. Interesting thing about Buckethead is that he has the most amazing chops when it comes to psychedelic 80's shredder guitar, but he has the most backwater, bizarre presentation on the stage and publicly. For those who don't know, Buckethead comes out on stage wearing a white porcelain looking mask and a KFC bucket - hence Buckethead. On his website he has some clandestine story about being raised by chickens in a coop etc. and he never speaks in interviews, except through a rubber hand puppet. I feel that all the eccentric presentation is unnecessary, and trivial, but then again it makes him completely memorable in the end.

His set, regardless of my impressions about his presentation and his image, was amazing! He came out and played solo on his guitar along with a band sampler which included pre-recorded bass and drum arrangements for his songs. Buckethead is undoubtedly one of the best 80's guitar shredders out there, and his live performance was fun to watch, even though a bit weird at times. At one point, he had an interlude where he did a nun chucks and robot dance routine for the audience... like I said, his sets are unconventional. However his skill is unquestioned with his face melting guitar riffs- even Guitar One voted him number 8 on a list of the "Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time". If you've ever seen him live, you'll know why!

After Buckethead's set, the weather had turned for the worse, and the whole Whitehorse Mountain Amphitheatre was drenched in rain. Jason Webley, a local folk-punk artist out of Seattle, kept the energy high and grabbed the attention of Buckethead's departing audience. Webley's set was choked full of accordion, gypsy craze, and plenty of crowd participation. I would have to say that Jason Webley, over the whole weekend was the king of crowd participation and keeping the audience involved with his onstage antics. At one point, he threw out bags of plastic bottles full of pocket change, which became rattles and shakers for everyone there. The staff at the Meltdown were probably having a freak out about all the plastic bottles, and having to clean up after the show -- but that didn't stop Webley. With the shakers rattling he got everyone to chat out, "TOMATO!" over and over -- and at the peak of this pseudo religious fervor a giant paper machee tomato was brought out into the crowd as an icon to stop the down pour. Funny thing, it actually worked for about ten minutes!

My favorite moment of the night with Webley was when he did his song 'Ways to Love,' when he got everyone to become his 'vocalized orchestra.' I've seen him perform once before Summer Meltdown, and as I mentioned before he doesn't cease to amaze me at how well he can get any room riled up with excitement and make them into his musical puppets. Always a good time. I haven't been able to hear his studio albums yet, but I'm looking forward to reviewing them in the near future.

My Morning Jacket - Their 'Urge' to Branch Out Falls Short

My Morning Jacket, which formed in 1998 in Louisville, Kentucky, has become a popular live performance over the last couple of years at such festivals as Bonnaroo, & Coachella. Stylistically the band draws on alternative country, southern rock (such as .38 Special), and indie folk rock influences.

Their recent album "Evil Urges" (fifth studio album) released in a firestorm of media hype, was supposed to be a branch out album for the group. Jim James, the front man for MMJ stated that the band wanted to get away from "normal rock and roll sounds" and emulate more of the band's live sound. Even though I respect bands that try and branch out, there still needs to be an element of cohesion with previous albums which allow new and old fans something to grasp onto. Unfortunately their new album seems to go into uncharted territory too much.

The album comes across as a risky attempt by the band, which doesn't serve to impress me much, especially after all the hype surrounding them with Bonnaroo and their terrific live performances at the Red Rocks, South by Southwest (and all the other huge live music festivals.) Rolling Stone had even given the album rave reviews as well, and I had picked up the album on their recommendation, however I found a lot of the praise misplaced with this particular album. Just listen to the song 'Highly Suspicious' and its incredibly annoying chorus and you'll see what I mean.

The album itself starts off with very surreal, spacey pop rock songs with the first three tracks: "Evil Urges", "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt.1", "Highly Suspicious." Which leads me to the abrasive antics of the latter track which sounds almost like a bad Prince cover, and seems incredibly misplaced on the album as a whole. I am not a fan of Prince personally either so that didn't help. Jim James' uncharacteristically high vocals in the song, plus creepy laughter make 'Highly Suspicious' a highly undesirable track to listen to. Will Hermes of Rolling Stone pointed out: "nothing in their discography could anticipate a song like "Highly Suspicious," Evil Urges' biggest WTF moment. Squeaking out rhymes like "Home alone dotting your i's/Peanut-butter-pudding surprise!" in helium falsetto over boogie-rock guitar outbursts, drill-sergeant backing vocals and clipped drum spasms, it's better suited to an I Love the '80s! mix, set between "Little Red Corvette" and Devo's "Whip It," than to a My Morning Jacket album. (And, dude, I don't even want to know what a "peanut-butter-pudding surprise" is.) It's both hilarious and badass." I would like to agree with Will Hermes, but I don't. The track seems to drag down the album overall in my opinion, and would hate to hear it live, and with the audience chanting along the 'highly suspicious!' vocal line.

Thankfully the next couple of tracks, "I'm Amazed", "Thank You too", and "Sec Walkin" find the band tranversing more familiar ground with the Southern Rock infused jam band sound which made them famous on previous albums. Unfortunately they are not exactly strong songs either - with 'Sec Walkin' sounding like a 70's soul song with thick blatantly poppy choruses.

The track the 'Librarian', is a nice comtemplative moment on the album, which was one of my favorite tracks on the album. When the slide guitars laden with reverb and the string sections break in at about half way through the song, it is a nice relaxing listen. I found many opportunities to compare Jim James' vocals in this song to Robin Pecknold's of Fleet Foxes.

Another track which is nice and is reminscent of their earlier work is "Smokin' From Shootin' " the 12th track on the album, right before the long reprise of "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt.2." The 8:12 minute reprise track is actually my favorite on the album - it first starts off with fairy like keyboards, and synthesizers, which then break into a disco drum beat, and then into a reverby vocal line with Jim James and thick choruses with plenty of back up vocals. It grooves along nicely with driving bass and settles out the album nicely to its end, even though the majority of the tracks prior to "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt. 2" were quite laborious.

Overall the album was hard to salvage any songs which would be worthy of more than a single listen. There was even songs on the album which aren't even worth a single listen, which I know is harsh, but 'Highly Suspicious' was a very grating song. "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 2", "Librarian", and "I'm Amazed" would be the only real songs worth taking away from this album - I would suggest just downloading these on iTunes and pitching the rest of the album, it was just too tedious to get through.