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ROUGH
MIX
TAKE
’EM OUT FOR A SPIN: It’s only been about two months since
our last roundup of new locally made CDs, and now we’re not
only looking at a stack of nine freshly minted albums, we’re
also working our way through a pile of updates about albums
that will hit stores in the next couple of months. So, for
anyone who worried that the Capital Region’s music scene was
waning in the wake of some high-profile breakups—Beef, the
Clay People, the Users—feast your eyes on the following.
•
Last week at Artie’s Lansingburgh Station, area blues act
Big Johnson celebrated the release of their new disc,
Big Rear Window. The 12-track effort features the band’s
takes on such warhorses as “She Caught the Katy” and “Whipping
Post,” plus four original tunes. The only behind-the-music
info the band provided was that the songs were recorded in
Troy by Rough Cut Recording. The band’s Web presence is at
http://communities.msn.com/BigJohnson BluesBand.
•
Capital Region hard-rock act Bishop’s newest is Centipede,
a 13-tune album written and produced by the band. The group
cut the disc at SOS Studios with John Chiara recording,
and Chiara mixed the tracks with the band’s drummer, who calls
himself the Root. Silvertone’s Larry DeVivo
handled mastering chores, and the Root also is responsible
for the package’s slick graphics. The band report that they’ve
got a healthy presence on the Web, at such sites as www.ArtistDirect.com
and their own portal, www.bishopmusic.com.
•
Second-generation guitarist Graham Tichy, whom local
fans know as one of the players in Rocky Velvet, can
be heard on the new album by Bones Maki & the Sun Dodgers,
a straight-up rockabilly act based in the Detroit area. The
band are named for front man Craig “Bones” Maki, who produced
the album and wrote most of the tracks. The disc—titled simply
Bones Maki & the Sun Dodgers—was issued by New
Baltimore, Mich., concern Woodward Records. If you feel like
traveling to Sin City, you can catch the trio at the “Rockabilly
Hall of Fame Presents” extravaganza, happening this weekend
(Saturday and Sunday, March 30 and 31) at the Gold Coast Casino
in Las Vegas.
 •
Berkshire bluesman Albert Cummings is back with From
the Heart, his first disc without backing band Swamp
Yankee. Instead, his sidemen are none other than Double
Trouble, the duo who backed up the late blues god Stevie Ray
Vaughan during his heyday. Cummings first hooked up with Double
Trouble in 2000, when they played a show together in Troy.
The 11-track From the Heart was recorded at Arlyn Studio
and Wire Recording, in Austin, Texas, with Double Trouble’s
Chis Layton (drums) and Tommy Shannon (bass) running the boards.
Cummings, who wrote eight of the album’s tunes, reports that
he just arranged for national distribution of the self-released
disc, so it should be available most everywhere. For more
info, check out www.albertcummings.com.
•
One of the latest female singer- songwriters to hit the scene
is Saratoga Springs’ Katie Cooper, whose pseudo-eponymous
band, K8E, recently issued their first CD, Accoutrements.
The 14-track effort, released by Seattle’s Three Muse Records,
was recorded at Pechette Studios in Saratoga with the band’s
guitarist, Glenn Winroth, producing. Joshua J. Pechette
handled the engineering, and all of the tunes were written
by Cooper. The singer classifies her stuff as art rock, and
says the music “incorporates lyrical themes of betrayal, heartbreak
and self-renewal with a soundscape of haunting acoustic ballads,
heavy laments and ironic pop.” Although the album just landed
in our office recently, it actually was released last fall.
Betrayal, heartbreak and self-renewal can be found at www.k8emusic.com.
 •
Another disc by a singer-songwriter named Kate that got lost
in the shuffle during the last couple of months is Don’t
Get Me Started, the third release from Slingerlands folksinger
Kate McDonnell. A fairly well-established figure on
the indie-folk scene, McDonnell cut the album at Catskill’s
NRS Studios with ace sound guy Scott Petito producing,
engineering, mastering and also playing bass, electric guitar
and other instruments. (Another guest is local folk-blues
fave Ben Murray, who plays harmonica.) The album is
a mix of original tunes by McDonnell, songs written in collaboration
with other musicians, and traditional numbers. To get an idea
of the singer’s literary bent, note that her tune “Give It
Back” was inspired by a Dorothy Parker poem. For more info
on McDonnell—and, undoubtedly, the personable black Labrador
featured prominently on her album artwork—check out www.waterbug.com.
 •
The prize for oddest title in this week’s CD roundup goes
to Skunk With a Porpoise, which adorns the new EP by
self-described “ska-funk-punk-reggae” armada Monkey Gone
Mad, a nine-piece group based in Scotia. The band didn’t
forward any production or recording info, but the wide-angle
shot of a basement filled with amps, horns and comfy chairs
that adorns the disc itself offers a pretty good suggestion
that the music was laid down in the bowels of one of the band
member’s homes. According to the info the band did send, they
play irregularly because members are away at college in Massachusetts,
Connecticut and other locales—notwithstanding the players
who are still high-school students in Scotia. To learn more
about the outfit, swing over to www.monkeygone mad.com.
•
Local electronic-music experimentalist Jim Sande’s
trio, the Jim Sande Ensemble, just unleashed their
second album of densely layered soundscapes, Cyclorama.
Sande, who recorded the disc in his home studio, also sang
and played synthesizer, percussion and guitar, while Michael
Farley contributed guitar and more electronic instruments
and Joe Hetko added bass and guitar. Multitasker Sande
even did the moody painting that adorns the album’s cover.
More info can be procured at www.jimsande.org.
•
Saratoga Springs singer Lise Winne joined with a trio
called the Spirites Consort to record Wing’d With
Hopes: New Interpretations of Renaissance Songs, the release
of which will be celebrated with an April 7 show at the Parting
Glass. The album was recorded at four different studios, with
the original sessions beginning in 1996; the studios were
Marsland, Mountaintop, NRS and Spirit 11, and Sean Flynn,
Al Grunwell and Scott Petito were among the folks who
handled recording duties. Petito finished off the project
by mixing and mastering at NRS. Notables who guest on the
album include Petito (on piano, bass and percussion), Brian
Melick (percussion) and Spa City jazz guy Cole Broderick
(piano). Extra points, by the way, are due to the players
for wearing flamboyant medieval caps for the album’s photos.
Visit www.lisewinne.com for more info.
COMING
SOON: A slew of local players have sent in updates about
recording projects that should soon see the light of day,
so here goes. . . . Blackcat Elliot, the group featuring
former members of North Again, are busy working at
Scarlet East Studios with producer John Delehanty.
There’s no release date set for the group’s forthcoming album,
but a CD single featuring two tunes (“When My Party Ends”
and “So Nobody Knows”) is ready for public consumption. The
band will launch the single with a show on Saturday [see box,
page 48]. . . . Ever-popular party band the Burners UK
just finished their new disc, with band member Jay Yager
producing, at Cotton Hill Studios. . . . Albany rockers Crabapple
report that the CD-release party for their new album, Heaven
and Hell on Earth, is set for May 4 at Valentine’s. What’s
more, band member Don Bazley says the show will also
double as a celebration of the local music scene, because
acts including Howe Glassman, Dana Monteith,
knotworking and the Staziaks are slated to share
the bill. . . . Last weekend, Albany jamsters Jerkwater
Ruckus recorded two nights of Valentine’s shows for an
upcoming live album. . . . The cheerfully indefinable Jason
Martin reports that he’s running the boards for a new
seven-piece band called Kabloobie, who are recording
a project called The Sweet Seductive Sounds of Secret Society
Radio at Martin’s studio space in Troy. The three-song
EP is due in the spring. . . . Todd Pasternack, front
man of the seemingly defunct Ominous Seapods, is back
with a new group called marlow, whose first CD is titled
white out. Pasternack and his bandmates will hit Valentine’s
on April 6 for a CD-release show. . . . Finally, local rockers
Wag are at work on their latest album.
ET
CETERA: Rounding out this week’s report are three last
items of note: Last Thursday, the Albany Public Library’s
main branch, on Washington Avenue, launched a new series of
live music performances with a gig by Capitalander-turned-Bostonian
Rosanne Raneri. Other performers playing free shows
as part of the series include Michael Eck (May 16),
Sara Ayers (July 18) and Beth Jochum and Ernie
Williams (Sept. 19). Info: 427-4300. . . . Albany popster
John Brodeur is putting together a show to commemorate
the 25th anniversary of Elvis Costello’s first album, My
Aim Is True. Artists interested in participating in the
July 20 show at Valentine’s should e-mail Brodeur via tiger
pop1@yahoo.com. . . . Lastly, here’s the latest development
in the wonderfully debauched adventures of local glam-punk
act the Erotics: The band are now officially sponsored
by Jägermeister. Cheers, dudes! . . . Send Rough Mix items
to phanson@ metroland.net or call 463-2500 ext. 144.
—Peter
Hanson
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