HIDDEN GEMS

Orchestre Stukas | L’Afrique Danse Presents Orchestre Stukas
Yesterday was a sad day in the music world, and devastating for the world at large. I was once the wallowing type, but I’m instating a rule for myself this winter: NO DOWNER MUSIC. So I’m glad that I just found Orchestre Stukas, (also sometimes known as The Stukas Boys?), a 1970s soukous/rumba-esque band from the former Zaire. The Stukas Boys were fronted by Lita Bembo, the Congolese version of James Brown, who you can see in action here. Fast-paced, with a psych guitar and fun, deft rhythm, this four-song record is a good way to keep your mood afloat for around forty minutes. Then just watch some more of their videos, I guess. Well, I guess the rest of the week is going to be Orchestre Stukas and Jay Reatard on repeat for me. Try to feel better, world.
by Erin Sheehy

Willie Nelson | Willie Nelson Sings Kristofferson
Willie Nelson always seems to be putting out a new album, whether he’s taken the time to get good material together (2006’s Songbird, 2009′s American Classic) or not (the other twelve albums he’s made in the past decade). This album, one of three that Willie put out in 1979, is a gold nugget with a modest concept that seems to have gotten lost in the expanse of Willie’s discography. It doesn’t get much simpler than this: find a good country-rock backing band and cover a bunch of top-notch songs written by Kris Kristofferson, including “Me and Bobby McGee” (a prior hit for Janis Joplin), “Sunday Morning Coming Down” (a hit for Johnny Cash), and “Help Me Make It Through The Night” (an unjustly forgotten hit for Sammi Smith). The resulting album is a low-key pleasure.
by Justin Remer

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DAILY NEWS PICKS

Rivers Cuomo Explains Crappy Name For New Weezer Album, Ratitude: His Friend Came Up With It! Swear! [SPIN]

Hitch A Ride To Rock Rock Rockaway Beach Tomorrow For A Whole Lotta Music and Art [The Tripwire] 

Dead Man’s Bones (Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields) Announce First Tour. Better Start Rehearsing: Each Opening Act Will Be A Talent Show! [Pitchfork] 

Watch New Dan Deacon Video, “Paddling Ghost.” The Finger Puppet Ghost Is Cute, But The Finger Puppet Dan Deacon Is Even Better [Stereogum]

Ooh Ooh! This Just In, New Yorkers: Insound’s Tenth Anniversary Party Tonight At Brooklyn Bowl Featuring The Drums, These Are Powers, Cymbals Eat Guitars, And Real Estate. Hot Damn, The Week Is Lookin’ Up [FREEWilliamsburg] 

Jimi Hendrix Biopic In The Works [Prefix] 

What With Inglorious Basterds Opening Today, Why Not Read What Tarantino Has To Say About Some Of His Career’s Key Soundtrack Picks? [Rolling Stone]

Willie Nelson Stayin’ Busy With Myspace Show and New Album of Jazz Standards, American Classic, Out On Aug. 25, Available To Stream Via Myspace Tomorrow [The Tripwire] 

Harlem, Yeasayer, Kid Sister Added to Fun Fun Fun Fest Lineup [Gorilla vs. Bear] 

Bon Iver Just Got Way Cooler In My Eyes. Why? Oh, Just A Little Show He’s Gonna Play At Sunrise. In A CEMETERY! [The Tripwire]

compiled by Erin Sheehy

HOLY MUSICIAN, BATMAN…

Willie Nelson is too complex a figure to break down satisfactorily in the limited space normally allotted here, so this week I am just going to attempt a brief tribute. After all, this is the man whose career has lasted around 50 years at this point, and who has produced a vast body of work as a songwriter (including Patsy Cline’s classic “Crazy”), a strong selection of offbeat concept albums (such as Yesterday’s Wine, Phases and Stages, and his breakthrough Red Headed Stranger), plus dozens of recordings of other people’s songs, either borne from his fascinations (the pop standards on Stardust; the reggae songs on Countryman) or indifferently included on albums by commercially calculating producers (pretty much half the stuff Willie has recorded since about 1980). This is the man whose jazzy approach to vocals, freely altering the rhythm of his vocal melodies, was famous for rankling some of Nashville’s bigwigs and made him country music’s answer to Frank Sinatra.

But there’s something to which only the most diehard of Willie Nelson fans pay much attention, and that is his awesome guitar playing. Not only can Willie whip up a finger-fracturing guitar run that would make even the most expert shredders break a sweat, he does it without seeming like a witless showoff or a soulless technician. His fingerwork has as much personality as his singing (being similarly influenced by jazz), as evidenced by Willie’s beautiful cover of Django Reinhardt’s “Où Es-Tu, Mon Amour?” on his stellar 1998 album Teatro. It is only in rare moments like this, or with the “Matador” and “Mariachi” tracks on his 1996 album Spirit, that he lets his guitar truly take center stage. It remains special pretty much everywhere else too – even in the way he emphatically plucks the notes of a classic ballad like “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain” (from Red Headed Stranger) to give emotional punctuation to his quavering vocals.

Phosphorescent recently released a Willie Nelson covers album, To Willie, that highlights the depth and accessibility of Willie’s songwriting by putting those familiar words in a new mouth. But the album also ends up tipping its hat to his brilliance as a musician by choosing to set these vocals to arrangements not too different from the classic originals.  Considering the musician in question, that seems like the smart thing to do.

by Justin Remer

IN THE TUBE
Phosphorescent’s upcoming album, For Willie, is a collection of Willie Nelson covers, and, well, for lack of any better accolade, I’ll simply offer a rousing “Hell yes.” Matthew Houck has always walked that broad line between second-generation Will Oldham (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and true-blue country, obscuring those (if they, in fact, exist) boundaries with his idiosyncratic songwriting methodology. Aw Come Aw Wry offered country barnburners (musically) in spades, while those lyrics tended towards the more introspective and theological; while Pride was, musically, a gorgeous funereal dirge coupled with a lyrical sensibility rivaled only by the greatest Country Western hellraisers: beer for breakfast, cocaine for dessert, all the while eyeing a beautiful, dangerous, red-dressed woman.

And here is Houck singing Nelson’s “Reasons To Quit,” a purist’s country ballad if there ever was one. The lyrical elements are pure Pride: booze and coke and a nagging sense of fear and desolation. The music, however, is prime Aw Come Aw Wry era revisionist Phosphorescent Country. This is full band, full harmony, Grand Ol’ Opry satisfaction. Also, note Houck’s brilliant abandonment of his acoustic guitar mid-song, and his decision to, instead, mid-verse, pick up a beer. In the words of someone much wiser than myself: that f*ing destroys.

by Chris Kiehne

IN THE TUBE
Phosphorescent’s upcoming album, For Willie, is a collection of Willie Nelson covers, and, well, for lack of any better accolade, I’ll simply offer a rousing “Hell yes.” Matthew Houck has always walked that broad line between second-generation Will Oldham (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and true-blue country, obscuring those (if they, in fact, exist) boundaries with his idiosyncratic songwriting methodology. Aw Come Aw Wry offered country barnburners (musically) in spades, while those lyrics tended towards the more introspective and theological; while Pride was, musically, a gorgeous funereal dirge coupled with a lyrical sensibility rivaled only by the greatest Country Western hellraisers: beer for breakfast, cocaine for dessert, all the while eyeing a beautiful, dangerous, red-dressed woman.

And here is Houck singing Nelson’s “Reasons To Quit,” a purist’s country ballad if there ever was one. The lyrical elements are pure Pride: booze and coke and a nagging sense of fear and desolation. The music, however, is prime Aw Come Aw Wry era revisionist Phosphorescent Country. This is full band, full harmony, Grand Ol’ Opry satisfaction. Also, note Houck’s brilliant abandonment of his acoustic guitar mid-song, and his decision to, instead, mid-verse, pick up a beer. In the words of someone much wiser than myself: that f*ing destroys.

by Chris Kiehne

Hidden Gem:
Willie Nelson
Stardust
1978 | Legacy (Original Release); 1999 | Sony (Second Release); 2008 | Legacy (Re-release)

With an ample sprinkling of rustic dreaminess, Willie Nelson offers in his crossover album Stardust a lustrous collection that will feel immediately familiar (at least to Americans) even to those who aren’t well-versed in country music. Its appeals so universally because the songs chosen for reincarnation are as representative of American heritage as he. With a humble joy, he revisits his own favorite standards written by greats from other musical walks of life, including Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, and more. Nelson’s laid-back, yet earnest style serves these classics well. Though introspective in tone, he wisely sidesteps any hint of syrupy treatment and instead allows the simple beauty of each to blossom for itself not only underneath, but, also, because of its new, country guise. The indisputable way these tunes shine with such expert costume change illuminates their timelessness.
More on Record Review: Stardust