Author Archives: Andrew Patton

For almost five years now, the music of Dan Melchior (above, center) has been a reliable source of goodness in my somewhat limited “indie rock” meanderings. In that time, many groups/artists have come along with a great album or two or a great live show or two and manage to gain my fandom for a while, only to come around again with something I don’t like or just disappear. Despite issues with lineup changes and the fabulous follies of the record industry, Melchior has continued to slap his name on fine singles/LPs/CDs and keep touring (well, maybe not enough for me, but he’s doing it).

It all started in the fall of 2002, when I was a recent college grad. In my time as a college radio DJ, I had heard a song or two by these guys (who seem to have fallen into the second of the aforementioned categories of previously thrilling bands) and was intrigued. Their tour came to the “old” High Five, so I dragged my girlfriend of the time to the rock show. The bill was longer than I thought and it was a Monday night so I wasn’t able to stay late (missing ILCK and Modey Lemon), but I did get to learn of and see both the Cheater Slicks and Dan Melchior’s Broke Revue (the bands were labelmates on In The Red at the time) for the first time. My memories of the show are a bit hazy at this point, but I do remember the Revue rocking my skull in and persuading me to buy the just-released (or not quite released at the time?) Bitterness, Spite, Rage & Scorn CD.

In the months and years afterward, that album became one of my all-time favorites. Melchior’s London (England) accent pouring out simple wisdom and abstract observations over some bluesy, garage-y, itchy boogie somehow managed to rock pretty hard, and I was sold. Since then, the never-quite-released (those label troubles) Broke Revue album ‘O Clouds, Unfold!’ (2004) and the solo Hello, I’m Dan Melchior (2005) have also been great, showcasing a variety of garage-tinged styles and Melchior’s bitter-yet-hopeful songwriting. Another solo album, Fire Breathing Clones On Cellular Phones, came out last year (yeah, I just discovered this, will pick it up ASAP), and singles and reissue comps seem to pop out here and there, leaving plenty of material for the ardent fan to track down. The new Das Menace lineup will be releasing the Pink Scream EP soon and hopefully an album after that.

Dan Melchior will be returning to Columbus for the first time since the fall of 2004 (I think?) to play a show at Cafe Bourbon Street Thursday night. In what must be an attempt to help me relive my memories (right?), the bill includes the Cheater Slicks, who just cranked out a new Dead Canary Records LP, Walk Into The Sea, that is itching for your consumption. Rounding out the bill is Psychedelic Horseshit (another band evolving through lineup changes) and Beard of Stars. Thursday is the new Thursday, so get ready to jam!

MP3: “I.C.E.” by Antibalas

Brooklyn’s Antibalas is a dozen piece band that is often described as Afro-beat (funky horn-driven African music originally spearheaded by Nigeria’s Fela Kuti) but is always in the process of evolving into something else. They are currently on tour in support of the newly-released Security, their fourth full-length album and first on Anti- Records. In anticipation of their tour stop at the Wexner Center in Columbus on Tuesday (May 1st), I had a chat with tenor saxophone player Stuart Bogie (above, in the red shirt) about the state of things Antibalas.

Andrew Patton (AP): Antibalas has a message of political activism, but many of your songs are instrumental. Without lyrics, do you think that the average person being exposed to your music understands what you’re trying to get across?

Stuart Bogie (SB): Yeah, sure. There are many sentiments, many aspects to being a human being that cannot be expressed in words. Situations of struggle, situations of oppression, situations of striving to surpass oppression, to overcome oppression…there’s aspects to these issues that cannot be described in words. Being artists, that’s our license, and I believe a lot of our music deals with that. You could cite the music of Charles Mingus as a fair example, or Coltrane. Coltrane’s more in a spiritual sort of dimension exclusively, I guess, but that’s a universal thing so it might not even be exclusive.

The song “I.C.E.” (on Security) stands for Ice Covered England. It’s kind of a musical discussion of potential climate change. Through music, and different musical references, it could be viewed as discussing tremendous change in the state of civilization that many people are contemplating right now. The interaction of aggressive musical lines with longer lines that sort of embody, overreach, and arc across the whole experience is something that can be seen through history.

AP: Many of Antibalas’ vocal tunes are often very outspoken. Do you get big reactions to songs like “Indictment” or “Filibuster XXX?” Do people really get into songs like that?

SB: Absolutely. Live, when we do “Indictment,” people feel a sort of rapturous camaraderie in the idea that there are dangerous criminals in power right now. To collectively feel the pulse of the music, and to hear the names of some of these people called out is…the music wraps people together and the words say that we are all right here on the same page, emotionally and intellectually.

And there’s also an element of humor in it. Humor is a musical thing. Humor is all about rhythm. So, to put that in there, “OK, who are these guys? Yeah, these guys are really gonna indict Kenneth Lay.” Or “These guys are really gonna indict Scooter Libby.” We’re just cheerleaders for it.

AP: OK, so how do you feel things are progressing in the US right now politically? What are some encouraging signs?

SB: A few guys in the band have been checking out Obama and are very interested in what he has to say. Alberto Gonzales…they nailed him down today! The process of pointing out the extreme right for what it is and pointing out the centrist Democrats for what they are. I see that happening often. Basically, I think the change in the weather is going to sound the alarm for many people. Even Thomas Friedman, the journalist, is speaking very optimistically about green industries. So, there are places to aim hope. But in terms of sizing things up in history, that’s beyond us. It depends how we feel that day.
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Saturday night in Columbus saw the final preliminary battle in local label Dove Ink’s Beat Battle series at Skully’s. This series has presented a variety of hip-hop producers from around the Midwest showcasing their wares along with quality hip-hop performances, and number 4 was no exception. For the uninitiated, these beat battles start with each producer playing two beats per round and then the crowd and a panel of four judges vote for their favorite. The rounds of competition play out like a basketball tournament, resulting in a final battle for the championship. Performances are often placed between rounds to maintain excitement. On Saturday, there were also artists painting on stage and in the back patio (a large mural on the backs of CDs for the new Illogic/Eyamme mix CD on Dove Ink).

These beat battles are a curious thing. Though it is obvious that there are great amounts of effort and skill involved in crafting these concoctions, it often comes down to the feeling in the room when the beat drops (or gains momentum). Hosts Eyamme and Ginsu presided over the festivities ably and kept the focus on the beats. The first two rounds had some exciting matchups that could have made for solid semi-final battles, like the Kanye-invoking soul-sampling of Chosen versus the hyper club beats of Skelz or the funky horns of Kenny Kim against the synth jams of Detroit Beautiful Club. After a varied display of beats, close calls, and comical on-stage posturing, the field of 15 was whittled down to a final four of Chosen (Columbus), K81 (Columbus?), Kenny Kim (Columbus), and Phat Burner (Cleveland).
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Brooklyn’s Bling Kong is slowly (hopefully) gaining a following here in Columbus. Back in the fall of 2005, three members of the 11-piece band (for the uninitiated, that’s 4 cheerleaders, 3 drummers, 2 guitarists, 1 bassist and 1 video Ninja) were subject to my first (and only, so far) Instant Messenger interview, which you can read here. As predicted at the time, their show was quite entertaining and even awe-inspiring in the fact that they squeezed their full stage-sized performance into the old configuration of Cafe Bourbon Street. Just imagine a bunch of sweaty dudes rockin’ out while cheerleaders strut their hearts out, in front of homemade imagery on the video projector. The music is full-on sex-arena-rock, especially when you take the cheerleaders into account.

The merry gang makes their third Columbus appearance at Little Brothers on Thursday, March 1st. They are still touring in support of their 2005 Redder Records EP Do The Awesome, featuring 5 songs (two of which are below in MP3 form) and three sexy cheers from the cheerleaders. Their last show here was in October at the Wexner Center “Bling Ball” and marked the Columbus debut of their current set, the Choose Your Own Misadventure Rock Opera (or Cock Ropera, if you will?), which is apparently exactly what it sounds like. Come out and help them choose their destiny, or prepare for tragedy. They are currently in the process of recording the Cock Ropera, so get a preview of jams to come.

Opening up is the dance-rock stylings of Kentucky’s Parlour Boys.

MP3: Bling Kong Girls
MP3: Be Aggressive

Detroit’s SSM rocked my world last year with their self-titled debut LP on Alive Records, even making their way to the #5 spot in my Albums of the Year. The trio of John Szymanski (Hentchmen, ex-Paybacks), Dave Shettler (ex-The Sights), and Marty Morris (Cyril Lords) have done their fair share of battle in the Motor City garage rock combat zones, but the combination of these vets has led to some imaginative reinvention of the genre. Though the boys remain somewhat true to the usual methodology of bangin’ and sangin’, they incorporate a heap of synth keyboards and other electronic elements here and there to give some of the tunes a “bionic” sound. Along with the tempo and mood, the song topics and lyrics are all over the place, with alien love, candy love, viking love, and apologies for one’s lack attention to his comatose girlfriend all taking a turn. Somehow, this whirlwind tour still flows together rather well as the delightfully shaggy tunes meld into one jittery whole. To get a taste of what I’m talking about, check out some of their tunes on their Myspace page.

Come to Little Brothers Tuesday night to hear this otherworldly garage rock brought to life. Opening are Athens’ Makebelieves and Columbus’ Patsys. I haven’t seen the Makebelieves in many moons, so the pleasurable sound of their garage thunder is highly anticipated. The Patsys will get the rock ‘n rollicking good times started promptly at 9.

It’s 2007, people, so it’s time to see if our fair burg is up to the challenge of meeting/passing the amount of quality albums that it released upon the throngs in 2006. Columbus legend Happy Chichester (Royal Crescent Mob, Howlin Maggie, etc.) has answered the call. He has a live solo album under his belt, but he is releasing his long-awaited debut studio solo album, Lovers Come Back, this week.

The title is surely a strong indicator of the over-riding mood of these tunes. Though the tempo does change from time-to-time (the album opener, “Artificial Fanfare (Music in my Head),” is one of the most breathlessly happy songs I’ve heard in a long time), many of these tracks could be termed “Lovers Rock” (if that wasn’t already a reggae subgenre). Which I guess can be a good thing for an album released on Valentine’s Day. Though things do get syrupy here and there, Chichester does a good job of switching up styles enough to keep one’s attention. There is a fair amount of guitar pop here, but interestingly enough, a handful of the tracks in the middle remind me of the Stereo MCs, with anthemic female backup vocals and electronic-ish beats that are a tad gritty. Also, Chichester’s breathy come-ons ride the rock-steady scat groove of “You’re Blowin My Mind” to beboppin’ heaven. Finally, closer “Dude” seems to find Happy humorously pleading with the drunk idiot at the bar to get his act together and bow out gracefully.

Overall, Lovers Come Back is a strong batch of pop tunes with few missteps. There isn’t a great amount of mind-blowing lyrical content here, but the disc could definitely serve well for a late-night get-together. To celebrate the release of the album (and late night get-togethers), Happy Chichester will rock Little Brothers Wednesday night to start a three-concert release party extravaganza that also heads to Cincy and Dayton. As with the other shows, also featured is Shawn Smith and Friends (Regan Hagar, Kevin Wood, and others?), performing songs of their bands Brad and Satchel as well as other Shawn Smith tunes.

MP3: Artificial Fanfare (Music in My Head)

Though his myspace page may suggest otherwise, I would be lying if I told you that I wouldn’t describe Lexington, OH native Jonathan Hape as a “singer-songwriter.” Such labels can be very limiting, of course, so it is worth noting that the music on his third album, the recently released I’m Awake/I’m Asleep, transcends the often negative connotations of that tag.
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