The Hi-Nobles – Shake – CD – Zaentz Records - www.myspace.com/thehinobles

The Hi-Nobles

Suits, Soul and Shades.

If you are really, overly concerned with who is in a band and you feel that musicians should never stray from the style of music they started playing back when they were 18 or whatever, first?…you need to stop that mess ’cause that’s dumb (change is constant. Get over it and yourself). And second you can stop reading right now.

The singer who used to “grrrrr” it up for San Francisco funk metal band Mordred back in the late 80′s-early 90′s (Scott Holderby) and the guitarist who started out and is still playing in L.A. punk legends The Avengers (Greg Ingraham) grabbed some other band dudes and slapped together this crew. And what, pray-tell, do these guys sound like, you may wonder ? This is a disc of solid, R&B, garage soul living in CA with a groove address in Detroit. Real fun stuff. All sixties fuzzy sound complete with that distinct keyboard backing and heavy usage of the word “baby” and the lovin’ is always sweet. Oh…and they mean it. No frontin’ the soul on this disc. “Soul Sister”, “Red Eye”, “Shake”…hell, the whole disc (even the slower tunes) will make you wanna find a dark, smoky, steamy club and shake what your Momma gave you with some hot stranger while hitting the well bourbon. Old school party soul.

Bruce Springsteen

“I like Bruce. He’s a good fuckin’ journeyman, you know? But he’s holding the fort till something better comes along. If there was anything better, he’d still be working the bars in New Jersey.”

- Keith Richards

Oh Keith! Harsh words! I’m not much of a Springsteen fan, but geez!

I saw Bruce Springsteen once. It was the early 70’s, Springfield Mass. At the time he had 2 LP’s out and was in popularity limbo. A few critics were singing his praises as “the new Dylan”. He was moving enough units so that his record company hadn’t dropped him. When I got the offer for a free ticket it wasn’t a Bruce who? thing, more like, what the hell, why not. The band came out, they were good, polished, and for the most part, rocking. It was an okay show. I wasn’t compelled to tell any of my friends about it. I did not buy any of his albums.

Flash forward. Bruce Springsteen! The future of Rock n’ Roll! On the cover of Time and Newsweek – the same week! Born To Run – sensational new album! I gave it a listen. It sounded like a retread of a Phil Spector production, with none of the charm of Spector mainstays The Ronettes, or The Crystals, or hell, Bobb B Soxx and the Bluejeans. There was a Duane Eddy style guitar on the title track, faux soul on the song “10th Avenue Freeze-out” A song that would have been hellacious – if Wilson Pickett sang it and rock bombast on “Thunder Road”. The “future of Rock n’ Roll” sounded pretty much like the same old thing to me.

Soon after I got a job in a record store. New Bruce product would hit the racks. The good news, I could listen to it for free. It wasn’t all bad. “Hungry Heart”, “Cover Me”… okay songs, or as Keith would say, a good fuckin’ journeyman songwriter. But I just kept thinking. It’s all been done before. There’s nothing new here. It’s so conservative. When Ronald Reagan tried to glom onto “Born In The USA” for his reelection campaign in 1984 it was hilarious how quickly the music press shot it down. No right wing conservative was going to latch onto Bruce’s inherently conservative music. Sure, Bruce’s lyrics may have occasionally been left of center. But the music? So I’m asking. Has music changed one iota because of Bruce Springsteen? You tell me.

Bomba Estereo

The 10th annual Latin Alternative Music Conference held in New York was an amalgamation of styles ranging from rock, reggae, cumbia and pop to more forward looking sounds which incorporated trance, ambient, crunk, zouk, and grindcore. Here is a quick overview of some of the standouts from the LAMC.

Juana Molina is amazing. Her hypnotic sound incorporates ambient loops with low-key vocals. “Un Dia” and “Vive Solo” are standouts, but realistically, the quality is so high, that it’s hard to leave any of her songs out.

Los Hollywood hail from Los Angeles and San Diego, California. Think 80’s powerpop, Blondie, The Motels, with a hint of Pat Benatar style rawk. Not necessarily nutritious, but not overly sugary either.

Bomba Estereo from Columbia play danceable reggae, with dub and cumbia. The infectious singing and rapping of Liliana Saumet is a real pleasure. Dancing is the main focus with Bomba Estereo. Don’t just sit their, get off your butt and move!

Natalia Lafourcade from Mexico has a great poppy sound with a desirable influx of the quirky. Hints of Kate Bush and Bjork inform her work.

RH+ from Chile clearly show the widest range of pop influences. With a mixture of electronic sounds and indie rock and just a trace of stadium rock thrown in. Their musicianship is impressive.

The Domino Saints from Puerto Rico are pretty much straight up reggae with a hint of ska. Giselle Ojeda’s spirited vocals along with some nice James Bond style twangy guitar make for good sonic fun.

Monareta from Bogota and Brooklyn play Electro /Tropical / Breakbeat. Or as their MySpace listing states: EXPLOSIVO//EXOTIC//TRONCHO//DANCEABLE//[[with some hiss and glitches]] Monareta comes to the party with a wide ranging sound palette. An emphasis on dance grooves with some b-boy rapping make for a good time.

Obviously, this is a quick run down of Latin Alternative music. Do yourself a favor and check out the links. A treasure trove of excellent music is out there for your listening pleasure.

photo by: Maury McCown

Face it. You can never have enough effects. Imagine Andy Summers Of The Police without echo, flanging, compression. Hendrix without his Fuzz-Face,Wha, and Uni-Vibe. How about U2 with no effects? It’s their whole sound fer chrissake! Or is it?

Kevin Shields, of My Bloody Valentine, laughed when asked how many effects pedals he owned. ‘Hundreds,’ he said. He only uses 30 onstage, he added.

A sample of David Gilmour’s gear:

Univox Uni-Vibe, MXR DDL digital delay, Lexicon PCM-70, t.c. electronic 2290, Boss CS-2 Sustainer,MXR Dyna Comp, Ibanez CP9 Compressor-Limiter, Boss Hyperfuzz, Electro-Harmonix Big Muff, Two Chandler Industries Tube Drivers, Three Boss Graphic Equalizers

I got a great lesson in how a terrific player gets a great sound at an early stage in my playing years. I was invited to a jam session and this guy named Thurman came with a crappy guitar that you would expect to find at a dollar store, never mind a music store. Thurman plugged in that piece of shit and proceeded to make every guitar player in the room look like rank amateurs. One of the most beautiful tones I’ve ever heard. Ahhh! I thought to myself, it’s not the gear, it’s the player and the connection the player makes with the instrument.

Back to the Floydian string wizard. When asked how David Gilmour got his sound, Phil Taylor, Mr. Gilmour’s guitar tech, replied, “I think it’s just pretty much him. He is obviously using a couple of effects, like a Big Muff and a delay, but it really is just his fingers, his vibrato, his choice of notes and how he sets his effects. I find it extraordinary when people think they can copy his sound by duplicating his gear. In reality, no matter how well you duplicate the equipment, you will never be able to duplicate the personality.”

So, how do you get your sound? I’d love to hear from you!

photo credit: duziem

At first I saw Yoko Ono as a slightly nutty artist who had attached herself to a Beatle. I’ll admit that what initially drew me to her were her caterwauling shrieks on the song “Don’t Worry, Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow)”, the b-side to John Lennon’s “Cold Turkey” a song on many a jukebox in the early 70’s. Being the obnoxious teenage twerps that we were, nothing was more fun than to go to our favorite pizza place and harass the other diners with Yoko’s collection of shrieks and screams.

Then, a funny thing happened. I realized what Yoko was attempting had honesty, bravery, and commitment. Whether fighting for woman’s rights with “She Hits Back” and “Woman Power” or melding the avant garde with rock in “Mind Train” and “Why” or calling for peace and understanding with “We’re All Water” and “Starpeace.” A readjustment of my viewpoint was in order.

By the early 80’s artists Lene Lovich and the B-52’s with a nifty Ono impersonation on “Rock Lobster”, were showing a clear indication that they too were listening to Yoko. Coupled with tributes from Sonic Youth and Elvis Costello, something new was in the air. Yoko Ono was commanding respect on her own terms.

In April 2003, a remixed version of “Walking on Thin Ice” went to number one on the dance charts. She followed this with “Everyman…Everywoman…” which also topped the charts as did “No No No”, and “I’m Not Getting Enough.” February 2007 saw the release of “Yes, I’m a Witch,” a collection of remixes and covers by artists including The Flaming Lips, Cat Power, Antony, DJ Spooky, Porcupine Tree and Peaches. Another compilation “Open Your Box” followed in April of the same year.

An invitation to the 2009 Meltdown Festival in London saw the unveiling of the new Plastic Ono Band which features her son Sean as well as Cornelius and Yuka Honda. A new Plastic Ono Band collection “Between My Head And The Sky” is due for release in September of 2009.

On June 11th, 2009 Yoko was honored with the Mojo Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award. At the presentation, MOJO editor Phil Alexander commented:

“Yoko Ono helped change music as we know it, first by introducing avant-garde sensibilities to her husband and secondly, just as significantly, by continuing to push the boundaries of what was deemed the normal way after that. She is a huge influence on modern music and this award recognizes her inspirational qualities and ongoing questing.Yoko Ono is unique and we are thrilled to commemorate her lifetime on the front line.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Quincy Jones

Photo by: World Economic Forum

Since the death of Michael Jackson there has been a tidal wave of media coverage about the King Of Pop. Thankfully, a wave or two has pointed to his main collaborator, the wonderfully talented Quincy Jones. Quincy and Michael met on the production of the movie “The Wiz” Soon after they were working on Michaels’ breakout album “Off The Wall” The rest is pop history on the grandest scale. I’d like to talk a little about Quincy before he and MJ shook up the world.

Q’s career took off in New York City in the late 50’s, where he made some noise arranging songs for artists like Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa, and Ray Charles.

After signing a contract to arrange and produce for Mercury Records, one of Q’s first brushes with pop music was with 60’s teen idol singer Lesley Gore In 1963 he produced one of her biggest hits, “It’s My Party”. Q then went on to arrange and conduct Frank Sinatra’s album with Count Basie, “It Might as Well Be Swing” (1964). Jones’ arrangement of “Fly Me to the Moon” from the LP literally made it to the moon in 1969 as the first music played for NASA’s lunar landing mission by astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

By the mid 60’s Mr. Jones was in Hollywood, which naturally meant Movie and TV work. Some of Q’s soundtrack work from the 60’s to early 70’s would include:

In the Heat of the Night, Ironside, Sanford and Son, and The Bill Cosby Show. Lots of blues inspired  funk workouts here including a killer performance by Ray Charles on the title song from “In The Heat Of The Night”.

In the late 70’s Q was looking to work with something new. Funky but with a dose of pure pop. He found the perfect formula when he teamed with The Brothers Johnson on the glorious “Stomp”. It was a sign of things to come. MJ and Off The Wall were just around the bend.