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TEQUILA SUNRISE SHOP
ADDRESS
tequila sunrise records
525 w. girard avenue
(btwn 5th & 6th streets)
philadelphia, pa 19122
MAP
t/us: 1215 965 9616
t/uk: 0203 004 8357*
e: [email protected]
u: www.tequilasunriserecords.com
m: www.myspace.com/tequilasunriserecords
b: www.tequilasunriserecordshop.blogspot.com
HOURS (US)
monday: closed
tuesday: 12:00-6:00pm/est
Wednesday: 12:00-6:00pm/est
thursday: 12:00-7:00pm/est
friday: 12:00-7:00pm/est
saturday: 12:00-6:00pm/est
sunday: 12:00-6:00pm/est
HOURS (*UK & EU)
monday: closed
tuesday: 5:00-11:00pm/gmt
Wednesday: 5:00-11:00pm/gmt
thursday: 5:00-12:00pm/gmt
friday: 5:00-12:00pm/gmt
saturday: 5:00-11:00pm/gmt
sunday: 5:00-11:00pm/gmt
TEQUILA SUNRISE LABEL
TS-5006/5007 JACK ROSE- DR. RAGTIME AND HIS PALS/SELF-TITLED 2CD
*domestic version of jack rose’s new full length, ‘dr. ragtime and his pals’, coupled with a reissue of last years ‘self-titled’ cd/lp housed in a custom designed and fabricated off-set printed card cover with j-card style obi. limited edition of 1000.
The Appalachian Trail runs 2175 miles south from Mount Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia, though there are those who want to stretch it further, into Alabama, because the mountains go there. Why not extend it? Trails are made for that. But there's another Appalachian Trail, too - one that goes through time, extending from unfinished studios in Williamsburg, NY, winding down the grooves of ancient 78's to the 1920's or even earlier, past Stephen Foster's wet dream to a place beyond the compass of change.
If you're hiking on *that* trail, you're likely to run into a lot of post-grad Parsifal’s with inscrutable hair and de-tuned banjos - these days, you can't swing a cat around without hitting one! But if you're lucky, you might stumble across a clearing somewhere south of Lily Dale, where revolutionists stop for orangeade and Dr. Ragtime hangs out with his pals. If you ask him politely, he might offer you a taste of his elixir - made from codeine, sarsaparilla, and goat-gland extract - guaranteed to restore memories that never were. And if you're quiet, he might let you stay and listen to the music: Ethiopian novelties, characteristic marches and parlor favorites - bittersweet slices of Methodist pie, familiar tunes, at least in those sections where the square dance has not yet been supplanted by the fox-trot.
And if you have a couple of dimes to rub together in your pocket, you'll want to purchase his newest, electrically-recorded phonograph recording, entitled "Doctor Ragtime and his Pals." The Doctor, who hitherto has recorded only on his own, is joined here by Micah Blue Smaldone (who has been compared to both Tiny Tim and Kierkegaard), Glenn Jones (of Cul de Sac, last seen around these parts urging college students to contemplate the prospect of their own death on a balmy September evening), Michael Gangloff (late of Pelt and the Black Twig Pickers), Nathan Bowles (also of the Black Twig Pickers as well as the Spiral Joy Band) and the mysterious Harmonica Dan (from Pennsauken, New Jersey by way of ethereal caminos).
This release is conjoined with a recording by Jack Rose, the Mike Morgan of the American minimalist neo-primitive sub-underground. This recording, entitled "Jack Rose" - previously available to the buying public only in severely limited forms - is here presented as a bonus to the consumer and perhaps as an act of folly for the producer.
-- Charles Fourier, Tequila Sunrise Records
TS-12008 BROWN RECLUSE SINGS- THE SOFT SKIN 12”
in production/available soon
TS-12007 JACK ROSE- DR. RAGTIME AND HIS PALS LP
in production/available soon
TS-12006 JACK ROSE- SELF TITLED LP SOLD OUT
*european manufactured 180 gram lp housed in a stoughton old-style jacket with j-card style obi. limited edition of 1000.
the poet william butler yeats once observed that “you can refute hegel, but not ‘song of sixpence,’” and on this new record jack rose supplies the proof, unspooling landscapes made entirely out of wire, where the simplest melodies become mesmerizingly complex.
except, this isn’t quite the new jack rose record.
ok, it is. sort of.
originally a cd-only release, and originally only released because scott slimm pestered jack for something for his incredible archive label, it occupies a curious place in the rose oeuvre, falling in the interstice between live performance and deliberate studio recording, a sketchbook or a progress report, a dispatch from the front or a postcard from an old friend on a long trip. on these recordings, Jack takes bigger chances and makes bolder strokes, and the results are ragged but right – a craftsman deep in his craft and deepening it. just give a listen to his haunting variations on “st. louis blues,” or the uncanny, extended, blotter-acid raga “spirits in the house.” you’ll see what I mean.
perhaps because these are rough drafts for a forthcoming collection of duets, there’s a lot of solitude in these songs – like dropping a pebble down a well and counting the seconds till you hear a splash, only that splash is a long time coming back and you feel a little spooky. A duet for one is an inherently mysterious entity, with a palpable absence built-in to it, a ghost in the grooves.
but haints are sort of like saints, geists are a bit like guests, and visions are really visitations. So be sure to leave a light on, and an empty seat at the supper table, just in case. company is coming.
REVIEWS
KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN/MIMAROGLU MUSIC SALEStheoretically a “reissue” of the archive-label jack rose “untitled” disc - but that’s only figuring said disc was ever really available to begin with (mms had copies available for about a day a few months back...)
as jack sheds his fahey-worshipping skin, i find myself getting more and more amped about each subsequent release - first it was the change-ringing 7” on tequila sunrise and now this one; recorded davey graham style in someone’s house / in concert / at home in september 2006 (for the most part.)
this is prime material; jack herein working a slide/travis combo that’s ridiculously solid - his right right-hand timing is so on right now...although there are a few detours into more free-form styles (check the sound-sample of a piece delving into brij bhusan kabra territory - modal slide excursions over a tanpura-like tonal bed - at least at the end there) that make the record for me...
EDWIN POUNCEY/THE WIRE
a key figure in the new american primitive movement that has developed since the death of john fahey, this reissue from virginian guitarist and pelt member jack rose previously surfaced on the archive label. one could almost mistake it for fahey himself, displaying a similar ease and knowledge of the music on blues standards like wc handy’s ‘st. louis blues’ and blind willie johnson’s ‘dark was the night’. more intriguing, however, is ‘spirits in the house’, where rose handles his acoustic guitar like a sitar with a stream of coiling notes and exotic tonal colour. this self-titled album is more like a sketchbook than a fully formed new work, but reinforces rose’s reputation as one of this century’s finest guitar players.
SCOTT MOU/OTHER MISIC
Philly's Tequila Sunrise borrows another rarity from the Archive label, and as you may or may not know, this is hardly a reissue since the Archive CDs are made in such limited, small runs. Maybe call this a "Continuation" or "Part II" or "Collector Nerd Rebate!" It all works out for the common good in the end, as this time around there are 1000 copies of this vinyl-only pressing. Aside from the typically great packaging and production values (European manufactured 180 gram LP housed in a stoughton old-style jacket with j-card style obi), Jack Rose's self-titled record sports great cover art and is probably the most distinctive recording from the guitarist yet.
There's all kindsa talk about the Jack Rose/John Fahey connection, that whole shared raga/melancholy bluegrass vibe, but we all basically agree that Rose is at his best when he does his own thing and stretches out a bit. That's what happens on this LP. Strength. Slashing precision. Lotsa muscular lapsteel raga jams, climbing and clamoring towards nirvana. Did ya seem him live recently? This record reminds me of his recent OM in-store appearance where he jammed a little harder than I expected without missing a beat and wrung the dipping, sitar notes for all they were worth. Get it while it's hot and while its still here.
DOUG MOSURAK/DUSTED MAGAZINE
Vinyl reissue of an aRCHIVE cd, documenting Rose’s skittish but ongoing affair with Fahey-esque guitar folk/feats of strength. Rumor has it that this material was begrudgingly documented for its initial release, which makes very little sense. What it really does is showcases a traditional, skill-based side of Rose’s idiosyncratic guitar super-ability separate from his group Pelt. I’d have to guess that he didn’t want to make some slavish paean to something which most consummate musicians might want to hold closer to their chests, but it’s a beautiful album, passionately recreating folk and raga within strict Appalachian confines. Rose’s playing is exquisite, mannered, and warm. Edition of 800 in a beautiful tip-on sleeve with obi strip.
TS-12005 LSD MARCH- EMPTY RUBIOUS RED LP
*european manufactured 180 gram lp housed in a stoughton old-style jacket with j-card style obi. limited edition of 1000.
we have a friend who works for a high-end publicly-traded kids clothing maker up in manhattan, and last month they had her attend a seminar on forecasting trends for the next two years. and what did their high-priced european haruspex predict? that the dominating look for next year’s lines will be…freak folk. for real. In fact, it’s happening right now – even as we speak, beardos are shambling down the runways in milan and paris. and if in a few months time you see little kids running around looking like amish grad students, you’ll understand.
but that’s just the transatlantic axis. what about japan? japan’s fashion scene is so wildly on-another-planet, it can’t even be inserted into a rational framework or timetable – are they a day ahead of us, or ten years?
in order to stay ahead of the curve, the next tequila sunrise release will be a new lp, empty rubious red, by japanese avant-pysch artists lsd march. for those of you already living a couple of years ahead of the rest of us, you will know that this will be the fifth full length by this band, and that it was originally released in 2006 on their own white elephant imprint (a longer version of empty rubious red was reissued later that year as a limited edition cd on the incredible archive label), both versions sold out in about a minute.
It’s actually more like a solo outing by lsdm front-man shinsuke michishita (on voice, guitar, bass and percussion), accompanied on two tracks by legendary drummer ikuro takahashi (high rise, fushitsusha, tamio shiraishi, kosokuya, che-shizu, maher shalal hash baz, nagisa ni te, etc). most of the songs here are intimate, in-your-inner-ear ballads, hypnagogic and melancholic, achy hangovers from the third velvets LP – sorrowful birds on the last tree in the universe, thinking themselves into being, then forgetting themselves, then remembering again. except for the title track, that is – an 8-minute doppler-effect trance that gets you wasted on polonium 210, sets the dials of the kabbalah for the heart of the sun, and clicks “send.”
we could describe the overall sound here as late night psych. It’s a pretty hackneyed term at this point, but try to remember how it used to be a downright poetic handle for the genre, conjuring those sleepless hours between 3 and 5 a.m. when the acid-drenched mind emits showers of sparks into the abyss. Light fuse and get away!
we don’t know what sorts of children’s clothing we’ll see when trend analysts start recommending late night psych as the compass for designers, but it’s bound to be interesting. just remember, when you see saucer-eyed tots on the deck of a starship with their heads plugged into andromeda, you heard it here first.
REVIEWS
KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN/MIMAROGLU MUSIC SALEStruly lovely vinyl edition of this modern-psych chesnut, first released on the tiny white elephant label before being reissued by archive last year & finding its way into many western homes/consciousnesses (including mine, where it has remained as my favorite late-night driving record for a good year now...) before going out of print in like 2 weeks...
highly recommended if the whisper/scream paradox of such acts as jacks, white heaven, overhang party, les rallizes denudes, et.al. share head-space in that cramped noggin of yours.
DAVID KEENAN/VOLCANIC TONGUE
Deluxe vinyl reissue of this great side featuring European manufactured 180 gram LP housed in a heavy Stoughton old-style sleeve with j-card style obi. Limited edition of 1000 copies: Japan's LSD-March, current heirs to that country's post-Rallizes void-gobbling crown. Empty Rubious Red reconciles a bunch of strains that have been orbiting their back catalogue for a while now, combining pale, Velvets-style dead flower blues with the kind of clipped, evocatively staggered guitar dunt pioneered by Jutok Kaneko of Kousokuya as well as long, nerve-shredding passages of fully illuminated electric guitar immolation that push post-Hendrix rock logic a few stones closer to the sun. Highly recommended: this looks, feels and sounds immense.
SCOTT MOU/OTHER MISIC
Originally released on the Japanese White Elephant label in 2006 (and long since gone), LSD March's Empty Rubious Red sees domestic, although limited, release thanks to Tequila Sunrise. Not the full on psych explosion as on some of their previous works, most of these tracks are intimate, not unlike Les Rallizes Denudes' more quiet moments, or Velvet Underground, except for the title track which is mindblowing trance-psych at its very best. Limited to 800 copies outside Japan, you'd do yourself a favor by snapping this up quickly.
EDWIN POUNCEY/THE WIRE
this reissue of lsd march mainman shinsuke michishita’s solo album offers a third chance for those who missed out. accompanied by drummer ikuro takahashi, whose previous work includes appearances with high rise, fushitsusha, kosokuya, che-shizu and maher shalal hash baz, ‘empty rubious red’ is an elegant set of lightly strummed songs. the first side is quietly meditational and strongly folk inspired, but michishita plugs in on the B side.the title track is an escalating bout of psychedelic interplay with takahashi that builds into a deranged free for all before falling back into his more minimalistic, laid back style. this unexpected burst of energy elevates the project into another dimension, the slow songs taking on a greater sense of purpose when fitted around the album’s signature song.
MICHAEL CRUMSHO/DUSTED MAGAZINE
Originally re-released in digital form on the Archive label, Tequila Sunrise here re-presents LSD-March's Empty Rubious Red for those who missed out on the shiny plastic version. Those expecting more of the group's current take on Les Rallizes Denude's styled speaker-crush and distorted balladry are in a for a pleasant surprise here, as this LP, save for the six-string-cum-drum-blast of the two versions of the title track, is on the unabashedly mellow tip. Main man Shinsuke Michishita handles pretty much everything on his own here, turning in wistful pieces like "As Many Stars in the Sky" that pair delicate guitars with his breathy vocals. He adds slight percussion and forlorn harmonica to "The Present Is a Storm," and comes to a graceful close with "I Only Have Hands for You." Throughout both tracks, Michishita deals in sparse, subtly melancholic territory, forming a nice overall contrast to the brown-outs for which his group have become revered. Definitely a bit of a switch, but worth seeking out for quiet time. Edition of 800 copies in tip-on sleeves with printed obi strip.
AQUARIUS RECORDS
Super deluxe, and of course ultra limited vinyl version of the now out of print Empty Rubious Red cd released on aRCHIVE a while back. Thick vinyl, gorgeous sleeves, even an obi! Limited to 1000 copies, only 800 in the US, pressed on 180 gram vinyl and so so nice.
The last time we listed a limited edition cd by Japan's LSD-march, we sold out of it in about, oh, two seconds. That was the Live cd that came our way (and went). Then we listed the cd version of Empty Rubious Red, which lasted only slightly longer. Why is everybody so grabby with the LSD-march? Is it because of the cool packaging? Is it because they seem to always be limited? Maybe... but of course it's also 'cause if you love heavy duty distorto guitar psych in the vein of cult '70s Japanese heroes Les Rallizes Denudes. And you do get that here on the dronily intense, trippy title track, in spades. But for much of the rest of the album you also get the kinder, gentler side of LSD-march, with Shinsuke Michishita handling vocals and guitar and bass and percussion and whistling (yes, there's some whistling!) all by himself, joined by drummer Ikuro Takahashi on just two of the tracks. It's quite intimate, really, maybe even romantic -- these are love songs, aren't they? The lyrics are in Japanese but the titles "I Have Been Saving My Love For You" and "I Only Have Hands For Hold You" (sic) sure sound like love songs. Dunno about "Nude And Bizarre" though. A gorgeous late night listen, echoey and emotional. Spacious, slow, drowsy. Melancholic, melodic. Compared to the destructive, amped-up attack of that Live album, the beautiful balladry here is like night and day... a mistily overcast day with rays of sun glinting between the clouds.
(TS-12004) delayed
(TS-12003) canceled
TS-12002 MICAH BLUE SMALDONE- HITHER AND THITHER LP
*deluxe 180 gram vinyl pressed at record technology, inc., with an 8 page booklet, housed in a beautiful full color "old style/tip-on" jacket manufactured by Stoughton printing. limited edition of 500.
Micah Blue Smaldone. A distinctive name, no? Micah? A minor Hebrew prophet. Blue? A hippy-ish middle name. Red white and? Moon of Kentucky? Smaldone. could be Italian, or Old English. I understand his grandfather (on his mother's side) fought with the John Brown Battery in the Spanish Civil War and taught young Micah plenty of the old songs - but don't ask him to play Jarama Valley in Catalan. It's just too sad. His grandfather never got over it, and the whole Comintern business still sticks in his craw. His great grandfather (on his father's side) was the local IWW guy who saw to it that a little bit of Joe Hill was scattered in the Pine Tree State.
Well, I just want to say to the country that this is a real decent, fine boy. Micah Blue's got an original voice, reedy and spare, and he's a virtuoso ragtime finger-picker, too. His songs are charming, antique ditties - austere Tin-Pan Alley tunes with lyrics by Soren Kierkegaard. Like a single bright light, his music illuminates much while also casting a lot of sharp shadows, lovely, dark and deep.
When he plays live, he tenses up his whole body - tenser than you'd expect for a folk musician, like he might snap the strings, or snap the neck of his guitar, or just snap. But there's not a trace of irony in his music or in his performance, and I guess that's the Yankee in him.
See, it gets cold at night up there in Maine, where he's from, and when you got the blank eye of god bearing down on you, and you got the Jukes and the Kallikacks next door getting high on Freon or something, it just makes a man think seriously about where he fits in. Willem de Kooning, gazing up at the star-spangled sky over Black Mountain in the forties, remarked "the universe gives me the creeps," and I imagine Micah might agree.
Human consciousness may be a makeshift contraption held together with bailing wire and duct tape, but it will have to suffice. And it may well be true that regret and loss are inescapable human conditions (if you marry you will regret it, and if you don't marry you'll regret that too). But it is also true that music is a bulwark against such notions of human frailty, and Micah Blue's music does more than suffice. It offers balm and succor to a weary soul.
"Micah is so good," Jack Rose told me, "he'll make you throw your dick in the dirt!" I certainly agree with the spirit, if not the letter, of Mr. Rose's sentiments. I'll have to let you personally be the judge on that score, though you ladies will have to determine some sort of equivalent for yourselves, assuming you concur.
John Jacob Niles
REVIEWS
DAVID KEENAN/VOLCANIC TONGUE
Limited edition of 500 copies in hard card sleeves and heavy duty vinyl from the same label that brought you the vinyl version of Jack Rose’s Kensington Blues. Micah sources his vaudeville blues in a tradition that predates even the American mystery schools favoured by Jack Rose, crossing early folk forms with ragtime and minstrel stylings and a macabre showtune aspect which brings to mind the work of Dame Darcy, Tiny Tim and Josephine Foster. Despite the inclusion of a cover of Jelly Roll Morton’s “New Orleans Bump” the bulk of the album remains historically unlocatable and sourced in a very personal vision of old-timey joy and sorrow that will appeal to fans of Current 93 as much as Karen Dalton and Jack Rose. Highly recommended.
NORMAN RECORDS
My album of the week would happily go to Micah Blue Smaldone's opus Hither & Thither. The 1st time I heard this a couple of years ago I was blown away. For some reason I never banged on about it at the time.... was probably busy or something. Shame cos it's a great record. He plays a steel guitar and he fits in somewhere between Jack Rose, Charlie Parr and Al Duvall (without the comedy). Incredible songs.... a fine fine talent indeed and there's only 500 of these puppies on vinyl (though we have the CD in stock!)
HONEST JON’S RECORDS
The second full length from Micah Blue Smaldone is another beauty right out of the middle of nowhere. Combining intricate finger picking Jack Rose style with an old timey Ragtime / Tin Pan Alley feel and topping it all off with a unique voice that's part Van Dyke Parks part John Jacob Niles in the process creating a set of tunes dripping with dark charms and antique magic. Beautifully housed in a superb thick sleeve with 8 page booklet and pressed on 180g vinyl this is another winner from the Tequila Sunrise label.
TS-12001 JACK ROSE- KENSINGTON BLUES LP SOLD OUT
*deluxe 180 gram vinyl pressed at record technology, inc., housed in an austere black on black ‘old style/tip-on’ jacket manufactured by Stoughton printing. limited edition of 500.
Kensington Blues is Jack's most diverse outing by far, with straight ragtime, heavy 12-string and that sweet Weissenborn lap guitar all checking in. Honed during endless touring in 2004, the repertoire here is delivered with maximum authority in a series of first-take performances recorded in early 2005. "Cathedral et Chartres" and "Calais to Dover" are dense, brooding 12 string numbers, recalling the key tracks on 2004's Raag Manifestos CD. "Calais" features a sequence of right hand picking furious enough to evoke a dream state ala Charlemagne Palestine's Strumming Music. "Rappahanock River Rag" and "Flirtin' With the Undertaker" are pure syncopated ragtime, while "Kensington Blues" offers an almost regal take on the intersection of Anglo and American trad. The epic "Now That I'm A Man Full Grown" was the signature piece of many of 2004's live shows, a display of mind-boggling slide invention that straddles the line of east and west ala "Yaman Blues" from the Opium Musick LP. In something of a surprise inclusion, Jack's take on Fahey's "Sunflower River Blues" (long a staple of Pelt and J.R. gigs but never included on a record) is subtle and expressive, with a wonderful rise and fall that perfectly accentuates Fahey's beautiful melody. (vhf records)
REVIEWS
ZACH BARON/PITCHFORK
The (apocryphal) outline of Jack Rose's game runs something like this: Ragtime and "jass" were bequeathed to him by the last words of Dr. Chattanooga Red, a mysterious mentor who allegedly told Rose to "not let the ragtime die, and to bring it into the 21st century"-- twin missions that produced Rose's 2003 homage to his teacher, Opium Musick. True or not (not), it's a nice story, and the myth does seem operative-- Rose often plays as if the health of ragtime rests on his shoulders alone. Maybe it does. John Fahey and Takoma Records are gone, and Rose's modern compatriots (Ben Chasney, Kevin Barker, Sir Richard Bishop, etc.) are increasingly seduced by the East, by psychedelics, and by a "freak-folk" that owes less to American Primitive than it might claim. Although Rose is no stranger to the raga form-- or to the near 20-minute composition (2004's Raag Manifestoes had both of these in spades)-- his tools are firmly those of the past. While the new century's novel folk has already seen significant definition, Rose is largely alone in talking new century ideas with the old language.
Thus, Kensington Blues is derivative and at the same time nearly brilliant. The styles Rose employs are diverse: twelve-string virtuoso shows, a slide guitar that alludes as much to the sitar as to the blues, solid traditional Takoma ragtime and folk. Out from latter comes a Fahey cover, "Sunflower River Blues", which (not surprisingly) works as the soil from which the rest of the record grows. The original was predicated on Fahey's impeccable timing; Rose's take amplifies the feeling and melody, and then runs with it. Hence the stunning "Kensington Blues", a song full of clarity and syncopation, elegant and well composed. Two others, "Rappahanock River Rag" and "Flirtin' with the Undertaker", are less weighty, more jaunty deliveries of Rose's signature modern ragtime.
But Rose is more than a traditionalist, and the other tracks on Kensington Blues veer sharply into newer territory. "Cathedral et Chartres" uses twelve strings to abstract the melodic clarity so abundant elsewhere on the record, speeding it up and then sending it into a droning, buzzing finale. This idea is fully worked out in his closer, "Calais to Dover", in which Rose transfigures the raga into a kind of Dream Music, deep listening project, vibrating his way past individual notes and sequences and arriving at something more akin to pure tone and texture. The minimalist affinity is no coincidence: Rose's folk is not the least bit free, even as he explores freak sonic terrain, and control is his technique, no matter how many notes he stacks. 8.0
BILL MAYER/DUSTED MAGAZINE
Jack Rose has been going places lately, and the evidence is all over this splendid record. The names of six of its eight tunes refer to places, some easy to find on a map (“Calais To Dover”), some harder to pin down (“Cross the North Fork”). Another brings up the journey we all must eventually take (“Flirtin’ with the Undertaker”).
The guitarist has toured like a demon in the year that preceded this recording, and it shows in the best possible ways. Every track is a first take, and each radiates the confidence of a man who knows he can just sit down and nail it, no problem. Rose has never sounded better; some credit must go to engineer Mike Chaffin for an exceptionally bright and present recording job, but more must go to the artist for the clarity, strength and purposefulness of his finger picking.
He also forges ahead in his material, sometimes by turning back the clock. Working backwards is part of his MO – remember that he recorded crumbling rock, acoustic trance, and full-on noise with Pelt for half a dozen years before he laid down his first finger-style performances. Kensington Blues includes a couple delightful ragtime tunes, his first compositions in that ancient but honorable style. It also features several winding, quasi-narrative fantasias, pieces that will lose you in the sheer gorgeousness of their sound without ever really getting lost; go ahead, try and stay rooted in this time and place whilst listening to “North Fork” or “Cathedral et Chartres” (forgive his French – you’d do the same for Chic). If you do, you’ve got some serious karmic baggage weighing down your soul.
“Now that I’m a Man Full Grown II,” his latest Indian-style slide piece, picks up where Rose’s side of the By The Fruits You Shall Know The Roots compilation left off. It accelerates slowly, affording plenty of time to appreciate his voluptuous tone on the lap steel before he builds to a thrilling breakneck climax and elegant denouement.
Rose also travels to the mountain. He’s dedicated music to John Fahey, but here he finally records one of the man’s compositions. His version of “Sunflower River Blues” sounds regal, unflappable and complete in the way that, say, Rose’s pleasant but somewhat hurried cover of Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground” on his first album was not. Truly he is a man full grown, and this is one of the best albums in any genre to come out in 2005.
PAUL CONDON/FOXY DIGITALIS
Jack Rose makes it look so easy. His latest album is a collection of first takes, which leads me to consider that he might be capable of knocking off a disc of beautiful, evocative guitar music every couple of weeks or so. He doesn't, which gives us loyal consumers time to luxuriate in his earthy yet psychedelically beautiful recordings instead of sitting glued to eBay in search of micro-edition CDRs.
"Kensington Blues" is the follow-up to "Raag Manifestos", which consisted almost entirely of breathless modal improvisations, recorded with a mixture of live ambiances. There's a more consistent studio sound here, but the material is more varied, with the album as a whole providing a neat summation of Rose's steel-string talents.
The title track is a bright and optimistic opener, which could pass for something from one of John Fahey's early Takoma albums. Rose has admitted having had to work hard to transcend that influence on his playing, and has joked that contemporary finger-pickers like himself are "riding Fahey's ass to the bank". So it's a brave move to take that particular imposing bull by the horns in the form of a subtle and nuanced cover of the late master's "Sunflower River Blues". Rose has noted Fahey's tendency to emphasise downbeats by heavy thumbing of the bass strings, in contrast to his contemporary Robbie Basho's emphasis on the second and fourth beats of the bar. Rose takes the latter approach here, resulting in a light and airy reading of the song, which works as a faithful tribute but is still imprinted with Rose's musical personality.
"Rapahanock River Rag (for William Moore)" and "Flirtin' with the Undertaker" are short, straight ragtime songs which provide a nice contrast to the more raga-influenced pieces, which represent the most characteristic and vital facet of Rose's music. Again, it may owe a lot to Basho, but Rose's approach is noticeably more linear and tightly focused than Basho's 6- and 12-string fantasias. "Cross the North Fork" features improvised modal melodies over rapid picking of a single minor chord. "Cathedral et Chartres" is similar in style and structure, but in a major key, with the title calling to mind the Basho classic "Cathedrals et Fleur de Lis". You can hear Rose's admitted Terry Riley influence here, and his attempt to apply the minimalist composer's style to guitar, with fast arpeggios producing richly harmonic flurries or acting as a drone. This is most evident on the gripping, dramatic closer, "Calais to Dover". The title suggests the piece was inspired by crossing the English Channel, and the rolling, shifting tempos and accents approximate a journey on exhilaratingly choppy waters. It features a tense middle section which ponders over a couple of notes before taking off into more unrestrained melodies.
Rose's slide makes its only appearance on "Now That I'm a Man Full Grown II", which manages to incorporate both Delta blues and Eastern melodies, with the slide nimbly used on different single strings over the solid chordal backing. It's a magnificently fluid piece, and a highlight of the album.
All of Rose's major releases so far have been deeply satisfying, but this disc is his most accessible yet, and an ideal entry point for the curious. This is music I can listen to just about any time, anywhere - I fall asleep to it, amidst visions of mysterious, bucolic gardens, and wild, verdant landscapes. It helps keep me calm amidst the potential exasperations of city life. But I find it's at its most rewarding when I give my full attention to every melodic and harmonic twist and turn. 8/10
TS-7002 JACK ROSE- UNTITLED: PARTS 1 & 2 7” SOLD OUT
*numbered/limited edition of 500.
Philadelphia in 2006 is a funny place. With every season, it seems, a new busload of young pups appear on the streets of Fishtown with their Martin guitars slung over their shoulders, their iPods stuffed with This Is the Wind That Blows It Out, Dark Noontime and Raag Manifestos, and their heads full of expectations. One of their destinations is Kensington, where Jack Rose lives. But they quickly find that the gritty, working-class Kensington is a bit disappointing, not as dangerous as they’d hoped and even on the verge of gentrification.
Great artists, however, use audience expectations as a tool of their craft. Lou Reed’s follow up to the arena-rock smash Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal was the astonishing Metal Machine Music. The Aztecs once flattered the king of a rival tribe, the Culhuacan, by asking him to allow them to make his daughter a goddess. He thought that meant she would be married to their Huey Tlatoani until, as part of the ritual during the feast, Aztec priests emerged dressed in her flayed skin. As Sam Walton said, high expectations are the key to everything.
Now, we’re not saying that this new Jack Rose 7" is like Metal Machine Music (or even Sally Can't Dance), nor will it transform your daughter into the goddess Yaocihuatl. On the other hand, if you’re expecting Kensington Blues, you’ll find that Jack is light-years ahead of us all. It’s a live improvisation that starts with an atonal face-slap and spirals ever deeper into dissonant darkness, propelled, apparently, by an irksome and chatty crowd (which afterwards got a double dose of angry Jack, a gem of vituperation that may appear on a later release).
Jack Rose, Untitled: Parts 1 and 2, on Tequila Sunrise Records.
Recorded in London, on the day 8-Reed, in the month of Death, in the year 6-House.
REVIEWS
ROLAND WOODBE/SILTBLOG
Did I Mention Charlie Nothing?.....Jack Rose's 'Untitled I & II' 7" ep
When I got this record I must've stared at it for what seemed like an eternity. That's 'cause I was catapulted via flashbacks to past life experiences (of my own doin). Immediately I was reminded of that Ike Yard 'Night After Night' ep from the early 80's. Remember it? That was some minimalist electro-synth action for sure. Then my brain got to spinnin like a blender full've daiquiri & as I opened my eyes I felt like I was holdin the Gordons 'Future Shock' ep again, circa, back in the old days. What a pounder that one was! A 1st rate shit kicker. And yet nobody knew. Emmitt, the one-legged mushroom forager that get's me my Morels had a look at it & said it reminded him of Flying Saucer Attack. Not the band either! So I stabbed him. Ha! Just kidding (actually, he fell on the knife, but he claims I pushed him. Good luck w/that one Emmitt! It'll never hold up in court). Basically what I'm sayin is cover's like this one-w/blurred urban landscapes or UFO's zippin around or whatever-hold a certain mystique. You assume the bands what's represented by said artwork can morph 'n cloak at a moment's notice & maybe that's true. But if you don't need to, why bother? Like 'Night After Night' & 'Future Shock', w/'Untitled I & II you get what you get. No masks, no capes, the energy emitted is strictly skin + steel. It just feels super powerful 'cause it already is. Jack Rose's abilities as a string bender precede him & w/good reason. On this ep his opening timbre is august, his chords channeling the wind like an Anemoi, gusting across both sides at a spirited & soothing pace. It's as warm & welcome as a June rain. Folk's is always comparin Jack to sombody, but I forget who. Is it Rick Ruskin? I don't think so. Cal Hand? That don't sound right. Tut Taylor? Could be. Colin Winsky? Are you kiddin? Whoever it is, I believe it's about time said comparison took a nap. Jack Rose is sittin in the catbird seat on his own & it's a fine spot to pick a guitar as well as a nice vantage to check out all the bother. Wait a minute, is it Rollo Smith? Nope. Shit! It'll come to me one of these days. In the meantime, check out this ep via http://www.tequilasunriserecords.com/ it's a #rd edition of 500 & sure to be gone before you can say 'Mike Condello' (that ain't it neither).
TS-7001 MEG BAIRD- WALTZE OF THE TENNIS PLAYERS 7”
*Tequila Sunrise Records is proud to release the first recordings by Meg Baird under her own name. Meg has been singing and performing since she was a kid with her sister Laura as a charter member of the traditional folk duo the Baird Sisters, though she is currently best known as one of the “female larynxes” of the communal Philadelphia band Espers. Or we should say, best known as the siren-voiced singer for same. Or, perhaps, we could let Nick Carraway describe the quality of her voice for us: The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain. I had to follow the sound of it for a moment, up and down, with my ear alone before any words came through.
We asked Meg to record something with a country-waltz flavor, and she courteously obliged us with a graceful and bittersweet cover of “Waltze of the Tennis Players” by the under-appreciated 60’s folksters Fraser and Debolt. The mushrooms are growing in every new boot print, my, my, my.
For the B-side, she recorded “Dear Companion". It’s an ancient melody, an aching lament sung “in the style of the chapel”, with Meg whisper-singing right into your ear, or maybe just to herself as she folds the laundry and does the dishes. You can see things more clearly when you shut your eyes.