The Yawpers: Boy in a Well

Denver-based rock trio The Yawpers’ Boy in a Well is, among other things, a WWI-era concept album about a child who comes of age at the bottom of a well in France, arises as the second coming and has an Oedipal conquest prior to death by hanging before his corpse is interred in the aforementioned well with the cast-off body of his infant offspring.

If that reads like a book report summary of a literary-minded period piece, it should. The band’s name pays homage to the barbaric yawp of Walt Whitman, after all.

However, if it sounds too heady to be the stuff of badass rock and roll, you’re wildly mistaken.

Co-produced by The Replacements’ Tommy Stinson, the third full-length release from The Yawpers is an exhilarating thrill ride for fans who like their tunes loud, scuzzed up, howling and more than a bit unpredictable.

My introduction to The Yawpers came with their third album, 2015’s American Man (their Bloodshot Records debut). That record landed a spot in my top ten albums of the year, and the Colorado rockers instantly became one of my new favorite bands to watch.

 

Excitement for a follow-up skyrocketed upon reading that the band (lead singer Nate Cook, guitarist Jesse Parmet, drummer Noah Shomberg) had teamed up with Stinson and Alex Hall (JD McPherson, Pokey LaFarge) for production duties, especially after digging into Stinson’s rock-solid offering as Bash & Pop earlier this year.

The payoff is something special. Boy in a Well is a rollicking, bluesy, boogieing affair with corkscrew tempo changes, some soulful ballads, Cramps-y punk snarl, Zeppelin-conjuring stomp and swell and a blistering hotbed of rhythm. It’s a narrative-based blast of a record for bookish punks and 12-bar boozehounds who don’t usually dig concept albums.

Boy in a Well opens with “Armistice Day,” riding an ominous “Run Through the Jungle” sort of groove and death march drums before exploding into the guttural, howling chorus complete with a manic guitar freakout. The expository, fiery rockabilly of “A Decision Is Made” ramps things up further, while “A Visitor Is Welcomed” and “Room with a View” melodically inject space and warmth into the playing and plot. Then, the spiraling fury and motorcycle gang chug of “Mon Dieu” rips through the speakers sort of like what I imagine The Clash in ’77 would’ve sounded like cranking a cover of “Mystery Train” in double time with a resurrected Keith Moon sitting in on drums. “The Awe and the Anguish” follows, starting out as almost a quiet, brooding bonfire bloodletting for two minutes before detonating out of nowhere into full-scale Physical Graffiti-like apocalyptic bombast. “Mon Nom” is the sliding, snarling centerpiece that scorches like a gloriously unholy orgy between Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and The White Stripes atop an altar at the crossroads. “Face to Face to Face” rides that high with Buddy Holly hiccup vocals, lyrics about Revelations, Samson and Delilah, and mother and child against a wall-shredding breakdown that could stand against the best of Jon Spencer and the Blues Explosion. “No Going Back” is a high-speed, electric sprint through a minefield of thundercracks, while “God’s Mercy” is a tender, acoustic death ballad with a sinner’s quietly spiritual yearning. “Linen for the Orphan” crackles as a spooked-out dose of punk-boogie bliss worthy of the Cramps and Violent Femmes complete with dizzying, crying baby wails, while everything comes to a close on “Reunion,” a jangly, stomp rock nugget of hooky goodness that calls to mind both Stinson’s Mats and the sweet-sad perfection of Big Star.

Throughout all of Boy in a Well, though, there’s one band and one band only writing these songs and bashing and popping out this wealth of rock and roll delirium: The Yawpers. Turn it up and start paying attention. This stuff is the real deal.

 

Boy in a Well is available now (released August 18, 2017) via Bloodshot Records.

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - Sidelong

Sarah Shook and the Disarmers (photo by poprockphotography)

Right from the onset of Sidelong, the debut album from Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, it is unmistakable there is an impassioned and defiant presence setting up camp in the outlaw country scene. The Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based band are dialed into both the crusty jags of cowpunk and heartsick swoons of classic country balladry, and Shook and the Disarmers draw a bold line in the sand between their sound and whatever country-pop confection is hot on the radio or selling out amphitheaters this summer. This is honest outcast rock with a country soul and boozy breath.

At the heart of it all is Sarah Shook’s arresting performance, equally adept at translating quivering vulnerability and doubling down on her hellraising spirit while singing drinking songs full of breakups, fuck-ups, hangovers and nameless Wild West rogues. Whether it’s drinking water at night because all the whiskey went down as breakfast or relationship woes that turn happy homes into bars and foreshadow nails in coffins, Shook is proficient at getting to the emotional core of a song and showing what’s at stake in just a few lines tipped with confidence and a barbed tongue. Throughout, the veteran Disarmers give the songs punch with rolling and tumbling life, a whiskey-fueled whirlwind of rock-and-roll attitude that regularly hauls in around the three-minute mark. At twelve songs clocking in at 38 minutes, Sidelong is an outstanding, filler-free country debut that runs hot-blooded and unapologetically punk at heart, just as kindred to the Replacements and the Buzzcocks as it is to Waylon and Loretta. It’s the very sort of record you may have known next to nothing about going in, but you just might find yourself returning to for weeks on end and trying to convert most of your friends.

 

 

Sidelong is out now on Bloodshot Records.

 

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - "Heal Me" (official video)

 





 

Preview: Lucero with Banditos at the Hi-Fi, Indianapolis




Lucero (photo credit: Jamie Harmon)

The barroom-ready, rollicking tag team of Lucero and Banditos are rolling into town toting scorching live sets of tight, Southern-born rock and roll and hard-won soul. Lucero, the beloved band of Memphis road dogs and veteran purveyors of beer-and-whiskey-soaked tunes, are one of my longtime favorite bands, and I rush out to catch them play any time I get the chance. Their Hi-Fi set, the second time I’ll have seen them since the release of the band’s most recent, excellent album, 2015’s All a Man Should Do, is guaranteed to provide ample returns on the price of admission on a Monday night. If you dig top shelf rock and roll tunes of rowdy, electric attitude in arguably the best small club in town, Lucero playing the newly expanded Hi-Fi is one of the top live music bargains of the summer.

 

Banditos (photo credit: Nicole Mago)

Sweetening the deal even more is the chance to see Birmingham/Nashville-based six-piece rockers Banditos merely days ahead of the release of their album, Visionland, the band’s second full-length and follow-up to the thrilling 2015 self-titled debut, a wildly eclectic blast of swaggering fresh air that won me over on first listen and remained in heavy rotation for the long haul. Early tastes of Visionland, including the Nuggets-kissed lead single “Fine Fine Day” and the smoldering powerhouse of a ballad “Healin’ Slow,” sure seem to find Banditos promising anything besides taking a step back with Visionland. My bet is it’ll make good on all the badass verve they tapped into all over the debut and push even further into the psychedelic edges of the jangling rock/soul songs of Banditos. Touring alongside the likes of Lucero should find the band winning over plenty of kindred spirits and, hopefully, earning some new fans along the way.

 Lucero and Banditos play the Hi-Fi on Monday, June 19. Buy tickets here.

 Lucero - "Baby Don't You Want Me" (official video)

 

Lucero - "Can't You Hear Them Howl" (official video)



Banditos - "Fine Fine Day" (official video)

Banditos - "Healin' Slow" (live music video)
 

Partner Movie Questionnaire

Perhaps, my favorite aspect of taking this quiz – even more than gauging my first instincts in each category – was having the opportunity to see what each of us responded and how pleased I am as a whole. I think it’s extremely cool that you could pretty much swap out my answers for the answers Macy gave on about four out of every five questions, and I’d have a hard time arguing that whatever the response is isn’t accurate. I quite enjoyed that revelation.

Cheers!

 

 

 

What is your favorite movie?

Justin: Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino)

Macy: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)

 

What is the last movie you watched?

Justin: A War (Tobias Lindholm)

Macy: The Eyes of My Mother (Nicolas Pesce)

 

What is your favorite action/adventure movie?

Justin: No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen)

Macy: Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)

 

What is your favorite horror movie?

Justin: The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)

Macy: Cabin in the Woods (Joss Whedon)

 

What is your favorite drama?

Justin: Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick)

Macy: Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen)

 

What is your favorite comedy?

Justin: Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater)

Macy: The World’s End (Edgar Wright) / This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner)

 

What is a movie that makes you happy?

Justin: Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe)

Macy: Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks)

 

What is a movie that makes you sad?

Justin: Blue Valentine* (Derek Cianfrance)

Macy: Candy (Neil Armfield)

*(sad in all the best ways)

 

What is a movie you practically know the whole script of?

Justin: High Fidelity (Stephen Frears)

Macy: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (Donald Petrie)

*Macy added “Ugh.” beside her answer here.

 

Who is your favorite director?

Justin: Paul Thomas Anderson

Macy: Wes Anderson

 

What is your favorite movie from your childhood?

Justin: White Men Can’t Jump (Ron Shelton)

Macy: The Sound of Music (Robert Wise)

*People may think this is a cheat on my behalf, but I really did watch White Men Can’t Jump on what seems like a near-weekly basis when I was 12 or 13 (or at least this is what my skewed memory is telling me now). In any case, I choose to believe picking an R-rated movie in this category balances out my honest response for first movie seen in theaters.

 

What is your favorite animated movie?

Justin: Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson)

Macy: Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson)

 

What movie did you used to love but now hate?

Justin: The Boondock Saints (Troy Duffy)

Macy: House of Wax (Jaume Collet-Serra)

*We did some finagling in this category and each agreed to respond to it more as “What is a movie you’ve seen many times – possibly more times than many movies you love – that you hate and/or don’t enjoy nearly as much as you maybe once did?” Macy says she’s sat through at least parts of House of Wax a dozen or so times and never wanted to once. I liked The Boondock Saints when I was a teenager, but my appreciation hasn’t held up as I’ve aged past my college years. That was the one that came to mind. Something like Bad Boys or Con Air or Blade may be an even more accurate response, but I’ll stick with my gut reaction.  

 

What is your favorite quote from any movie?

Justin: “The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool.” (Almost Famous)

Macy: “Sand is overrated. It’s just tiny, little rocks.” (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)

 

What was the first movie you saw in theaters?

Justin: The Land Before Time

Macy: Beauty and the Beast

*I hope somebody appreciates how much it bugs me that I have The Land Before Time (which I probably haven’t thought about since I was five years old) on my list, but I’ve had to omit most P.T. Anderson, Wes Anderson, Scorsese, Linklater, Coppola (Francis and Sofia), Spielberg and Kubrick films I adore, not to mention so many others.

 

What was the last movie you saw in theaters?

Justin: The Lost City of Z (James Gray)

Macy: Colossal (Nacho Villagando)

*At the time, The Lost City of Z was the last movie either of us saw in theaters, but Macy skipped over it in her mind. We saw Colossal together the prior week. I enjoy that we saw the same movies at the same times, but we were able to put down two different answers here to spread the love.

 

What is the best movie you’ve seen in the past year?

Justin: The Broken Circle Breakdown (Felix van Groeningen)

Macy: 20^th Century Women (Mike Mills)

 

Which movie disappointed you the most?

Justin: The Counselor (Ridley Scott)

Macy: La La Land (Damien Chazelle)

*Macy was mostly disappointed La La Land was only slightly better than average, rather than becoming one of her favorite movies of all time. The Counselor frustrates me because of the magnitude of monstrous talent on board (Cormac McCarthy, Michael Fassbender, Ridley Scott, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, a totally insane Cameron Diaz role) and yet it’s a pulpy mess that I never can decide if I almost adore or pretty much pity.

 

Who is your favorite actor?

Justin: Paul Newman

Macy: Peter Sellers

 

Who is your favorite actress?

Justin: Marion Cotillard

Macy: Katherine Hepburn

 

What is the most overrated movie?

Justin: The Avengers (Joss Whedon)

Macy: The Fast and the Furious – all of them

*We probably won’t be popular for these ones, but at least we’re being honest. Also, I wholly support Macy’s pick here, but I’m totally on my own with mine.

 

What is the most underrated movie?

Justin: Short Term 12 (Destin Daniel Cretton)

Macy: Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme)

 

Who is your favorite character from any movie?

Justin: Bill the Butcher (Gangs of New York)

Macy: Marla Singer (Fight Club)         

 

What is your favorite documentary?

Justin: Searching for Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul)

Macy: Mistaken for Strangers (Tom Berninger)

 

What is a movie no one would expect you to love?

Justin: Bound (The Wachowskis)

Macy: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Stanley Donen)

 

What is a movie that is a guilty pleasure?

Justin: Elizabethtown (Cameron Crowe)

Macy: Mean Girls (Mark Waters)

 

What is your favorite classic movie?

Justin: Casablanca (Michael Curtiz)

Macy: The Court Jester (Melvin Frank, Norman Panama)

 

Which movie has the best soundtrack?

Justin: Under the Skin

Macy: Elizabethtown

*Macy told me I cheated here, because I chose favorite score rather than soundtrack. Honestly, you could insert any Wes Anderson or Tarantino soundtrack here for me, and I would agree in seconds. Same goes for most Cameron Crowe movies, I’m Not There, High Fidelity, Trainspotting and so many others. Rather than picking a curated mixtape of songs I already own and love, I opted for Mica Levi’s Under the Skin score that captivated and haunted me from the opening shot until the end credits. You could also substitute Levi’s score for Jackie or Jóhann Jóhannsson’s original scores for Sicario or Arrival, and they’d be my favorites, too. And I’d more readily purchase those on vinyl before any other movie soundtracks.

 

What is a movie that has changed your opinion about something?

Justin: Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)

Macy: Joe (David Gordon Green)

*Weird category all around that’s kind of hard to make sense of. Anyhow, I loved Do the Right Thing from the first time I saw it as a college kid, and I feel it tightened my moral compass in some ways at the right time and helped me appreciate character development and tension. Joe changed Macy’s mind that Nicolas Cage isn’t an absolutely wretched actor 100% of the time, so much so that she has agreed to sit through a ten-film, Cage-related marathon of my choosing at some point in the near future.

 

What is your least favorite movie?

Justin: Cabin in the Woods (Joss Whedon)

Macy: Battleship (Peter Berg)

*I already hear all of you chastising me right now. I don’t care. I stand by this response, and I can handle your wrath.

 

 

Toni Marshall - The First Second Time Around

Unless you live within the limits of the far north side of Indianapolis, there’s a terribly high probability you’ve never encountered the music of Toni Marshall.

That’s no great surprise, but it is a damn shame – especially if you’re the sort who appreciates gorgeous folk songs.

Toni is a staggeringly prolific songwriter and musician who has continued creating, pushing, advancing despite whatever odds each day brings, and it has been etched right into the recorded output for about a decade and a half.

Intelligent, earnest, deftly-played acoustic folk not in fashion? So be it. It was perfect and timeless in the hands of Dylan and Young, and it still works wonders when done right these days. See: The Tallest Man on Earth, Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings, Jeff Tweedy, Ryley Walker, Ryan Adams, et cetera.

Toni’s songs have beguiling power and bring many of these people to mind whenever I hear them or see them played live, and Marshall’s brand new album, The First Second Time Around (listen/buy on Bandcamp or Spotify), is the best evidence of this. And I don’t say this merely put through any sort of local-Indiana-artist filter; I say this as a lover of folk songs and live music and as a rabid fan of every artist I cited above.

So what if the music is born from a little, rural town twenty or so miles from a small-market Midwestern city? Toni knows the odds, and still quietly writes and records a legitimate treasure trove of original songs and uploads them into the world and hopes for them to find their way to passionate ears. It’s what a genuine artist does, and I can’t think of someone I cross paths with more frequently who deserves that title more than Toni Marshall.

I’d seen Toni play a dozen or so times (typically at our respective favorite local brewery) over the past handful of years prior to the release of the previous full-length album, Phantasmatabulous. Toni’s vocal delivery was always intimate and captivating, the playing more rhythmic, adventurous and refined than even most good acoustic guitarists. The combination creates an atmosphere that is special and palpable in a live setting, even when performed solo in a typically chatty bar around midnight on a Saturday. Yet, what always keeps me enchanted through the din is the indelible magnitude of the song: Toni’s ability to craft rich, yearning lyrics, marry them with a memorable chorus that’s usually half sweet, half anguished and consistently pretty (think Elliott Smith, Aimee Mann) and anchor them to original, dexterous guitar work that soars and swells.

I bought Phantasmatabulous the night of the release party, and I was thrilled to discover soon after that Toni’s self-released recordings do justice to the songs and could stand up against other more widely known artists when I switched the albums back and forth on my stereo. I meant to write something about Toni back then, but something came up or I was on some writing hiatus or felt overwhelmed by previous commitments. In any case, I didn’t and have wanted to ever since.

Weeks later when I saw Toni, I said how much I liked the record. In response, Toni handed me a zip drive containing what I was told was a recorded discography to date. I expected two or three albums, maybe an additional EP or two. And then I put the zip drive in my computer. What I discovered were more than a dozen full-length albums spanning more than a decade and five or so EPs, many under differing names, all self-released, intriguing and wildly versatile with increasing production proficiency from one release to the next. Some fifteen-minute ambient instrumental recordings, some lo-fi bedroom folk-pop, a dose of solid, intellectually-minded politically-charged rap, and a wealth of excellent folk instrumentals and original songs. It reminded me of getting into Bright Eyes around the release of Lifted... and then discovering all the albums and songs a virtuosic teen named Conor had been putting out for about a decade prior. It’s how I imagine any person who becomes a Daniel Johnston fan feels the moment they really get into his music. Or, more recently, it’s probably sort of like trying to dig through all the older Bandcamp releases of a Pitchfork-certified “Best New Music” artist like Car Seat Headrest or Sandy (Alex G) when you thought you were on to a new artist who miraculously got good overnight. I was even more overwhelmed about the prospect of writing about Toni than before, but it would take some time to absorb it all and know when to. I knew I need to, though, because nobody else was writing about Toni as far as I could tell, especially nobody even semi-tangential to the wider music community.

All of that goes a long way to explaining why I’m covering Toni Marshall and why I’m writing this now, three years later: Toni’s The First Second Time Around is, simply put, the best folk album I’ve heard in 2017 and one of the finest collection of acoustic songs I’ve heard in years. There’s no qualifier for “as a local artist.” The record is an earnest work of art that is as good in the genre as any other I’ve heard. Toni may live only a couple miles from me and regularly perform at my favorite brewery, but that doesn’t devalue the depth and artistry of the music. Upon announcing the release of The First Second Time Around, Toni said, “I feel like I’ve made my Blood on the Tracks.” Such a confident and bold statement made me even hungrier than before to hear new music from Toni, and damn it, Toni just may be spot on. The album has only been out for a little over a week now, but I’m several listens into these songs and they keep me coming back, in more than a little awe with each fresh visit. It is Toni Marshall’s most outstanding release to date, and this is the perfect time for you to dive in and listen up if you haven’t already.

The Fist Second Time Around is out now. Visit Toni Marshall's Bandcamp page for more releases.

Preview: Ha Ha Tonka at White Rabbit Cabaret in Indianapolis



Ha Ha Tonka
Photo Credit: Jason Gonulsen

 

Next Saturday (June 3) the Ozarks, Missouri-based band Ha Ha Tonka will visit Indianapolis for the first time in a few years to perform at the White Rabbit Cabaret in Fountain Square. Touring right on the coattails of the release of the band’s new album, Heart-Shaped Mountain (released in March via Bloodshot Records), its fifth full-length, Ha Ha Tonka has dialed up the signature harmonies and expanded the instrumental palette with an emphasis on choruses tailor-made for singing along with lyrics that eye the horizon as time passes and lives adapt to the changes.

Throughout the run of Buckle in the Bible Belt, Novel Songs of the Nouveau South, Death of a Decade, Lessons and, now, Heart-Shaped Mountain, Ha Ha Tonka has focused on the strength of the song while tapping into an unwavering sense of Midwestern and Southern identity built into the DNA of each record. The studio recordings, all worthy introductions to listeners at whichever point they arrive, are secondary to the charismatic verve and worn-in tightness that anchor the soaring live sets. The ten tunes of Heart-Shaped Mountain, a streamlined, unapologetically melodic and hopeful collection, likely segue right into the Tonk’s already impressive catalog when played before an audience. Barnstorming opener “Race to the Bottom” and the rollicking and infectious anthem “Arkansas” will tower right alongside the dozen or guitar-driven nuggets that populate most live sets, while harmony-rich entries like “Everything,” “The Party” and “All With You” should serve up instrumental flourishes and more communal catharsis for a memorable weekend night in a year increasingly mired in unrelenting despair with each successive day. Having seen and loved three Ha Ha Tonka live shows to date over the years, I’ve been eagerly awaiting my next opportunity to catch them live. Right now feels like an especially ideal time for an hour or two of rock and roll buoyancy on a Saturday night, and the chance to hear how well several of these new songs fit in alongside all the ones I’ve been singing along with for years only sweetens the deal.

MOKB Presents Ha Ha Tonka w/ Trapper Schoepp at White Rabbit Cabaret in Indianapolis

Saturday, June 3

Tickets: $15

Robbie Fulks, Live in Indianapolis

Robbie Fulks performed in Indianapolis for the first time since his most recent excellent album, Upland Stories, earned a 2017 Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album along with the nod for “Alabama at Night” as Best American Roots Song. All the acclaim is warranted for the Chicago-based country-folk musician, who has been picking and playing professionally for thirty-odd years while also putting out consistently impressive records since 1996’s Country Love Songs. His set in Indy on Friday night ran the gamut of his richly stocked catalog, pulling out Country Love Song favorites like “Tears Only Run One Way,” “I Push Right Over” and “Let’s Kill Saturday Night” right alongside newer gems like Upland Stories’ “Katy Kay” and “A Miracle” and Gone Away Backwards’ “Sometimes the Grass Really Is Greener” and “That’s Where I’m From.” Fulks, acoustic guitar tucked in hand, served as the ringleader for his crackling quintet, a new touring lineup featuring longtime collaborator Shad Cobb (Osborne Brothers, Steve Earle) on fiddle, upright bassist Dennis Crouch, mandolinist Matt Flinner and Punch Brothers banjoist Noam Pikelny on just their fourth show together of bluegrass-tinted country jams, and the lively group played off each other with precision and enthusiasm so as to fool anyone into thinking they’d been doing it all together forever. 

 


Upland Stories promo photo
Credit: Andy Goodwin

 

The mostly seated audience of eighty or so looked on and jovially bantered back and forth with the always humorous Fulks between songs as he shuffled impressions and improvisational comedic exchanges throughout the evening. Fulks has breezy, conversational engagement with a crowd that showcases his deftness for being a lauded musician, first and foremost, and also a performer wholly at ease.

 

“I can’t count the number of times I’ve played in Indianapolis,” Fulks joked early. “Yeah, I can: three times. Three times in thirty years.”

 

Soon after, he chuckled at a four-letter quip from the crowd. “It’s gonna be a raunchy show tonight,” he teased.  “You’re a raunchy crowd. And this is from a raunchy 54-year-old white guy.”

 

In Chicago, his residency at the Hideout (he played his resident finale in March) is rather legendary in some circles, an eclectic live theater of original songs, nights covering albums and catalogs of unexpected artists, and a rogue’s gallery of cameos, performances and talents. Not having been privy to experiencing a Hideout set firsthand, a Friday night with Robbie on stage with his sharpshooting players provided a solid snapshot of what’s in store any time Fulks is before a crowd with instruments in tow: great songs and loads of off-the-cuff wit and silver-tongued one-liners that blend into a memorable evening of expertly played bluegrass-folk, open mic comedy indebted to Johnny Carson and little doses of improv theater. It’d be an absolute joy to witness in an even better, non-rundown venue with more character than Birdy’s, but for a Friday night a little off the beaten path in Indianapolis, Fulks provided the entertainment and soundtrack to a delightful couple hours.