Elemental Zazen - The glass should be full
It's a fair assumption that if Eminem wasn't trying so damn hard to impress folks with just how shocking he can be he wouldn't have ended up being so big - it's also likely that if he had lived the life that Zazen had lived he might have just put out an album like this. The whiteness is only one similarity, the voice starting out on "Silence of the Now" is eerily similar but the second the words start coming out the similarities end.
Zazen's music is more Rhymesayers than Death Row and the lyrics are more intelligent than just about any rap - or any style - you can find. Maybe the loss of his good friend and cousin, drug abuse, and (fortunately) operable brain tumor gave him the mindset that life actually matters - as does what you say.
So from "Handcuffs" to "Dying Planet" he drops straight up knowledge that makes Atmosphere look like he doesn't take his opportunity seriously enough. There's no love for Bush or fake folks but there is plenty of love and so there is a great divide which humanizes Zazem even more - sure he's pissed but he's not being a jackass about it. Production by members of the Non Prophets, Cunnilynguists, and Joe Beats (who works with Sage Francis) and some very Jedi Mind Tricks-ish beats makes the whole album flow nicely but never feel stagnant or stuck - it's just a consistently great hip hop album.
What seems most impressive about this album and Zazen in general is that he isn't trying to front in any way, he's comfortable with what he's gotta say and what he's gotta say is pretty damn great. Keep making me proud to live in Cambridge.
Girls, Guns, and Glory - Inverted Valentine
The most recent winners of the prestigious 'BCN Rumble (and so very much more), GGG had a lot to live up to after "Pretty Little Wrecking Ball". Although with the local press and townies so on the jock of what's commonly called alt-country (for fear of admitting to be a country fan in the Northeast) it would have taken some effort for this album not to go over well - and it seems to be.
Labeled as a roots group, 'Inverted Valentine' sounds more like the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash than say Steve Earle both lyrically and musically. Sure, there are songs about jail and drunken nights of heartache - they just don't carry the same weight at times with the faux Southern twang going on in Ward Hayden's voice. Thankfully it doesn't really matter. This is exactly what they were hoping it is. It's a catchy, beer on the porch, driving around slowly in a pickup-kinda music.
The plethora of additional musicians playing everything from the dobro to the accordian add so much on songs like "Temptation" where they rock the flamenco guitar and trumpet and "Suzie" with the "orchestra" throughout. Girls, Guns, and Glory so seamlessly borrow from so many different genres within the greater country genre that even if it occasionally seems as if there's a little too much effort being put into sounding like they are NOT from Boston vocally it doesn't negatively affect the album.
So grab a six pack of Lone Star and throw this one on thankful that Boston finally has someone to rival what Cash Money and the Jetsetters so kindly gave us for so many years.
Dave Smith - Country Rebel
Dave Smith can call himself whatever he wants (country rebel you say?) and label his music however he chooses (country western speed punk? I see...) - that's why this is America. A simple label though wouldn't really do justice to either him or the album.
"Country Rebel" is country in its heart and soul and Smith's voice is definitely more that of a punk than a country troubadour but he's also rockabilly in the Supersuckers meets Social Distortion vein without just rehashing what they've already done. The lyrics are standard, not being forgiven when judgment day comes, drinking, women who've been loved or lost or both - nothing innovative here although but that doesn't just make it the same old record you already have spinning on your stereo.
Smith delivers a punk length album (barely over 30 minutes for eight tracks) with country punk like "Lonesome Train" , more country-ish songs like "Runaway" and a fair helping of rockabilly on "Life of Crime". He manages to do it all with only one song under three minutes and more than a third of the album being over four minutes - therefore debunking any straight up comparison to punk.
Recently having relocated to Nashville, Smith is clearly trying to step up his potential audience (come on, how many of you have actually heard of where he was before - Haydenville, MA?) There's certainly a market for this sort of amalgamation of country punk styles and if this CD showcases even a fraction of their potential as a recorded and live band then they might just be in luck.