STACK #143 Sept 2016

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MUSIC NEWS

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C ass McCombs sees the creation of music in three parts: writing, recording and touring. It’s that centre slice he’s got a problem with. “Cut out the middle part and just go straight from writing the song to the stage,” he says irritably. “The record’s the painful part, really boring and passionless. The tour is the real music. I love to tour. Lord knows I love to travel. I like to make money, although we never make any. There’s something about live music that can be horrible and trashy, but if it all comes together in a magical way, even for a few seconds, it’s way more interesting and unique than these elaborate f-cking stage shows that people have these days. They know all their gestures and moves. It’s so fake.” McCombs is clever and stony, with a wit is so dry it can be INTERVIEW CASS McCOMBS TOURING 06/12 - 10/12

L.A. SALAMI G ather around the campfire, friends, and let British poet/ crooner L.A. Salami drop some wisdom bombs on you. Lookman Adekunle Salami certainly has something to say; luckily for us, he was given his first guitar only a few years ago and hasn’t looked back since. The world hasn’t heard a storyteller like this since Neil Young or Paul Simon – Salami’s hypnotising lyrics pull on your heartstrings through every twist the album takes. Dancing With Bad Grammar: The Director's Cut blurs the lines between blues, folk, and beat poetry; a poignant expression of empathy and ambition. Lead single The City Nowadays is a candid, politically charged track of witty rebellion. Like the comfortably relatable Day To Day , much of the record is simply Salami, his six string and a harmonica – if you’re imagining Bob Dylan’s setup, you’ve nailed it. At just over eight minutes, My Thoughts, They Too Will Tire is a journey of social commentary and the self-reflection of a man with a curious and wandering mind. A modern day Banjo Paterson, L.A. Salami has the answers to questions I never knew I needed answering until now. Words: Tim Lambert

it’s easy to chip your teeth. Have a Google.) The beautiful Opposite House , featuring Angel Olsen, involves romantic matinee strings and several memorable electric guitar licks. “She’s a musical assassin,” McCombs says of his new friend. “She reached inside my brain and knew exactly what I wanted to do.” He says she instantly picked up on the “Philly sound” he’s into, and refers to her part in the track as “completely Gamble and Huff.” The music video is, again, another example of McCombs’ oddness. The label wanted a clip, but he didn’t have one yet, so he assembled a bunch of stock images with extremely lo-fi transitions. “It’s funny. It’s humorous to me," he says, deadpan. “I like it."

hard to tell where he’s coming from (both in word and music). It’s a weird but compelling demeanour. On Mangy Love , it comes out in Laughter Is

Mangy Love by Cass McCombs is out now via ANTI/ Warner.

The Best Medicine , which has the same smooth lounge saxes of Beck’s Debra and a good measure of its self-awareness – but you’ll also find the speaking voice of Louisiana icon Reverend Goat Carson (“he’s a friend, a teacher, a healer, and a medicine man”) alongside panflute and the boing of a jaw harp, played by acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Stuart Bogie. (The jaw harp, by the way, looks like an instrument of torture – it’s metal and you bite down on it, and McCombs says

RYLEY WALKER R eturning to Chicago after a lengthy tour, Ryley Walker reconnected with instrumentalist LeRoy Bach, best known for his Wilco session work. Bach also hosted improv nights at the city's Whistler arts venue, where the young Walker had dared to jam with some notable company. The two teamed up last year to create this month’s Golden Sings That Have Been Sung , the singer/guitarist's third album, which

Words: Gareth Thompson

builds on the huge promise of his first two. Walker wears his '70s influences – Buckley, Jansch, Martyn, etc – openly and without apology, but he’s no cheap imitator: Walker compares with any veteran from rock’s mythic summers of love. But if his new record conjures more pastoral images, then the dappled meadow has its darker corners, too. The immense growlings on Sullen Mind and the moody shuffling of Age Old Tale both lie under cloud cover. Sultry jazz notes on Funny Thing She Said balance a bittersweet lyric of separation. Set against this are the cheery jangling riffs of The Halfwit In Me , tribal shimmies on A Choir Apart and the plaintive I Will Ask You Twice with its surreal image of ‘playing footsie with Jesus’. His melodies are subtle – Walker doesn’t do the killer chorus thing – but subtle woodwind and fabulous guitar work underscore every low-key phrase. Golden Sings sees Walker hit the ground running and the open road beckons once more.

Golden Sings That Have Been Sung by Ryley Walker is out now via Inertia.

Dancing With Bad Grammar: The Director's Cut by L.A. Salami is out now via Sunday Best/Liberator.

SEPTEMBER 2016

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