"the View From Nowhere"
The new "Kiss Me Screaming" debut CD (Schoolkids' Records) is out and it's an artistic triumph. One of the things about covering the local music scene is that, while Ann Arbor is blessed with more than a dozen bands that are of a world-class level (and countless more that are really really great but have minor quirks that will keep them chained to forever being locals until they give up and finish their BAs in English and live happily ever after) only a handful are ready to produce work that could be viewed 20 or more years from now and still seem timeless.
Once in a while there's a Frank Allison, or a WIG, a Kari Newhouse or a Catie Curtis who are artists of the first level and who have musical vision that transcends "local." Of those, Khalid Hanifi, the singer/songwriter/guitarist and leader of Kiss Me Screaming is without qualification the best of the best of what Ann Arbor has produced.
The self-titled collection of 13 tracks are first and foremost, great SONGS. Hanifi, from his days with the late Map of the World, has always thought of himself as a SONGWRITER. The music here runs a wide range from the catchy melodic pop with killer guitar hooks of "Avalanche," the folkish Beatles White Album era aura of "I Wandered," and the grunge rocking of "Slowly." But while Kiss Me Screaming is a killer band, it's the songs that matter. A true rock and roll visionary takes some cues from the past, pays some but little attention to what is going on around them, and makes music from the soul. This CD is packed with visionary, song-based, hook-loaded tunes that if there's any justice will not only impress A2 but the rest of the musical world as well too.
Everyone knows(I keeping repeating this all the time. . .) how Ann Arbor-based rock and roll pioneers like the MC 5 and Iggy and the Stooges are the fathers of modem, 1990s blazing guitar grunge music. If you needed further proof of this universal truth, look no further than the new Wayne Kramer CD, just out on the California-based Epitaph Records (home of current guitar idols The Offspring). "The Hard Stuff' is the title and it lives up to its name. Kramer, along with the late Fred Smith, was THE guitar sound of The Five and on this new release he's joined by various rockers from bands like Rancid, the Melvins, Circle Jerks, and Suicidal Tendencies, with liner notes by Kramer fan Henry Rollins no less. The music isn't an old-rocker-brings-along-the-kids-to-create-a-museum-piece recording at all. Kramer is ON FIRE and his songwriting and guitar work on these 11 tracks can stand next to his work without any apologies. The ex-Ann Arbor guitarist, who is now living in California, starts a European tour this month with a string of U.S. dates in the works for spring.
If you read The View From Nowhere wrap up of 1994, you know the best local release of last year was singer/songwriter Lisa Waterbury's angst-filled masterpiece "Dying In This World Of Hell- Part 1." Ms. Waterbury's pain was more than one tape could handle, so this month it's "Dying In This World Of Hell- Part 2." Most local music critics have jumped on the bandwagon in singing her praises from the Metro Times to the Ann Arbor News and rightfully so. On "Part 2" Waterbury isn't breaking any new ground - it's still a collection of sad, spacy, pass-the-Prozac stuff about the hopelessness of love and the inevitable arrival of death with a what's-the-point feel. But with the pain of the lyrics, and the soft droning of the guitar, and the Lou Reed singing/spoken vocal presentation, Lisa Waterbury has made her own rock and roll world here. I can't wait until she gets a band together.
Not to sound like a press agent, but this month as been hot as hell when it comes to cool stuff in the AGENDA mailbox. At long last the pair of 45 singles from Dan Mulholland and his band The Navarones is out on two different local labels. "Sock It To Me Cindy" b/w "Fire Engine Baby" (Happy Hour Records) and "Buzz Job" b/w "Looking For My Baby" (Schoolkids' Records) are four more slices of garage r&b that Mr. Mulholland has perfected from his years in various roots-based rock outfits. All four tunes are garage heaven but my faves are "Cindy," a punched-up raveup (with guest vocals from the legendary Scott Morgan and WEMU dj Martino D Lorenzo), and "Baby," a mid-tempo, soulful ballad that shows Mulholland isn't only a collector of classic rock styles but a damn great singer to boot.
The Holy Cows re-release of their local label CD, "Get Along," is now out on Philadelphia's Big Pop label. Their original 1991 release was one of the best local releases from that year, but on playing the old version/new version side by side, the Big Pop version wins hands down. Not only are there TWO tracks not on the original (including a cool demo version of "Fell In This Hole") but there is a much more clear, hotter master mix as well. The Cows version of the Pretenders tune "The Wart" is omitted however, so if you have just the old one, you should pick up the new Big Pop version too.
From the "I Never Dreamed These Tapes Would Ever See The Light Of Day" files- "Please Mr. Foreman: Motor City Blues/ at the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival 1973" is now out on Schoolkids' Records. A revue of what was then the very best of the Detroit area blues scene, organized by icon John Sinclair and Fred Reif (now a SK Record executive), this 19-cut CD is a historic masterpiece. While every tune here isn't a classic by any means, the majority of the material is hot, smoking roots music. And the tracks by One String Sam, Dr. Ross, and Boogie Woogie Red can be included with the some of the best blu as stuff ever recorded live. An essential document of the Detroit/Ann Arbor blues scene from the 1970s.
That's it for this time around. Keep wending your comments about political correctness/groovy music, and suggestions as to what great art really means, to AGENDA, The View From Nowhere, 220 S. Main Street, Ann Arbor, Ml 48104. And to the half dozen other bands who sent things this month that space didn't allow me to cover...see you next month.