Reviews: Spring 1995
Puddle
“Rough Cement”
Pinball Records
69 Grant Street
Burlington, Vermont 05401
Released 1995
By Mathew Taylor
There seems to be this thing with music and “music scenes” where the ones that wave the biggest flag and yell the loudest tend to attract the most attention. Our beloved Burlington is no exception. And while it’s certainly true that recognition comes quickly to those who boast big egos and rock star attitudes, it’s often the ones who sit back and let their creativity speak for itself who endure the hype and are around when the dust clouds settle. A prerequisite, it would seem, for such a humble approach to the situation is talent and it’s always nice if talent is complemented by some degree of creativity. Otherwise, we’d all be drowning in a musical ocean of Hootie and the Blowfish cover bands.
Tim Lauben is no newcomer to the Burlington music thing. As the lead singer with the now defunct Snowplow and his current band Huffy, Lauben has established himself as an important component in this town’s ever-intriguing, blooming musical circus. While his activities in both Snowplow and Huffy clearly demonstrate his confidence and ability both with songwriting and performing, Lauben’s latest endeavor shows he is also very comfortable right in the privacy of his own bedroom. With a little help from his guitar, some drums, some microphones and a Tascam 4-track, as well as a little extra time, Lauben has emerged from his bedroom (or maybe his basement) with a brilliant masterpiece of simplistic home recording.
As the first release on his own label, Pinball Records the ten song cassette is called Rough Cement and the project (or personal pseudonym) is called Puddle. With a combination of intelligently written songs and impressive four track recording skills, Rough Cement is a collection of reflective, somewhat introspective pieces which work together to create a very particular mood. Written and recorded entirely by Lauben himself, it is not at all coincidental that the songs convey a feeling of solitude and contemplation.
While Lauben’s Huffy sings are electric and cranked up, the Puddle songs are quiet, often acoustic numbers with soft-spoken, soulful vocals that, while in most cases address an unknown “you”, come across more as thought out loud ot personal journal-style reflections. In “Breadcrumbs,” one of the album’s highlights, the vocals recall, “waiting in the station, waiting to go home and we can’t speak the language, But I’ll remember every inch of the place… they’re never gonna even remember my face,but it’s not that bad.”
I know personally, an important criteria for a song is its ability to strike an emotional chord in my own head which resurfaces no matter how often I hear it. The ability of a piece of music to have this effect, in my mind, is largely determined by the amount of passion put into the process; the writing, recording, performing etc. We’ve all heard plenty of music which lacks heart and, generally speaking, it doesn't endure. The songs on Rough Cement endure. Simple as they are, Lauben has sculpted each one with individual care and attention.
There is something that comes across with a solo project like this that doesn’t with full band recordings. It has to do with the genuine, unadulterated nature of the writing. Whereas members of a band can change and manipulate the original format of a song and wind up with a product containing a little bit of a bunch of people. These numbers are entirely one person’s self expression, void of any outside input. In my opinion, this lends to a particular feeling of authenticity. Everything is Lauben’s, from the writing to the performing to the engineering. We even get to experience his debut behind the drum kit.
Not only is the songwriting impressive on Rough Cement, The engineering is excellent. Recorded in its entirety directly onto four tracks, these ten songs show Lauben to be not only an able singer-songwriter and performer, but a confident and capable home recorder-producer as well, it’s not easy to find the right mix with a four track, but Lauben has found it.
Puddle deserved applause for many reasons, technical as well as musical. While these songs are not Huff or Snowplow, if you like what you’ve seen of those tow bands, you’ll like Rough Cement. This first Puddle release confidently speaks for itself while giving us a lot more insight into the depth and considerable skill of one of Burlington’s truest talents. Personal favorites include “Scratch,” “breadcrumbs,” and “Sink.” Puddle: This one is definitely worth your time. Check it out and see for yourself.
Mathew Taylor is an alien commando intelligence operative. In political exile from his planet origin, he masquerades as a post-graduate wanna-be writer but spends most of his time locked in his room, playing with Tonka trucks, drinking Yoohoo, and periodically succumbing to irritational fits of spastic violence.
Super Hussy
“Super Hussy”
3 song Cassette
Released in 1994
By Chaz Handel
A three song low-fi alt-rock cassette from Middlebury’s Super Hussy begins with the question “Are you happy now?” I’ve been listening to this tape for a solid month now. It’s pissed off just about everyone I know. The third song, “Crazy,” prompted someone to ask me “Is this supposed to be jazz?”
“I’m not really sure. The band is from Middlebury College…”
“I guess that explains it?”
“I hate to write it off when I don’t understand it.”
“You mean you’re afraid to write if off you don’t understand it.”
“I guess I’m afraid that if I say it sucks, some kid will say that I just don’t understand it.”
“But that’s true…isn’t it? You really don’t understand it, do you?”
“Well, I’m not really sure that there’s anything to understand. It sounds very haphazard. Like the whole thing was done by mistake.”
“So, do you like anything about it?”
“Well, that’s the problem. I love it. It’s kept me amused for a month now. And I went to see them at Club Toast and they looked at each other instead of the audience, like scared little kids. It was very cute and endearing. And the guitar player looked so stuck up…like one of the kids on Beverly Hills 90210. I thought he was really cute.”
“But you loved the tape before you saw how cute he was?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Then you should probably just say that you loved the tape.”
“Yeah. I guess. I just wish I didn’t have this feeling that they’re putting one over on me.”
“You’re just paranoid.”
“And I hate everything.”
Chaz Handel is a writer from the Northeast Kingdom of vermont. He understand alt-rock.
Never Only Once
“Never Only Once”
37 Hyde Street #5
Burlington, Vermont
Recorded at Eclipse Studio,
Burlington, Vermont
Released in 194
By Lila rees
This high quality, four song debt is definitely one of the best released from a Burlington hardcore band that I’ve heard in a long time.
When you listen to the tape, you can hear Never Only Once’s influences coming through quite clearly. It’s a mixture of musical styles that range from Smashing Pumpkins to Slush. I really like the blend of hardcore, melodies, poetic lyrics and a touch of alt-rock. This blend gives Never Only Once a unique Burlington hardcore sound.
The first song on the tape, “Catharsis,” is a song about rape. When you hear this song, you can’t help but want to move and sing along. It's a great song, it’s got heavy riffs, an intense vocal performance, well written lyrics, and a melodic breakdown. When you read the sincere the band is about this song…
“Never” , the second song, is an emo-song about a girlfriend or ex-girlfriend, I’m assuming. She/Me/ If only we’d listened to each other. Good, heavy song that sounds surprisingly like something Slush would play.
On side B, there are two more awesome songs: The Abyss and “Transparent.” “The Abyss” starts out mellow and Nick’s sweet, screechy vocals remind me of Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins. When the song kicks in you start to jump around like you were in the band. “Transparent” is the ;ast song on the tape and leaves a good taste in your mouth.
NeverOnlyOnce is an extremely talented band that has a great quality tape out. They also have a great live show. Definitely get this tape, and check them out live. These guys are destined to be the next Burlington band.
Lila Rees publishes a Burlington ‘zine called U.S.Herstoree and is cooler than Todd Dunn because he’s mean to her.
Mixed Company
“Now and Then”
Produced by Mixed Company
354 North Street
Burlington VT 05401
Recorded at Charles Eller Studios,
Charlotte VT.
Released in 1994
By Denise Cote
A form of music made with one instrument, the voice, can be heard and enjoyed by all ears. That music is a cappella, which wraps harmony, melody and rhythm in a precise blend. Mixed Company, an a cappella group, combined the six voices of Terry Bouricius, Eric Cote, Deb Flanders, Craig Deindel, Molly Walsh, and April Werner to create pieces of music that capture reflective moments in me. They put me in a Cadillac on a rolling pastoral highway. Then the scenery changed into the New Jersey shoreline. Something within the way they reshape music, or maybe put shape into is, gives me great pleasure. In contrast to most bands, this vocal group can whip the room into a frenzy with classic harmonies that stem from barbershop quartets and traditional music styles.
All o the musical noise of the nineties has something to learn from music that can pull a tear from your eye or make you crack a smile or chant at a political rally. The three pieces that have haunted me like Casper the Friendly Ghost are “In the Still of the Night,” “Freedom,” and “Under the Boardwalk.”
“In the Still of the Night” is a beautiful, misty eyed piece that evokes images of a teen prom, as well as the twilight years of silver anniversary grandparents. It is a clear, bright, moonlit evening on top of Mount Mansfield. It holds a vocal purity so righteous it can calm the most embittered soul. The piece is nicely arranged and well performed. I recently listened to a full band recording of the same piece from a 50’s music collection and I found Mixed Company’s version more appealing. “Freedom.” How do you feel about freedom” I feel just fine. Wow, that could very well be my Ph.D. dissertation. This is a song to sing in rounds with children at a campfire. It is a political chant during a protest walk. With bare chests and swinging smiles, there is unity in the air. Thus is a freedom train, chugging along and blowing its whistle as it passes small villages, moving slowly but surely. The music in this song just makes me burst. A smile is inevitable.
“Under the Boardwalk” has well selected leads. Each tone and flavor sounds right. It released my mind and I wander to the beach. Cotton candy, sand in my sandals, hot sun and the smell of salt blue air. People stroll hand in hand. It is a downright positive place.
The raw emotional tones created by these musicians cultivate music for the masses. Mixed Company has taken their voices and made instruments unnecessary.
They are the instruments
Denise Cote is a Burlingtonion with a strong Vermont upbringing.
Famous Potato
“Milk and Motor OIl”
Whackincrackeye Records
Recorded by Famous Potato
And mark Kalbfleisch
Mixed by Bert and Gus at Low Tech,
Burlington, Vermont.
Released in 1995
By Michelle Wallace
Named after one of their songs not present on this CD, Milk and Motor Oil fits into a category I wouldn't call alternative, or pop, or alt-rock, but only genius or art. But for the lack of definition in genius and art, the Potato sound is building, dynamic, grainy, dissonan, pensive, off-beat, sneaky, reeling, bluesy, deceptive, toe-tapping, distorted, jammy, motivating…It is pointedly repetitive yet startling, instigating and anxious yet comfortably funny. It is searching yet ignoring. Even my mainstream, radio-listening, pop-culture friends like it, so I guess you could call it alternative.
I play it for everyone.
The band’s stage presence is as vibrant as red neon in a roadside bat and their chemistry is as large as Texas. Live music is what they do, well/ It’s no surprise that the CD, recorded live, sounds right.
The sound quality can hold a stick to any major publication. The mix is exceptionally balanced. I heard some of their music prior to knowing anything about the Potato legend and I was amazed to find out that I was listening to a local band. Even though Milk and Motor Oil was recorded on a small and personal level, it holds little to no basement-recording-we-did-it-ourselves distractions. The band’s talent at being good listeners as well as good musicians is bright;y apparent.
Listening to the CD is a bit like stumbling through a city you don’t know at 3 a.m., with new eeriness around every corner. From the slowing tempo near the end of “Dirty and Wrong” to the ever- molting guitar styles of “Dig a Ditch,” Famous Potato’s music practically swells with change.
Although the quartet’s improvisational unity is mostly what they are known for, the character of its individuals is as eclectic as their sound. Nicole Valcour (who looks like Fran Lebowitz,) plays bass as if it were as easy as clapping, in a style many envy. David Kamm (who looks like no one,) sings and shouts like a man with a secret he only wishes he could tell, and plays guitar like it’s a family tradition.
Sad but true, drummer Neil Cleary will be leaving the band sometime soon. Hopefully his replacement can match the vim, the vigor, and the tense and climatic quality he brings to the band. Then there is that crazy little voice stuttering “I don’t know” and the wonderfully dissonant feedback guitar that could only be Jamie Harvey. As a while they seem pulled from some other generation. As if snatched from a passenger train southbound in Illinois circa 1928.
Regardless as to where they came from, feasting your ears on Milk and Motor Oil will give you a good idea of where they're going. Go to your favorite local music store today and buy it. It’ll only be about ten bucks.
And after all it’s David Kamm’s whole life, and it’s almost 65 minutes.
Michelle Wallace is a giant and she keeps promising to move to Burlington.
Colorblind
“Trial by Fire”
56 Logwood St. S.Burlington, VT 05403
Engineered and Produced by Colorblind
Released in 1995
By Nate Brown
Burlington’s loud rock scene seems to surge and recede on a yearly basis, probably because of the migrant population of students that arrive and conquer in September and leave us alone in the spring. Every October a new crew of hardcore kids driving Landcruisers descends on our fair (or is that medium?) city and assault the walls at 242 and Toast. Then in May they head to the Jersey shore for summer with Mom and Dad. Who is it this year?
Well it sure ain’t Colorblind. These guys have been at it for a while. Word has it that these guys started playing together in Rochester, New York something like eight or ten years ago. That pretty much makes them vets in the loud rock/hardcore circuit. That’s like senior citizen status in dog years.
I think that these guys are pretty cool, and the fact that they’ve kept at it for a while is pretty cool too. They’ve been in other bands over this time; I know that somewhere in the past eight or ten years Erik Sherman played drums for Burlington’s long running hardcore/hi hop monsters Dysfunkshun. And, wherever he comes from , bass player Jason Us rips. And however lost the list of former guitarists, current members Chris Honan (who was a founding member of Epitaph) and Justin Ballou (of the Champions) crank up some tight, rhythmic, metal-based moshing material.
And singer Sterling shouts and barks and bites and spits out lyrics that deal with the world as a lot of us who’ve spent time in the real world know it. Most whiter-than-white Burlington kids will never really understand the almost natural flow of violence that occurs in the city. But Colorblind delivers a message that’s simple enough to apply to any situation; survival is what it’s all about. From the song “Free:” Through this devastation, I gotta take my answers now, I can’t let it bring me down, I can’t let it rub me out, You could live in Alaska and get that one.
Nice cover. King of noisy tape, there’s a lot of hiss going on, but there’s some really strong playing and they've got some good hooks. These guys are due some props: buying their tape sure won’t hurt. Do it.
Nate Brown is a student at the University of Vermont. He likes music and we let him write about it.
Mr.Dooley
“You Can’t Do That to People”
PO Box 172
Plainfield, vermont 05667
Released in 1994
By Seth Yacavone
I used to think that funk was a bad word, but now, thanks to Mr.Dooley, it just received a dose of credibility. The debut compact disc from this Plainfield sextet is a masterful work. And the band, who won a battle of the bands in Burlington in 1994, has received quite a lot of well-deserved publicity lately.
This band is tighter than a tourniquet. Every track on this eight song disc grooves and swings all over the place. Mr.Dooley are fantastic at keeping a driving, complicated rhythm locked right in on the beat and still somehow they manage to keep a loose and lively feel.
The album opens with the sound of someone coughing and an engineer telling the band that the tape is rolling. Seth Dooley starts the first time, called “getBack,” with a killer funk riff before the rest of the band joins in. To me, the highlight of the disc is the song “Shelter,” a ska influenced time that features the group wailing non-stop for five minutes and fifty-two-seconds
The members of Mr.Dooley all bring dynamic elements to the group. Vocalist Adam Dooley has a very good voice that is reminiscent of the late great blues harpist Pauk Butterfield.
Bim and Scott Dooley, on drums and percussion respectively, are on fire throughout the whole disc. They create so many interesting rhythms and counter rhythms that just listening to the drums and percussion alone would male for a very interesting musical experience.
Chris Dooley is the glue that holds the band together. His sweet, flowing bass lines hold the melodic elements (sax, guitar, vocals) together with the rhythmic arms of Bim and Scott. Instead of resorting to the hyperactive overplaying of many modern funk bassists, Chris lays back and shines at the same time with his syncopated lines.
Steve Dooley played alto and tenor saxes and plays them well. His melodies add to the whole very nicely. I just wish that he had more room to ascend throughout the album like he does on the track called “Candy.”
Last but certainly not least, Seth Dooley is a smashing, extraordinary guitarist. Whether he is playing Jimmy Nolan styled rhythms, or letting go with a flurry of lead licks, he is always grabbing your attention. On the album;’s instrumental closing track “Sopraffore,” Seth is especially hot. He bends and soars into the stratosphere on this smoking track.
The sound of this recording is clear and uncluttered and these guys are an amazing group of musicians. This group can play heavy rock riffs (“Come to Your Senses.”) quiet jazzy passages (“Don’t Bring Me Down,”) and just plain out stinky funk equally well.
And although this group sounds like they are influenced by well known funkateers like Sly and the Family Stone, Parliament-Funkadelic, they melt a myriad of sources together and never copy anyone. Buy You Can’t Do That to People. It is a glorious album by a talented, fun and amazing Vermont band: Mr.Dooley.
Seth Yacavone is 15 years old and lives in Wolcott, vermont. He has been published by Morrisville Chronicle, the Lamoille Country Companion and the Cambridge Chronicle.
The Cooking Book
“The Cooking Book”
Butch Recordings
162 Newark Street, Suite 4
Hoboken, NJ 07030
Released in 1995
By Chaz Handel
This cassette came out of nowhere, claiming both Burlington residency (apparently in near anonymity) and a new genre of music called, according to the poster at Sound Effects, “ambient garage techno.”
I can put this together: it’s ambient because it lulls me into occasional sleep. It’s garage because it's sloppy at points. And it’s techno because it’s mostly synthesized. I can handle the concept of the genre, though I’ll admit to having little or no knowledge of keyboards and computer generated music.
It’s actually an oddly listenable cassette. First things first, this tape is very well produced. It sounds like some serious gearheads are behind this thing, but technology gets weird sometimes. It could be a $99 Casio from Woolworths for all I know. Starting off with a creepy kind of merry-go-round, swirling piece called “Tinkling Boys,” the album seems designed to read eerie with capital E. And it does. By the time you’re through seven more tracks of fairly innocuous computer generated background music with various sound effects laid over, you get tot what I think is the voice of one of our favorite Burlington area rockers and it’s tape-looped into an endless conversation of little apparent merit. And when we get another recorded simple of some guy from what sounds like a scratchy old self-help record urging us to be overly enthusiastic (it’s called “Enthusiasm.”) Next we get track 11, called the final cou[ de grace…track 12, dubbed “Burlington,” is quite clearly Huffy’s “Circus Peanuts” track from Braf Searles’ Sounds Around Burlington CD in a pretty amusing, space-age-bachelor-pad kind of remake. Music for Swinging Burlingtonians, perhaps?
Okay, so that’s what it is. Now, why?
Chaz Handel is one heck of a nice guy and he would love to know who these Cooking Book people are.
Daisy Glaze
“I Love to Ride”
Hutton Entertainment
445 Colchester Ave
Burlington VT 05401
Released in 1995
By Jeb Interlandi
Finally…the astonishingly first-class musical group Daisy glaze has put out another recording. “I Love to Ride” is the new tape and an excellent one too.
Back in 1993, Daisy Glaze’s debut “Totally Out of Control/Bad Girl” was released in the Burlington area, I don’t think all that many people heard this great band who was at the time: Sean Hutton on guitar and vocals, Chris Egan on drums, and Myles Cantarells on bass guitar. These songs rocked.
Then Daisy Glaze changed. Bill Rogers, formerly with the bands The trees and SHapes and Colors has joined up on bass guitar and vocals and is a distinctive addition to their sound. Obviously influenced by the music of the sixties, Daisy Glaze is taking these elements in some harder directions.
With the new ten-song tape, recorded at Low Tech Studio, Daisy Glaze has still got the ability to rock, and even better than ever. Starting off with the tune “Let’s Live,” this tape is so addictive that you can’t seem to turn it off until it’s finished.
Add up auspicious lyrics, vocals similar to Don Flemming of Gumball, intricate guitar chords, floating bass lines, and the good old back beat, and this tape created a spectacular atmosphere. In songs like “I Love to Ride,” “Closer,” “Lights Downtown,” and “Window,” Daisy Glaze demonstrated that you don’t just need to write songs about rejection and the depressing aspects of life. These songs take a look at life’s better sides and makes it clear that there’s always something to look forward to. Thus, to me, is one of the big reasons that Daisy Glaze stands out in the crowd of modern bands that draw from classic influences.
If you happen to see their tape, I suggest that you buy it and get glazed by the ultimate experience.
Jeb Interlandu is the bass player for the band Phoka and an avid fan of the Burlington music scene.