The Pernice Brothers
Nobody's Listening / Nobody's Watching

Ashmont Records

www.pernicebrothers.com

Here's something I'm surprised established, independent bands don't do more often. After touring their literate and tuneful asses off, The Pernice Brothers compiled a live CD and DVD and offered it through their website.

The song selection comes from a variety of shows, and much of Joe Pernice's between-song-banter has been removed, so you're not getting the genuine Pernice Brothers concert experience. But you do get a dozen great songs. The playing is tight and lively. Clean recordings (thanks to, I'm guessing, a good deal of tweaking by Pernice Brothers bassist and boardman extraordinaire Thom Monahan) have nicely preserved the vocal harmonies and, in many cases, moved the chimey keyboard parts up in the mix.

Taking these songs to the stage often results in an increase in tempo as the drummer (Pat Berkery of the Bigger Lovers and Ric Menck of The Velvet Crush split the duties on this tour) is given free reign to propel the songs forward and guitarist Peyton Pinkerton usually seems all too happy to sprint along come solo time (see "Working Girls," "Monkey Suit," and "Clear Spot" as prime examples).

For all the quality tunes on this disc, my personal highlight comes at the end as the band moves from a fantastic cover of The Pretenders' "Talk of the Town" into a five-minute-plus take on their own "Flaming Wreck." On the former, the band maintains the spirit of the original but twists it just enough to fit the make-up of the band, thereby giving it their own take (which is what a good cover will do). On the latter, The Pernice Brothers show that along with melancholy ballads and catchy pop, the band can make a good old-fashioned wall of sound.

The DVD portion of the package is insightful even if it's not the main draw. A long interview with Joe touches on the usual indie-artist milestones - touring, artistic ideals, major money vs. indie freedom, etc. That conversation is interspersed with candid postcards from the road where we get to see the band carry their own instruments, be befuddled by a vending machine, visit Janeane Garofolo at Air America Radio, and laugh at Menck as he wanders around a parking lot. There are also snippets of live performances - never a full song - and two videos for "Baby In Two" and "Weakest Shade of Blue" done by members of a local art workshop.

_______________________________________________________________

The Mendoza Line
Sent Down To AA

Misra Records

www.mendozaline.com

While The Mendoza Line works on the follow up to last year's fantastic Fortune, they offer up this "for the fans" collection filled with an assortment of live tracks, demos, acoustic versions, and snippets of radio stations interviews. While this certainly isn't the disc I'd offer up as an introduction to the band, it is a very welcome addition to the collection for those already in the camp. Frankly, the album title and its delightful mash-up of baseball and alcoholism (these are a few of my favorite things) is alone worth the cost.

As one might expect, the recordings range all over the map. There are fully recognized tracks like "Either Way You Lose" and "Our Consumptive King (for Joe Strummer)" which were originally intended for the last record. Together they demonstrate the effortless way The Mendoza Line can shift from pop to twang. "The Kids Are Out" and "Trading Deadline" are catchy rock songs that originally appeared on other compilations (that I now, thankfully, don't have to go searching for). "Dollars To Donuts," recorded live at Maxwell's, starts off with a cry of "let's play it fast" before they launch into a delightfully ramshackle, mostly acoustic, performance. Then there are several stripped down performances taken from radio station broadcasts that prove that songs like "What Ever Happened To You?" are solid down to their core.

As I said earlier, this isn't the perfect Mendoza Line record, but there isn't anything here that would embarrass the band either (except maybe for their admission about how often they eat at Denny's while on tour). Think of it as a collection of snapshots from Mendoza Line family vacations. Nobody's posing for the camera, but within the captured candidness lays the appeal.

It's my understanding that this is a fairly limited release, so those interested should scamper over to the Misra Records website like a little bunny.

_______________________________________________________________

Watershed
The 5th of July

Idol Records

www.watershedcentral.com

Listening to Watershed's The 5th of July is to take a stroll down relationship memory lane using the band's record collections as a map. The boy-meets-girl-then-boy-usually-screws-it-up story is told several times on this disc and, to the band's credit, it is usually done so without resorting to the clichés of sickening sentimentality or hurtful bitterness. Relationships come and go, you learn, you move on. Most of the confessions are along the lines of those in the excellent "The Habit" where the narrator figures, "I gotta stop hitting on your friends and hoping you ain't looking." There's no time for any of this Dashboard Confessional weepy crap when there's still cold beer to drink and Marshall amps to crank.

Musically, while Cheap Trick's brand of guitar pop has always left its stamp on Watershed, this record is probably their Trick-iest. The similarities come from the smooth two-part vocal harmonies and guitar worship. But mostly, the two bands share an undeniable ability to insert a highly memorable hook into each and every song. It may come from a quick guitar riff. A lot of times it hides in the pre-chorus or bridge. There are even cases, like on "Slowly Then Suddenly," where it comes from the meter in which bassist Joe Oestrich sings the song. He rolls and rambles along with a percussive style (and virtually no pauses) complemented by his Thunderbass playing.

There are other musical influences sprinkled liberally throughout the disc. "Small Doses" is comfortably in the vein of Tom Petty's "Even the Losers." "Laundromat" could have appeared on The Goo Goo Dolls' Superstar Carwash. "New Depression," sung in Colin Gawel's raspy twang, feels like a Kevn Kinney track. And each of those comparisons are positive things.

The only true stumbling block on the record for me is "Going Through The Motions," a slow, country-tinged track filled with guitar feedback, harmonica, mallet drum rolls, and vocal effects that just doesn't offer enough of any of those things to make it interesting. But, fortunately, they bounce right back with the optimistic album closer, "The Best is Yet To Come," which has more in common with The Kinks' "Better Things" than just their names.

Like most good power pop records, this one checks in at just over the half-hour mark, leaving the listener wanting more. Those who have followed Watershed over the years will be pleased by the return of the band's sound, this time stepped up a notch in the production and playing levels. Those who are just discovering Watershed (dare I say, national radio programmers?) will welcome the new, catchy, and instantly familiar tunes.

_______________________________________________________________

Magnapop
Mouthfeel

Daemon Records

www.magnapop.com

The saga of Magnapop is not entirely unique, but that doesn't make it any less interesting.

After playing around Athens, GA with a handful of outfits, the core of Linda Hopper and Ruthie Morris came together to form Magnapop and, in 1994, released a stirring debut record. Produced by Bob Mould, *Hot Boxing* was a stupendous collection of buzzing guitars and seductive vocals. Unfortunately, according to music biz legend, it was just a few weeks too late and the one spot apparently available on alternative-rock radio for a "girl band" had been given to Veruca Salt; a band about half as deserving of notice. As a result, Magnapop stayed mostly under the radar of the public, if not the critics. A couple years later came the follow-up, oRubbing Doesn't Help" which also failed to fully catch on despite more infectious melodies.

Now, after a self-imposed hiatus, the band has released oMouthfeelo on Amy Ray's label Daemon Records. Despite the long time off, the song - for the most part - remains the same. Hopper's voice is a bit softer around the edges and has settled more into the middle of the mix, rather than sitting up on top. Morris' guitar licks are also not quite as buzz-saw, but they certainly still cut through with a classic punk-pop guitar tone while her vocal harmonies provide a comfortable bed.

Listening to this disc the songs just fly by, sneakily leaving looks in your head. Part of that is due to, of course, the frantic tempo of the songs. But Hopper also has a unique vocalizing style that It seems silly to call this style "sing-song," but I'm not sure how else to describe the way it skips along. Regardless, I think I'm physically incapable of not bobbing my head along with the tempo as she does it. "Satellite," "We're Faded," and "The In-Between" in particular all can draw me in.

I'm too much of a realist to propose that the third time is going to be a charm for Magnapop and their songs will soon be out of the nation's car windows this Spring. But it warms me to know that they've come back with a new disc and they sound like they are enjoying the chance to bang out some more tunes.

____________________________________________________________

To reach any other page contained in this month's update on Fufkin.com, read the home page for the appropriate link and click on it. You can also search the site from any page using the search box located at the top of each page. Merely type in the word, phrase, name of the band, recording, name of the Fufkin writer that you are looking for or Whatever in the search box, and then click on "Search". If you would like to e-mail us, go to the About Us page for a list of e-mail addresses.

Go back to the home page by clicking here

________________________________________________________________