Brown Study : All Things Reconsidered III

Welcome to the third and final installment of this series All Things Reconsidered, or as it is known around the MOKB watercooler, A Bunch of Albums You Should Check Out Before Chinese Democracy Ruins Your Life. Let's get right to it, because Sunday is approaching quickly. By the way, anyone amused by the fact Chinese Democracy is being released on a Sunday? You think maybe Axl is trying to make some sort of none-too-subtle statement? Based on popular mythology, The Naz arose on a Sunday morning after being entombed for three days. Just like Axl, trying to one-up J.C. by pulling a Lazarus after fifteen years.

Charlie Louvin - Steps To Heaven
Just yesterday I received the new Charlie Louvin record in the mail. It's called Charlie Louvin Sings Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs. I bring this up for a couple reason. For starters, because anyone should be proud to record, sell, own or play an album with that title. However, what's even of greater importance is the fact that Charlie Louvin (whose real name is Charles Elzer Loudermilk) is 81 years-old and on December 31st, his 2008 recorded output will be twice that of Axl Rose's in fifteen years. This new one is a doozy, but since it won't be released until December 9th, I'm going to encourage you to pick up his fall release, Steps To Heaven. This record will help you get right with the Lord, which is a good thing after all he blasphemy you're being exposed to in this post alone. If you're not hip to Charlie, especially from his work with late brother, Ira, you really need to immerse yourself in their masterpiece, Satan Is Real. How about three releases in 2009, Charlie?

Charlie Louvin - There's A Higher Power

Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power and the Amorphous Strums - Dark Developments
I swear I wore out my copy of About To Choke, but after that release, Vic kinda lost me. I'm sure someone who really knows his music will be quick to jump down my throat and point out several releases worthy of extensive praise. But for whatever reason, I sort of lumped him in with Jack Logan and the first woman I dated who fancied herself a poetess; people who made an immediate impact on me, then soon became more than a little tedious. I could also throw Elf Power into that category, so it's more than a little ironic they would team with Chesnutt to craft Dark Developments, a fine record that sounds like both parties are again having fun making music that's just a little sinister.

Vic Chesnutt et al - And How

The Gentle Guest - We Are Bound To Save Some Souls Tonight
The promo materials that accompany We Are Bound To Save Some Souls Tonight claim that the gentlest Guest, Eric Rykal, was moved to undertake this project after seeing a far-from-home band perform in an empty St. Paul bar. Just between you and me, I don't think there's an empty St. Paul bar I haven't performed at (or been kicked out of), but I'm hoping this event took place at the Hat Trick Lounge. Recorded on a shoestring with the assistance of the Amble Down army, We Are Bound To Save Some Souls Tonight is a record full of dirges, shanties and shithouse anthems, transmitted from a land where your dancing is proportional to your depression. Eric Rykal is someone to keep an eye on. Highly recommended for any the 8 billion Bon Iver fans who have materialized in the previous twelve months. Oh, and if any of you Phillies fans have sobered up yet, you should be able to catch The Gentle Guest wrapping up a jaunt with A.A. Bondy, tonight at Tin Angel. Why not hide overnight in the bathroom so you have good seats to see Triumph's Rik Emmett on Saturday?

The Gentle Guest - Down At The Still

Arbouretum/Pontiak - Kale
Quiz time. You're working for $6.25/hr at a record store (which now sells only CDs and smoking paraphernalia) and your cheap-ass boss has you stocking recent releases. You come across a 7-song split EP featuring next-generation stone-and-droners, Arbouretum and Pontiak, which is thematically unified by covers of three John Cale songs. Where do you file it? That's right, it's a trick question, because when I get wind that you have Kale in stock, I'll be pounding on the door 15 minutes before the doors open. Being a Cale fanatic, I needed this record, but I figured I'd listen to the covers once and throw it in a box somewhere. I'm happy to report that I really can't say enough about this record. When the levels hit the red, it's worth the price of admission just to check out the guitar tones, and both bands rawk at a level Crazy Horse never quite reached. Unfortunately, like so many other things in life, it's over too soon, but for 41 minutes (come on, that's pretty long for an EP) it should please fans of acts as disparate as Sleep, Queens of the Stone Age, Mark Kozalek and (of course) the immortal John Cale.

Arbouretum - Buffalo Ballet (John Cale cover)

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