Semi-Twang: The Why And The What For

About two years ago, I blogged a review of Semi-Twang's second release, Wages of Sin. I recall being a bit stunned - but very happy - that the band's release of their second album when their debut one was released about two decades earlier.

Fortunately, another 20 years wasn't needed to get a third release from the band from Milwaukee, WI. A couple of months ago, Semi-Twang released The Why And What For.

Before I provide a semi-unbiased opinion on many of the songs, I'll give you my bottom-line analysis right here, right now --

You should not semi-consider the purchase of this album. You should commit 100% do so. Purchase your MP3s at regular haunts such as iTunes or Amazon - or you can buy the CD directly from the band via their website and your PayPal account.

The Wrong Side of the Tracks - The lead-off number is a solid one. Forget hearing a mamby-pamby, minor-chord, melancholy ballad. Wrong Side includes many of the musical complexities found throughout the rest of the album: a great tempo, John Sieger's vocals that have changed little in twenty-five years, a solid rhythm section, horns and sax, and a lyrical cliche or two that actually work.


52 Jokers - I'm still somewhat perplexed by the overall message of this song, but it does include what may be my favorite stanza on the album.

Best man’s weaving — he’s half in the sack
The band just tried to murder Paint It Black
Oh 52 Jokers — Cut you down to size

The More She Gets the More She Wants - OK, I'm not a fan of this one. There, I said it. Though I enjoy this album taken as a whole, this one compels me to reach for the next track button. But hey, doesn't every album include at least one or two of those kinds of songs? But I will give ST bonus points to raise the grade for this one to a C+ simply because of the song title.

You Love Everybody - Although I'm not crazy about The More She Gets..., advancing to the next song lands me on one I truly do enjoy. The band makes frequent and an interesting use use of vibrato with guitar, vocals ... and stereo channels. Plus, the addition of of a prominent horn section gives the song a bit of a Ray Charles feel musically.

Contents Under Pressure - Now we're talking! This track is among my favorites of the album. First, the jangly guitar riff of the first few seconds took me all the way back to 1990 or so. I needed about a half-dozen listens to the opening riff before I could recall a similar opening to a song. Finally, it clicked with me the opening reminded me of the lead track, Let It Go, by a one-album band called The Peregrins. (Obscure reference, sure - but hey its my review, right?) Within a couple of of seconds, however, my flashback was gone as the maturity of John Sieger's vocals began. A couple of stanzas resonate with me as (1) an observation of our world today and (2) a thorn in my flesh that flares off and on throughout my life.

Sign on your head — contents under pressure
Someday you’re gonna blow sky high
People gonna point and say my my
The one that blew he was the quiet kind

Saying you won’t budge — contents under pressure
How can you hold a grudge for so long
It tears you up — it brings you down
The gauge on your head it’s spinning round

Making Everybody Cry - Sieger submitted a solo performance of this one to Couch By Couchwest and garnered several "likes" and the mopping of tears with tissues by many.


Miss Watson - As the band begins the final third of the album, they kick it up a notch with a great, rollicking, boogie-woogie number. Though I've never had the good fortune to see Semi-Twang live, I suppose this is the song in their setlist that jolts people out of their seats to bust a move on the dance floor.

Elementary Miss Watson
Let’s discuss this in my Datsun
You want love I believe I got some
Elementary Miss Watson

A Handsome Man - In what I hope was a genius, bullseye-planning song arrangement strategy for the album and for live performance set lists, the rocking Miss Watson is followed by this down-tempo number. I have to belief the no-inhibitions dancing with Miss Watson then moves to a slow dance with this one with thoughts of where to go after the show ends. With that said, the lyrics to this one don't exactly convey happy ending. Hopefully, the dancing couple won't fully realize this until the next morning over coffee.

The reason why I’m walking ‘round
Without a bloody trail
A handsome man
A handsome man
A handsome man can’t go to jail

Take a look at your average con
He’s ugly without fail
A handsome man
A handsome man
A handsome man can’t go to jail

Foghorn - The closing track has an appropriate title and somber tone. The overall feel of it reminds me somewhat of Blue Rodeo's Jokers Wild way back on their the way back on their Outskirts debut - albeit with a slower tempo.


As this entry posts, the band doesn't have many of the new songs on YouTube as official videos or fan-submitted ones. Until more emerge, you can sample the songs at Amazon. But don't overthink it. Hopefully these comments have given you enough of the why and what for to make the decision to get this album.

TMC

2013 National Train Day

During my commute Thursday, I heard the host on Nashville's Lightning 100 radio say it was National Train Day. I've never heard of it, but with a day set aside for something as cool as trains I had to look into it once I got to the office.

TMC Great Grandfather standing between engine and tender

As it turns out, Thursday was not NTD. Today is - Saturday, May 11, 2013. My jaded mind believes most faux holidays were created by Hallmark or American Greeting simply as a cash grab and get guys in trouble with their significant others. But in this case, Amtrak of all folks started National Train Day in 2008.

Credit: TomSmith76.com

Based on the day's Wikipedia page, Amtrak established National Train Day to commemorate the anniversary of the driving of the golden spike that completed the transcontinental railroad. The pattern for NTD was established to fall on the Saturday closest to May 10. This year, therefore, NTD falls on May 11, 2013. By the way, if you aren't familiar with the story of the building of the transcontinental railroad AND you enjoy reading - immerse yourself into Stephen Ambrose's book Nothing Like It In The World. A fantastic read.

So what would National Train Day be without some quality train music, right? I'm not about to drag this post out to the n'th degree with a boocoodle of train songs. But I thought I'd include a six-pack to fire your boilers and drive your diesels today.

Credit: FoundItemClothing.com

Fresh off their award-winning performance at Couch By Couchwest in March this year, Uncle Leon and The Alibis are my lead-off track with the infectious Beer Train. (Or maybe I was supposed to remind folks you can catch an infection from them. Hmm.) Oh never mind. Just grab your favorite brand of suds, rally some friends, crank this number, (attempt to) designate lead and backup vocals, and Vine the results on Twitter.

TMC against the wall waiting for my train to come in

With Amtrak having established the train's most deserving day, its only appropriate to include a song named for Amtrak. Scott Miller simply cannot do anything but a rock-solid performance of the Amtrak Crescent - whether he is singing solo or with his band, The Commonwealth. (For the record, Scott also performed at Couch By Couchwest although not on a train like Uncle Leon.)


Sounds of Roger Miller in the house is one of my favorite childhood memories. Daddy had a Zenith fold-down turntable with fold-out speakers covered in avocado-green woven fabric. He played Miller's Golden Hits LP on most Saturdays.

 

My sister, brother and I enjoyed some of Roger's funny, bouncy songs at first: You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd, Dang Me. But one of Daddy's favorites -  Engine Engine #9 - soon became one of mine along with many of his other underrated songs. My dad  was (and still is) a pretty stoic man. But when the stylus began the opening to this one, he'd sing along and keep a beat by tapping his pocket. You'd hear his change and keys jingle kind of like a tambourine.

Will Kimbrough - Another Train - Slide on a dobro guitar, harmonica, and a bluesy vibe from one of the most talented and versatile musicians and lyricists around. I believe Another Train from Will's album Americanitis seemed to fit this theme to a T.

The first train I recall riding - Fair Park, Nashville TN

Todd Snider's eulogy to his friend Skip Litz in Train Song from his album, East Nashville Skyline is truly an honest but haunting song. I'm pretty sure it was the first song I played a second time - and then a third and so on - after buying the CD.


After getting really introspective with Roger Miller and Todd Snider, how about I stoke the firebox and end this post with some just flat-out, greasy, Southern swamp rock courtesy of Blackfoot.


TMC

Feel Bad For You Taxpayers

April 15 - Bite the bullet, and pay The Man. This post serves as a friendly reminder to get your 1040 postmarked by midnight tonight, or you'll be facing a visit by...


Now just because its Tax Day and perhaps a separation of your wallet from your person doesn't mean all is lost. A well-meaning group of miscreants, scofflaws, and vagabonds from the blogsphere, Facebook, Twitter, Couch By Couchwest, etc. once again feel bad for you. And to demonstrate their empathy, April's Feel Bad For You compilation is now available for your listening enjoyment.

You can stream the mishmash of great tunes below or download the full comp here. Either way, just realize you have no one to blame but yourself for again waiting until the 11th hour to sweat your way through Turbo Tax or H&R Block's software. Sorry, but its true. But I still feel bad for you.

Compilation listing:
(Visit Feel Bad For You's blog for specific comments related to each track.)

1. Title: A New Love (Can Be Found)
Artist: Daniel Romano
Album (year): Come Cry With Me (2013)
Submitted By: Bryan Childs (ninebullets.net)

2. Title: Song For Zula
Artist: Phosphorescent
Album (year): Muchacho (2013)
Submitted By: Mad Mackerel

3. Title: Up To Me
Artist: Cosmonaut On Vacation
Album: Let The Moment Land (2013)
Submitted by: Corey Flegel (This Is American Music)

4. Title: Leave the City
Artist: Magnolia Electric Co.
Album (Year): Radio K (Minneapolis 8th Aug 09)
Submitted by: Simon

5. Title: Ashes to Athens (live)
Artist: Joe Bonamassa
Album (year): An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House (2013)
Submitted By: @tincanman2010

6. Title: Cloudy Morning Blues
Artist: Black Cold Bottles
Album (year): Neander (2012)
Submitted By: hoosier buddy

7. Title: New Lover
Artist: Josh Ritter
Album (year): The Beast In Its Tracks (2013)
Submitted By: @philnorman

8. Title: Lost Highway
Artist: The Replacements
Album (year): Songs for Slim (2013)
Submitted By: @mikeorren

9. Title: It Hurts Too Much To Cry
Artist: Leroy Powell & The Messengers
Album (year): Life and Death (2013)
Submitted By: Trailer (farcethemusic.com)

10. Title: It Must Have Been Love
Artist: Kathleen Edwards
Album (year): single (2013)
Submitted By: Rockstar Aimz

11. Title: War Again
Artist: Balkan Beat Box
Album (year): Blue Eyed Black Boy (2010):
Submitted By: @popa2unes

12. Title: Peter Piper
Artist: Run-DMC
Album (year): Raising Hell (1986)
Submitted By: Gorrck

13. Title: Peace And Quiet
Artist: Waxahatchee
Album (Year): Cerulean Salt (2013)
Submitted By: erschen

14. Title: Free To Fly
Artist: Markus Rill
Album (year): My Rocket Ship (2013)
Submitted By: Mando Lines

15. Title: Inside
Artist: Sand Rubies
Album: Cuacha (2001)
Submitted By: toomuchcountry

16. Title: High on the Skyline
Artist: The New Mendicants
Album (year): Australia EP (2013)
Submitted By: Ryan

17. Title: Hoover Farm Exorcism
Artist: Imperial Rooster
Album (year): The Savior EP / Cluckaphony (2013)
Submitted By: annieTUFF

18. Title: Lean on Me
Artist: Telekinesis
Album (year): Dormarion
Submitted By: scratchedsoul

19. Title: Asa
Artist: Denison Witmer
Album (year): Denison Witmer (2013)
Submitted By: Slowcoustic

20. Title: Help Is On The Way
Artist: Gerald Collier
Album (year): Help Is On The Way – Digital Single (2013)
Submitted By: BoogieStudio22


TMC

CXCW 2013

First, has it really been a year? I knew I'd taken a bit of a sabbatical from this forum, but I didn't realize it had been a full year. I've been active with my NASCAR/Schaefer beer-oriented blog, and most of my random thoughts are now posted in 140 characters or  less on Twitter. But if you'd told me a year ago that this blog would fall off the grid, I'm not sure I would have agreed with you. Alas, you would have been right.

Second, enough about the previous paragraph. Move on vs. look backwards, right? A week from today begins perhaps the most anticipated music festival in the nation. No, not SXSW. To be honest, I'm not even sure it qualifies as a music festival anymore with all its movies, situational readings, seminars, commercial product releases, etc.

I'm talking about Couch X Couchwest that will officially run March 10-16, 2013. Some pre-show activities have already begun on Twitter and Facebook. And the chatter about participants generally continues long after the festival officially closes.

Credit: @magearwig submission to Couch By Couchwest

The diversity but simplicity of CXCW are its strengths.

• Rather than travel to Austin (or any other festival locale), you get to enjoy the music from wherever you want - your couch, hotel room, local coffee shop, favorite drinking establishment, airport terminal, morning commute drive (not encouraged), etc.
• You aren't a slave to a schedule. No worries about trying to be at two or more venues or stages at the same time. Just lauch www.couchbycouchwest.com and watch videos of performers whenever you want - and as often as you want.
• Oh yeah! The performers. A few songwriters and bands I'd heard of such as Ray Wylie Hubbard, Gretchen Peters, Will Kimbrough and Jonny Corndawg submitted videos last year. But what I truly enjoy about CXCW is hearing artists and bands new to me with cool tunes and vids. 
• Looking for new accounts to friend on Facebook and follow on Twitter? CXCW is a great way to ID many of those.

Load up on your brew of choice whether it be cheap, mainstream, or local microbrew; prep or purchase your snacks; fire up your laptop, PC, or iPad; dress down; and slack away for a few days ... or evenings ... or just whenver.

Speaking of slacking, my cat Pumpkin certainly has that part mastered as he readies for CXCW2013.


So if you want to take in some great music, join me where the beer is cheaper and the only hipster is you. This year's on-line festival will run from March 10 - 16.

TMC

CXCW 2012: The Music Starts Now

In the month of March each year, much of the focus of musicians, fans, labels, promotional teams, advertisers, and social media outlets focus on Austin's South by Southwest - aka SXSW.

However, many performers can't get booked in Austin, and many fans can't travel there. In addition, many performers don't want to participate in SXSW - and the same can be said for fans (hands go up for TMC).

Yet, as fans, we dig music. Even more so, we dig grabbing our own beer from the fridge at a fraction of the cost, not having to wait in line for the bathroom, saving money on travel costs, and using our sofas as a multipurpose device: work space, bar bench, snack station, and nap haven.

So if you find yourself in that category and want to take in some great music, join me at this year's Couch By Couchwest aka CXCW - where the beer is cheaper and the only hipster is you. This year's on-line festival will run from March 11 - 18.

Click the poster below to jump to CXCW's site, view the videos at YouTube or Vimeo, participate on Facebook, or follow on Twitter.

Also, you don't have to be a passive couch potato with this. Know an artist or performer? Recommend they submit an original video. How about yourself? Can you strum three chords and sing in tune? Then fire up the camcorder. LoFi videography will work. Set up your camera, pick up a guitar, press record, sing, save, submit. Bonus points may be awarded for appearances by couches, beer, pets, or kids.



TMC

High School Orientation: Say What??

I took my daughter to high school orientation Thursday night. Multiple teachers and principals gave about an hour overview of class options, extracurricular activities, etc. Normal stuff. Things you'd expect to hear as a parent ... for the most part.

But I was also intrigued by some of the nuggets some of them offered. My daughter thought I was scribbling furiously because of new information relevant to the next four years of her education. Instead, I was attempting shorthand to help remember many that's what she said quips.

The sad reality? My kid's school has been rated as one of the top schools in the state. If its blue-ribbon quality, I weep for the kids, parents and teachers everywhere else.

PTO person: We have a new program for the class of 2016. Basically, its designed so we can give them love and gifts over their four years. We plan to raise money to give them praise and things and a big gift their senior year.

• TMC: Thanks. Just what we need. More expectations of entitlements for the next generation.

Teacher: Students are required to earn 2 foreign language credits. We'll be offering French and Spanish as our foreign language classes next year. And of course, our classes are honors and AP level.

• TMC: So even the burnouts from the smoke pit can get at least one AP credit? Cool!

Teacher: If your student takes 3 years of JROTC, it'll cover the PE credits plus the half-credit for personal finance.

• TMC: It still blows my mind that our schools provide a personal finance course. But with runaway consumer debt, folks who believe their mortgage balance and fluctuations in home values are directly related, and using bankruptcy as a cash management technique, I guess its clear many parents have no clue as to how to teach financial responsibility at home. Having said that, how in the world does participation in JROTC equate to learning personal finance concepts.

And now a few free-standing quips - presented without comment.

Algebra teacher: (Regarding the need for a graphing calculator) Math isn't as easy as it used to be.

Clueless teacher: Hi, I'm Ms. , and I'm the teacher of [pause, look back at the PowerPoint screen, turn back] Marketing and Communications.

Confused teacher: I don't feel like I'm getting any older..even though I guess I am.

Fine arts teacher: No sound bites here. But for her info slide in PowerPoint, she chose to use a maroon-colored font on a blue background.

Fashion/apparel track teacher: I don't see a single nekkid person in this room. So I know the fashion industry isn't going away.

Technology challenged teacher: We'll put this informational PowerPoint file on the school's website in a few days after we reduce the file size and strip some information out of it.

TMC

Feel Bad For You - February 2012

The Feel Bad For You compilations continue. @Rockstar_Aimz has taken the reins from @Truersound to give him a much needed break from his accumulation, sorting, uploading and blogging 12 iterations of FBFY in 2011.

As is generally the case, the February compilation has no theme. Just a bunch of folks pitching in a song here and there for your listening experience - and perhaps to stretch your conventional thinking to try a new artist or two.

I love this month's cover art from @AnnieTUFF. Nothing screams my teenaged era more than a box of vinyl LPs and Dymo label maker strips.


If you under the age of 40, you probably didn't have one like this ... or maybe at all. But my brother, sister and I had one, and labeled all sorts of stuff. Hot Wheels storage cases, bicycles, school notebooks, lamps, toolboxes, our foreheads, and so on.


View the playlist and download the compilation at the FBFY blog. Or simply listen to it right chere.

TMC's submission is Don't Love Me Wisely by The Setters. As I understand it, the group was pulled together by Michael Hall on a whim and without a whole lot of thought about short, medium or long term plans. The band included Walter Salas-Humara, Alejandro Escovedo, and Hall. Salas-Humara is the long-time front man for The Silos - a band I've enjoyed for years and blogged about a time or two.

Hall once fronted a great band called the Wild Seeds. The band released a couple of albums that were fun then - and remain relevant today...

Brave, Clean + Reverent ...


... and Mud, Lies + Shame


After the band went their separate ways, Hall released a half-dozen or so solo releases with a wide range of lyrical and composition style plus his project with The Setters.

For the last several years, Michael Hall has been a contributing writer to Texas Monthly magazine.

TMC