I could write a surrealist opus about the divinely hallucinatory effects of The Warlocks‘ new album, Rise and Fall, but space forbids. If Syd Barrett had collaborated on Mercury Rev’s Yourself Is Steam, injecting each track with the breathy pop of “Carwash Hair,” it would have sounded a lot like Rise and Fall. Following a mellower path than the Flaming Lips and other, similarly psychedelic bands that came of age in the ’90s, the Warlocks’ music is less sonic attack than magical full-body foreplay. It leaves you tingling, sweaty, tearful, and certain you’ve just witnessed something too beautiful to be fully understood. They will be at the Young Avenue Deli on Tuesday, June 25th, with Mouse Rocket, the pet project of the Lost Sounds’ Alicja Trout. And while on the subject of the Deli …
Writing for Nashville Scene, Noel Murray says, “[The alt-country band Saddlesong can] blow away most of the retro-minded neo-honky-tonk acts who dwell outside of Music City.” Here, Murray pathetically misses the fact that those retro-minded bands exist outside of Music City because (except for the lately lame BR-549 and the great Joe Buck) Music City hasn’t been in the business of making real country for years. Saddlesong’s best offering, “Glory,” is nothing more than a rocked-up reworking of Kenny Rogers’ hit “The Gambler” with uninspired gospel imagery. It’s alternative only to CMT and an excellent indicator that Nashville is still lost. At least Memphis’ most-improved Southern rockers, Bumpercrop, are on hand to give the ticket some oomph. This double bill goes down on Friday, June 21st. — Chris Davis
A recently formed support organization founded by the Rock-and-Roll Grandma herself, Cordell Jackson, the Memphis Music Community will have a coming-out party for itself on Tuesday, June 25th, at the Palm Court in Overton Square. The event will celebrate the release of a compilation CD, Living In a State Of Love, which features tracks from 14 diverse local acts (including a vintage cut from the Bill Black Combo). Highlights include Jackson’s own “Basketball Widow” and Nancy Apple‘s lovely “Fooled By the Heart.” The album also gives a sense of the non-blues variety that the Beale/downtown scene currently offers with the rockabilly of The Dempseys‘ “Back To the Dog House,” the fusion-y jazz of FreeWorld‘s “2nd and Beale,” and the vocal soul of The Masqueraders‘ “Merry Christmas.” Many of the artists found on the CD will be performing at the show, which begins at 7:30 p.m. with a $5 cover.
Singer-songwriter Neilson Hubbard, whose last album, Why Men Fail, with its aching, beatifully bent pop à la Big Star, sounds even finer now than it did upon its 2000 release, will be at the Lounge on Friday, June 21st. Joining Hubbard will be local pop band Crash Into June, who have done studio work with Hubbard and who mine a similar vein of smart popcraft with similarly rewarding results. — Chris Herrington