Skeletons in the jukebox
“Skeletons” provides a forum for local musicians, artists, record-store owners, etc., to erase cool points by expressing their unseemly affection for an unhip album from their past.
Young MC — Stone Cold Rhymin’: by Jenny Greer of Jen and the Juice
“I used to sneak out of my house all the time and take my Dad’s 1980s gray Buick Park Avenue, saggy circus-tent ceiling and all. We called it ‘Holy Smoke’ because you’d look out the back window and it looked like a scene from the movie Uncle Buck.
“While hustling around my hometown of Mobile, Ala., my friends and I would jam out to Young MC’s Stone Cold Rhymin’. It didn’t take long for all of us to learn the words to the middle-school classic ‘Bust a Move.’
“Watch out, because if you catch me at a late night around Asheville, I’ll rap you all the words: ‘This is a jam for all the fellas, try to do what those ladies tell us … ‘”
CD reviews
Einstein’s Dream, Sounds at the Speed of Thought: Two Stars
• Genre(s): Rock, indie
• You’ll like it if: You always wished Rush had a sensitive side.
• Defining song: “Dream Evolving” — this seven-minute-plus tune proves that the band needs time to flesh out in order to rise above lackluster.
Einstein’s Dream’s lyrics read like a manifesto that cares. The words splash through earthly metaphors, internal ramifications, stargazing, and the mysteries of the universe. Unfortunately, the instrumentation can’t keep stride with the prose. The music is tight (drummer Billy Seals is a beast), but it lacks conviction. It’s not necessarily that Einstein’s Dream needs to find a groove; it’s more that they need to find intention. The ideas are commendable, and hopefully, this young band will find a feisty muse in the future to loosen them up.
Show review
The Ahleuchatistas with Pattern is Movement and Hush Arbors at the Grey Eagle; Wednesday, July 27: Four Stars
• Genre(s): Prog, art rock
• Be glad you stayed home if: You like your prog songs lengthier than the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
• Defining moment: Anytime drummer Sean Dail touched the kit; his playful intensity suggested a healthier Keith Moon.
The two opening acts played like headliners. Keith Wood (aka Hush Arbors) creates ethereal music that summons an overcast day. With a high voice bordering on sweet, Wood complemented the vocals with beautiful strumming, his fingers sounding like raindrops on the strings. The oddly contagious Pattern is Movement (out of Philly) followed. Polyrhythmic to the core, Pattern finds its weather vane in vocalist/bassist Andrew Thiboldeaux, who acted like a deranged opera singer.
The local trio, Ahleuchatistas, rose to the challenge, proving why they played last. Incredibly technical, the instrumental band defined their own sense of prog rock, doing short layered pieces instead of the obligatory 15-minute meandering. The set seemed like one long song with 385 different movements. By making each song relatively short, they kept the audience’s attention sewn to the stage.
[When he’s not bending readers to his will, Hunter Pope cooks, gardens, hikes and spends his mortgage money on CDs he’s never heard.]
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