Record Store Day 2011: Ashley Brooke Toussant and Shivering Timbers

Record Store Day was not the buy-a-palooza for me this year that it was last year. The one album I was really interested in this year – the reissue of Vanguard’s Skip James Today! – was unlikely to be available at any of my record stores, and having just lost my day job Friday, spending money on a piece of vinyl I can’t play right now anyway (I have four turntables, and none of them are working properly) didn’t feel like a priority.

What was a priority was getting down to Square Records in Akron to catch in-store performances from Ashley Brooke Toussant and Shivering Timbers.

(Don’t feel bad for me. While I didn’t get the Skip James vinyl, I did pick up the Godfathers’ Birth, School, Work, Death on vinyl for a song. And I met Square Records’ resident cat, Kali. Record store cats are aces. So much less haughty than book store cats.)

Ashley Brooke Toussant

It’s difficult to think of a description of Toussant that does not include the word “adorable”. But while she is a wee thing with a cherubic face and big, blue peepers (two people remarked that she looks like she’s 12 years old – she’s actually in her mid-20s), her sweet voice is strong and her songwriting is beautifully sophisticated.

Accompanied by Chris Wise on electric bass and Joe Linstrum on acoustic guitar, Toussant played a set that mixed songs from her EP All Songs in English with songs from her upcoming full-length album Sweetheart. While she appeared quiet and shy between songs, Toussant was perfectly at ease within her music, singing out loud and clear. Much of her repertoire is of the ethereally folky variety, recalling the mason-jars-and-sepia-toned-photographs sound of some of Over the Rhine’s early catalogue, but Toussant’s sound is touched with influences from around the world and throughout time. Linstrum’s accompaniment often added a Spanish flavor with Wise’s bass providing modern-day weight.

Toussant’s talent is instantly winning, and she was encouraged by enthusiastic listeners to play just one more song at the end of her set, which she did with a characteristically charming smile.

There are five days left in the IndieGoGo fundraising campaign for Sweetheart where you can contribute and help the album release be a great one. Toussant’s whimsical official website is also a recommended visit.

Shivering Timbers

After a taking a break for a snack and a drink and doing some record browsing, I found myself too far removed by Shivering Timbers’ supporters to take any good photos, but I can assure you that they are still just as attractive as they were in January.

Having seen Shivering Timbers just twice now, I feel confident in saying that every show of theirs feels like a celebration with friends. Though the post-song applause started out light as the band warmed us up slowly, favorites like “Noble Duke of York” and “Crooked Old Man” quickly brought out the clapping and whooping from the crowd packed into the now-steamy record store. The biggest reaction came in appreciation of the band’s usual show closer, the bring-the-house-down “Evening Prayer”. But they had a surprise left for us with a new closing song, a calming lullaby to see us out.

Shivering Timbers are adding more and more shows to their schedule all the time, including a gig with Neutral Uke Hotel at the Grog Shop in Cleveland this Friday. This is definitely a band to catch live.

Cut in the Hill Gang: Livin’ in a Town That Ain’t Even on the Map

 

Here’s how I want to write this post about the Cut in the Hill Gang’s Mean Black Cat: Holy shit, buy this album! Go! Do it now! It is flat-out, fist-pumping, sternum-thumping rock-and-goddamn-roll from top to bottom, and you need it. Then I would throw out a couple of songs, and you would listen and say, “Damn, the effusive writer is correct! Where’s my credit card?”

But some people are going to want more than my exuberant flailing to go on (if you weren’t already enticed by the description of the album in our James Leg interview).

In this most recent incarnation, the Cut in the Hill Gang is comprised of four frontmen: Johnny Walker (Soledad Brothers), Lance Kaufman (StarDevils), Reuben Glaser (Pearlene) and James Leg (Black Diamond Heavies). And on Mean Black Cat, the four put their dirty fingerprints all over other people’s songs. CitHG dip into a number of genres and eras, covering the likes of Lula Collins, the Gun Club, Gary U.S. Bonds, the Kills, Hound Dog Taylor, the MC5, Bill Allen… If you’re familiar with the other works of the CitHG members, the artists covered aren’t a huge surprise, but the way some of these songs are covered may give you a pleasant start. The opening track, “Don’t Ever Leave Your Daddy at Home”, is a stunningly ragged and raw turn on Frank Frost’s “Never Leave Me at Home” that feels like it could burn the lining out of your throat just from listening to it. And the greasy slide of the Gun Club’s “Promise Me” is turned into a sparse, haunting, echoing plea as the album’s closer.

There are also clever marriages of songs. The MC5’s “Black to Comm” flows seamlessly in and out of Hound Dog Taylor’s “Let’s Get Funky”. Later on, the Kills’ “Fuck the People” meets up with Spacemen 3’s “Revolution” to form a sneering call to arms.

Two of my favorite tracks on the album are the covers of Gary U.S. Bonds’ “I Wanna Holler” and the Mighty Hannibal’s “The Right to Love You”. Leg takes the lead on “Holler”, bringing the keys to the forefront and covering everything with his trademark growl while a tribal drumbeat thrums deep under it all. (Plus, it’s amusing to hear Leg utter the line “I’m just a silly sap.”)

 

I Wanna Holler by Cut in the Hill Gang

 

The vocals of “Right to Love” are so heaped with emotion that they sometimes sound as if they will cut out all together under the strain, yet the vibe of the song holds a certain menace that makes love sound like a threat.

 

The Right to Love You by Cut in the Hill Gang

 

This album would be shooting to the top of my Favorite Albums of 2011 So Far list if it wasn’t for the fact that it was released last October.

You want this album now, don’t you? Yeah, here’s the catch for all the U.S. readers: It’s only available as an import. Mean Black Cat was commissioned by German label Stag-O-Lee and hasn’t been picked up by an American distributor. But this being the Age of the Internet, the album is easily obtainable through Stag-O-Lee’s parent company Glitterhouse or through Amazon or a few other online retailers. Yes, it will cost you a little more, but if you’re turned on by what you’ve heard, I’m confident you will find the album worth the extra scratch.

 

Cut in the Hill Gang @ MySpace (where you can hear a couple more songs off of Mean Black Cat, as well as the great “Soul to Waste”)

The Tale of the Cut in the Hill Gang

Notable Shows in the Greater Cleveland Area

Shows worth checking out this week in and around Cleveland:

The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern

  • Fri, Mar 25| 8:30 PM (7:30 PM door)
    Warpaint
    PVT
    Family Band
    $15
    Ballroom | All Ages
  • Sat, Mar 26| 9 PM (8 PM door)
    We Are Hex
    Xray Eyeballs
    Wooly Bullies
    $8
    Tavern | All Ages
  • Mon, Mar 28| 7 PM (6:30 PM door)
    Martin Memorial
    For Barking Spider’s Martin Juredine

    Ballroom:
    Readings from Suzanne DeGaetano, Ann Trupo, & Jenna Juredine
    George Foley
    Kevin Richards
    Bill Lestock
    Vicki Chew
    Hillbilly Idol
    Mo’ Mojo
    Carlos Jones

    Tavern:
    Charlie Mosbrook
    Poet Ray McNiece
    Martini Five-O
    Colette
    Natural Facts (Guest poet Ben Guylas)
    Michael McDonald & David Krauss
    Tom Shaper (guest storyteller Tom Croley)
    Jim Volk

    $5
    Ballroom & Tavern | All Ages

  • Tue, Mar 29| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    7 Walkers
    Featuring:
    Bill Kreutzmann (of Grateful Dead), George Porter Jr. (of The Meters), Papa Mali and Matt Hubbard
    $25 adv / $28 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages
  • Tue, Mar 29| 8:30 PM (8 PM door)
    Lucky Tubb & The Modern Day Troubadours
    Jim Mckeivier
    Clint Holley DJs
    $8
    Tavern | All Ages
  • Thu, Mar 31| 8:30 PM (8 PM door)
    S. Carey
    Lighthouse & The Whaler
    $8 adv / $10 dos
    Tavern | All Ages
  • Fri, Apr 1| 8:30 PM (7:30 PM door)
    The Greenhornes
    Hacienda
    Exploding Lies
    $12 adv / $14 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages

Grog Shop

  • Fri, Mar 25| 6:30 PM
    Henry Rollins
    (at Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art)
    SOLD OUT
  • Fri, Mar 25| 8 PM
    British Sea Power
    A Classic Education
    Herzog
    $14
  • Sun, Mar 27| 8 PM
    Smoke Screen
    BenniB
    Urbindex
    BEDROC
    Moola Gang
    $5
  • Wed, Mar 30| 8 PM
    J Mascis
    Kurt Vile & the Violators
    $15 adv / $17 dos
  • Thu, Mar 31| 7:30 PM
    OFF!
    Trash Talk
    Cider
    $13 adv / $15 dos
  • Fri, Apr 1| 8 PM
    Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group
    Zechs Marquise
    $20 adv / $23 dos

Musica

  • Sat, Mar 26| 7:30 PM
    The English Beat
    Human Nature
    Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.
    $20

Quicken Arena

  • Sat, Mar 26| 7 PM
    Moondog Coronation Ball
    The Grass Roots
    The Rascals
    The Spinners
    The Animals
    America
    $35 / $50 / $65

House of Blues

  • Fri, Mar 25| 9 PM (8 PM doors)
    Willie Nelson
    Drake White
    $55 / $125 balcony
  • Wed, Mar 30| 8 PM (7 PM doors)
    Queens of the Stone Age
    The Dough Rollers
    $30 adv / $35 dos

Pirates Cove at Peabody’s

  • Fri, Apr 1| 7 PM
    Gene Loves Jezebel
    $10 adv / $13 dos