scene&heard

The former lead singer for the 90’s band Semisonic just released his first solo album. Not impressed? You should be. Dan Wilson’s reemergence is brought to you by music executive/super producer Rick Rubin, who was named president of Columbia Records earlier this year.
Not coincidentally, while Rubin was picking up his Grammy award for best producer at the 2007 ceremonies, Dan Wilson was picking up his award for song of the year. Both had collaborated with the Dixie Chicks on their Grammy-sweeping album “Taking the Long Way Around.” Wilson included one song he co-wrote with the Chicks on his own album.
“Free Life,” comes at a perfect time of year, as summer gives way to a gloomy autumn. Wilson’s music can turn a melancholy mood into something a bit more hopeful. It’s perfect for a rainy afternoon.
The thing that gets you is THAT VOICE. Wilson’s calm, unaffected vocals convey a kind of well-worn humility that is both peaceful and profound. There is no straining or striving. Listening to him sing is like meeting someone who makes everyone in the room feel at ease. The intimate quality of his voice allows him to comfortably convey vulnerable sentiments without sounding sappy.
Wilson’s lyrics have a conversational quality, which makes one want to listen closely. The title track is typical of the album in its folkish existential pondering. The songs are concerned with how one should appreciate life and how love can add meaning to it.
Wilson plays many of the instruments himself. The instrumentation has a homemade quality, which matches his casual vocal style. Overall, the music could be tighter in some spots.
The album takes a delightful turn near the end, introducing some pop-inflected tunes. “She Can’t Help Me Now” is a standout. It sounds a bit like what George Harrison might be doing today had he been a better singer, and had his “free life” lasted a bit longer.

Four Stars

Old Campus played host Saturday afternoon to a rare, wondrous phenomenon, perplexing passersby and leaving them staring transfixed at the shiny objects and loud noises emitting from a two-foot raised platform erected in front of Durfee’s.

No, the aliens have not finally landed—although that would have been even funnier than the open-mouthed gapes of said passersby. No, the phenomenon I speak of, friends, is Yale music. And yes, it’s rare—you know that Spring Fling is not music.

An eclectic group of seven student bands and performers gathered on Saturday in a WYBC and YSEC collaboration to bring Yale-a-Palooza to Old Campus, with music ranging from shoegaze to hip hop, and from jazz to experimental.

First to take the stage were the Battlekites, who, after overcoming several minutes of giggling fits, played their pleasant indie/shoegaze tunes to a moderately sized audience consisting of band members’ friends, an equal spattering of upper and lowerclassmen, and the occasional cluster of skinny jeans and scarves—the latter group looking carefully nonchalant, preferring, of course, to divide their attention with cell phones and the occasional cigarette.

The second band to come onstage was called…well, Onstage. Their energetic covers of various jazz and latin beats featured beautiful vocals from Tina Colon ’09 and expertly played saxophone, keyboard, and drums, for a set that brought both the stage and audience to life, and a finale that featured some impressive beatboxing from the saxophone player.

The third act consisted of solo rapper Mustafo’s shameless self-promotion, soul-baring transitions, and worldly knowledge-sharing in between songs. Oh, and he rapped too.

Next up was Unripe Avocado with their experimental blends of guitar, saxophone, and drums, impressive for only a two-person act. Following this, came Strobings, another experimental two-man act, featuring menacing drumbeats and screeching vocals.

Yale-a-Palooza’s sixth act was another solo performance, this time by Noah Lawrence, who together with an acoustic guitar and endearingly sweet sincerity that carried all the way through his set, managed to leave several of his songs stuck in my head throughout the rest of the day.

Last to take the stage were the Flaming Snake Bears, a duo whose steady guitars and vocals, sometimes bordering on blues-rock with the addition of a harmonica, belied their insane name. “Flaming Snake Bears,” I ask you…

Filling in the occasional time gaps between acts was Eddie Quinones ‘08 who, together with an acoustic guitar, vastly amusing facial expressions, and lyrics about “being a wuss” as he once put it, was a suitable and pleasant filler act.

At the end of the day, the four-hour long Yale-a-Palooza was a worthy attempt at bringing good music to an Ivy League campus and a pleasant way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon for the modest audience that showed up to sit, watch, and rob themselves of any sleep the next night thanks to four hours of not working on those thousand and a half problems sets due this week. Or maybe that was just me.

It’s three in the afternoon and I’m talking to Paul Spatola, lead guitarist for Hurt, and I’m in Staples, scribbling down notes onto a pad of paper that I haven’t bought yet. Hurt is the Los Angeles metal band with 40367 MySpace friends that released their first album, Volume 1, in 2006 to resounding critical acclaim and is now promoting their new album, Volume 2. They logged two Top 15 Active Rock hits with “Rapture” and “Falls Apart”. Outside of the USA, their biggest fan base is in Finland. The winds have blown them across America to Hartford, CT where they are performing live tonight.

SCENE & HEARD: So, what are you guys doing here in Connecticut?

PAUL: We’re just did some radio Friday; we’ve been doing a lot of radio recently- we’ve been trying to do as much radio as possible. We’re doing some soundchecks at the moment and then we’re going to go out and play tonight. Pretty much what we do every day…

S&H: So, what are your major musical influences?

P: I’m actually influenced by everything. I started playing piano when I was five and I’ve been listening to all kinds of music, even classical music, since then. Yeah, I wouldn’t say I’ve got one single influence – I try to pick up as much as I can from everywhere.

S&H: How has the Internet and iTunes affected the recording industry? I’ve noticed that your songs are available on AOL music player…

P: Well, internet music, it’s good and it’s bad. On the good side, the fans can listen on the internet all the time and comment on the message board saying “I love this song” or whatever. But on the bad side, it’s ruining the recording industry. Especially with things like iTunes, people are no longer buying music and records any more, but they’re stealing them.

S&H: Your lyrics are really angry, what are you rebelling against?

P: I don’t really write the lyrics; Jay writes them about personal matters and puts spin on some of the situations he’s been through. We let him do that because they trust him to write his own lyrics. I just concentrate on making the music.

S&H: What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to the band?

P: What do you mean crazy?

S&H: Like on tour, for example.

P: Well I can’t think of anything that’s been that crazy, when you get up on stage in front of thousands of people and play music, that’s crazy, y’know, you can’t believe that’s happening.

S&H: You say on your music blog that your music has the “power to save lives”, how would you say that’s possible?

P: I guess people out there that really connect with what we’re saying, they feel like they’re not alone any more. It really helps them through the day because they need that stuff and if our music saves lives, that’s great, that’s what we’re doing it for.

S&H: So, what are you listening to at the moment? What metal bands are good?

P: I don’t really listen to that much metal, I’ve been listening to Bloc Party a lot, they’re great. Yeah, the only metal I really listen to is Slipknot. Otherwise I listen to a lot of classic rock, Zeppelin and stuff. Apart from Block Party, I mainly listen to older stuff.

S&H: And what about the rap scene?

P: I don’t really listen to it; there are some good things but, no I don’t really listen to rap. But if there’s a song with something about it lyrically that’s good, I’m not gonna shut it out, you’ve gotta be open to everything, otherwise that’s ignorant.

S&H: Would you like to expand your music to an international scene?

P: I would love to go international, unfortunately it requires a great deal of planning and money and we’re concentrating on the US at the moment. We hope that we’re going to hit Europe as soon as possible, on our blog; there are fans from Germany, Britain and Finland, places that we’ve never been to before. We ant to bring the live show over there as it’s a pretty different experience and it seems that everywhere except the USA, people are interested in listening to good music and enjoy going to live shows.

S&H: How did the band form?

P: Well Jay was spotted out in Virginia where he played with a band. A PR guy said he liked his stuff but not his band’s and he brought him to LA. He was hooked up with Evan who was a studio drummer and Josh who was a guitarist from New Jersey who called me up when they said they needed another guitarist. We started doing tests and we were signed a couple of weeks later.

S&H: So, does your band have a message for Yale or America?

P: We don’t have a specific message. Jay’s lyrics are different versions of what ‘Hurt’ means, it can be pain, sadness or whatever. Jay doesn’t like to explain his lyrics, he likes to leave them to open interpretation. He wants people to read whatever they want into them. We’re not trying to be political; we don’t have a specific message.

Governor Jodi Rell declared October 2 to be “Bruce Springsteen Day.” The Boss and the E Street Band kicked off the “Magic” tour Tuesday in Hartford – so with citizens making the pilgrimage up 1-91, airwaves crowded by tracks off the new album of the same name and the state officially endorsing all this frenzy, Connecticut was hit hard by Bruce fever.

“Magic” is here to advertise his new album and showcase old hands – even though we were told that last time was the “last time,” Clarence Clemens, Max Weinberg and all the others were back in full force. The crowd was assembled by 7:30, clutching stadium hotdogs, wearing old tour t-shirts that might as well have carbon dated them and skipping the bathroom line for the time being, lest they miss the opening chords of – what would he start with? A new track, maybe? “Magic” itself? Or “Born to Run”? “Born in the USA”? An hour passed; it was getting difficult to keep that breath held in.

And then - ! “Radio Nowhere” – a new song, but one that the entire crowd seemed to know the words to by the end. He was back at it, and man, can this guy perform. The concert went on for a seamless two hours and was – this is the mark of a good show – one where you just couldn’t sit down. Even if you couldn’t dance, you could sway, or raise your hands, or just try to get a tiny bit closer to that god gracing this Hartford stage. Bruce Springsteen was, for the night, an undisputed messiah: Liberating baby boomers from their generational label, liberating listeners from substandard music – liberating a student or two from hours otherwise spent in SML. He’d simply lift up his arms and the entire crowd responded with a salute to the sexiest man this side of Jersey.

The band did a good job of tempering new music with old; though ostensibly designed to promote the new tracks, this tour seemed just as eager to give loyal fans a sampling of those stand-bys well-known and loved. A nod to “Born to Run” (“She’s the One” was greeted with screams of delight) segued neatly with the relatively unknown “Devil’s Arcade” and “Girls In Their Summer Clothes.” These new songs bore the Boss stamp – upbeat, tightly crafted, perfect for singing along to – but were sometimes grounded by a more Americana, down-home element, perhaps a result of his summer collaboration with Pete Seeger. A balance was struck between coherence and variety; nothing seemed out of place – not too pop, not too folksy – but he kept things interesting. The constant switching of guitars between songs wasn’t just some flashy move but really indicated the concert’s breadth.

They left the stage after 90 minutes or so and came back for three or four rounds of encores – a kind of neat microcosm of Springsteen and the E Street Band’s collaborative trajectory. You might think that was the last – and how good it was! A great note to end on! – but then, of course, they come back for more. And more, and more. No one was going to complain about that; the deep, collective rumblings of “Bruuuuuuce” reverberated through the Civic Center until the lights finally came back on and concert-goers left that magic behind and returned to the real world.