Sean Morales’ Call It In Reviewed by Austin Chronicle

Sean Morales

Call It In (Super Secret)

Texas Platters

Fresh off the homegrown James Arthur’s Manhunt, Virginia-bred multi-instrumentalist Sean Morales’ solo debut prioritizes the right feel over high definition. The album’s rough veneer is indicative of its single-occupancy origins, but Morales’ rich songcraft and compelling arrangements exude a warm human scale that never veers into obscurity for its own sake. Leading with a cover burns in the less-traveled road at the outset, Chris Spedding’s “Video Life” crackling with heady effervescence. The title track flips the mood to dark noir with growling, flanged vocals and a menacing riff, and multiple songs start with acoustic blues before leaping in different directions. The contemplative country-blues of “Bring Me Home” evokes the troubled soul of Skip Spence. Utility guitarist and saxman Jonathan Horne of Young Mothers makes over Faust instrumental “Party 1” as a slow-building traffic jam to close.

***.5

Austin Chronicle Review of Terminal Mind’s Recordings

Terminal Mind

Recordings (Sonic Surgery)

Texas Platters

All so-called “art-rock” should have actually rocked. Like Terminal Mind in 1979. Prior to reincarnating as a psychedelic shaman in noisy freak-out specialists Miracle Room and, more recently, Evil Triplet, Steve Marsh was a wired and gangly punk bassist with a heartful of artful angst. Alongside future Skunks/Big Boys twins Greg and Doug Murray manning drums and guitar, Marsh – looking like David Byrne’s titular psycho killer brought to life – howled nihilist anthems like “I Want to Die Young” while adding his thrum to a sound comparable to how the Ramones might have sounded had their biggest influences been Roxy Music and Can. For proof, look no further than this first-ever compilation of just a four-song 1979 EP, some cuts on Live at Raul’s, then a brief incorporation of keyboardist Jack Crow. Done by 1981! A sackful of unreleased demos and live tapes moldering in Marsh’s dresser drawer sweeten the deal. Modern technology strips away the grime, letting pristine blasts of sonic neurosis like “Black,” “Obsessed With Crime,” and “Bridges Are for Burning” call us all to arms anew.

****

Austin Chronicle Exclusive Premiere of “Refugee” From Terminal Mind

Lost & Found: Terminal Mind

Thirty-seven years after breakup, debut LP hits

The anthem on Terminal Mind’s sole release, a self-issued 7-inch stamped with the universal “no” symbol that routinely fetches over $100 on eBay, spun a nihilistic punk declaration: “I Wanna Die Young.”

Vintage Terminal Mind (Photo by Ken Hoge)

Instead, the short-lived Austin band (1978-1981) has aged to a vintage in which there’s now demand for a long overdue retrospective. Friday, homegrown reissue specialists Sonic Surgery Records unveil the bluntly-titled Recordings, a remastered collection of the band’s four-song EP, quality live cuts, and previously unheard demos.

Grayscale art-rock with punk desperation channeled through instrumental and songwriting legitimacy, the triad of bassist/vocalist Steve Marsh with twins Doug Murray and Greg Murray on guitar and drums, respectively (they later added synth player Jack Crow), remains an act locals still celebrate despite a short lifespan and being under-recorded. Historically, Terminal Mind’s music hasn’t been easy to come by – save for those who’ve nabbed copies of the rare EP or Live at Raul’s compilation – so Recordings is a worthy dive into a crucial and obscure sliver of the cap city catalog.

The melodic “Refugee,” from the original EP, demonstrates Marsh’s penchant for meaningful rock songwriting. The chorus spells it out:

Refugee, that’s the way the real world treats you.
Did you think such a person could exist?
In a war, there are winners and there are losers.
I’m in between.

Before Recordings drops Friday, give “Refugee” a spin here.”

Austin Chronicle Reviews ‘Hong Kong Cab’

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten’s Time Machine

Hong Kong Cab (Self Sabotage)

Texas Platters

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Bass solos are all well and good, but why listen to an album’s worth of unaccompanied thrums without the band dynamics that make the grooves come alive? Happily, Hong Kong Cab, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten’s fourth solo bass album, is a different breed. Unconcerned with unadorned rhythm, the Norway-born/Austin-based jazz maverick uses his instruments as paintbrushes, expressing himself with slashing strokes and controlled splatter like Jackson Pollock. He bows his double bass like a butcher cutting meat on “Hotel Isabel,” plucks his Rickenbacker into echo oblivion on “Time Machine,” and disintegrates his gear on the title track. Even when he just plain grooves on “Guts” and “All or Nothing,” Flaten stretches the boundaries of what it means to be in the pocket.

***.5

Austin Chronicle Review of Crack Pipes’ Beauty School

The Crack Pipes

Beauty School (Sonic Surgery)

Texas Platters

When a band known for garage rock makes its Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the results usually don’t live up to either its ambitions or its prior achievements. That’s not the case for the Crack Pipes’ Beauty School. Originally released in 2005, the third LP from the Austin quartet revels in its music nerd membership raiding their substantial record collections for inspiration beyond Sixties garage psych sampler Nuggets or blues-punk archivists Fat Possum Records. Not satisfied to simply regurgitate the signature hard-rocking sound of the latter institution, the Crack Pipes instead showcase a wide but logical diversity, expanding on its foundation with successful excursions into soul, country, and psychedelia. Given the variety of approaches documented here, the band bolsters a sonic palette beyond its guitar/bass/drums/harmonica core. Horns, guest vocals, prominent keyboards, and even, on the instrumental reprise of the title track, strings and autoharp all throw in. Despite setting off in so many directions, the album doesn’t feel like a various artists compilation. The avant-garde electronics of “East Side Injections” contrast with the James Brown funk of “Make Out Party,” yet both tracks feel cut from the same Cracked cloth. The album’s heart resides in “Q&A,” a flowering mini-epic that begins with soulful spoken social commentary before erupting into a frenzied blaze of rock & roll. Revived as a double LP set with improved artwork and a careful remaster that makes the music really sing on vinyl, this definitive edition of Beauty School is the Crack Pipes’ masterpiece.

****

Austin Chronicle Premieres Q&A From The Crack Pipes

The Crack Pipes’ Beautiful Protest

Track premiere from the ATX blues punks’ vinyl reissue

Riding a uniquely punkified take on blues and soul, the Crack Pipes ruled Austin’s garage rock scene at the turn of the millennium. Given the nature of the music, vinyl seems like a natural medium, but none of the band’s four albums came out on wax. Sonic Surgery, the reissue arm of local imprint Super Secret, stepped up to do the honors for 2005’s Beauty School.

Ray Colgan leads the Crack Pipes

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Beautifully packaged as a double album, complete with new and improved artwork, Beauty Schoolremains the locals’ most ambitious and varied LP.

“I think we all believe that bands slowly evolve – that it’s good to push and get out of your comfort zone,” says bandleader Ray Colgan about the Crack Pipes’ progression from raw garage rock to the album’s more expansive palette. “We wanted to do an eclectic record but have it flow, not just be all over the place. We didn’t want to do a bunch of garage rock songs.”

At the center of Beauty School sits “Q&A,” spotlighting a semi-political intro and ensuing rave-up blasting the whole tune into orbit. Colgan reveals its debt to the socially-conscious soul music of the Vietnam era.

“The ‘rap’ part is inspired by two different songs that I really like,” explains the singer and harmonica player. “‘Comment’ [1970] by Les McCann and ‘I Can’t Write Left Handed’ [1973] by Bill Withers. In late 2004, when we recorded Beauty School, it was the Bush administration, the Iraq war. At the time we were dropping bombs on Afghanistan, and I found it weird that we’re blowing up these innocent populations and somehow that’s gonna make them want American-style democracy. It’s an homage to those kind of R&B and social commentary songs.”

The second half turns to a louder, more aggressive source: Jimi Hendrix.

“Especially the Isle of Wight concert,” says Colgan. “He’s just going nuts. That’s what I asked of Billy Steve [Korpi, guitar]. I think there’s three guitar tracks.

“So the first part I consider the question: What do we think we’re accomplishing doing all this stuff? Rather than making sure people have enough food and clothing, we’re using violence to try to free them? The answer is the crazy blow-out part.

“What’s so scary is that here we are 12 years later, and it’s still completely relevant.”

The Crack Pipes play a release show for the vinyl reissue of Beauty School this Friday at the Grackle – free, 21-and-up.