Album Reviews: JD McPherson's "Signs & Signifiers" and Airwaves' "Dungeon Dots"

At KHOL, we find true worth in sharing with and contributing to the music community as an entity. (Thus the Community Radio aspect of this whole operation.)

So when the Music Director, Grant McFarren, of the Colorado based Community Radio Station, KBUT, offered up two of his cutting-edge album reviews, we jumped at the opportunity to share them with our own music-loving audience.

Much thanks and the secret Community Radio salute goes out to McFarren and the rest of our friends at KBUT.

JD McPherson
Signs & Signifiers

Every so often, a record comes across my desk that catches me completely by surprise. I hate to say it, but most albums you can get a feel for based on the record label, the promotion company, the artwork, and the accompanying literature. Thankfully, there’s albums like J.D. McPherson’s Signs and Signifiers around to knock me out of my foggy, pseudo-clairvoyant, seen-it-all haze.

From the opening drum roll, swinging horn bursts, and wildly soulful vocals on “North Side Gal“, it’s clear that McPherson is resurrecting a sound that we really haven’t heard since… well, the late 1950s. Rockabilly, rhythm and blues… I was immediately transported back to the days of Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner stumbling upon THE rock ‘n roll sound in Sam Phillips’ Memphis studio in 1951 (because, I was, um, totally there, and it was awesome).

For his debut album, Oklahome-native McPherson and bandmates Jimmy Sutton and Alex Hall (who also served as producer and engineer, respectively) create a remarkably assured and authentic sound that latches onto the influence of Little Richard, Elvis, Chuck Berry, and Bill Haley while displaying an evocative songwriting prowess. Elsewhere on the album, McPherson can be found channeling the reckless blues bark of Howlin’ Wolf (“Wolf Teeth”) or Jackie Wilson’s smooth, barely-controlled wail (“Scratching Circles“).

If the boy from Oklahoma doesn’t always equal his legendary heroes, he comes damn close. Regardless, who else is even trying this these days? The word refreshing keeps coming to mind when describing Signs and Signifiers, chiefly because the album serves as a stirring reminder that great albums don’t need to reinvent the wheel (nor do they need to be described by Frankenstein-ian genre names… who wants to listen to beach-witch-disco-lo-fi-dub-punk-rock?).

Sure, McPherson plays the revivalist on this record and it will be interesting to see where he takes his sound after this debut. In a recent interview, he hinted that the title track “Signs & Signifiers” might be a signpost towards the future. The song takes a rumbling, wandering Bo Diddley riff and stretches it out, resulting in a slow-burning, soulful meditation on settling into true love. It’s a gorgeous track, providing hope that McPherson has found the muse necessary to craft his reverential early rock ‘n roll sound into something truly his own.

- Grant McFarren, January 27, 2011

Air Waves
Dugeon Dots

Remember that adorable tomboy in 7th grade that captured your heart for the month of March? I’m sorry she was better than you at kickball. I’m sorry she could chug Mountain Dew faster. After all these years, you thought you’d gotten over that whole painful debacle, but now she’s started a band. And they’re awesome.

Described as laid-back surf rock, the music of Air Waves on their debut LP Dungeon Dots manages to further encapsulate folky punk, jangling alt-country, and chugging 90′s indie guitar rock. Admittedly, there’s nothing complex about the arrangements, harmonies, chord progressions… anything, really. But there’s a certain understated magic in the way lead singer & songwriter Nicole Schneit’s innocent, youthful rasp carves out a wizened personality amidst the familiar riffs and driving drums. Her lyrics combine wistful nostalgia with an appealing self-confidence that’s undercut with regret and uncertainty. She can sing lines like “I’m gonna be the lightning that strikes down your tree”, “Put on a record, show your moves to me”, and “I’m not who you want me to be, babe” and sound less like a holier-than-thou bitch than a smart girl who’s had one too many bad relationships.

Air Waves first crossed my radar a few years back with a self-titled EP full of humble, lo-fi indie-pop tunes that inexplicably stuck in your head for months after first listen. Schneit and crew were wise to carry over the standout track “Lightning” from that initial recording while showing the good taste to re-record and lightly taper it’s rough edges with additional vocals from the brilliant singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten.

Dungeon Dots ends with the album highlight “Bisous“, an uptempo rocker that nicely wraps up the nostalgic pop tendencies of Air Waves: “What a sad group we are. Nothing’s changed from ten years before. And we wait for change, but that change never came.” And then the drums kick in. And your pulse quickens. And your heart stops. And you smile, remembering when that intricately folded note fell out of your locker in 7th grade. Or you recall when you first heard a beautifully naive band’s first EP. Or you think back to half a hour prior, when the simple strum of the opening track bleed into a sweet voice asking you, “Can you give me a knockout?” And then you impulsively start the record anew.

It’s not a perfect album. It may not even be a first-rate album. But it’s one you can fall in love with, at least for a little while. And that’s great pop music. We wait for change, but we never really want the change to come.

- Grant McFarren, February 21, 2011