Weekly Music Roundup: Lou Reed Meets Robin Williams, and Dylan Goes Old(er) School

Week of April 11: This week, Bob Dylan’s in a “melancholy mood,” Rhiannon Giddens is on TV, and Matt Bennett no longer is.

Rhiannon Giddens Performs Live Set Online

Rhiannon Giddens first gained acclaim as co-founder of the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, a band that was rooted in the largely overlooked African-American string band tradition of the early 20th century. She then stole the show at the starry concert event/TV broadcast called Another Day, Another Time, produced by T-Bone Burnett as a kind of ride-along to the film Inside Llewyn Davis. Now she’s recorded a set for the TV series Infinity Hall Live. Giddens is an extraordinary performer: graceful, smart, versatile, and committed to a wide variety of what we now call Americana. Folk songs, spirituals, Celtic music, slave shout songs – she sings them all, and plays a mean violin or banjo besides. View her whole set here. 

Lou Reed Meets Robin Williams In Matt Bennett’s New Album

I have to admit, the press release’s opening line had me reaching for the Delete button: “a concept record about divorce, inspired by the films of Robin Williams.” But there was also a prominent mention of Lou Reed’s pivotal album Berlin, which was intriguing enough to read on. Matt Bennett has been known primarily as an actor up until this point, but his forthcoming debut record, Terminal Cases, was modeled on the dark beauty and quiet tragedy of Berlin and includes the themes he noted repeating in the films of Robin Williams: aging, divorce, and growing up – or not. Bennett has released the song “Fisher King” (which contains several references to that movie), and it suggests that the lessons of Lou Reed’s Berlin did not go unnoticed: the lyrics are simple and affecting, lovely but tinged with regret, and the electric guitars are graceful and melodic… except for when they explode into Velvet Underground/My Bloody Valentine violence, and Bennett’s voice takes on a desperate edge. Dark beauty indeed. 

Bob Dylan Returns To The Great American Songbook

Dylan’s 2015 album, Shadows In The Night, was a surprising detour in his storied career. The famed songwriter covered – or, as he put it, “uncovered” – songs associated with Frank Sinatra. Now, he’s at it again, this time revisiting a dozen songs by such legendary songwriters as Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, and Carolyn Leigh. The album, Fallen Angels, will come out on May 20, but the first single, “Melancholy Mood,” another song that Frank Sinatra recorded, is online already. There are two stars here: one is the lead guitar work (unclear to me whether it’s Charlie Sexton or Stu Kimball), which is tasty enough that this could’ve been an outstanding instrumental track; the other is Dylan’s voice – here an almost startlingly smooth croon.

Donovan Returns To The Great Donovan Songbook

Dylan is not the only icon of the 60s still making news this week. Donovan, the mononymic singer/songwriter who traded songs with a young Bob Dylan, taught the Beatles how to fingerpick, and employed Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones as sidemen before they went on to form Led Zeppelin, announced that he is returning to Carnegie Hall (actually, to their mid-sized Zankel Hall) on September 15. It marks 50 years since he last played at Carnegie, and celebrates the 50th anniversary of his song “Sunshine Superman” hitting #1 on the pop charts. The man who introduced a generation of kids in the US and UK to ideas like “flower power” and Eastern thought will probably revisit some (or, more likely, all) of his hits. Tickets go on sale Friday.

Parquet Courts Release New Album, Answer Almost Anything

Friday was a big day for the Brooklyn-based Parquet Courts, as they released their new album Human Performance, and took part in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) session, which gave us insight into how the band really feels about British plumbing. The song “Human Performance” masquerades as a breakup song, full of regret and self-recrimination; but it reveals larger, more universal themes on repeated listening – an indication of how this band has grown from 2013’s brilliant, restless, punky Light Up Gold. Punk has given way to something that is “post” punk without necessarily being “post-punk,” if you know what I mean. (For example, check out the haunting, what-if-Nick-Cave-wrote-Strange-Fruit epic “Uncast Shadow Of A Southern Myth” from 2014’s Content Nausea.) And of course, the band remains an unstoppable force in live performance. Their “surprise” show Friday at the Bell House was sold out days in advance (?), but they’re back at Webster Hall on May 20. For now, enjoy the album’s title track.  

Foxtails Brigade Puts Baroque Pop On Hold, Rocks Out

Friday was also record release day for Oakland’s Foxtails Brigade, a band built around Laura Weinbach’s voice (and guitar) and an almost orchestral assortment of instruments. They have a psych-folk sound not too far removed from the world of Joanna Newsom, and a strong theatrical bent that has earned comparisons to Stephen Sondheim, though I think punk-cabaret of Dresden Dolls might be a more apt analogy. Their new album, their third, is self-titled – the sound of band announcing itself to a wider potential circle of friends. You can stream the whole album online now, which will give you an idea of what the band sounds like. But you can also go straight to the single, “No Fate,” which gives us Foxtails Brigade as a (relatively) straightforward indie rock band, to great effect. Check out the charmingly lo-fi video above.