Rossland Radio Co-op your voice in the wilderness

Remember, this show is bi-weekly and today's guests are Lori Homstal and Gerald Shaffer. Tune in live or download it from the archives. Cheers.

July 15, '08: Hi! The music on this show today is -- well, MAJESTIC! That's all I can say, so listen in and be blessed. It's wonderful music for worship or to just have in the background as you pray and commune with our Lord Jesus! I know you'll enjoy!

July 15, '08: Today Robert & Cori teach on the topic of "Our Righteousness" -- in Christ! This is an awesome subject and as Christians we need to know what God's Word has to say about this. So tune in or catch it on the Archives by first going to "Schedule" for the weekly schedule and clicking on Tuesday at 2PM. This will take you to the Supernatural Hour of Healing page and then scroll down to "Listen to Previouw" and you'll be in our show's archives. This is a direct route! DON'T GO TO THE "ARCHIVES" AT THE TOP OF THE WEB PAGE OR YOU WILL HAVE TO HUNT THROUGH A BIG LIST TO FIND US! Remember to download the program as shows are dropped after two months. Blessings to you! PS: our e-mail is "supernatural@ rosslandradio.com" so let us hear from you!
Cori

“SOUND AND FURY” Sound and Fury (Rebel Youth) ***** +
This is one of the nastiest, greasiest, most excellent rock & roll records I’ve heard in years, certainly one of the best of this decade.

The brainchild of front man Luke Metcalf, S & F is old school metal, something akin to AC/DC or Rhino Bucket meets Iggy & The Stooges- a more recent comparison might be the first Jet album. Loaded with snotty attitude and groove, it’s hard to believe this is their first album.

Metcalf was kicked out of three high schools before being thrown out of his own house, managing to drift from T.O. down to California and even Arizona, living in a car with a buddy and his buddy’s dad- essentially living on the street. Not many of us can even imagine what that would be like, but Luke has taken the raw nerve, adrenaline and desperation of that existence and channeled into these songs.

Metcalf eventually found his way back to Toronto, where he got down to business with his old drum set, a bass guitar, rhythm guitar, and an old Fostex reel-to-reel 8-track a buddy had lent him. “It’s no exaggeration that I spent a solid year in the basement, at least ten hours a day every day, writing songs and recording the tracks, playing all the instruments.” At the end of that year, he’d finished rough demos for 45 songs.

Unable to play the guitar solos him self Metcalf called on Griffin do the leads. Liking what the guitarist was able to do, he suggested they put a band together. Rounded out by rhythm guitarist Daz (Metcalf is the singer), bassist John kerns (ex- Age of Electric) and drummer Chris Avalos, Sound And Fury were born. “Our music is ferocious and dirty and nasty and wild!” says the singer. “I wanna party with the kids who live for rock & roll- no bulls**t, down ‘n dirty, ferocious rock & roll. People who really sincerely live for the music and don’t give a s**t about anything else.”

In a just universe, “Sound And Fury” would be THE rock soundtrack of the summer.

KEY CUTS: “High School Hot Box”, “Can’t Get Enough”, “School’s Out”, “Supercharged”

“SHIVERS” New Guitar Summit (Stony Plain) *****
Here is the second terrific disc from Jay Geils, Duke Robillard and Gerry Beaudoin, featuring special guest Randy Bachman on guitar and vocals for “Your Mind is On Vacation” and “Everybody’s Crying Mercy”. If you like vintage guitar-based jazz, this absolutely belongs in your music collection.

These three guys have been performing together since ’97, which shows in their nearly telepathic performances. “It’s about amazing communication, the three of us really like and respect each other” notes Beaudoin in the liner notes. And given Bachman’s talent as a player and recent jazz discs (he used New Guitar Summit on his acclaimed “Jazzthing II”) he fits in here seamlessly- just one of the guys.

“Shivers” is smooth, it swings and caresses like a gregarious lover you wouldn’t mind getting to know again. This isn’t the real crazy, out-there stuff, but it still possesses an undeniable vitality. It’s the kind of jazz that hasn’t really been in vogue for quite a while, but in the hands of masterful musicians such as New Gutiar Summit, it sounds as fresh as it did back in the days of zoot suits. I would’ve been tempted to call this set “The Well”- it’s deep, cool, and each draught of its magic tastes more delicious than the last.

KEY CUTS: “Blue Sunset”, “Your Mind Is On Vacation”, “Everybody’s Crying Mercy”

SO MUCH FOR THE RAIN The Painted Birds (Painted Birds Music) ****
The debut for these Vancouver-based indie rockers- their name a tip of the chapeau to Jerzy Kozinski’s 1965 novel of the same name- is deep, dark, and catchy.

The Painted Birds are Dominique Fricot (lead vocals, guitar, keys), Josh McNorton (lead guitar, bass, keys, vocals), Shawn Berke (bass, keys. Guitar, vocals) and Shane Lynch (drums). Fricot’s lyrics are dark and sometimes unsettling. “I think, as artists, we have to bring to light what hits us way down deep, because that’s how we can get past it.”

He co-writes mostly with bassist Shawn Berke, a regimented and professional yet spontaneous groove by all accounts. Their sound? Hmmm… The Heartbreakers meets Blue Rodeo or Matt Mayes gets somewhere close to the truth of it. Jangly and urgent yet never pompous, these songs sound their best on a sunny day out on the highway, with a couple of well-placed ballads to break things up nicely.

According to their bio, The Painted Birds would “love to create music that is so intense that the listener can’t help but feel an impact”, surely a more noble pursuit than ‘making the kids wanna dance’. These guys have taken the fat chance, and armed with these twelve songs (and hopefully the right breaks) they could really go places.

KEY CUTS: “So Beautiful”, East of Eden”, “Intimate Mistake”, “Colleen”

THE POWER OF ONE Rick Tippe (Moon Tan) ****
Over a decade into a country music career that includes sharing the stage with some big names and winning a hatful of awards, Rick Tippe still delivers the goods.

After hearing The Power Of One a couple of times, it’s obvious why this guy is so popular. While his songs broach topics that have been covered countless times in country, I can’t detect a false note anywhere. From a joyous romp like “She’s A Guitar” to ballads like “Forever”, he means it. You gotta respect a guy that can write lines like “it’s a long way to paradise/ when you’re crawlin’ on your hands and knees.”

Rick and his band “The Kings Of Cool” are masters of their craft. Even the pedal steel guitar (country’s answer to the bagpipes, or backing over a cat with the pickup) isn’t overbearing, and we can appreciate their ‘roll up the sleeves and get ‘er done’ work ethic.

Country music is like any musical genre- lots of crapola, stuff that’s ‘okay’- and then there’s the good stuff. On “The Power Of One”, Rick Tippe has given us a dose of the good stuff. I wouldn’t call myself a country fan per se, but some of it I DO like- and Tippe’s new album is excellent.

KEY CUTS: “Long Way To Paradise”, the title track, “Last Call”, “The King Of Honky Tonk and Cool”

REAL THING The Higgins (Open Road) ***
A tasty, barnstormin’ debut from a trio of singin’ siblings from Delta BC.

Produced by David Wills (Stonebolt) and Paul Shatto, this is major league stuff set to take country fans by storm. The Higgins have already enjoyed main stage action at the Merritt Mountain Music Festival, and having a manager like Nashville’s DJ McLachlan (do the names Cash, Scruggs, Gatlin and Bellmany ring a bell?) on your side helps too.

For a debut album, Real Thing has an unexpected air of confidence. The Higgins harmonize in that preternatural way only siblings can, and the music is jaunty. The exception is “Factory Girl”, an a cappella tour de force that recalls some of Alison Krauss’s stellar work for “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”- it’s THAT good.

The Dixie Chicks are an admitted influence and it shows. The twelve songs here range from feel-good stuff (“Sounds of Summer”) to darker territory (“16 Going On 30”) and “Factory Girl”, a song they’ve been singing since before even thinking of a record deal.

Not a big country music fan? The sweet harmonies and tight musicianship are still worthy of your attention. Canadian Country hasn’t had a big family act since The Wilkinsons- that changed June 24th when “Real Thing” hit store shelves. Enjoy!

KEY CUTS: “Factory Girl”, “Flower Child” (an ode to the Woodstock generation), “Second Hand Car”

“PAULINE KYLLONEN” Pauline Kyllonen (self released) ** ½
This self-titled four song e.p. is a promising start to a young career.

This disc owes its existence to the song “Rainbow Café”, included here. Kyllonen entered the tune into Music BC (Map Program), winning her three days at The Factory Studios in Vancouver. The Vernon based singer/ songwriter engaged the talents of drummer Pat Steward (ex- Bryan Adams/ current New Odds) as well as New Odds bassist Doug Elliot- talk about the stars lining up in her favor.

Kyllonen’s sound is a cross between country and roots music, some rock influence too. She has a decent but ordinary voice and her lyrics can be clunky, but these are minor quibbles. I wondered if “Unlucky” described her own love life, and was “Rainbow Café” about a real person, or was it just a charming vignette? Another half dozen songs to get a firmer grip on who Pauline is would’ve been nice.

“Unlucky” is an energetic opener that’ll have you tapping in time on the steering wheel, but Kyllonen prefers balladry as her main form of expression. As a preview of things to come “PK” is a nice taster, and the star for me at least is “Wasn’t Thinking About You”, a song so much stronger than the others melodically and lyrically that it really stands out.

KEY CUTS: the two songs just mentioned
Website: www.paulinekyllonen.com

“COME INSIDE” Crop Circle (Crop Circle) *****
Finally- a West Coast rock band that DOESN’T sound like Nickelback! This, Crop Circle’s debut, is one hella cool rock album.

First thing you notice when slapping this bad boy on is that singer Sean McCormick sounds like Chris Cornell, one of rock’s best vocalists, and that’s just for starters. As Crop Circle grinds and jams their way through eleven tracks they manage to sound like the past and the present, at times invoking early 70’s psychedelia powered by the molten, sweaty guitar work of Brian Garbet- Pearl Jam meets Steppenwolf, if you will.

If you can read the fine print on the back cover (I can, but only if I squint) it notes “Recorded in 13 days, no vocal auto-tuning, samples or drum-quantizing appear on this recording.” In an era where we are expected to be routinely amazed by studio trickery such as Pro Tools, Crop Circle has blessed us with unabashed, knuckle-dragging, give-me-another-beer rock & roll.

To some, “Come Inside” will sound like a dated mélange of psychedelic rock and early 90’s grunge- to others, it will sound like great rock & roll. I think I’ve made it pretty clear how I feel. “Come Inside” belongs on my “Ten Best Of 2008” list.

KEY CUTS: “Capitalist Bitch”, “Hideaway”, “The Other Side”