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The Best in Local Music 2007

by Chris Wissmann

Nightlife can run the following statements every year, almost verbatim, without shame or any fear of inaccuracy: This paper's annual review of the year's local-music offerings, as always, is a staggering reminder of how much incredible live and recorded music is available in Carbondale and the surrounding area. The following awards are entirely subjective, but this statement is pure, objective fact: No city in the United States produces more or better music per capita than Carbondale. No city of this size-- especially one so isolated from a major metropolitan area-- boasts a music scene of such vitality. Turn on WDBX, surf the web, or head out on any given weekend (and more than a few weekday nights) and the evidence is always there, usually at a bargain price.

As always, Nightlife surveyed a selection of the area's music-business professionals for nominations in the below categories, then narrowed them down to find the winners. So here's (to) a few of the year's highlights.

Musician(s) of the Year

Hard not to give this honor to the Woodbox Gang, a band whose accomplishments make them a perennial local favorite. This year they played at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Kennedy Center, and signed to the iconic Alternative Tentacles record label owned by Jello Biafra.

Then again, Stace England and the Salt Kings have charted in several European nations with Salt Sex Slaves, a concept album about the Old Slave House in Equality, Illinois, and did so before the CD's official release. They're also slated for a couple of shows at South by Southwest this March.

Another local group that charted this year was art-rock group the Kevin Lucas Orchestra, which hit number twelve on the New Music Weekly college chart (and the top twenty and the top forty on the publication's hot adult-contemporary indie chart and adult-contemporary main chart, respectively) with "I Can Dream." The current single, "Carol of the Bells," is also moving on some charts.

The ferocious Skinny Jim and the Number Nine Blacktops, however, deserve special mention for an amazing, blazing CD of original hotrod rockabilly, Horsepower! Horsepower!, and their deep bow to Warren Batts, who Jim and company helped reestablish as a local rockabilly legend. (A Southern Illinois native, Batts backed Bill Haley on guitar for a number of years.)

Honorable mentions: The Himalayas, the Ivas John Blues Band, Carlos Alberto, and the Moon Buggy Kids.

Best New Musician(s)

A common denominator here is Tim Whiteford: After the regrettable breakup of reggae/ska greats the Rum Runners, Whiteford started Billy Barnacle and the Zebra Mussels-- a dumb name for a band, frankly, but easily overcome after a quick listen to their rootsy, soulful rock. He's also half of Bosco and Whiteford, a rustic folk and country duo with the angel-voiced Kristen Bosco (who in turn is part of a wonderfully sweet folk duo, Lily and Grace). Whiteford, by the way, is also in a slightly older group, County Line.

Along those same lines but closer toward traditional bluegrass is Etherton Junction, formed by key members of Shady Mix, and the Boondock Billies, while heading even further back into the woods is the oldtime acoustic group the Whistle Pigs.

Honorable mentions: The Black Fortys, the Broken Bricks, and the Dirty Bombs.

Best Local CD

One of the most-difficult categories to judge due to the sheer volume and stylistic breadth of the material that has come out this last year. Depending on what a person counts as a local CD, thirty-some releases hit the shelves this year, in addition to a handful of seven-inch vinyl records. To narrow it down, Nightlife will only consider full-length CDs by groups that remain active.

Even then, it's hard to keep the number of great releases manageable.

A good place to start: Two CDs not only by local musicians, but largely, even entirely, about this area. Stace England's Salt Sex Slaves explores the fascinating legends and tall tales of the Old Slave House in Equality. If the subjects don't fit so neatly into rock 'n' roll songs as England's previous concept album, Welcome to Cairo, Illinois, Salt Sex Slaves rocks with great Keith riffage. Horsepower! Horsepower! by Skinny Jim and the Number Nine Blacktops, meanwhile, fires on all eight cylinders as it describes the joys of Little Egypt dive bars, pretension-free scene-making chicks, and the local music scene.

Somewhere between Prince and Dave Matthews is the party/pop/funk of Mathien's Head, Heart, and Hands, while Carlos Alberto's magnificent Mosaic Sky heads into traditional flamenco music.

Runners Up: Defined Perception's Open Your Eyes needs a little better sound quality. Ivas John's Street Music is smooth blues that could use a little more explosiveness. Secondary Modern's Vanilla to an Englishman is slightly cold, à la Radiohead, if well-versed in pop and new wave and quite creative. The DNA Vibrators' The Shape of Things to Have Come and Gone and The Result of Continuous Exposure to Radiation brought the incredible bassist and songwriter Roger Pugh out of retirement with a series of loud funk songs. Meanwhile, Pugh's The Akademiks... Rock! is a Schoolhouse Rock-style CD of geology pedagogy-- rocks set to rock, as it were, with the wonderful horns in "Sweet Geology (The Mineral Song)" bringing some old-school funk.

Honorable Mentions: JoBu, Assemble; the Hell, The Hell; the Accelerators, Haven't You Heard!; O'Fallon, Finish; Hang 'Em High, The One, the Only, Hang 'Em High; Motive for the Soul, Unlock Your Mind; Annihilate the Hero, Betrothing Dejection; Himalayas, Numbers are Against Us.

The beat goes on...

Music-scene Alum of the Year

Key members moved north this fall, making them (somewhat arbitrarily) music-scene alum, but the Copyrights have kept a foot or two in the local scene via their 2007 release, Make Sound, with a more atmospheric guitar sound and several ringing odes to their hometown and upbringing: "Kids of the Blackhole," "Knee Deep," "Headcount," "Flat," "Stuck in the Summertime," and "Planet Earth Nineteen-ninety-four." Every song contains a beautiful rush of anthemic harmony and guitar noise. And while they released a full-length CD, Mutiny Pop, and an acoustic split seven-inch, Handclaps and Bottlecaps, in 2006, the pop/punk quartet already has a new CD ready to release. The Copyrights may have issued more great music in a shorter time than any other band who can claim Southern Illinois as a point of origin. Meanwhile, the Copyrights are coming up in the punk world, playing the Riot Fest at the Congress Theatre in Chicago along with Naked Raygun, Bad Brains, Stiff Little Fingers, Seven Seconds, and the Queers.

Runners Up: The Calico System is also coming up in the punk world with Outside Are the Vultures on Eulogy Records. Zacc Harris (Broken Grass, Madcap, Mothership Funk Orchestra, Mercy) is coming up in the Minneapolis jazz scene in his new band, the Atlantis Quartet, who released a debut album, Again, Too Soon, in 2007. Terry White of great late-1980s local band the Modern Day Saints issued a wonderful solo CD, Our Separate Ways.

Mike Bruno and Kevin Kozol of Spare Parts not only kept the band together (with some lineup changes) after a move to Chicago and graduate work at the DePaul School of Music, but are constantly touring-- and in March 2008 will play the Peru Jazz Festival in Lima, Peru.

And Rick Carney, once a member of Carbondale punk band and Aleister Crowley disciples EMG, is now running the Austin branch of the Paul Green School of Rock Music-- sort of a real-life Dewey Finn.

The Best in Local Music of 2006:

by Chris Wissmann

Nightlife's annual review of the preceding year's local-music offerings, as always, is a staggering reminder of how much incredible live and recorded music is available in Carbondale and the surrounding area. The following awards are entirely subjective, but this statement is pure, objective fact: No city in the United States produces more or better music per capita than Carbondale. No city of this size-- especially one so isolated from a major metropolitan area-- boasts a music scene of such vitality. Turn on WDBX, surf the web, or head out on any given weekend (and more than a few weekday nights) and the evidence is always there, usually at a bargain price-- despite a stupid, harmful decision by the Carbondale City Council to restrict live music in beer gardens.

Enough. Here's a toast to just a few of those whose hard work makes Carbondale such a joyous playground. Go see them all soon, and ensure yourself a big kickstart to 2007.

Musician(s) of the Year

Woodbox Gang.
No local musical artists travelled so extensively as the Woodbox Gang and Nathan Clark George (the latter with and without Shady Mix's Mark Stoffel), while still finding time to create and record new music of such amazing quality. The former, of course, specializes in the Dark Side of Americana, while George, perhaps less well-known to Nightlife readers, performs explicitly Christian music.

Naming them co-Musicians of the Year is not a simple exercise in irony. Nor is conferring this recognition to George a kind of prayer to keep Nightlife staff out of Hell for all the kudos this paper has given the Woodbox Gang during the last several years. George performs a wonderful task-- he captures all the majesty, subtlety, and complexity of the Bible and its teachings in appealing, original folksy pop songs that don't pander lyrically or musically to the largely vapid Christian-rock radio industry. George, also an astounding guitarist, recorded a solo CD as well as a duet Christmas disc with the great multi-instrumentalist and singer Stoffel. After a huge chunk of the last year or so on the road with his family as a full-time musician, George and Stoffel closed out 2006 with a tour of Europe.

Nathan Clark George.
Less here need be written about the Woodbox Gang-- their status as road warriors, wildly original songwriters, and top-notch recording and performing musicians is axiomatic. They remain at the pinnacle of local music and their own high standards.

Runners Up: Some folks don't recognize their musicianship, subservient as it sometimes is to drunken-pirate bacchanalia, but the Bourbon Knights are more than the most enjoyable band in Southern Illinois-- they don't make a joyous noise, but joyous, startlingly original and supremely accomplished music. The Copyrights remain the area's best as well as one of the most prolific recording artists; their 2006 disc, Mutiny Pop, documents the mighty struggle against selling out on several levels, while the acoustic split seven-inch Handclaps and Bottlecaps shows that on other releases they use all that guitar amperage to augment greatness, not to hide inadequacy. Defined Perception, the States, and the New Ledge Band, each in different ways, all contributed progressive elements to the music scene, while Coal Train and Rich Fabec kept guard over traditional music.

Also of Note: Stace England and the Cairo Project, Toney Ventura, and Majnun also played Europe in 2006, spreading the reputation of Carbondale's music scene worldwide.

Best New Musician(s)

Under the Radar.
Entertaining without being schticky; capable of widespread popularity without pandering to anyone; great musicians and good songwriters; funky, danceable, and tuneful but not wimpy, Under the Radar is among of the most promising groups to emerge in Carbondale in a long time. They share the honors with Secondary Modern, a group that defies easy categorization. Not only as creative as most groups who have ever called Little Egypt home, this trio has the musical chops to pull off their ambitions, even in live settings, and they wrap whatever they play in a sonically appealing pop package. May we hear more from both bands, and soon.

Honorable Mentions: Rock 'n' roll, punk, metal-- it's all about energy and attitude, but those who add strong musicianship and songwriting just can't lose (despite the titled of the next group's 2006 CD): the Dead or Alives and the Conniption Fitts helped take up the torch of true local-rock firepower. Jobu proved themselves more than just another jam band. Mathien, sort of in the same mode as Under the Radar, combines a great blend of creativity and funky party appeal. Hey-- whatever happened to 30-Aut-6 and Them Hot Tamales, both of whom made huge impressions at the 2006 Copper Dragon Band Wars contest?

Best Local CD

Copyrights.
This writer has listened to the Copyrights' mighty Mutiny Pop nearly every day since its May release, and it grows stronger with each play. The fantastic combination of explosive noise and singalong melodies is blended with some of the finest songwriting of 2006. Yeah, the quartet gets a little snotty-- "Weapons of Math Destruction" is unfortunately elitist in the same way it condemns snobby, overly academic music-- but hey, this is punk rock. "Broadway" might be the best song anyone in Carbondale wrote in 2006.

Honorable Mentions: Except, maybe, for the Woodbox Gang's expression of pure disgust and cynicism, "Almost Enough." (How can people as young as the Copyrights and Woodbox Gang already be this jaded?) Their CD, Drunk as Dragons, lacks some of the fire of previous discs, but it's still plenty rich: "The Muse" celebrates the curse and gift of creative energy and the inconvenient times at which it strikes; "Dusty, Dozer, and Grandpa" is a typically dark but surprisingly heart-rending story about two of Grandpa's dogs.

The Rum Runners' Bare Bones takes ska back to its earliest roots by unplugging the instruments. Stripping away the electricity makes for a far more traditional, intimate experience. They should play a few acoustic shows!

Other More-than Worthy Local CDs: In most other years, the Bourbon Knights' A Black Spot: Thirteen Coils and Fifteen Men would deserve far higher billing; it's the best recorded work to date by one of the area's best and funnest groups. Nathan Clark George issued two wonderful inspirational CDs, his own Rise in the Darkness and a duet with Mark Stoffel, A Midwinter's Eve, both of which prove that Christian music can succeed with grace, soul, and subtlety. Rich Fabec's Name Your Poison has all the guitar flash of any modern blues CD, but Fabec adds to the musicianship slightly socially conscious lyrics that he delivers with a preacher's fervor.

A Few More: The Accelerators' Nowhere Near Funny, the Soothsayers' Volume One, Secondary Modern's A Finance Opera, Michael Bruce's Touch, the Hateful Dead's Like Sheep to the Slaughter, the Dammit Boys' Before Dawn, and the Dead or Alives' You Can't Win.

Music-scene Alum of the Year

Yes, Grammy-winning Carbondale music-scene alumni Shawn Colvin, who played in local band the Dixie Diesels in the 1970s, came out with a brilliant new CD, These Four Walls. It's her best disc since 1998, and one of the finest in a career of towering highlights.

But credit where credit is due, even in it comes thirty-five-plus years too late: the award goes to Robbie Stokes's old group, Devils Kitchen. A vintage live recording by the band is suddenly receiving webplay on the Wolfgang's Vault internet-radio station. The entire concert, recorded live at San Francisco-area venue the Great Highway in 1970, is archived on the site, and the group has also been featured on the station's rotation. In addition, the site is selling posters and handbills promoting shows at which Devils Kitchen performed with Janis Joplin's group Big Brother and the Holding Company, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Mike Bloomfield, and the Sir Douglas Quintet. Wow.

Honorable Mention: In addition to Shawn Colvin, how about Spare Parts, whose amazing roadwork and solid new CD are bringing the jazz/funk outfit acclaim and a growing base of fans?

The Best of 2005

by Chris Wissmann

What a year-- Zacc Harris left town, grounding with his departure his tremendous new bands, the Mothership Funk Orchestra and G-string Hypothesis. Lyric and It Burns broke up, and Jimmy Salatino left town, taking down Triple Dose. And wherefore art thou, Revis?

Locally, hip-hop still remains a largely underground phenomenon-- the inability of fine local recording artists like Xpeezy to reach wider live audiences is simply baffling. The same is true of metal, though grassroots efforts like the Southern Illinois Metal Collective have managed to organize large if occasional shows. Plenty of women do play in the local-music scene, but mainly in folk-oriented groups-- lamentably, though girls can kick ass (see Big Muff's white-hot track on the Bucky Fuller benefit compilation), few play in harder-edged bands. Meanwhile, while out-of-town groups such as Cornmeal have established in Carbondale a regular and successful tour stop, local jamgrass groups seem to have run their course.

Finally, Nightlife readers should worry more than a little about efforts that would in effect bar local beer gardens from offering live entertainment. Keep an eye to the city of Carbondale's website, in particular the Liquor Advisory Board and City Council agenda pages, for mention of changes to the city's noise ordinance. Meanwhile, let elected representatives (of which this writer is one) know how potential changes to the noise ordinance could damage arts and entertainment opportunities, legitimate businesses, and SIU enrollment.

So what good came of Carbondale in 2005? Hot trends in Carbondale music remain jam bands and pop-punk. The Carbondale music scene saw the emergence of more great new bands than even music-scene professionals like this writer can keep straight [see below]. Studios kept humming, turning out about a dozen noteworthy CDs more than are listed here. Few sectors of the local community gave more of their time and souls than local musicians did to help raise money for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita relief efforts. And the Lab Kids continued to push the music scene toward wider multimedia presentations.

So the glass is at least half-full. So let's take a deep chug from it in toast to 2005, but first, a quick note: bands that have broken up are not eligible for the following awards.

Musician/Band of the Year

Rum Runners.
In 2005, the Rum Runners released not just one, but two full-length CDs. Who do they think they are, the Woodbox Gang? While neither Lock the Door nor This Little World ranked among the best local discs of 2005, that was more an indication of the extraordinary quality of countless other local CDs than any deficiency on the part of the Rum Runners, who documented on their CDs their deep passion for reggae and ska.

Honorable Mentions: Stace England (see below), the Copyrights, the Bourbon Knights, and Hyphenate (who has a much-anticipated CD in the works). Mandat really established themselves in 2005. Aujalyn continues to tour and score impressive warmup shows, as they did with Trapt last week. And here's an extra-special mention for the Woodbox Gang, who survived the loss of two key members while retaining their distinctive style. In the same vein, Jimmy Salatino's departure did not leave St. Stephen's Blues dead (or Dead)-- the group also deserves kudos for using this and other member changes as an impetus for freshening their sound.

Best New Musician/Band

Community Service.
No new group has worked harder to establish themselves than Community Service. The band's excellent lyrics and funky tunes have attracted a substantial audience in a remarkably short time, and quality gets equal credit with hard work-- they spent 2005 recording a CD and playing everywhere from bars to beer gardens to wineries, here and (slightly) abroad.

Honorable Mentions: In terms of this writer's music preferences, two great bands are worth personal recommendations: the Clap and the Soothsayers. The Clap have a wonderful stage show, intelligent songs, fantastic melodic songwriting, and ferocious punk power. The Soothsayers, meanwhile, rescue old jug-band songs and expand the tradition by adapting modern and classic tunes to the rollicking genre. The activity, quality, and popularity of the New Ledge Band merits a mention here. The States have taken up the instrumental-rock traditions of former Carbondale groups La Makita Soma and Bear Claw, even starting off as if they were an experienced band. Defined Perception, the John Brejc Project, the Moon Buggy Kids, and the Himalayas round out the honor roll of impressive newer groups. And they all ensure that Carbondale audiences will hear a lot of great music long into the future.

Best Local CD

Stace England.
Stace England's Greetings from Cairo, Illinois was a gigantic accomplishment. England managed a rare feat-- he crafted a concept album that actually holds together, with individual parts that nearly all stand on their own. The Who's Tommy doesn't do either, folks-- let that give an idea of how impressive Greetings from Cairo really is. The disc's stellar supporting cast and outstanding songs take listeners through the history of Illinois's troubled southernmost river town, but the disc rarely feels like a lecture and only in one instance ("Grant Slept Here") does England sound like he's forcing an important part of the story into a song. Otherwise, Greetings from Cairo is simply a joy to hear, even if some of the harrowing stories it tells may deeply disturb listeners. Credit the explosive rock of "Prosperity Train" (with vocalist Jason Ringenberg) and the gorgeous closing track, "Can't We All Get Along," with the angelic Chris McKinley's background vocals lifting the song from what could have been flat cliché into an appeal worthy of Heaven's rapt attention. Anyone who does not own this CD is poorer for it.

Honorable Mentions: Nathan Clark George's Slam the Door is wonderful, an extremely subtle Christian disc with James Taylor-caliber arrangements and John Fahey-quality guitar playing. The Accelerators' fantastic Overhauled is a powerful affirmation of punk-rock's roots in social and political commentary, while the Copyrights kept up punk's often-ignored love of melody (and in this case Carbondale history) with the four-song Nowhere Near Chicago. The Kevin Lucas Orchestra's Ancient Skies is a gorgeous art-rock album, perhaps the best such local disc since La Makita Soma left town. Two words about RognboB's Calling in Well: hi-lar-i-ous. The compilation Roam Home to a Dome, which benefits the restoration of Buckminster Fuller's old geodesic dome into a museum, contains no end of great music by both local artists and those who frequent Carbondale, all of whom wrote or performed Fullerine material, or who have special connections to the great futurist who used to teach at SIU; in addition, it features short spoken-word clips by Bucky himself. Finally, Mister Michael Productions compiled an ace CD of material by twenty-one bands from the area, The Trinity Fell, which explores the region's heavier music.

Music-scene Alumni/a of the Year

Though nobody truly stands out in this category, many people with Carbondale roots keep up and expand the reach of our scene's reputation.

Joe Swank returned to Carbondale at the beginning of the semester with a fantastic new alt.country group, the Zen Pirates. Eric Howell keeps threatening to release his debut full-length solo CD, and meanwhile was heating up Chicago's airwaves with humorous song parodies based on the White Sox World Series run. The YellowHammers, consisting of former Modern Day Saints, released a wonderful new CD (Satellite), as did underground hip-hop artist Serengeti (Gasoline Rainbow). Finally, Spare Parts and Alan Vasquez continue to tear up the road.

The Best in Local Music 2004

by Chris Wissmann

What to think of 2004? The triumphs were down from previous years-- no new CDs by the Woodbox Gang, Bruce Camden, or the Plus, no major-label signings along the lines of Revis, no massive exposure to local musicians.

I took a few of my inlaws to see a decent out-of-town band last fall, and they're still raving about it; "Just another night in Carbondale," I yawned. When the cream of local music routinely hits the dizzying heights attained by, say, the Woodbox Gang, it's easy to take our blessings for granted.

Reviewing the content of last year's Nightlifes shows how obviously good we have it in Southern Illinois, where I bet that we have more great musicians-- and artists and authors-- per capita than any other city in Illinois.

Action Man reunited.
Nothing happens in a vacuum, so it was especially gratifying to see Celebrate the Strip, a multivenue festival that reunited several of Carbondale's best bands from years past, including Action Man, the Nightsoil Coolies, Crank, 138, and the original Four on the Floor. The Waxdolls/Cruces reunion show was another reminder that great local music is not a recent development, but a Carbondale legacy. Then there's the reformation of the Dammit Boys, another blast from the past.

Yes, but-- to quote a 1980s song by former local band October's Child, "What About Now?" Yes, but... Broken Grass, one of the few local bands who could fill the Copper Dragon, broke up. Yes, but... DJ Echoz, who brought tons of great hip-hop to Carbondale and highlighted the area's best rappers on his weekly showcase, moved to Chicago. And what's happening with Revis?

Broken Grass: RIP.
The Hangar will continue to offer excellent local and out-of-town hip-hop shows on Wednesday nights, but the loss of Echoz, a high-profile, well-respected focal point, is tough. Meanwhile, local hip-hop continues to refuse to really explode in Carbondale. This is not to say that the area lacks quality hip-hop artists, just that they steadfastly remain underground, except for one rapper/producer, Ricc Johnson. In 2004, two other local groups did step up and release CDs, Sound Mind Entertainment and the Hottest Product. But a city the size and diversity of Carbondale should brim with the same quantity of great hip-hop that it does with blues, jazz, punk, and rock.

Older music, especially jazz and bluegrass, continues to attract young musicians and audiences, with groups like Caravan and Coal Train. But the most pervasive trend appears to be in heavy music–  not exactly punk, not exactly heavy metal, not exactly grunge, not exactly modern rock-- which continues to grow. It Burns, the Hateful Dead, Ninety-nine Stabwounds, Aminion... how many other terrific bands in this mold can we name? More than just loud, they are textured, artistic, intelligent. And loud as all hell. They are the sound of complacency shattering, and it's nice to hear it.

So who and what were the best of 2004? Here's the official Nightlife picks:

Local Musician of the Year:

Had they not broken up, this award would have gone to Broken Grass. There was no clear winner in this category, then, but many excellent local artists who deserve mention for making Carbondale such a motherload of phenomenal local music: Jackhead, the Bourbon Knights, Ricc Johnson, the Hateful Dead, It Burns, the Copyrights, Lyric, and the Woodbox Gang.

Best New Band:

Former Holidays lead singer Dustin Mendenhall is back with another first-rate band of politically charged punk rockers, the Accelerators. Their CD, Geared up for Lights Out, showcases an exceptionally tight and creative group, with pointed but not preachy lyrics and traditional punk fury with especially interesting guitar flourishes. There's no whining anywhere on this record. "Material World," for example, is almost a Madonna parody, funny while cutting viciously into a rank, consumption-driven society; "American Teenager" punctures the comfortable bubble in which spoiled youth live; "The Way We Choose" declares that these lifestyles are not predestined but pursued.

Runnersup: Traditional bluegrass band Coal Train was a breath of fresh air in a sea of jamgrass, slamgrass, electric bluegrass, and other innovations-- a reminder that the real thing is just fine, thank you. Rural Love Invasion is a terrific new soul band, and Mandat is among the most creative new local bands in a long time. Chickenfoot Gumbo, meanwhile, brought something totally unique to the area-- New Orleans party music.

Best Local Release:

(Tie) The Copyrights' Button Smasher and Jackhead's Slow Dance in the Kitchen were the best local CDs of 2004.

The Copyrights.
The Copyrights' disc was actually a seven-inch packed in several different colors of vinyl with a matching CD, poster, and more. But it was the tremendous rush of melody and sharp songwriting that makes the disc so explosive. There are very few guitar solos on the record, which makes the freshness of the record after repeated listening even more impressive. Too bad it's only four songs.

Jackhead's CD is hardly groundbreaking, but is utterly solid. Often lyrically depressing in its tales of Southern Illinois life, Slow Dance is true to country music's spirit. The addition of pedal-steel brings the band even closer to a true country sound than their first cowpunk-inspired disc or their fuzzier sophomore release, though on Slow Dance Jackhead never abandons the southern-rock/alternative-rock guitar fire of their roots.

Jackhead.
Runnersup: Triple Dose's Triple Dose-- excellent work by a tremendous band. Thank god they finally finished it. Lyric's Masquerade is perhaps the most creative recorded local work of 2004 (except for DJ Christian's Quality Noise)-- a neat mix of poetry and jazz. Rob Jones released his finest work yet, a rock album titled Fearless where he was backed by Brent Stewart and the Sympathizers. Clean Ray's Red Tide Surfing is a neat alternative to punk, modern rock, garage, and other prominent trends-- a bit new-wavey, perhaps, but eminently listenable regardless of category. Also eschewing categorization-- although utterly dissimilar in style-- Through Dint of Heavy Wishing's excellent The Smartest Wall is an emotionally bracing listen, as listeners might expect from a band heavy with Cruces alumni. The Hell released a scorching self-titled hardcore/metal blend.

And finally, there was The Best of Paul Simon, a compilation of twenty-one of the late U.S. senator's radio commentaries and a 1998 Simon interview by Michael Feldman, conducted when the Whad'ya Know? radio show came to Shryock Auditorium. Perhaps Volume II, if it's in the works, will add Simon's vocal performances of "Hello Dolly" and "Froggy Went a-Courtin'" with his daughter, Sheila's band, Loose Gravel. The CD is a fundraiser for WSIU and available at <http://www.wsiu.org/PledgeNow/index.shtml>.

Music-scene Alumni of the Year

Jason Ringenberg.
The inventor of alternative country and cowpunk got his start in Carbondale as an SIU student, and he continued his artistic prosperity in 2004. Jason Ringenberg's triumphant return to Southern Illinois on two occasions last summer laid the groundwork for his glorious new solo CD, Empire Builders. "His writing, once famously steeped in the Southern gothic mythos of salvation and sin, is now clear, direct, and observational," writes a local fan about the deeply political material on Empire Builders. In addition, Ringenberg's Farmer Jason children's act came to town for a charming, energetic show at Longbranch.

Runnersup: Nora O'Connor, formerly with local folk-rock band the Immigrant Fleas and informal backup singer with local satirical punks Three Man, moved to Chicago in the early 1990s and went on to sing with the Blacks, Andrew Bird, the New Pornographers, and Neko Case. This year she signed to Americana label Bloodshot Records, home to the Legendary ShackShakers and Robbie Fulks, and released Til the Dawn, a collection of country music sung without a southern accent. Little of the material on the album is O'Connor's, but her singing is exceptional throughout, and the playing is first-rate.

Hank and Ruth, featuring Phil Bayer of 1980s Carbondale band the Modern Day Saints and Shawn Gibbons, released a truly exceptional CD, America's Pastime. Backed by a constellation of music-scene alum, including fellow former Saints Kevin James, Rob Pierce, and Terry White, former Reform guitarist/vocalist and WCIL DJ John Riley, and former October's Child guitarist John Pirruccello, the playing is outstanding, and Bayer's incredible lyrics evoke just about every extreme emotion in the palette. Stop by <http://www.HankAndRuth.com> to catch up with Bayer and pick up the disc.

The Year in Local Music 2003

by Chris Wissmann

When I started to compile my list of last year's best local musicians and music, I wasn't terribly inspired. But after I began to review what's transpired in the last year, and after asking for input from a few trusted, anonymous experts, I became more reassured: 2003 was more than the year of the Woodbox Gang, as significant as that remarkable band's accomplishments were. The challenge became, what and whom do I leave out of this article while still making it complete and authoritative? I may not have sufficiently arisen to the task. That, however, is a pretty good problem to have.

The Woodbox Gang
Other than Spare Parts moving to Chicago, no major local acts emigrated. Significant breakups included the Fighting 407, the SweeTarts, Hello Operator, Kick-in Emergency, and Funomenon.

The year was marked by the successful reestablishment of several musicians in new configurations-- members of the Last Laugh and Cruces, for example, came roaring out with new groups (the Copyrights, Through Dint of Heavy Wishing, Like No Other) that immediately found waiting audiences.

Two groups who rated highly in the past but not in 2003-- the Plus and Clean Ray. It may be unfair to criticize the Plus for just playing great shows every now and then rather than releasing nearly perfect albums every year, which they seemed to do for awhile, even when they had broken up. Their last two CDs, Digital Sunset and Bullfighting Music Volume One, were, however, letdowns after the dizzying heights of Digital Sunshine and The Plus. Clean Ray, meanwhile, played too sparingly to capitalize on the momentum they built up earlier in 2003. Hopefully, they plan to play out more often this year.

It's been several years since the release of a good compilation of local music. DigiDawg Records, the SIU student-run record label, released volume one of their Coalition of the Willing in 2003. Thank God it's out. Coalition crams in a lot of music-- twenty-three tracks-- at a basement-bargain price of $7. Unfortunately, Coalition is more of a raw documentary than a showcase of excellence. While much of the songwriting is good, the recording quality varies widely. In terms of production values, the hip-hop tracks by Cato featuring J-OH and Lil' Nemphis featuring D-A sparkle so brightly that much of the other artists' material hurts the ears. A little mastering would help, as would more of the Grade Triple-A hip-hop, which on Coalition sets extremely high standards.

Well, with all the greatness listed herein, I can't help but hunger for more, spoiled though I may be. Shall I quit whining, pining, and musing, and get to the awards?

Local Musicians of the Year

What a year it's been for the Woodbox Gang, who released three excellent CDs (the live Showdown and two studio efforts, Born with a Tail and I've Killed Men). This group received what would have been a ridiculous amount of ink last year in Nightlife had they not deserved every drop. In a music-scene pool deep with musical talent, these guys are by far the biggest fish. In a music scene with an auspicious past, they even rate high on the all-time-best list.

The Disgracefuls.
Runnersup: If all the Disgracefuls ever did was bring Murfreesboro, Tennessee band Feable Weiner to Carbondale for a couple shows, they'd earn a spot on this list. But the Disgracefuls also bashed out a pretty good home-recorded CD, One More Times, filled with wonderful, angst-filled pop-punk songs (although a more professional recording would have improved it a lot). The Disgracefuls, along with Thirteen Complaints and (if their Coalition of the Willing track is representative) Perchance Allyson, are strong contenders for the voice of Carbondale's chronically screwed up, a position formerly held by the estimable but defunct Waxdolls and Last Laugh. (See One More Times' "Stevie Ray": "Why do we all get drunk and misbehave?") And the Disgracefuls' wonderfully energetic shows are as much fun to watch as to hear.

Both the Last Laugh and Copyrights share(d) a rhythm section plus a guitarist, but the latter, current band is smoother, poppier, more purist punk, and a bit less distinctive. Nevertheless, the Copyrights write terrific songs and play explosive shows. In 2003 they garnered a contract with Insubordination Records for We Didn't Come Here to Die and toured about as widely as any local band, except for bluegrass/old-time band Broken Grass, who also released a terrific CD and just about became a national act though hardcore roadwork.

Two damned heavy groups that deserve honorable mention: Annihilate the Hero and the Near Death Experience. It's far too easy for extreme music to devolve into mere noise. Turning it into meaningful art is quite an accomplishment. The Hateful Dead are more nuanced in their high-volume assault but still kind of in this vein-- loud as hell but interesting listening, too. And I don't know what to make of this, but here it is: my dog was fascinated by their debut CD, Temptress.

It's also possible for extremely complex music to become geeky wanking. The Goddamn Jets do a terrific job of avoiding the pitfalls of math rock by playing satisfying, if complicated, music.

Best New Musician(s)

The Visual.
Tie: The Visual has a ton of potential. They seem like nice guys, their music is appealing in a radio-friendly but not overly pandering way, and crowds love them-- audiences leave their shows feeling inspired and good. It does hurt that they have a tendency to pose a little on stage, and their music could stand more character. But members of the Visual seem like such true believers and they look like they're having such fun that somehow they don't make this writer at all cynical.

Delta Fuzz brings David Gene Smith back to the Carbondale music scene. Smith is one of the area's all-time best songwriters, a Southern Illinois Van Morrison, or at least a John Hiatt. Delta Fuzz, featuring Ivas John on lead guitar, plays more explicitly bluesy music than is found on Smith's solo recordings, which contain potent mixtures of jazz, country, soul, and other Americana stylings. But when Delta Fuzz sends Smith's bracing voice slamming into a Howlin' Wolf classic, goosebumps spread through the crowd.

Delta Fuzz.
Runnersup: After the breakup of Cruces, Derek Cook and Scott "Schurl" Doudera rejoined in Through Dint of Heavy Wishing. The new band retains Cruces' intense emotional impact, but lightens up the sonic assault with some acoustic textures and backing vocals from Emily Cook.

Alan Vasquez is a band, but not in the sense that Van Halen is a band, because Vasquez plays solo. Using digital technology, à la Keller Williams or Robert Fripp, Vasquez loops guitar and drum-machine parts to create instant backing tracks over which he solos. He makes it look easy and fun, though it's got to be extremely demanding.

At times, theatrical indie-rock band Cash Gal, with their high-energy show and the way Caleb Leech's high, reedy voice recalls Geddy Lee's, brings Rush to mind. But think earlier Rush, because (thankfully) Cash Gal lacks the obvious pomp and polish of the latter-day art-metal Canadians.

The quality of any group featuring Mike Martin is assured, hence Like No Other's presence on this list. Martin was the one-fourth of the Last Laugh who didn't end up in the Copyrights; Like No Other plays less pure punk than the Copyrights, although with speed demon Joe McMillan on drums, this group's music retains a brisk pace and thunderous backbone.

Best Local Release

It was a year of superlative oddities-- none perfect, but many ambitious and largely successful CDs came out.

The best was Bruce Camden's astonishing Nothing Gained, which flies all over the stylistic map, from hip-hop to Dixieland to heavy metal to country to blues. It's not just that the Slappin' Henry Blue guitarist does it with such ease, or that he improbably makes it all fit together so logically-- it's the unmistakable, loving genius of Camden's songwriting and arrangements that bursts through nearly every genre he tackles. With guest vocals by Tawl Paul and Martin "Big Larry" Albritton, not to mention great singing by Camden himself, Nothing Gained is a winner.

Runnersup: Oh, just pick a Woodbox Gang album. Say, Born with a Tail. How they keep their obsession with dark, supernatural entities and phenomena fresh is probably a question for dark, supernatural entities. Or maybe it's a dark, supernatural phenomenon. More likely, it's the Gang's high lyrical standards, extraordinary experimental drive, and close attention to detail... although eventually the Son-of-Satan songs and the like will inevitably wear thin, so here's hoping for more lyrical diversity in future compositions.

The Bourbon Knights' Cry of the Banshee, despite one overly graphic song, is an enjoyable if motley collection of sea chanties, Irish pub and folk music, swing, and spoken-word poetry.

Marion musician Jason Dodson released a compilation called The New Funk Order, Project One, and while it's not strictly a local CD-- it's a genre compilation of Prince-like funk from musicians the world over-- it does contain two songs by Dodson. It's also absolutely free-- download everything but the jewel box (including a video) from <http://www.NewFunkOrder.com>.

Less genre-bending but still satisfying: the Copyrights' We Didn't Come Here to Die, Spare Parts' Exit 54, Nathan Clark George's Words for Everyday, the Hateful Dead's Temptress, the Phil Brown Quartet's Hope Street Saunter, Majun's self-titled CD, the JLDJ's Dance to the Death, and the Near Death Experience's When the Venom Sets In.

Alumni of the Year

Revis.
Once again, Revis is hard to top. Though their Epic Records debut, Places for Breathing, hasn't sold at a chart-topping pace, the disc has received significant radio airplay, and the band toured North America and Europe with Evanescence, Fuel, and Pearl Jam. They remain Southern Illinoisans at heart, however, and continue to return to play Carbondale whenever possible.

Former Uncle Jon's Band drummer Jonathan Levine has entered the business end of the music business, working as an agent for Live, Joan Osborne, and one of the world's most successful concert attractions, the Dead. What a long strange trip it's probably been.

The Year in Local Music 2002

by Chris Wissmann

The growing strength of the Carbondale music scene in the last few years continually astonishes me. Per capita, I’d bet Carbondale has more good performing and recording musicians than any other city in the United States. And there’s a real vibe for Carbondale music right now-- fan support is at its strongest since the late 1980s, when I first came to town. So the rewards are mutual-- fans get great music, and musicians get large audiences.

Bigtime bummers like the breakup of Cruces, the Last Laugh, and the Jungle Dogs (who would otherwise have been band-of-the-year candidates with best-local-CD nods) were offset in 2002 by the explosive popularity of newer groups like Broken Grass and Terra Firma. Many other established groups, like the Woodbox Gang, maintained the scene’s continuity while setting new standards in recording and performing.

Of course, the twin tragedy for which nothing can make up, and which words simply fail to describe, is the death of Forrest and Doug Hurd, who were killed in a car accident in July 2002. A moment of silence, please....

I can’t even guess the number of local CD releases in 2002, but I’d bet it was substantially more than my 2001 estimate of twenty-five. And the quality and variety of those releases has exponentially expanded along with everything else in local music.

An interesting trend has emerged-- instrumental music, and not only among jazz-based groups like Mercy, Caravan, the New Arts Jazz Quartet, and Spare Parts. Many heavier groups such as Drift, Bear Claw, the Goddamn Jets, and the Hateful Dead play a lot of instrumental songs (though not all of them are strictly instrumental bands). Plus, there’s semi-local band La Makita Soma and new-age pianist Zola Van. What to make of it all? It’s an appealing change, especially because most of these artists play challenging material.

The main weakness of the scene remains hip-hop. After a couple years of extremely high-impact releases by the likes of Ricc Johnson, the Talented Tenth, and RID, rappers appear to have delved back into the underground, though at least Johnson managed to crack into the local nightclub scene for one 2002 performance. Diversity is required to ensure healthy development of anything, whether it’s a stock portfolio or a music scene. That makes a local hip-hop upsurge essential.

At the end of 2001, a lot of the world’s best music was made here in Southern Illinois. By the end of 2002, the same was still true. Anyone who cares about music of nearly any type can typically find several local bands who do it well, or they can catch numerous touring acts on a regular basis-- and they can do it for a fraction of the cost they would incur in so-called major cities. As for those local musicians, here’s the best of 2002.

Local Musician of the Year:

Woodbox Gang.
A brief poll of local-music professionals confirmed the Woodbox Gang as the best local band of 2002. They released the best local CD of 2002 [see below], which promptly sold out, along with their debut, Trashcan Americana. They undertook a successful summer tour, and the band’s expansion, particularly the addition of drummer Pete McRaven and guitarist Ratliff Dean Thiebaud, has added more drive and diversity. They remain one of the most raw, entertaining, shocking, prolific, and strange bands in the area. The Woodbox Gang plays a CD release party for their live album, Showdown, Friday, January 17 at Mugsy's Entertainment Complex.

Runnersup: Releasing an EP and hooking up with major touring act Leftover Salmon for a series of opening engagements-- and showing tremendous improvement in every conceivable way since they were founded-- Broken Grass accomplished quite a bit in 2002. They show signs of being able to step into and perform at the highest levels of the currently hot bluegrass/slamgrass/newgrass major leagues.

Hateful Dead.
At the other end of the musical spectrum-- and willfully there at that-- the Hateful Dead continue to get better. These guys make a gawd-awful racket, but their heavy, slamming tunes are increasingly nuanced and artfully constructed. The Hateful Dead even played a show with almost no distortion, and they still hit hard. The Hateful Dead play Friday, January 10 at Boo, Jr. and Company with Annihilate the Hero.

How is it that everything Mortimer does is fabulous? The Fighting 407, last year’s best new local band, is one of this year’s best overall. Not only that, he’s in the Bourbon Knights, too, another one of those raw, entertaining, shocking, strange local bands of very high calibre.

Kick-in Emergency’s CD doesn’t do the band’s live show justice-- and the band’s sparse performing schedule is appalling. This band is too damned great to play so rarely. Quit your day jobs, guys! (No, don’t. But please do schedule more gigs in 2003.)

Back to another completely different musical realm, where new-age keyboardist Zola Van managed to hit national radio-airplay charts with Paint the Forest Winter. According to <http://NewAgeVoice.com/>, Van’s CD hit number three in the nation in November, sitting above releases by Phillip Glass, George Winston, and Peter Gabriel.

Best New Band

If the Last Laugh’s breakup was yin, then the Copyrights’ formation was yang (or do I have it backward?). Luke McNeil and Adam Fletcher started the Copyrights when it looked like the Last Laugh was on their last legs, and this new band sure helps take the edge off the breakup of one of the finest local bands in this area’s grand history.

Runnersup: Along the same lines are two others. After Innereflection broke up, frontman Tim Whiteford put together Terra Firma, a bigger, horn-driven reggae outfit. And though Bon Temps Roulez didn’t quite break up, they aren’t really playing together anymore, so to keep himself busy, fiddle and squeezebox player Dennis Stroughmatt created the best zydeco-based band north of Interstate 10, Creole Stomp. Creole Stomp plays Saturday, February 8 at the WDBX Mardi Gras Masquerade ball at the Carbondale Civic Center.

Two personal favorites are Clean Ray and Soluvus. The former plays immensely appealing, fun alt-rock; the latter is a good alternative pop group with catchy, crunchy songs.

It’s a little early to tell where they’re going musically, but Thirteen Complaints and the melodic punk their Pretty Good EP promises could become the heir to the Last Laugh. Thirteen Complaints plays Thursday, January 30 at the Hangar 9 with It Burns and Like No Other (the latter featuring Mike Martin of the Last Laugh).

I’m not sure who said "that which does not kill us only makes us stronger," but he or she must have been referring to heavy metal. Every time metal is pronounced dead, it comes back louder and heavier and less cheesy than ever. Two very heavy representative local groups include the Near Death Experience and Adrift, both of whom released outstanding CDs in 2002.

After woodshedding for about a third of 2002, Lyric reemerged at the end of the year with cool, groovy poetic rock well worth checking out. Lyric plays Friday, January 24 at Mungo Jerry's Fat Cat Café in Murphysboro.

Finally, though I haven’t yet heard them, I’m told that Saving Latin is a terrific new group.

Best Local Release:

The Woodbox Gang’s Wormwood is as good as any record released by anyone in 2002. It tones down the overt novelty of their first full-length CD, Trashcan Americana, darkens the mood considerably, and still finds ways to make listeners laugh out loud. Hugh DeNeal’s lyrics have become progressively creative, more wildly twisted, yet remain absolutely accessible. It’s a stunning accomplishment. The band’s expansion, while adding drive and diversity, has made the Woodbox Gang even more accessible. And their third CD, the live Showdown, is already out.

Runnersup: Two bands that broke up released perfect CDs. The Last Laugh’s Game Over simply transcends punk. Sure, it’s loud, fast, and frequently angry, but listen closely-- those aren’t standard punk shoutalong hollers during the chorus, but actual harmonies, and not terribly conventional ones at that, especially for punk. The songwriting is absolutely topnotch (listen to "Up in Flames"!) and the creative instrumental abilities of this band had become peerless. This disc is a rush. That the band is breaking up is a tragedy.

The Jungle Dogs and some of their fans at
their second-to-last show in September.
The Jungle Dogs’ Jungle Jim is quite the swan song-- a children’s album by a bunch of the hardest partiers in Carbondale history who grew up, built families, got jobs, and never forgot how to have fun... or how to inspire others to enjoy life to its fullest. In the spirit of The Lorax, Jungle Jim is a beautiful environmental story (with a full-color book) that would make a terrific children’s musical play. Guest appearances by Kurt Carter, Tawl Paul, Big Larry, and Dennis Stroughmatt take this CD to a whole new level.

A third band breakup, that of Cruces, at least came with a farewell gift-- Lost Episode. An ambitious rock opera that’s a little heavy on the Radiohead, Lost Episode still was worth the wait.

Funomenon’s debut, Pure Love, is a terrific piece of radio-friendly rock. This group’s major obstacle is geography-- can they keep the band together with various members attending colleges in different parts of the nation? If so, they have tremendous artistic and commercial potential.

Mercy’s debut CD, Carbondale Caliente-- that’s their debut, as they approach their thirtieth year together-- was a long overdue pleasure. Hope for more in the next thirty years. Mercy plays every Sunday night at Pinch Penny Pub.

Alumni of the Year

Revis.
How can anyone top Revis-- at least in terms of potential? Formerly known as Orco, the group moved from Southern Illinois to Los Angeles to pursue a record deal. They signed to Epic Records, which will issue their major-label debut this spring. The three-song demo they gave away at the Copper Dragon last fall is strong, radio-ready hard rock. With the investment Epic has in them-- reportedly they received the most lucrative contract of any unsigned musicians in record-company history-- this band is poised for superstardom. Good luck to them.

Of all the other major Carbondale alumni, only cowpunk pioneer Jason Ringenberg, who played in several local bands while an SIU student, made much noise last year. But the Jason and the Scorchers’ frontman’s All over Creation, on Yep Roc/Courageous Chicken Records, misses the out-of-control mania of a real Scorchers’ recording. Guest performances and songwriting by Steve Earle, BR-549, and Todd Snider make for an uneven album with a folksy pop-country groove.

The Year in Local Music 2001

by Chris Wissmann

The local music scene the strongest I’ve seen it since I came to Carbondale in 1987. While Carbondale lacks the population (and a city government that views local musicians and their fans as cultural resources, not a criminal nuisance) to support the number of venues in cities like Seattle or Austin, there is so much quantity, quality, and variety here that I can’t begin to keep up-- and I get paid to do it.

There were a few defections to Chicago and St. Louis, but for the most part the Carbondale music scene kept a lot of continuity from 2000. The biggest breakup was probably the ‘Boro City Rollers, nearly all of whose members are now in other bands. Muleskinner split due to frontman Joe Swank’s move out east. The Hoplites, one of the most creative and accomplished all-woman bands in Carbondale history, called it a day. All three would otherwise have been band-of-the-year candidates.

But right now a lot of the world’s best music is made here in Southern Illinois. Anyone who cares at all about music of nearly any type can typically find several local bands who do it well, or they can catch numerous touring acts on a regular basis-- and they can do it for a fraction of the cost they would incur in Chicago or St. Louis. Let’s look at the creme de la creme, shall we?

Local Band of the Year:

There’s no clear winner here-- nobody reached a mass audience the way Bon Temps Roulez did in 2000, and nobody hit the College Music Journal Top One-hundred the way La Makita Soma did in 1999, and  nobody released a tour de force like the Waxdolls in 1998. A quick, informal poll I took among a few local-music professionals revealed no consensus. It did, however, show how many bands grew creatively, expanded their fan bases, made terrific CDs, and played like banshees everytime they hit the stage.

The Last Laugh
So rather than a best band of the year, here’s four groups who aren’t listed elsewhere in these awards that you can count on to make weekend nights shine in 2002:

Everyone who’s heard the next Last Laugh CD is blown away. Totally. This group was initially called Moloko Plus until another Anthony Burgess-inspired group forced our heroes to change their name, and it’s a fitting one. The Last Laugh has found the secret to living well-- improve in quantum leaps. Their debut CD was a little choppy but a great first effort. Their second disc made them masters of catchy punk rock, expunging the slop without sacrificing the rawness. Their third CD, Going Nowhere (released in 2001) took the band in a much fiercer, less melodic direction and demonstrated greater stylistic range than ever before. Can these guys stop topping expectations? There’s a key personnel change coming in 2002, with bassist Adam Fletcher leaving for Delaware to join a band called the Reaction. The Last Laugh, however, will go on, with Gabe Casey, the former frontman of the ‘Boro City Rollers, taking over. It should be a great fit. The Last Laugh plays Friday, January 11 at the Hangar 9 with the Fighting 407 and Big Fat Nothing.

The Woodbox Gang
The Woodbox Gang released one of 2000’s best CDs, Trashcan Americana. The few cuts I’ve heard from their upcoming disc, Wormwood, will make listeners salivate for more. Alternately hilarious and serious, or using humor to make a point, or just being goofy (check their hayseed cover of Snoop Dogg’s "Gin and Juice"!), they rock with a remarkable freshness and originality-- and the band’s music contains far more than inventive, comedic lyrics. These guys not only play unusual instruments (kazoos, washtub basses, didjeridoos), they make great-sounding musical instruments out of anything (gas cans, rub boards, whatever). The Woodbox gang plays Saturday, January 19 at Mungo Jerry's Fat Cat Café birthday celebration.
Mobile Chicken Party Unit

Mobile Chicken Party Unit’s fans cite their their ability to play anything from classic jazz to Frank Zappa, their creativity, constant improvement, and infectious enthusiasm. An excellent 2001 CD, Infrared Devices, showed how jazz is not a pretension of MCPU’s-- there’s a lot of silly fun alongside their impressive technique and hot musicianship.

Hail the return of Sóldog after five years. It’s a truly exciting development-- these guys were monsters in their day, and while they didn’t play out much in 2001, they had already found a small but impressively loyal audience. "Why [doesn’t Nightlife] cover bands like this? Bands that mean something, that have something to say?" asked one fan who saw me photographing Sóldog during one of their all-too-rare shows. Well, here it is. The group released Set It for the Sun in 2001, a bunch of unfinished recordings from the mid-nineties that they spent the first part of the year polishing. They’ve just finished another half-dozen or so tunes at Misunderstudio, which hopefully will prompt more activity from them in 2002.

Best New Band:

The Fighting 407
Damned if Mortimer hasn’t once again put together a first-rate amalgamation of obnoxious sleaze. The Fighting 407 simply blew away the competition at the Hangar’s battle of the bands last year. Their brilliantly puerile lyrics and tight musicianship laid waste to everything in listening distance. While this may cause irreparable affront to some listeners à la Nashville Pussy, the Fighting 407 do it with such artless inelegance that they make their offensiveness into pretty elegant art. Ain’t that a trick? The Fighting 407 plays Friday, January 11 at the Hangar 9 with the Last Laugh and Big Fat Nothing.

Runners up: I only had one chance to see Kick-in Emergency last year, and feel like an ass for missing each subsequent show. And for missing the ones before it, too. This is American punk rock at its finest. They better not do anything stupid, like break up.

Kick-in Emergency
In a region inundated with awesome women-led or all-women rock bands (Thee $2 Jills, the SweeTarts, Big Muff), Dickless stood out. Their combination of bad-girl, sexually predatory, ass-stomping punk/metal leads to a comparison to the Runaways. But while that legendary seventies Joan Jett/Lita Ford group was all mean business, Dickless has fun, injecting catchy humor into their anthems.
Broken Grass
The Broken Grass Quartet expanded into the Broken Grass Sextet (it’s really now just Broken Grass) and while they call themselves a bluegrass band, their judicious use of drums and electricity also evokes the sound of oldtime country, which they play like 1930s Kentucky coal miners. "Right on," as their new guitarist, Zacc Harris, would say. Broken Grass plays Thursday, January 31 and Friday, February 22 at the Hangar 9.

While I haven’t seen the New Edge Movement play live, their EP, De-mo, was extraordinarily impressive. There’s a buzz surrounding this group; maybe they can capitalize on it in 2002.

Best Local Release:

I’m not about to hazard a guess as to how many local CDs were produced last year, but it was easily the most I’ve ever seen. There was nothing as mind-blowing as the Plus’s Digital Sunshine, but there were still some fine releases.

The best new band of 2000 released the best CD of 2001: Innereflection’s Live at the Hangar 9, an exemplary live album, captures this band in thrilling form with guest saxophonist Kevin Kozol of Mobile Chicken Party Unit providing an exceptional kick in the ass. These are not white American college kids slumming with third-world ghetto music-- they have an extraordinary grasp of Jamaican music, not just of reggae’s form, but its soul. And without perverting them, the group updates reggae traditions with jazz and funk elements. They haven’t played in a while. Did they do something stupid like break up?

Runners up: Robbie Stokes’s The Road so Far is one of the most historically significant albums of local music ever released. Stokes may be the very first local musician to play rock ‘n’ roll music; certainly, he is the father of the local music scene as we know it, and this collection of material by bands with which Stokes has played documents a large chunk of his extraordinary career. It’s missing tracks by a few key bands, like Coal Kitchen and Dr. Bombay, that hopefully Stokes will add to a second volume. As it stands, however, The Road so Far remains a remarkable document. Robbie Stokes plays with St. Stephen’s Acoustic Blues Sunday, January 20 at the Hangar 9, and Thursday, January 24 with St. Stephen’s Blues at the Hangar 9.

Ricc Johnson’s Southern Ill demonstrates a huge leap for Carbondale’s hip-hop godfather. His productions continue to grow more complex, and he continues to use his albums to shine a light on other great local talents. More lyrical originality is all he needs to reach the top.

The Plus’s eponymous second album was a collection of outtakes from their first CD, but didn’t sound like it-- The Plus, too, was a production masterpiece, and in some ways was as good as their debut. The Plus plays Saturday, January 26 at the Hangar 9 with La Makita Soma.

The ‘Boro City Rollers’ No Soul Radio was a miniature London Calling, a real statement of purpose that becomes all too depressing as this great band’s swan song. Ditto for Joe Swank and the Muleskinner Band’s Cowpunk, another last album (in this case, also the first) by a group that had only begun to grasp their potential, but who went for it with whisky-soaked abandon.

Alumni of the Year

La Makita Soma
The biggest bummers were not from inside the scene, but from its alum. Shawn Colvin, after three staggering successes (A Few Small Repairs, Holiday Songs and Lullabies, and the Live ‘88 reissue) finally released a dud (Whole New You). The Blue Meanies, after a Y2K signing to MCA Records, were dumped by the label in 2001. There were a few quiet successes, however. Cowpunk pioneer Jason Ringenberg, who played in several local bands while an SIU student, released a fabulous collection of Jason and the Scorchers outtakes and rarities, Wildfires and Misfires. Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows got their start here in the seventies with original guitarist Pete Special. Special split with the rest of the band after Twist died; the others went on as the Chicago Rhythm and Blues Kings and released an acclaimed CD in 2000. Last year it was Special’s turn to emerge when he issued Mozart Street on Nation Records.

None, however, are rolling like alumni of the year La Makita Soma. Now mostly based in Chicago, the group’s sophomore release, Brighton Park, hit the College Music Journal Top One-hundred, their second-consecutive album to do so. If they can put a few mini-tours together, they’re poised for serious minor-league success-- or better. La Makita Soma plays Saturday, January 26 at the Hangar 9 with the Plus.

The Year in Local Music 2000

by Chris Wissmann

Y2K was a solid year for local music (and arts and entertainment in general, for that matter-- amazing original theatrical and fine arts were almost everyday occurrences last year). It seemed as if local bands were regularly hitting the road for out-of-town gigs (road dogs of the year: Stank Willie and the RedHots, who in less than two weeks played Chicago, New Orleans, and a couple local shows), releasing new CDs nearly every week, and helping to cultivate younger talent.

There were losses, of course-- as in 1999, when the Bottletones moved to Chicago, major stalwarts of the Carbondale music scene saw greener pastures in the Windy City-- in 2000, it was instrumental trance group La Makita Soma and the aforementioned funky jam band Stank Willie. And while Carbondale had a chance to redeem Halloween as a major celebration weekend, the city’s passive-aggressive position and the behavior of criminal morons destroyed a key entertainment opportunity for countless years to come.

In perspective, however, exodi were few and trouble was an anomaly. Most of the negatives were more than overcome by a bevy of positives. It was an Arts in Celebration year, and while this year’s October Days event took place in brutal cold, it gave (theoretically) high-profile stage time to local and regional performers of all stripes (although the arctic weather kept attendance tiny).

The number of local venues that booked live music did not decrease, and the DJ scene flashed with vitality. National acts continued to make Carbondale a regular stop. Alumni acts such as the Blue Meanies, the Bottletones, and halfway jane continued to grow outside the region while still making stops here in town. Major local CDs are about to flood the area. And so many new bands have sprung up that even we at Nightlife can’t begin to keep up.

It was also a banner year for local hip-hop, albeit mostly on CD. When will these artists get regular opportunities to play live? Hopefully, the Andromeda Sequence-- the only local hip-hop group with the clout to get weekend nightclub shows-- will get out more often, and help bring other area rappers, such as Mello and Ricc Johnson, to new audiences.

That’s what makes for a bright future. But-- and we can’t stress this enough-- this year’s Carbondale City Council election will make it or break it. Several city council candidates are openly campaigning on a platform to raise the bar-entry age to twenty-one. Register to vote, encourage your friends to do so, and work to elect those who will protect local music and entertainment in Carbondale.

Local Band of the Year:

Bon Temps Roulez
The honors go to Bon Temps Roulez. This Makanda-based traditional Cajun group scored nationwide attention when they performed live in New York City for a radio audience of a few million listeners on A Prairie Home Companion’s Talent from Towns under Two-Thousand contest. While the band didn’t win, Garrison Keillor is a sparkling reference on their ré sumé ; needless to say, they’re in demand, and at a higher price tag. Meanwhile, their Viens Dans Mes Bras CD did a lot of things-- it documented the band’s rougher Creole side (partially due to new electric guitarist Dan Schingel) and finally captured the fire of their live shows on disc.

Runners-up: Moloko Plus. It’s impossible to pound this hard and still write songs that people can hum, isn’t it? No. Their songwriting and playing have become even better, to a ridiculous degree, as shown on their second CD. A third is on the way (if it isn’t out already).

Madcap became one of the few area groups to find steady gigs in St. Louis (mostly at Cicero’s), and their extended improvisations were often mesmerizing. The group could stand to work a bit on their lyrics, but ain’t nothing wrong with their music or musicianship. And give them extra credit, because most of the band took a step away from rock to found Caravan and establish a well-attended jazz night on Mondays at Tres Hombres.

As noted above, La Makita Soma is now based in Chicago. Thus, they are no longer eligible for local band of the year honors-- but we’d be remiss not to mention that band’s growth or to wish them the best of luck, in this space. We certainly hope to often see and hear their fantastic work.

Best New Band:

Of all the new local bands to crop up in 2000, here are the best. Any Nightlife readers who haven’t seen these groups ought to make the effort.

The Holidays
It’s difficult to tell what’s sharpest-- the Holidays’ melodic hooks or their barbed lyrics. The best new band of last year features lead singer Dustin Mendenhall, who may be the best punk songwriter in the history of the Carbondale music scene. Literate but unpretentious, his penetrating lyrics lay waste to everybody and everything, while the rest of the band creates some of the most raging melodies since Hü sker Dü left SST Records. If only they played out a little more. Expect their upcoming CD to take it to a whole new level.

Runners up: a close second is Innereflection, who play Thursday, January 18 at the Hangar 9. This four-piece creates earthy island music utterly devoid of polish-- they don’t pander to those whose reggae experience is limited to Bob Marley’s Legend. Instead, Innereflection traffics in the real thing, and this makes for a monumentally rewarding listening and dancing experience.

Finally, there’s Jackhead, who seemed to come out of nowhere. Their CD, Steady Hand on the Gun, revealed another band peddling authenticity-- an especially potent brand of country and southern rock. Whether implied or inferred, there’s a real sense of heritage to Jackhead’s music, and that brings with it the depth and power missing from most preprocessed Nashville dreck.

Best Local Release:

At least twenty-three CDs by local musicians were released in 2000, and the outstanding overall quality of those discs continues to prove the vitality of this region’s music scene.

At the top of the heap is the Plus’s Digital Sunshine. If there’s a bright bulb heading SIU’s radio/TV and music departments, at whose new ProTools studios this album was recorded, those departments would buy two-thousand copies of this disc and give them away to prospective SIU students as recruiting tools, saying, "Look what you can do at SIU!" Digital Sunshine is an amazing, lavish production, maybe the most finely crafted local CD ever, and the songwriting and musical performances are also outstanding. Alas, after a major lineup change, the Plus broke up in late 2000. [See Music Notes for details.]

Runners up: Arguably as good as Digital Sunshine, Running on Empty by another Plus-- Moloko Plus-- collides mesmerizing melodies and ballistic assaults in a fast, loud punk-rock rush. It’s also lightyears beyond the band’s fine debut, The Reckless Years, and raises expectations for the new CD EP to the breaking point.

The Holidays’ Ashes to Ashes suffers a bit from a muddy mix, but a few listenings and this punk band’s attributes rip through the recording like a dull razor though an aorta. And somehow, they make that seem like a good feeling.

Two hip-hop albums deserve special note-- the B.org’s Follow My Lead brought trippy jazz and odd percussive instruments to rap and spoken-word pieces. Nightlife gets hundreds of promotional CDs every year from record companies all across the world, but we’ve never received anything like this before. Listen to it through headphones to get the fully amazing stereo effect.

Meanwhile, Ricc Johnson’s Here I Come draws a line from new-school gangsta rap to the old-school political consciousness of Public Enemy. Johnson and his guest artists inject more than a little humor into the disc, although he usually employs rather pointed comedic elements. They don’t forget the party anthems, either.

Briefly, three of the best Americana CDs are the Woodbox Gang’s Trashcan Americana, Jackhead’s Steady Hand on the Gun, and Bon Temps Roulez’s Viens Dans Mes Bras. Fans of non-mainstream American country and folk will find at least something on each of these CDs to make them happy. Take special note: the Woodbox Gang’s refreshingly twisted folk music is a hoot.

The Meanies' Bill Solledor

Music Scene Alumni of the Year:

Nightlife’s first-ever music-scene alumni award goes to the Blue Meanies. And why not? They signed to MCA Records and released The Post Wave, which included tunes cowritten with former MC5 and Go-Gos members, then played a triumphant homecoming show at the Hangar 9. This, after eleven years of playing, recording, and touring independently. That’s not hard work paying off-- it’s brutal, soul-crushing work, and if MCA gives the Meanies the push they deserve (a big if), the payoff could exceed this band’s wildest dreams.
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