New releases are in full swing now, racing along in pre-pandemic numbers. Bands are touring again, so they want their records out. Some of the new records we're seeing were made some time ago but held up until the world was safer and musicians could support their new album with live shows. I expect to see those delayed albums mixed in with the freshly-made records for a big chunk of 2022 as concert schedules and logistics get nailed down. The bottom line for me is a glut of new music to listen to and absorb, looking for the expected and unexpected gems to add to my personal jukebox. Two of this week's trio were out-of-the-blue surprises by artists I'd never heard of before, and currently can't live without. That's the joy of this hobby (obsession?), never knowing what fantastic new music is around the next corner.
• Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs, External Combustion (released 3/4/22) – Our friend, Mike, has quite a decision to make, doesn’t he? Forty plus years as Tom Petty’s lead guitarist, co-songwriter, and Most Valuable Wingman. The guy Tom wouldn’t even make a solo record without. Apparently, Mike put the Dirty Knobs together as a side project more than twenty years ago, but never recorded any music with them while he was busy with his day job. Now that Tom’s gone, we finally get to hear his band. External Combustion is the second Dirty Knobs release since Tom passed in 2017 and to its great benefit and great challenge, it sounds very much like a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers record. More specifically, it sounds like a late-period Heartbreakers album, closer to the harder rock of Mojo and Hypnotic Eye than the earlier, more radio-friendly Damn the Torpedoes or Hard Promises.
Unlike the first Dirty Knobs record from 2020, Mike put his name at the top of the masthead for External Combustion. The change is a shift in marketing, for sure, but also reflects Mike’s bigger role as bandleader and driver of the creative bus. The songs are tighter and more precisely arranged, the open-ended jamming on the first album is pretty much gone this time around. The Dirty Knobs have gone from a band that reminded you of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse to a unit that sounds more like, well, the Heartbreakers. Even Mike’s singing, which was a little generic on the first album, benefits from the change. He noticeably emphasizes the Floridian drawl in his voice this time around, to the point where he could pass for the lead singer of a Tom Petty tribute band.
And there’s the challenge for this fine record. The songs are excellent southern rockers with some of the best guitar work you’re likely to hear in 2022. It’s Mike Campbell, right? The lyrics are spot on and thoughtful and borrow liberally from his former boss’ imagery and phrasing. The choruses bust out and stick in your head from the first listen. But there’s not a song on External Combustion that wouldn’t be kicked into a higher gear by Tom’s voice and larger-than-life charisma out front. That Mike’s vocals steer so close to Tom’s this time around makes the comparisons unavoidable, and not always favorable. Even, or maybe especially, the two duets straddle that dangerous line. “Dirty Job” enlists the great Ian Hunter from my beloved Mott the Hoople. I love the song, it’s a fiery, crunchy stomper, and Ian’s vocal is outstanding, but it makes me think “hey, wouldn’t it have been amazing if Tom and Ian had done a song together?” “State of Mind” is a lovely ballad that feels like a mirror of Tom’s collaborations with Stevie Nicks. Margo Price is probably the most Stevie-sounding singer in country music these days, so the effect is striking, the comparison inescapable.
I get the feeling Mike is at a sort of crossroads in his career. If he wants to go forward making Heartbreakers-ish albums as excellent as External Combustion and keeping Tom’s spirit alive, I’m all in. The Dirty Knobs are an exceptional band and he’ll still be miles ahead of most of the modern rock pack. If he decides to expand his horizons and make music more personal and less reliant on his past glories, I’ll be right there, too. He’s obviously a major talent and I’ll be interested to find out if he has his own voice, apart from his former group. I’m betting he does.
EARWORM: “Brigitte Bardot” – A lean, extremely catchy, country-flavored boogie that makes clear how much Mike contributed to Tom’s vision. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they worked on it together before Tom passed.
• Sugaray Rayford, In Too Deep (released 3/4/22) – When’s the last time you heard a classic sounding powerhouse soul / blues record? It had been a minute for me, too. Mr. Rayford is an imposing (6’5”, 300ish lbs.) retired Marine with an appropriately giant-sized voice. He’s a soul and blues shouter in the grand tradition of southern music that springs from the church, with a satisfying amount of resonance and agility in his singing. The musicians behind him know how to bring the real deal soul and R&B sounds, as well. The title song percolates nicely, with stabbing funk guitar and some killer horn charts. “No Limit to My Love” is a gorgeous late-night love lament, with a deeply soulful Hammond B-3 organ swirling beneath Sugaray's powerful vocals. In Too Deep’s production is very modern sounding, but still evokes a feeling of nostalgia for the days when radio had yet to be hard-formatted and you could hear songs like these on your favorite station alongside the latest Rod Stewart or Carpenters single. I don’t really know how big a following Mr. Rayford has, his last album, “Somebody Save Me,” was nominated for a blues Grammy, but I hope it’s significant enough for him to continue making records for as long as he wants to. The current music scene benefits greatly from his authentic bluesy, soulful voice, as do I.
EARWORM: “No Limit to My Love” – A throwback to the classic R&B era of the 60s and 70s and a real delight.
• Jenny Hval, Classic Objects (released 3/11/22) – I love my stereo, I really do. There’s just something about filling my living room with high-quality sound, bringing the artists I’m listening to into the space, that increases my connection to, and enjoyment of, the music. That being said, Classic Objects is one of the best headphone records I’ve heard in a good many years. There’s something about the uber-artsy, surprising production of the album that makes being deep inside it an especially compelling experience.
Ms. Hval is a musician and novelist from Norway who’s been putting out what I would call art-pop records since 2006, a couple of which have charted in her home country but nowhere else that I could find. Classic Objects is defined by its intense level of creativity and exploration, she’s really swinging for the art-pop fences here. Her lyrics are clever, astute, poetic, self-referential without being confessional, and decidedly non-linear. She’s not really telling any kind of story with her words (which are in English), more conjuring up fleeting images and emotions. The music hits like a limber, swinging little combo with enough electronics and studio effects added to take it to completely unexpected places. There are next to no traditional verse and chorus structures to her songs. Indeed, the shapeshifting nature of her compositions can leave you feeling like you’re listening to a different song altogether than the one you started with, sometimes more than once in the same track. And yet, the songs hold together as having a beginning, middle, and end, and each has its own clear identity. Ms. Hval’s pure, but not sweet, upper register singing voice serves as an engaging and easy to follow guide through the twists and turns of the arrangements.
I’ve been avoiding the word “abstract” to describe the songs on the album because that word, to a lot of music listeners, sounds a lot like “not fun.” Definitely not the case with Classic Objects, I have no doubt that this fine record can be listened to casually, as music playing while you’re busy with other things. It would come across as loose, melodic, a bit folk, a bit pop, even pretty. But when you dig deep, Ms. Hval’s playful sense of adventure and, yes, abstraction grabs you. That’s where the headphones come in.
“Cemetery of Splendor” spends most of its running time as a loping, mid-tempo ballad before instruments drop out to be replaced by a sparse electronic rhythm, thumping and clicking along jauntily. Near the end, the rhythm track drops out, too, leaving you with what sounds like a microphone placed on the ground near a roadway. You hear distant voices and passing cars, combined with insect sounds, for the final minute or two. “Jupiter” begins sounding like cocktail lounge music, complete with cheesy electric piano, then builds to a huge musical crescendo that eventually breaks like a wave. On the other side of the wave is the song itself, a compelling tune that breaks into an actual chorus twice, although, befitting the expectations-defying nature of the album, not the same chorus. Once the singing stops the band is replaced by low, bassy, electronic drones that swirl around each other like co-mingling snakes, while higher-pitched electronics over the top mimic the sound of wind. A lovely effect.
Listening to Classic Objects I’m reminded of looking at sumptuously detailed paintings hanging on a wall. Fully enjoyable from a distance, but bending in to get a closer look at all of the fascinating details just makes them that much more satisfying. I expect to give the album several more listens, likely with my headphones, and I won’t be surprised to hear something fresh and different each time.
EARWORM: “Jupiter” – My favorite song on the album, I believe because it's the longest and gives her the most room to explore.
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