July Music Picks Featuring Pat Thomas, Skeets McDonald, Wild Nothing, and more

CDS WE LOVE...in which we cozy up to and share music that has struck our eardrums.
(The streams below will be available until early August, when a new batch will appear.)

Pat Thomas: HIS FATHER'S SON

Does talent really skip a generation? Like his venerated father Son Thomas, Pat Thomas of Leland, Mississippi, is both a folk artist (specializing in clay skulls) and a bluesman. Pat's dreamy singing is lighter and less precise than his father's and his guitar-playing not infrequently lacks depth. But there is real feeling here and with the blues, of course, if you don't have that, you don't have nothing. (Broke & Hungry Records, 2010) —MAS

Hear this! "Cairo Blues" by Pat Thomas

Skeets McDonald: GOIN' STEADY WITH THE BLUES

Though a fairly well-known, major-label recording artist in his prime (the 1950s and early ’60s), Skeets McDonald is now just another vastly underappreciated and mostly forgotten Arkansas country bopper. (On track three, he sings: "I was born in St. Louis...," but he was actually born in Greenway, Arkansas, in 1915.) Except for a vinyl reissue a few decades ago (in Europe only), Skeets's seminal GOIN' STEADY WITH THE BLUES, from 1958, has long been unavailable. Until now. This recording is seminal because each track is freakishly hummable. And while such polished and clean production can often affect a music's heart, the heart of GOIN' STEADY pumps freely and clearly. We can still hear it fifty-two years later. (Righteous, 2009) —MAS

Hear this! "Tomorrow Never Comes" by Skeets McDonald

Wild Nothing: GEMINI

The gauzy indy-pop of Virginian Jack Tatum's Wild Nothing project lies in the dreamscape of '80s-era synth-backed droners. Apparently, Tatum felt the popular music world was sorely underutilizing the chorus pedal, and he's right. Snappy hand-clap ditties like "O, Lilac" rehash the sweeping melodies of Johnny Marr's guitarwork, while the minimalist echo-staggered intro on tracks like "The Witching Hour" almost explicitly evoke dream-pop forefathers The Chameleons UK. Tatum's lyrics are rendered basically needless when appearing in the cosmic void of his heavenly synths and humming guitar strings, but the restrained and lovingly atonal vocal delivery recalls that teenage desire to just kind of magically vanish, and GEMINI easily offers that departure. (Captured Tracks, 2010) —NE

Hear this! "Chinatown" by Wild Nothing

Woven Bones: IN AND OUT AND BACK AGAIN

Austin's Woven Bones engineer classic three-piece garage-punk, with hatefully scuzzy production and vocals so snide they nearly inspire the cherished punk tradition of verbal-assault audience appreciation. But beyond the asinine posturing, the blistered guitar's occasionally predictable chord progressions are escalated into rock & roll bliss by the most primal of devices: a brain-rattling rhythm section. And Woven Bones don't neglect melody—tracks like "Guess You Already Knew" sound like a power-pop ballad festooned with self-loathing and crackling feedback. Both of the requisite elements for maximum garage-effect appear throughout this debut—enough draconian percussion to churn the body forward, and enough guitar brutality to keep the listener coolly at arm's length. (HoZac Records, 2010) —NE

Hear this! "Your Way With My Life" by Woven Bones

Various: LONE STAR LOWLANDS

Salvaged from the basement tapes of Lowland studio in Beaumont, Texas, LONE STAR LOWLANDS, with its collection of grainy, sun-baked rock & roll, is a ticket back to the swampy, strip-mall landscape of '70s-era East Texas. While ranging from twee folk-pop to overdriven blues-rock, from funky psychedelia to hippie country-rock, the compilation has a filial unity and stoner ease reminiscent of the carousing spirit in DAZED AND CONFUSED. In "Give Me Time," Circus' appropriation of Cream and Led Zeppelin's fevered grooves, the singer proclaims his noncommittal spirit over a heavy dose of cowbell and the neon embers of his distorted guitar. (Numero Group, 2010) —BS

Hear This! "Give Me Time" by Circus

Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir: LIKE A SHIP

A couple of years ago, WAX POETICS broke the story on T.L. Barrett's '70s gospel-choir single "Like a Ship," an atmospheric gospel jam that siphons off some of the soul power of Donny Hathaway and Edwin Hawkins. The song, however, proved to be as elusive as the divine power that inspired its composition, and remained out of print and out of reach to would-be converts. Thanks to Light in the Attic Records, who've released an eight-track Youth for Christ Choir compilation, this sleeper classic can now deliver its hopeful message. —BS

Hear This! "Like a Ship" by T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir

Anaïs Mitchell: HADESTOWN

Anaïs Mitchell's visionary folk opera HADESTOWN is an hour-long theatrical experience. The songs follow the Greek narrative of Eurydice, ill-fated inamorata of the poet Orpheus, who looses her to devil-god Hades. Ani Difranco, the Haden Triplets, and dreamy Bon Iver front man Justin Vernon are among those who join Mitchell to form this big-named cast-"cast" because the production doesn't stop at a CD. Mitchell and her gang of sinful folkies have brought their project to the stage. But you don't need to see the drama to feel the music, delivered as an enchanting survey of American melodies; gospel, blues, swing, and folk tunes seamlessly speak to one another as if characters themselves. The result is an artfully composed concept album that delivers not only a dramatic story but also strange and rhapsodic music. (Righteous Babe Records, 2010) —CM

Hear this! "Wait For Me" by Anaïs Mitchell

Jillian Edwards: GALAXIES & SUCH

College junior Jillian Edwards brings a refreshing energy to the singer/songwriter genre. Stopping just short of youthful naivety, each song of her six-track debut pulses with the tenderness and optimism of a hopeful ingénue, however, Edwards's confident song structures possess a polished simplicity that eludes even more experienced artists. Tinged with a slight breathiness, her straight-toned vocals create a sense of intimacy alongside her guitar's warm timbre as she sings to a would-be lover on "Go Together," or as she vulnerably questions a real one on "Gullible." (MySpace) —JM

Hear this! "Songbird" by Jillian Michaels

Black Atlantic: REVERENCE FOR FALLEN TREES

When philosophy-student-turned-musician Geert van der Velde makes music with Kim Janssen and The Black Atlantic, the ensuing sound-scapes are intentionally and thoughtfully crafted. Whether musing about "ephemeral graces" or "the siren song of oblivion," van der Velde dances around the subject of his own dark introspection with a playful, yet respectful, grace. Favoring simple progressions and layered harmonies, the instrumentation is as poetic as the lyrics. The softly dissonant piano of the title track and reminiscent, slightly detuned ukulele of "Dandelion" evoke nostalgia for the departed, while the inquisitive guitar harmonics of "Madagascar" and minimalist, driving percussion of "Heirloom" and "Old, Dim Light" weave a stirring undercurrent of hope into the melancholy. (Beep! Beep! Back Up the Truck, 2009) —JM

Hear this! "Heirloom" by Black Atlantic