On the eve of Jack White’s buzzed-about Grand Rapids show, the Local Spins “countdown” assesses his bold new album, along with regional releases by a diverse mix of Michigan artists.
Boundary-Pushing Release: Jack White, shown here during his concert Thursday night at Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit. (Photo/David James Swanson)
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Jack White
“Boarding House Reach”
One could easily argue rock ‘n’ roll as we once knew it is absent from today’s pop culture landscape. These days, the untamed, rebellious spirit of rock music is represented mostly by rap and electronic artists. But if there is a proper ambassador for rock today – one who embodies both the rich history of the genre and its potential future – that artist is Jack White. White sets his sights on that future with his third solo release, “Boarding House Reach,” a hyper, sporadic romp into completely foreign territory. Even fans of White’s usual eccentricities as a vocalist and free-wheeling guitarist will find the album surprising as he delves into bursts funk, jazz, electronic and hip-hop. Computer-modulated sounds and synthesizers – as well as a diverse cast of session musicians White pick out from watching hip-hop videos on YouTube – create a dizzying bedrock over which White unleashes a fever-dream of creativity which includes spoken word, a lullaby and even rapping. Yes, Jack White raps, and delightfully so on “Ice Station Zebra.” His opening line, “Hear me out. It ain’t easy, but I’ll try to explain,” seems relevant here. The track grooves with aggressive breakbeats and a bluesy piano as White chirps through a few clever and catchy bars, before melting into an odd cross between jazz and clavinet-driven blues. It doesn’t make sense, but why should it? Folks longing for something more classically Jack White-esque may find it on “Over and Over and Over,” where fuzz-driven guitar work and clamorous drumming sound like muscle memory from White’s days in The White Stripes or The Raconteurs. Even still, a powerful choir of female vocalists and a bongo solo midway through serve as reminders of the oddly framed bigger picture. The “dressed to impress” calling card on the album is its opening track, “Connected by Love.” I’ve had that electro-pop anthem – as well as the funky “Respect Commander” and crude “Corporation” – on repeat. It’s an album of countless ideas that truly push the boundaries of what can be considered rock and roll. Not every experiment succeeds in equal measure, and yet … I can’t stop listening. – Devin Anderson
Website: http://jackwhiteiii.com/
Upcoming Shows: 8 p.m. Saturday at 20 Monroe Live in Grand Rapids (sold out); Monday at Baxter Arena in Omaha
Listen: “Over and Over and Over”
Reviews of White’s tour-opening Thursday concert in Detroit:
Jack White gets loose, goes big, in Little Caesars Arena homecoming show
Jack White homecoming a celebratory affair
Vox Vidorra
“Vox Vidorra”
All references to Vox Vidorra here will be past tense, as the much-acclaimed rock-pop-soul quartet abruptly announced its breakup during the late stages of readying its second and, turns out, final album (available via Spotify). To the extent that there’s a silver lining, the self-titled effort does make a strong case for dying young and leaving beautiful remains. Like Vox’s debut 2015 album, the multiple Jammie Award-winning “Promise Land,” “Vox Vidorra” was recorded at the all-analog Goon Lagoon studio, and it finds warm depths that strongly recall D’Angelo’s murky 2014 R&B masterpiece “Black Messiah.” A stately string intro fades into the gentle opening chords of “Pins and Needles,” a smoky reverie whose arresting hook consists of singer Molly Bouwsma Schultz “whoa-oh-oh”-ing against a spacious bed of her own multi-tracked vocals. Vox’s live-band muscle is laden with swooning strings and contemplative passages that make the bangers like “What Kind of Woman” and “Rose” hit harder when they arrive. On repeat listens, a tense experimental streak reveals itself in the sighing coda of “Time,” or the headphone magic of “I Lost My Voice,” whose climax finds Bouwsma Schultz singing three serpentine melodies on top of each other. These moments suggest the band — rounded out by multi-instrumental all-stars Scott Schultz, Theo Ndawillie II and Ryan K. Wilson — was still unsettled and growing. Toward what, we’ll never know. Vox Vidorra may always go down as one of Grand Rapids’ all-time-great “what if” acts, which is true, but so is the happier idea that the band shined briefly and brightly, and will live forever through the two exceptional records they were meant to make. – Troy Reimink
Website: https://www.facebook.com/voxvidorra/
Listen: “What Kind of Woman”
Brad Fritcher’s MOODS
“MOODS”
If you’re looking to dive into the younger side of the Michigan jazz scene, this album will give you a great start into artists carving their own platforms in their respective cities. All too often jazz gets mistaken for purely intellectual music, unable to resonate with a common audience. As Brad Fritcher’s MOODS will show with each performance, jazz is the music of the people, a conveyance of struggle, dedication to the craft, and an ability to mold into new sounds and styles with the flexibility of its performers and the eagerness of its audience. With the recently released album “MOODS,” Fritcher sought to specifically recruit musicians from all parts of Michigan to lend their expertise to this project. The album features Brad Fritcher (trumpet), Patrick Booth (tenor sax), Travis Swanson (guitar), Joe Vasquez (bass), and Jonathan Taylor (drums). They came together at Stone House Recording Studios in Grand Rapids during the fall of 2016 to spend a couple sessions recording a large body of tunes, about 19 in total. The group settled on seven tracks that showcase the diversity of the project, the writing and arranging of both Fritcher and Booth, and the talents of the musicians involved. Each track pulls from a mixture of modern and traditional jazz influences. Booth’s tune, “The Blackest Eyes,” hits listeners with a gritty, syncopated riff that is just full of attitude. “Cheat Day,” also written by Booth, has a playfully rhythmic melody reminiscent of Thelonius Monk. Fritcher’s tune “Tamarack Trees” dances between different sections, each with specifically arranged rhythm section motifs placed against horn lines that bleed into interacting horn solos. The pacing of the album is nice as well, with tight two- to three-minute arrangements placed in between larger tunes that leave room for multiple soloists. Booth’s tunes “Reflex” and “Thawing, Slowly” offer a nice contrasting middle section in the album, as it shifts from a tight, mixed-meter tune into a slow-building, lilting piece that melts into free improvisation. While Travis Swanson’s guitar is heard on the record, tunes like Fritcher’s “To Beautifully Say Goodbye” forgo a chordal instrument to play around with harmonic and textural development of a more exposed quartet, much like Sonny Rollins or Joshua Redman did with their trio projects. “Haugr” closes the album with a driving backbeat and a myriad of effects pedals reminiscent of Donny McCaslin’s quartet. – Dutcher Snedeker
Website: http://www.bradfritchermoods.com/
Upcoming Shows: 8 p.m. Mondays at Long Road Distillers; July 11 at SpeakEZ Lounge (“Farewell Show”).
Listen: “Tamarack Trees”
Mark Harrell
“Blue Birds”
It is always a treat for me to hear albums dedicated to storytelling. It is an even more rare privilege to hear those stories when they come from somewhere real for the songwriter. Holland’s Mark Harrell drew inspiration for his new album, “Blue Birds,” from a very real place – inspired by parts of his past that, in a way, still haunt him today. Songwriting offers him the opportunity to get it all out, to cope with those demons. With strummed acoustic melodies as a backdrop, he unravels his powerful verses. And once he does, the lyrics – and the pictures they paint – can almost catch you off guard as the songs continue to play. Harrell’s songwriting brings you into each heartbreaking scene, as if you were there to witness the character’s pain, watching his world fall apart, from the lost love of “Still Can’t Forget” to the travails of “Understand,” about a young boy whose mother is poor and whose father left years ago: “When I am older, I will understand… Nothing really ever goes as planned.” But in the second verse, the older man still struggles with the crippling grief of losing the love of his life to illness: “When I am older, I’d understand. But now, I am older… and I still don’t understand…” Harrell uses the lyrics of each song to bring each of us somewhere very real, without necessarily proposing a solution or resolution. For Harrell, it’s a way of describing his own past trauma – a parent leaving, battling addiction and depression. Ironically, these powerfully crafted songs are the salve that help Harrell stay sober and keep him traveling down this new, better path. “Blue Birds” takes listeners to a very real, sometimes raw place – and the songs themselves become the solution to that trauma. And to that, I say: Play on. – Matt Marn
Websites: https://www.facebook.com/harrellmusiconwardfromhere/
Upcoming Shows: May 10 at Mulligan’s Pub in Grand Rapids (w/ Lighting Matches and Brant Satala), June 7 at Rocky’s Bar & Grill in Grand Rapids (w/ Lighting Matches and The JetBeats), July 19 at Mulligan’s Pub (w/ Andy Lightning and Lighting Matches)
Listen: “Still Can’t Forget”
Robin Lee Berry
“Weave Me a Parachute”
Veteran Boyne City singer-songwriter Robin Lee Berry is no stranger to Traverse City and northern Michigan audiences, having collaborated, performed and recorded in the area since moving to the region from East Lansing in the 1980s. But there’s little doubt she’s created her quintessential album with “Weave Me a Parachute,” which was recorded in several different locations, including Holy Wah Recording Studio in Maple City. Each song unfolds with a rare and fully engaging acoustic beauty, enhanced by uplifting lyrics such as those found on “Deep Deep Hole”: Face the day with a lighter load/You can leave your burdens in the hole in the road/Waltz and spin in the warm rays of sunlight. The singer and guitarist also leans on a bevy of uber-talented northern Michigan musicians, including Glenn Wolff, John Driscoll, Joe Wilson and many others, which gives turns many of these indie-folk tracks into a lush, powerful yet intimate experience for the listener. And “Thankful,” perhaps the album’s strongest track, builds to a dynamic, infectious crescendo that will resonate in your cranium for a long, long time. – John Sinkevics
Website: https://www.facebook.com/rlberry1
Listen: “Thankful”
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