New album: Awake
Artist: Tycho
Label: Ghostly International
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Tycho is the stage name of multi-instrumentalist Scott Hansen. He creates driving synth-based music that owes a mild debt to Michael Rothers’ work in the band Neu!
Like a less-frenetic version of Signal Path, through Tycho Hansen crafts cinematic instrumental music laced with pinches of obscure vocal samples. There are dozens of acts operating under this business model, but few if any of the current groups do it with as much style and purpose as Tycho.
“Montana” opens with a bright guitar line that could be the distant third cousin of “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and coupled with a motorik drum beat it’s quite catchy. The icy, disjointed keyboards of “L” are reminiscent of the soundtrack to an old middle school educational film that is shakier than window washer during earthquake season.
Both Broadcast and The Focus group have touched on these found sounds of the past in recent years, but their efforts sound more archaeological whereas Hansen’s Tycho work is more musical. The shimmering delayed guitar on “See” recalls David Gilmour’s similar experiments on “The Wall” and “The Division Bell,” but Hansen has found a way to channel this (and other) old tricks into an interesting new sound.
Along with Moon Duo, Tycho are making some of the most interesting electronic pop music of the moment. Hansen seems to be in it for the long haul, so hopefully we’ll be getting inventive new works for him for years to come.
Classic album: Play All Night/Live At The Beacon Theater 1992
Artist: The Allman Brothers Band
Label: Sony/Legacy
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
The new archival release “Play All Night” is a brilliant snapshot of America’s greatest live band regaining their crown.
The Allman Brothers will never outrun the legend of their “Live At The Fillmore East” album, even though 2003’s “One Way Out” with Warren Haynes/Derek Trucks lineup is just as strong. What’s more, The Brothers have released ever show they’ve done over the last decade on CD via the Instant Live service. With all of this live material available, is there any reason for the “Play All Night” album to exist? Absolutely.
When “Play All Night” was recorded in 1992, the ABB were at the pinnacle of their comeback that started with a 20th anniversary tour in 1989. Two great studio albums (“Seven Turns” in 1990; “Shades Of Two Worlds” in 1991) followed, and the band’s blistering live shows were so strong it finally seemed the band would be judged on what they were doing instead of what they’d achieved in the past.
The Allman Brothers’ live prowess allowed them to play multiple nights at the legendary Beacon Theater in New York, a tradition that is still going on with a 10-night stand in 2014. “Play All Night” documents the Allman Brothers first extended Beacon Theater residency, and it also serves as a fitting tribute to firey playing late bassist Allen Woody – most notably on “Low Down Dirty Mean” and “Whipping Post.”
Kicking off with the one-two punch of “Statesboro Blues” and “You Don't Love Me,” the band breathes new life into these tried and true concert staples. The first new song of the night is “End Of The Line,” with a growling vocal by Gregg Allman and menacing guitar interplay between Dickey Betts and Haynes. Allman was reportedly suffering lapses in sobriety around this time, but you wouldn’t know it by listening to him sing or tickle that Hammond B-3 organ.
Have recently worked up an acoustic set for MTV’s Unplugged series, the Brothers included a well-timed three song acoustic set of “Midnight Rider,” “Come On In My Kitchen” and “Seven Turns” in the show. Most people go to an ABB show expecting incendiary electric rock music, but these acoustic versions are expertly executed and kick up plenty of dust in their own right.
Things get intense when Warren Haynes lets rip with a slide guitar intro for “Hoochie Coochie Man” that sounds as if the instrument is begging for mercy. Although he was yet to handle half of the lead vocals as he would after the departure of Betts, Haynes gut-bucket singing on this Willie Dixon classic was just a hint of what he was capable of.
Betts and Haynes achieve one of the greatest duel guitar-lead moments of all time during a revamped arrangement of the classic instrumental “Jessica.” Drummers Butch Trucks, Jaimoe and Marc Quinones lay down rock, jazz and Latin drumming during “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed,” and they perform a drum trio in the middle of the song that people who don’t like drum solos will have to admit is stunning.
The diamond of the set is “Dreams,” a hypnotic take on psychedelic jazz that features sublime solos from Betts and Haynes as well as a sterling vocal from Allman. Honestly, if the band came out and played “Dreams” for two hours it’s doubtful anyone would have complained.
Hopefully a live album from the 1990 tour is in the works also, but until then lovers of improvisational jazz/blues-infused rock have plenty to be thankful for on “Play All Night.”