Scratching the Musical Itch
You know what I’m talking about. You’ve had the musical itch. It’s when you need to hear a certain song, or a certain artist, and you know the world will magically become a better place. It’ll scrub away the funk, or pick you up out of the doldrums, or maybe light you up for the next week or two. It’s when you’ve combed your music collection backwards and forwards and nothing does the trick, and you finally have to admit that you have no idea just what you need to listen to. It sucks.
So with that in mind, I’d like to thank Trevor Hall. (I’ll post some Amazon links if I can get that working soon.) Trevor Hall is a Blond guy who sings and plays guitar and is visually indistinguishable from any number of useless blond L.A. twerps. (Apparently “Trevor Hall” includes both Trevor Hall, and a kick-ass percussionist named Chris Steele.) Musically, however, “Trevor Hall” would be easy to pick out of the top 40 crowd. They’d be the two guys who can make music that is musical, soulful, and entertaining, from a guitar, a bongo drum, and what looked like a big plywood box. Chris Steele has great big hair, and a great big smile, and seemed like a really nice guy in the 10 seconds it took him to tell me they weren’t set up to take cards.
So Carin invited me to a Johnny Lang concert a few weeks ago. I’m getting my revenge on October 5th when I’m taking her to see Great Big Sea, one of my all time favorite bands. So I’d heard a few minutes worth of Johnny Lang while hanging out at Carin’s house, and I dug him. And he put on a really good show. But it was Trevor Hall, and even a little more so, Chris Steel, who finally allowed me to scratch my musical itch. The songs that we got to hear are all very rhythm-centric, and that was showcased better in the live show than in the recordings I’ve heard so far. The recordings are still very good, however, and they still scratch that itch. In addition to the lively and surprising rhythms, the lyrics to several of the songs are wonderful. Some of the best songs can sound, for a stretch, like they were written as just an exercise in tricky rhymes, and while you’re listening for the clever verbal backflips, you’ll come across a powerful and resonant emotion, holding up the songs like bedrock. They go by Trevor Hall. Give them a listen.
Granted, I tend to wax ridiculously enthusiastic about new music. So what? It’s still good music. And yes, I’ll admit, there are a couple of TH songs that come across as generic pop, but they’re the exception rather than the rule. And yes, Trevor Hall is at risk of the same horrible fate that happened to Cake in whatever forgettable album came after Fashion Nugget. Yes I know it was Prolonging the Magic: I was making a point. I didn’t realize, however, Prolonging the Magic was released as long ago as 2001 and had been followed by 3 other albums. See? That’s exactly my point.
Note to Trevor Hall: The only thing you need from a studio producer is a faithful reproduction of your live performance. They need to make sure your vocals don’t get overpowered by the instruments and that all of the elements can be heard clearly. If any producer gives you advice on your sound that doesn’t directly address those two things, fire them immediately. You let somebody gloss up your sound, and your music loses its ability to scratch the itch. I’m not fucking around here. Your recordings already lack much of the warmth and fun of the live show, and as far as I can tell, that’s mostly due to playing down the percussion. That said, I wish you much luck, and many shiny metallic albums. ; ]
