|
|
Bump
Friday · The Mad Frog
Detroit has forgotten more about music than most regional scenes in this country will ever know, so it’s astonishing to read in some quarters that the city is making a resurgence as a respected scene because of the suddenly and impossibly raised profile of The White Stripes. Detroit never waned as a musical powerhouse, the fickle media just stopped paying attention. The good thing about the renewed interest is that smaller, equally fascinating bands that would have slipped through the cracks before now have a shot at a little of the spotlight. Bump is a case in point. For the past three years, the Motor City quartet has stood as a garden variety Rock band while the members finished their studies at Michigan State. In that time, the band has been honing its sound, a potent blending of all the elements that have consistently made Detroit one of the nation’s most vital musical hot spots — a Classic Rock foundation, Garage Rock snarl, New Wave precision, Funk thump and groove and Soul swing. In the process, Bump has mutated into an incredibly diverse Jam outfit, opening for the likes of Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Umphrey’s McGee and Lynyrd Skynyrd and more than holding their own, amassing a sizable local following and picking up a Detroit Music Award nomination for their trouble. This year has seen the expansion of Bump’s territory into large parts of the Midwest and even a well-received circuit through Colorado. The band’s initial studio recording, the five-song EP Heart of Cadillac Square, is a laudable first release and a fair representation of everything the band does well in the live arena, from the soulful Rock groove of “Motorland,” the band’s hometown theme, to the similarly bouncy “Moonlight Song” to the Jam-filled goodness of the disc’s closer, “Dusk.” If you want to find out what the talk in Detroit is all about, you might want to have that Bump looked at.
(Brian Baker)
Trina Hamlin with Tracy Walker
Friday · Arnold’s
Trina Hamlin plays the harmonica and her songs have been known to explore the darker side of human longing. But, while tinged with the genre, Hamlin isn’t exactly a “Blues” artist. Her grounded acoustic guitar playing and stirring, passionate vocals put her more in line with other confessional, solo singer/songwriters than John Lee Hooker (although she certainly shares a similar spirit and fire). Hamlin was raised in Minnesota, attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston and landed in the rich New York City scene when it was all said and done. Since kicking her career into full gear, Hamlin has landed gigs with John Hiatt, Ricki Lee Jones and Paula Cole, scored accolades from the various Folk festivals she’s played and landed songs on several TV shows. On her most recent release, 2002’s Foundations, Hamlin remains self-contained, offering the songs up without much decoration, allowing her acoustic guitar, her mouth-harp and her stunning vocal range to bring forth the best in every cut. There’s a tendency for these bare-bones releases to be rather boring and lack depth, but the fact that Foundations resonates with a passionate fullness is a testament to her power as both a vocalist and writer (think Joan Osborne with the writing chops of Heart’s Wilson sisters and the soul of Janis and all of her disciples). And despite the production minimalism, Foundation comes off as remarkably diverse. That Hamlin can pull off the gritty, rollicking shuffle of “One Good Reason” and the effervescent piano ballad “You Can’t Remember” (which has the kind of timeless structure and melody that would make it an instant classic in a just world) with equal aplomb is a testament to her versatility. Her no-nonsense approach to both writing and performing is a furnace blast of fresh air in our lip-sync and lip-gloss times. (Mike Breen)
Interphase with TriFectaFunk
Friday · Stanley’s Pub
Who would have guessed that experimental Funk and Ambient waveforms could emanate so successfully from the same general locale as John Mellencamp? Formed three years ago in Noblesville, Ind., Interphase takes a uniquely Midwestern approach to the sophisticated and complex sonic possibilities of Funk/Fusion, investing their visually rich compositional style with the shifting aural patterns of Ambient trance and the visceral live impact of a true Jam band. Guitarist/vocalist Travis Cook and keyboardist Josh McMahan had collaborated on an EP called Chromataphor in 2000 and, after recruiting friend and former bandmate Adam Langolf on bass, used that material as the basis for jam sessions/drummer auditions in the summer of 2001. Securing timekeeper Nic Neureiter, who had previously played with both Cook and Langolf, the quartet christened itself Interphase (named for the initial process of cell division) and began exploring the dark, pulsing edges of their various influences, jamming their way to the Funk/Fusion/Ambient sound that they have honed over the past three years. Interphase has inspired a loyal local and regional fanbase, and are beginning to branch out even farther into the Midwest. They’re also planning to release their sophomore album which will consist of studio tracks, live material (some of it culled from the band’s well-received performance at last year’s Fallen Leaf Festival, an event showcasing musical talent in and around the Muncie, Ind., region) and Electronic tracks co-produced with local DJs and boardsmen. Interphase’s debut EP was released this year and it, along with band merch like T-shirts and stickers, is available from the band at interphasemusic.com or at Interphase shows. The band is planning to increase its presence in the Cincinnati area in the coming year, so fans of everything from Tangerine Dream to the Prodigy should give these dark, dubby Hoosiers an ear. (BB)
This article appears in Dec 8-14, 2004.