Zwan’s debut release pairs prayers with rock
Matt Terrell | Staff Reporter

For once in his life, Billy Corgan does not sound whiny, which is not to be confused with sounding nasal. With his new band Zwan, he’s dropped the gloom, predicted our doom, and gone big-tent revival on us like a scene from the Steve Martin wannabe classic “Leap Of Faith.” Oh yes, my brothas and sistas, he’s found Jesus! I think… Like Steve Martin, he could be yanking our chains. Rockers tend to do that when critics like myself start over analyzing words. Still, the religious riddles heard throughout “Mary Star of the Sea” make it seem like it’s more than just optimism shining through Corgan’s skeleton-filled closet. It’s possible that he’s actually found some deity to guide his life. The very first lines of the album state, “Here comes my faith to carry me on,” but no clues are offered as to what he has faith in. It could be Viagra or Sally Struthers for all I care, but something has given him the inspiration to write an album full of shimmering rock songs that set him apart from his Smashing Pumpkins days. As the album plays, it becomes obvious that love is the core and driving force of his faith. He is no longer the twenty-something with leftover teenage angst. He’s moved on to a more mature state of mind that recognizes there is no virtue in being depressed for a living. This explains the absence of the distorted Black Sabbath guitars that were once the backbone of Smashing Pumpkins songs. Every arrangement is a lively reflection of Corgan’s mission to find something more important in life. In the standout track “Honestly,” Corgan sings the refrain, “There’s no place that I could be without you,” and you can actually hear the joy he feels when he sings it. This goes along well with the nostalgic tones of “Endless Summer,” a confession of teenage days that were filled with love instead of self-pity. Love is Corgan’s new religion, and he kneels at its altar with his heart on his sleeve. This attitude is the most appealing thing about “Mary Star of the Sea,” but it’s the delivery that wears thin through the long album. Even after five listens, the guitar textures and choruses melt together into one long song, while the epic “Jesus, I” actually is one giant song devoted to JC himself. Finally, there’s the big God connection, but the riddles on “Mary Star of the Sea” are nowhere near being solved. That’s why it would be better to stop taking rockers so seriously and let good music speak for itself.

Girl Scout conjures new CD; puts end to blah, blah, blahs
Richard Carter | For the Wichitan

My Bloody Valentine’s “Loveless,” an earthshatteringly gorgeous organic collage of noise, melodies and voices launched the musics of a thousand bands. But 12 years later, the two guitar player/singers of the now disbanded shoegazer quartet are still working on a groundbreaking follow-up. It’s one thing to record an amazing record, and it’s quite another to follow it with something equally new and fresh and brilliant. Creative types are often faced with record company pressure to make more of the same sound (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it) or continue to be creative (and possibly end up on their backsides, unemployed). It doesn’t help that most music listeners are now sadly cool with hearing more of the same old blah blah blah. In other words, old acts and new bands recite tired music, in easily palatable forms, to unadventurous fans who feast on the ruins. The music is dead, and yet listeners blithely gnaw on its overdone remains by failing campfires. A 19-year-old Gene Vincent, Bob Dylan or Little Richard would be mortified. I prefer musicians who take chances and risk alienating the flakier members of their listening base. While fans should never be blind (or deaf) to a favored artist’s new sounds, they should invest some quality listening time to understand where new music is coming from, and where it may be going. A first listen never decided anything. Or rather the “shock of the new” is always something of a shock. This month, Scout Niblett follows up her rich, melancholic and compelling CD “Sweet Heart Fever” with a new seven-song EP titled “I Conjure Series.” The Nottingham songstress’ first CD featured plaintive folkish and bluesy vocals over her strummed and picked acoustic and electric guitar, sometimes roots-ish and other times Sonic Youth-like. Intimate, strongly emotional and occasionally playful, the 14 sparsely recorded songs of Niblett’s first CD play directly to the heart, the mind and the body of listeners. Faced with a follow-up, Niblett could have done more of the same, possibly lessening the impact of her first CD, or she could have discovered new ways of playing her music. The aptly titled EP “I Conjure Series” cuts loose with a series of inspired drum beats and the excitedly intoned words, “Let’s go, let’s go.” This is the artist conjuring new songs and approaches to playing, while not disparaging or leaving behind the tenor of her music and the accomplishments of “Sweet Heart Fever.” If Niblett confuses her quiet left-field listeners right off the get-go, hopefully they have the good sense to make it through the EP, which slowly comes to illustrate that it’s still her magic, despite the formal changes. Featuring mostly short pieces punctuated by emphatic drumming (and sometimes her tasteful rhythm guitar playing and occasional flourishes), Niblett’s new EP (a new full-length is being recorded with Steve Albini and is due out in May) injects a more immediate (and obvious) energy and dynamism into her songs. What listeners may have missed with the numerous stylistic inflections (and seamless borrowings of musical forms from her last CD) are playfully “pounded” into them here. The resulting new songs also de-emphasize the musicianship of her guitar and emphasize the musical qualities of her vocals. I would argue that the quiet—if intriguing—drumming on the second half of “Sweet Heart Fever” actually sets up this “radical” if really subtle departure on the new EP. The emotions and the creativity flow between the two CDs. The material component does not. Finding new ways to play music is of course always risky. But then too, listeners are also responsible for discovering new ways to approach and to listen to music. Like watching a film, or looking at a painting, listening is not passive. I do recommend “Sweet Heart Fever” first and then moving on to “I Conjure Series.” And also for the adventurous, Niblett will be playing at SXSW this year in Austin on March 15. Please see the SXSW.com Website for details.

Accordion player Ponty Bone does it up right, Texas style
Kat Vickers | Staff Reporter