Ball of Wax 58 Songs: Grumpy Bear – “Red Weather Tigers”

Posted on November 21, 2019 by Jon Rooney

The desert’s finest bedroom bards Grumpy Bear bring the brooding, spacey folk with “Red Weather Tigers.” A moody, sparse psych ballad that blends Elliott Smith with Parachute-era Pretty Things, “Red Weather Tigers” features both futuristic synth dabbling and finger-style acoustic guitar. What really makes the song for me are the vocals, both in terms of performance and production. There’s a soothing, pastoral vibe to the singing that’s made delightfully spooky with some well-applied reverb. Add in the synth bloops and whooshes, and there’s a bit of a Wicker Man in space vibe going on, which is a fine, fine Christmas gift to the writer.

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Ball of Wax 58 Songs: James Whetzel – “God Rest Ye Funky Bhangra (Sarod & Beats)”

Posted on November 21, 2019 by Levi Fuller

It wouldn’t really be a holiday compilation without a new spin on a traditional classic, and we’ve got a couple gems along those lines. First up, our pal James Whetzel has cooked up this wondrous bit of intercontinental Christmas magic. The title “God Rest Ye Funky Bhangra (Sarod & Beats)” tells you pretty much everything you need to know about this song – and you might even read that title and say “Not for me, thanks” – but you still need to hear it. James (on aforementioned sarod and beats) and Shree Dee (bringing more percussive power on dhol) have created a piece that is more than the sum of its parts. It’s more than a fun spin on a Christmas classic; it’s an adventurous, satisfying, head-bobbing piece of music that is guaranteed to make your holiday parties at least 50% cooler – and that would still be a pleasant surprise if you heard it in July.

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Ball of Wax 58 Songs: Green Light Cameras – “Broken”

Posted on November 20, 2019 by Levi Fuller

Phil Chamberlin – aka Green Light Cameras – continues his quest to become Ball of Wax‘s most prolific musical contributor with “Broken,” a morosely propulsive slice of synth-pop arriving just in time to underscore your SAD in the darkest time of the year. The lyrics are many-layered and nuanced (and yes, there is a Christmas tree in there), and Phil’s strident yet pensive baritone has a Bowie-ish quality to it that I admire (especially that delivery of “thunderheads” in the last verse). The production and mixing choices throughout, though, are what keep me coming back to this tune. The melodic ping-ponging guitars (and then synth) on the verse are an absolute delight, and the big climactic moment where everything opens up is just perfect. But then, instead of continuing to ride it out and get bigger and more epic toward the end, Phil has made the surprising choice to slowly bring down the instrumental tracks, exposing his vocal, which brazenly continues with song-ending bombast (see, again, those “thunderheads”). It’s a bold – and, as a singer, terrifying – choice, and it totally works. Yet another piece of skewed pop genius from Green Light Cameras.

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Ball of Wax 58 Songs: Julia Francis – “Thanksgiving Song”

Posted on November 20, 2019 by Levi Fuller

You know what holiday doesn’t have nearly enough songs in its honor? Thanksgiving. It has all the love, friendship, and familial bonhomie (and, of course, familial anxiety) of Christmas without its attendant religious baggage or gift-giving pressure. Now that most of us have moved beyond telling fairy tales about this continent’s early white colonizers, it’s becoming a near-perfect holiday. Julia Francis, I’m guessing, would agree. “Thanksgiving Song” is an appropriately warm and sweet ode to the holiday, starting with a long list of things to be thankful for, before seguing into gustatory delights such as baked sweet potato and marshmallow fluff, then pivoting to the deeper joys to be found with friends and family (however one personally defines those terms). The arrangement is somehow both lush and quirky, backing up Julia’s voice with piano, percussion, and an ever-expanding palette of musical colors (is that theremin?) that beautifully supports Julia’s voice without overcrowding the message. In addition to the sweet and happy, the chorus – which is, cleverly, a little bit different every time it comes around – acknowledges the darker side of life and offers the song itself as a sort of balm. Julia closes, “Thanksgiving song, when everything’s wrong / and all that you own are the things you’ve outgrown / except for your soul and your flesh blood and bone.”

Of course this holiday-themed volume of Ball of Wax doesn’t come out until the Saturday after Thanksgiving – when Julia and her band will join us at Conor Byrne – but I heartily recommend adding this song to your Thanksgiving playlist this year and henceforth, if only for the conversational prompts. I could think of much worse things to say during an awkward or unpleasant family moment than “Nothing is wrong with the way that you feel, if it’s what’s real.”

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Ball of Wax 58 Songs: Tekla Waterfield – “Come Together Christmas Cheer”

Posted on November 19, 2019 by Jon Rooney

Seattle-area mainstay Tekla Waterfield delivers a polished, fully-realized holiday folk song with “Come Together Christmas Cheer.” With nothing more than acoustic guitar and a few vocal tracks, Waterfield constructs something that would readily hold its own alongside any mainstream country/Americana Christmas collection (like this Tammy Wynette record I wisely picked up at a thrift store years ago). While the lyrics contain the straight-ahead greeting card sentiment one might expect, the vocal performances and simple arrangement are just beautiful. As much as I love lo fi, experimental music that takes big chances and is totally okay leaving most listeners behind, I find myself increasingly impressed by artists who can create something that wouldn’t sound out of place in almost any setting. There’s really no audience too big or broad for this quality of music, a restrained, complete nugget from an artist at the height of her powers.

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Ball of Wax 58 Songs: “Christmas in the Borough of Our Birth”

Posted on November 19, 2019 by Levi Fuller

In case the title didn’t tip you off, Virgin of the Birds lets us know right out of the gate that this is a Christmas song, with a comfortable “Be My Baby” beat and insistently chiming sleigh bells. The lyrics themselves are not your traditional holiday fodder, but the lines that do evoke the season are vintage Virgin of the Birds: “Kiss me on the mouth, it’s Christmas Eve / I have stars in my eyes, I have winter seeds.” As with any Jon Rooney number, “Christmas in the Borough of Our Birth” will likely have you doing some internet research on the fly. “What do I think ‘brutalist’ means?” “Wait, what actually is ‘Hosanna’?” “Who’s M. Emmett Walsh again?” But once you’ve settled into your own level of familiarity or ignorance with the various references and cultural touchstones, you can sit back and enjoy the music.

“Christmas in the Borough of Our Birth” is, like most of the best music, a triumph of collaboration. The classic VotB power trio lineup of Jon, Colin J Nelson, and Ken Nottingham is here enhanced with a spasmodic guitar solo from Bart Cameron (the Foghorns) and some delightfully demented sax playing courtesy Paul Beaudry (every band ever, probably playing behind you right now). There’s also some fine, tinkling Omnichord or Casio or something throughout that adds an extra layer of cheer (that’s probably Paul, too). The last two minutes of the song are given over to a raucous choir singing hearty “la la la”s, putting a jaunty bow on this admirably overstuffed musical gift. (Full disclosure: I’m one of the choir singers, along with most of the abovementioned crew, Casey Ruff, and Sam Russell. Keepin’ it in the BoW family!)

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Ball of Wax 58 Songs: Tom Dyer and the True Olympians – “(I’m a) Lonely Little Christmas Tree”

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Lattney B. Jones

Levi has chosen wisely to begin the new volume of Ball of Wax with selections by strong vocalists. Like Sam Russell, Tom Dyer is something of an area legend, and even moreso a “musical chameleon.” In fact, if you ever have a day to spare, check out the insane catalog of Green Monkey Records, in most of which Dyer has had at least a vocal or instrumental hand, and all of which span a dizzying variety of genres and styles. I’m convinced that Dyer can do, play, and sing anything (his vocal impressions alone go from Elvis to Bryan Ferry to David Byrne with plenty of stops on the way) and it’s frankly intimidating.

All of which is meant to provide context for the oddity that is “(I’m A) Lonely Little Christmas Tree.” Dyer (or at least Green Monkey) has put out several Christmas/Holiday albums, so the general theme and its trappings are not uncharted territory—but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything quite like this. Musically, it’s an academically arranged swing and either completely programmed or played by the best session musician(s) around. With Dyer’s chops, it would be hard to understand him leaving the instrumental duties to MIDI, but I’ve come to believe that everything he does is 100% calculation, so it’s clear that the backing track is exactly as it should be. I think he simply wanted to present a clear recording, focus on his vocal, and parody those Christmas originals many of us grew up with.

That, or his aim was demented cabaret croon karaoke where the house band are nothing if not professional. Speaking of the croon, Dyer moves from confident low-end to near-scat to blues-inflected howl with ease. But I have now listened to this song (on repeat) more times in the last several hours than to “Jingle Bell Rock” or “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” in my entire life (intentional listens—played over the PA at department stores from August to December does not count), and I still don’t quite understand the story or get the metaphor. All I know for sure is that this Lonely Little Christmas Tree does have a significant other, they’re somewhat anthropomorphic, and Santa Claus is kind of a skeezy bastard. There also seems to be some arboreal adultery taking place.

And this, my friends, is what makes memorable Holiday music. It’s different, it’s sonically clean as a whistle, it’s narratively devoid of wise men or babies in the hay, and it’s just damn fun.

Tom and his True Olympians will open up the Ball of Wax 58 celebration on Saturday, November 30th at Conor Byrne. Don’t be late!

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Ball of Wax 58 Songs: Sam Russell and the Harborrats – “Wisconsin Polka”

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Lattney B. Jones

Do you know what I think of when I hear Sam Russell’s voice? Reckless abandon. Thirst for life. The kind of friend who will lead you on a wild adventure to the very edge of your sanity, the kind that transforms you and changes your whole outlook on life but leaves him already looking for the next adventure. I don’t live anywhere near Seattle or Kenosha and have never met Sam, but there’s an electric fear of complete liberty that shoots through me and brings the cold sweats when I hear him really tear into a song.

“Wisconsin Polka” – a cover of the 2017 classic by our dear friends The Foghorns – is the opener on the Ball of Wax Winter Spectacular (aka Volume 58!) and, bumping right in on an understated waltz-time beat, it couldn’t be more fitting for the job of introducing us to the wonders ahead. The arrangement of the first few verses soothes like a December evening dinner around the kitchen table, with Russell’s voice barely holding back the passion that you know is coming and allowing a bit of fiddle to lead the proceedings between verses.

That passion I mentioned? It comes in spades, backed by a choir made of up the aforementioned family dinner party and joined by possibly every neighbor in the area. Sprinkled judiciously with accordion, horns, and additional percussion, “Wisconsin Polka” builds in intensity with each round, and wonderfully pulls off the trick of changing an earlier stanza into accompaniment for a late-song refrain, and leaves one feeling as exhausted, filled with fire, and buzzing as that wild transformative adventure.

Sam and the Harborrats will play this and other seasonal (and unseasonal) favorites at the Ball of Wax 58 show on Saturday, November 30th at Conor Byrne. Be there!

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Ball of Wax Winter Spectacular: Saturday, November 30th at Conor Byrne

Posted on November 14, 2019 by Levi Fuller

Ball of Wax 58 (songs of winter, holidays, and winter holidays)
The Foghorns, Sam Russell and the Harborrats, The Julia Francis Band, and Tom Dyer and the True Olympians
Saturday, November 30th, 9pm
Conor Byrne Pub
Ball of Wax 58 CD included with entry

Yes, the time has finally come for Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly to release a winter holiday-themed compilation. Some songs are cheery and jingly, some are dark and foreboding, some are outright Christmasy, while others just have snow in them.

To celebrate the release, we’re throwing a show on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, with four of the compilation’s 20 contributors – our old friends Sam Russell and The Foghorns, our new friend Julia Francis and her band, and our old friend Tom Dyer playing his first-ever Ball of Wax Show (how is this possible?). It’ll be fun.

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Album Review: The Wayside – Anything But Blue

Posted on November 8, 2019 by Casey Ruff

The Wayside - Anthing But Blue album coverThe Wayside – Anything But Blue
(2019, self-released)

The Wayside is an Americana band, comprised of acoustic guitar playing, songwriting, vocalizing Shannon Fulgham; and electric guitar playing, singing, and songwriting Dan Walker; a bass playing Bill Dougherty; and a drumming Brad Robertson. Further combing of government and social media databases place this musical group in Ballard, Washington, USA, and they have a new album called Anything But Blue. It’s competent to the point of sophisticated Country music that hearkens encouragingly forward.

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