Ball of Wax 50 Songs: Shenandoah Davis – “Supernatural Powers”

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Levi Fuller

Leave it to me to pick the sweet, loving song on an album of breakup songs. Our old pal (last heard around these parts on Ball of Wax 31, covering Colin J Nelson and being covered by Emiko Blalock) Shenandoah Davis’s commanding new LP, Souvenirs, is primarily an album about the ends of relationships – and every single song on it is worth many listens – but “Supernatural Powers” seems to come from deep in the folds of a promising new relationship. “Laziness and loneliness are through,” she sings, “now that I’ve found company in you.” Of course the placement of this song on this particular album perhaps adds a level of irony to that refrain, but sometimes it’s nice just to take things at face value, right? Musically, “Supernatural Powers” has a seductive, subtle drive that drew me into it. There’s very little percussion, but the strumming and thrumming acoustic instruments create a continuous pulse that keeps the song moving forward, providing a solid bed for Shenandoah’s words and melodies.

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Ball of Wax 50 Songs: Faith Eliott – “Grouper”

Posted on December 5, 2017 by Jon Rooney

Edinburgh-via-Minnesota songwriter and visual artist Faith Eliott contributes the stunning “Grouper” to Ball of Wax 50, a track recorded with Ball of Wax stalwarts Colin J Nelson and Paul Beaudry (the Foghorns, Caleb & Walter, my band Virgin of the Birds, probably your band if you check at the next rehearsal) at Nelson’s Her Car studio in Fremont. “Grouper” is an ethereal, shimmering revelation of a song, a song about a fish that’s about so much more than a fish. It’s lyrically dense yet poetically fluid, addressing an unnamed “you” about “unknowable forces in their mercury hearts” before constructing a tower of words and imagery that resolve with “if that’s what it means / free to live in the world.” Eilott’s vocal performance saunters then soars at times and the arrangement gradually fills in before fanning out, introducing organ, then Beaudry on singing saw. At the emotional crescendo, Eliott’s own voice forms a mirrored backdrop of “oohs” and “aahs” that feel like a subtle triumph.

Despite its aquatic subject matter, “Grouper” could fit right in on Eliott’s outstanding 2016 EP, Insects, one of last year’s best releases on either side of the Atlantic.  You should buy it and listen to it a lot.

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Ball of Wax 50 Songs: The Foghorns – “40 Watt Light”

Posted on December 5, 2017 by Levi Fuller

The Foghorns are back (not that they ever really go away, bless ’em) with “40 Watt Light,” a tune whose warm, smoky swing belies the cold, bitter lyrical content. We seem to have here a portrait of a man trapped in a cold room (most likely in the Midwest) surrounded by strangers, haunted by the headlights of a lost love. The lyrics are vintage Bart Cameron: painting just enough of a story to have you reaching for a beer (or wiping a tear) while leaving enough unsaid to let you make the story your own.

The Foghorns will bring their impeccably disheveled sounds to the LoFi next Friday (December 15th) at the Ball of Wax 50 release show. Get your tickets now!

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Ball of Wax 50 Songs: The Laughing Group – “What Happens Stays”

Posted on December 4, 2017 by Levi Fuller

A year after making their BoW debut as The Laughing Group, Seth Howard and co. return with “What Happens Stays,” a pretty little waltz number (replete with jazz chords, melodic Casio, and lush backing vocals) with subtle, evocative lyrics. I’m not 100% sure what this song is about, but as always Seth’s lyrics are precisely crafted and beautifully delivered. Certain phrases evoke the mundanity of living in this strange futuristic time in which we find ourselves. A reference to bitcoin early in the song, and later, this: “Sirens are mute now, all I can hear is the navigator’s voice dull and clear.” This is a strange time to be alive, but I’m very happy Seth’s voice is part of it.

The Laughing Group will play this tune – and probably some of their more rocking numbers as well – at the Ball of Wax 50 release show, December 15th at LoFi. Get your tickets now!

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Ball of Wax 50 Songs: Sun Tunnels – “I Guess Not”

Posted on November 30, 2017 by Levi Fuller

Louis O’Callaghan (once the Graze, sometimes just Louis O’Callaghan, now Sun Tunnels) is one of Ball of Wax‘s oldest, dearest friends. He first popped up way back on Volume 2, and while he’s had some extended absences, he always finds his way back. “I Guess Not” is part of Louis’s brand-new EP, Old Haunts Vol. 1, which finds him putting the finishing touches on various tracks that have been languishing on one hard drive or another (I have no idea what that must be like). “I Guess Not” a deeply satisfying slab of driving, 6/8 rock with loud guitars and drums and bass (thanks to Terry Kyte and Sugar McGuinn) and Louis’s emotive tenor emoting all over it. There’s a mostly instrumental break about halfway through with these beautiful “hyeahhh”s kinda buried in the mix but peeking out just enough to thrill the close listener. Then it all sort of flops apart at the end as Louis sings the title, almost as a comment on the song itself. Hey, is this a heck of a kickass rock song or what? Ehhh, “I guess not.”

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Ball of Wax 50 Songs: Visceral Candy – “Doot Doot”

Posted on November 29, 2017 by Levi Fuller

Our pals Visceral Candy are back with more densely layered, thoughtfully constructed art-funk – this time in the form of an exasperated comment on the Current State of Affairs, this absurdist dystopia we somehow became trapped in about a year ago. “What the heck, America?” asks Seth Swift, and while some of us might quibble with his G-rated word choice, the sentiment is deeply familiar to those of us who’ve been trapped in a constant WTF loop for the past year-plus. “Doot Doot” offers no solutions, but clearly expresses the disorientation and frustration of being a thinking human in America today – and honestly, sometimes all my brain can muster as my eyeballs are bludgeoned with the day’s news is “doot doot doot doot doo,” so this feels about right.

Visceral Candy will bring this and several other tunes to life at the Ball of Wax 50 release show, December 15th at LoFi. Get your tickets now!

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Ball of Wax 50 Songs: Wiscon – “More Bones”

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Levi Fuller

With four hand-claps on an 808, Wiscon gets Ball of Wax 50 off to a rollicking start with “More Bones,” probably the most delightful song about the blood feuds of paleontologists you’ve heard all year. For most of the song the band and singer Taryn Rene Dorsey keep things upbeat and relatively fun, with the taunting refrain “I’ve got more bones than you” working its way under your skin like a velociraptor’s teeth. (Or like a shovel in a Montana dig site? I dunno, I gotta work on my paleontology similes.) The band changes gear at the end, though, and we’re treated to a half-time, chanting ode to Was (Not Was) that swirls into noisy, chaotic heaviness, and had me giggling with glee on first listen. “More Bones” will also appear on the band’s new EP Jazz Cigarette, which should be out any minute now.

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Ball of Wax 50 Is Nigh! 12/15 at LoFi

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Levi Fuller

Ball of Wax 50 posterBall of Wax 50 Release Show
Friday, December 15, 9pm
LoFi Performance Gallery
429 Eastlake Ave. E.
with The Foghorns, Screens, Visceral Candy, The Laughing Group, and Jenni Potts
$8 advance/$10 door (includes a copy of Ball of Wax 50 CD)

The 50th volume of Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly is, as usual, a scintillating blend of strange and beautiful new sounds from the Northwest and beyond, from friends old and new. The release show is a pretty good reflection of that dynamic as well, from the brand-new-to-me Jenni Potts to our old, dear pals The Foghorns – along with appearances from some friends we haven’t seen enough of in a while.

We’ll be rolling out the BoW 50 tracks between now and the release date. Stay right here to follow along!

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Ball of Wax 50: An Update

Posted on October 26, 2017 by Levi Fuller

As you probably know if you’re looking at this site, Ball of Wax Volume 50 (Autumn 2017) was supposed to be devoted to music by women, curated by me and Sharlese Metcalf. After much deliberation, Sharlese and I have decided to postpone our collection of music by women. We’ve realized we don’t have the bandwidth at the moment to give this project the full attention it deserves and to create a compilation that we and the participants will be proud of. This volume will be finished and released in the near future, but not as Ball of Wax 50.

We’ll announce more details soon, but in the meantime, BoW 50 will be another unthemed collection of fantastic music.

On that note: if you have some new music you’d like to send for consideration for Ball of Wax 50, please do.

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Ball of Wax 49 Songs: Eric Anders – “Big World Abide”

Posted on August 18, 2017 by Levi Fuller

Just as we were releasing our “Songs of Resistance” volume (to benefit NW Immigrant Rights Project), California singer-songwriter Eric Anders was putting the finishing touches on Eleven Nine, his collection of artfully crafted anti-Trump songs (to benefit Lambda Legal). “Big World Abide” is one of those songs, though it actually has its origins in our previous presidential nightmare – it was originally written in the dark days of G.W. Bush’s second term. Eric and producer Matthew Brown (him again?) reworked the tune with the help of some crackerjack Seattle musicians for this dark, swampy rendition, which beautifully evokes the bleak unease that has permeated these past several months for most of us. Lyrically it’s a bit less on the nose than the approach many of us took on Volume 47, but that can be an effective strategy: Your Fox-watching uncle might run to turn off the stereo as soon as he heard the first few words of, say, “Racist Thief,” but keep nodding his head obliviously as Eric’s clear baritone croons, “These believers they terrorize / You might hope our lies evolve / It seems, hardly at all.” We’re happy to have Eric among our ranks, fighting the good fight.

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