Audio files: In our own back yard

An occasional roundup of recordings by local artists.

By Times staff
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 1, 2002

MR. BELLA, PREMISE (LOADED DICE, WWW.MRBELLA.COM) Since 1997, Mr. Bella has been one of the Tampa Bay area's most interesting modern rock acts. Why? The quartet features a real live woman, ErinMarie, singing hard rock. Convincingly. ErinMarie has the pipes of an even more ticked off Pat Benatar. It helps that she's backed by Ian Dickinson's mega-crunchy guitar and the pummeling rhythm section of bassist Amir DaBiri and new drummer Rick Bizarro, formerly of death metal act Nocturnus.

Premise, the band's six-song disc, with its fierce riffs and bad moods, is not for wimps. The title track shows inventiveness with nutty syncopation and a spectacular range of emotion in ErinMarie's delivery, which goes from seduction to sneer. Supposing is all thumping bass and primal guitar. The big winner, hands down, is Over This, filled with swirly, effect-laden guitar that gives the tune a weirdly carnivalesque quality, spooky though, like the best old Siouxsie and the Banshees.

-- GINA VIVINETTO, Times Pop Music Critic

PAUL RELLER, THE BIG VIBRATION (WWW.CDBABY.COM) Paul Reller makes music for nervous people. In the 1980s and '90s, Reller led the rock band Clang, which developed a popular following, but that seems like a long time ago when one listens to The Big Vibration, a two-CD compilation of his edgiest, most experimental music, heavy on the technology. Selections range from Snowflake, a rambunctious percussion piece Reller composed in 1991, to Lunch, a strangely delicate recent work for piano and electronic processors.

His magnum opus is My Life in Seismology, a 41-minute sonic environment created on tape, suggesting everything from limpid underwater blips and bubbles to the inside of a jet engine to garbage can covers being pounded together. The Blessing, another taped piece, features a snippet of Charles Manson singing and playing guitar as a motif. Pianist Corey Holt Merenda is featured in Executive Outcomes.

-- JOHN FLEMING, Times Performing Arts Critic

THE GITA, FEATURE PRESENTATION (MEKKA RECORDS, WWW.MEKKARECORDS.COM, or WWW.THEGITABAND.COM) Local jam band lovers adore the Gita because the act possesses not just musical know-how but also the philosophy behind improvisation, a magic of generosity between players. The Gita guys -- and how many are there now? 113? -- get satisfaction from creating a multi-culti vibe in their feel-good tunes.

The sound on the latest, Feature Presentation, is packed with one-world punch, plenty of Indian modals, mystical ragas, Latin beats, blasting horns and crisp folk rock that would have Dave Matthews' own mother tapping her toe. Savor songs peppered with flute, trombone, trumpet, banjo, violin. You can't beat the positive message of Swallow Your Pride. Nor can you beat a band that thanks its yoga teacher in liner notes and has the good sense to sample one member's 90-year-old Nana playing the ukulele.

-- G.V.

FLUID MOTION (ISOSPIN LABS, WWW.CDBABY.COM) This is a tremendous CD showcasing the saxophonist Sam Rivers along with Jonathan Powell, a trumpeter who, at 19, was more than 50 years younger than the ageless jazz man when the recording was made in January. They, along with bassist Doug Matthews, drummer Anthony Cole and trombonist David Manson, perform eight works by Manson that come as a revelation for their combination of deceptively complex compositional architecture and good old-fashioned swinging.

Rivers is wonderfully expressive on soprano and tenor sax, and Powell is a remarkable young talent. Manson contributes a tough but tender solo on Whispers. When the whole group gets cooking, the propulsive drive of a piece like Tephlon is downright exhilarating.

-- J.F.

MARK GOULD AND FRIENDS, THE UNSUSPECTING MOMENT (EFFICACY MUSIC, E-MAIL: TENORMG64@AOL.COM) Tenor saxophonist Mark Gould, from Largo, has been a staple of the Tampa Bay area's fine jazz scene for years. That's how he got other bay area luminaries to join him on The Unsuspecting Moment, a disc of luscious originals and standards.

Ensemble playing is the key for Gould, who fell in love with big band music when he was seven years old. The title track features Gould's brawny, ecstatic sax backed by ribbons of happy horns, with trombone by Keith Oshiro and trumpet by Tom Parmerter. Billy Pillucere thumps that upright bass until we're lulled. Bewitched, the Rodgers & Hart standard, finds singer Ally Couch in sublime form. The End of a Love Affair is rich in samba zest. Another winner: The astounding rhythms of I Wish You Love.

-G.V.

VISIONS: PERFORMANCES FROM THE EMIT SERIES (ISOSPIN LABS, WWW.CDBABY.COM) For seven years, the EMIT series has kept on keepin' on. Director David Manson is responsible for bringing an impressive lineup of free jazz, improvisation and other avant garde artists to a variety of venues in the Tampa Bay area, mainly galleries and museums. Now you can sample the music in a well-produced CD of performances from the series.

Highlights include Confluence, a scintillating duet by saxophonists Sam Rivers and Evan Parker; Amy Denio's jokey but touching ballad in Russian for electric bass and voice, Gdye Damskaya Parikhmakirskaya?; and the Zenlike Water by shakuhachi flutist Philip Gelb and Chris Brown on computer.

-- J.F.

JUMPING STARFISH, IN THIS LIFE (WWW.JUMPINGSTARFISH.HOMESTEAD.COM) Folk duo Jumping Starfish is capable of those skintight harmonies only siblings pull off. But in the case of 21-year-olds Carie and Sarah Pigeon, they're twins, so those two voices mesh together terrifically on bouncy tunes such as the disc's charmingly upbeat opener Dee Dee La La.

Most of the seven-song In This Life features bright pop tunes that fans of Lisa Loeb or the Nields, another sister act, might enjoy. The title track is more solemn, but the tin whistle and clap-along joy of That's All Right will perk you up again. All the tunes on this disc feature only the sisters, their voices and their acoustic guitars, with Carie tossing in the occasional flute (and that tin whistle). Leave the Light On is certainly the most powerful cut. A broken-hearted tune that finds the Pigeons in somber terrain, the song's sad narrator earnestly vows to the one who's breaking her heart, "I wanted you to know I'm all right." But the line's earnestness is cutting; we'd like to believe her, but we know she's saving face. The fact that we're sad for her -- that's the song's oomph.

-- G.V.

JEFFREY MICHAEL, KALEIDOSCOPE (FIREHEART MUSIC, WWW.FIREHEARTMUSIC.COM) Prolific St. Petersburg pianist and composer Jeffrey Michael is only in his mid-20s, but Kaleidoscope is his fifth album. Michael also has a bit of film scoring and commercial work under his belt.

Lush arrangements of soothing New Agey piano are the backbone of Kaleidoscope, but the music isn't mush. Much of the disc is fresh and inventive, with the title track hinting at French Impressionists and, specifically, Erik Satie. The material celebrates the beauty of Michael's home state, its beaches and sunsets. Several cuts, such as the elegaic Starry Night paying homage to Vincent Van Gogh, and Tribute, a song honoring those affected by the terrorism of Sept. 11, are weightier. Michael has a playful side, too: he recently scored the soundtrack and starred in a low-budget flick called Biker Zombies From Detroit. -- G.V.

HONEYRIDER, SUNSHINE SKYWAY (E-MAIL: SUMMERPOP@HOTMAIL.COM) Honeyrider's main man, Gary Strickland, has a jones for retro-summertime music that just won't quit.

Sunshine Skyway, his third disc using the Honeyrider moniker -- admittedly a studio project for multitalented Strickland -- is his first disc recorded in Florida, where the erstwhile Californian has lived since 1999. The sound is shimmery pop, the tunes are go-get-the-girl simple, the way the Ramones would have sounded if they dug surf boards and not leather jackets. One gets the feeling that Strickland has a lot of Brian Wilson records in his collection. Guitars buzz, the keyboards are kitschy and organesque, and the harmonies are as bright as the sun. Listen for the tunes about Strickland's new digs: Ybor City, Madeira Beach, and all the pretty girls therein.

-- G.V.

THE BOATS (PURETONE PRODUCTIONS, WWW.PURETONEPRODUCTIONS.COM) The Boats is one of Tampa's most exciting and experimental acts, a quartet that specializes in alternative rock with a jazzy bent. The self-titled disc features the sort of angular guitar that reeks of vintage Gang of Four, oddly meshed with Jeremiah Leonard's sputtering trumpet and a rhythm section that intrigues.

The hodgepodge can be magical as on opener Lost Sombreros. The tune features vocals, sure, but are those lyrics? They're more like mantras and war cries. The song is buoyed by the Boats' always inventive drummer Sam Nagatani's clever taps and sweeping fills and bassist Todd McBride's sturdiness that doesn't lose any artiness. George Eckerle's choppy post-punk guitar drives End of the Lease, but wait a minute and he pulls a switcheroo, with delicate picking on Sun and Grass. Is the acoustic Mewhawkee a ballad? Well, it's a slow tune, sure, but its oddball percussion shows it's no lovey-dovey affair. It packs punch like Led Zep's Going To California, and it's as eloquent.

-- G.V.

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