Review: Buffalo Tom | Skins

Thankfully, we haven't had to wait as long for Skins (out tomorrow on the band's own imprint, Scrawny Records) as we did for Three Easy Pieces, the album Buffalo Tom returned with in 2007 after a nine-year semi-hiatus. Better still, the new set is a stronger album. Where Three Easy Pieces felt sort of self-conscious in trying to figure out what the band means in the new century, Skins finds the band on more confident footing.

Its sound is layered and textured, with pianos and acoustic guitars and mandolins alongside some big SG/Marshall power chords. It breathes. That much of it was recorded with Paul Q. Kolderie at Camp Street Studios, with whom and where the band last worked with on its watershed 1992 album, Let Me Come Over (Camp Street being in what used to be the legendary Fort Apache studios) is probably no coincidence.

It's real, just as Buffalo Tom always have been. They've always been a band that's wears its heart on its sleeve, but in ways we can all relate to and with a sound to match. It's as if the Stones, Van Morrison, and The Who weren't Ivory Tower rock stars, but rather guys that grew up on your block or that you went to school with.

Skins' foundation lies in tracks 3-5. I don't think I'm out of line suggesting that guitarist Bill Janovitz has a trademark chord progression style out of which he's somehow managed, with subtle variances, to wrangle a couple of the band's biggest songs, "Taillights Fade" and "I'm Allowed." Here, it yields "Down" and its infectious titular refrain, and it feels as timeless a Buffalo Tom track as this all suggests. "Don't Forget Me" doesn't even need its lyrics to make you run your whole life through your mind and Tanya Donnelly's harmonies seal the deal; its follow-up "Guilty Girls" should be the feel-good rocker hit of the summer.

Meanwhile, bassist Chris Colbourn's songs here are still disarmingly simple in structure, but there's a lot to unpack. Where he recalled Maria Callas on Three Easy Pieces (on "CC and Callas"), here, "Miss Barren Brooks" remembers silent film actress Louise Brooks. Yes, I had to Google that.

Skins all comes down to the album's central broken heart, "The Big Light," Janovitz's dedication to his beloved uncle (he related the devastating story on his blog in 2009). It's a soaring rush of a racing mind trying to process a tragedy. Two-chord songs have rarely been more powerful.

The album's solo demos -- included on a deluxe edition -- are a must. There's not necessarily many major revelations of lost verses and nixed middle eights -- their arrangements are more or less the same. But the spare sound gives the songs even more heft. They sound like they were recorded after a long night of pouring hearts into song. Those pure moments of creation. Special mention to Colbourn's demo of "The Hawks & The Sparrows," which is a charming mix of his cracking, ill-sounding voice over a background of playing children.

Buffalo Tom has always meant autumn and back-to-school and flannel and melancholy reminiscence and the mental steeling for a bleak New England winter. Skins is not so different, but the end-of-winter release puts it in a different perspective. It breathes with that cool breeze from the first pre-Spring open window. It's still a bit dark and dreary outside, but we're turning that calendar page.

They're on tour in Europe right now, but return for a hometown gig at the Paradise on April 8th and play 2 for New Hampshire Public Radio in Portsmouth just before that on April 2nd. More US dates follow.

Their full schedule:
March 7, 2011: Melkweg, Amsterdam, Holland
March 8, 2011: Luxor, Cologne, Germany
March 10, 2011: Dingwalls, London, England
March 11, 2011: Sound Control, Manchester, England
March 12, 2011: Oran Mor, Glasgow, Scotland

April 2, 2011: The Music Hall, Portsmouth, NH (2 shows)
April 8, 2011: The Paradise, Boston, MA
April 13, 2011: Varsity Theater, Minneapolis, MN
April 14, 2011: Lincoln Hall, Chicago, IL
April 28, 2011: Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
April 29, 2011: M Room, Philadelphia, PA
April 30, 2011: The Black Cat, Washington, D.C.

May 17, 2011: Slim's, San Francisco, CA
May 18, 2011: Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
May 19, 2011: Doug Fir, Portland, OR
May 20, 2011: Chop Suey, Seattle, WA

-Michael Piantigini

BUFFALO TOM: Intertubes | Twitter | Facebook | MySpace | Fan Reference

BILL JANOVITZ: Blog | Intertubes | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Today's Hotness: Buffalo Tom tonight at the Paradise

[Last year's Buffalo Tom show at the Paradise, Boston MA 6/26/2009. Photo by Michael Piantigini]

In this post-millenial era, it may not be so obvious what are the side projects and what are the main gigs for self-described “part time man of rock” Bill Janovitz and his cohorts in Boston-via-UMASS local heroes Buffalo Tom. The reality is that it's all side project at this point, the band having long settled into domestic life and day jobs - er, make that careers - that involve an actual paycheck.

But that’s ok – so has the fan base that have been following them since their self-titled debut album from 1989 or even the ones that they picked up on the bigger commercial breakthrough that their 4th album, 1993’s Big Red Letter Day and its exposure on TV’s My So Called Life. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with having a day job and making music – that’s what most bands do, right? Buffalo Tom always had sort of a band-next-door-made-good kind of quality to them – they’re like us, we’re like them. They sing about day-to-day stuff we know about. There was never any phony rock star mystique. There still isn’t. Now, we may be a bit older, wiser, busier, but we still like to crank up Let Me Come Over whenever we can.

After supporting 1998’s Smitten, the band layed low but never really broke up, even though many thought they had - there was a particular Somerville Theatre gig in 2001 that, for no specific reason, everyone in attendance seemed to be assuming was their last. Thankfully it wasn't, but the band layed pretty low for a several years, usually playing one or two local gigs a year. Janovitz, in particular, kept pretty busy during this time by playing residencies, making solo albums, making Beatles albums with Graham Parker, writing books, etc.

Finally in 2007, the layoff ended and the band released the excellent Three Easy Pieces, which both felt informed by the influence of the intervening years and also like they never left. Clusters of tour dates followed, including a SXSW set that felt like a comeback event. Us Bostonians in the crowd may have known better, but it felt great anyway. The return to playing with regularity had them sounding as great as ever.

Tonight, they play the Paradise with Yep Roc-ers Peggy Sue just a couple of weeks shy of a year since they last played there. This could be just a warm up for another period of sustained activity, too – as Janovitz has been reporting on his blog (and Colbourn on the band’s message board), they’ve finished another new album, so we will anxiously be hoping to hear lots of new stuff interspersed with classics like "Taillights Fade" and "Birdbrain." Hey, how about “Your Stripes” while you’re at it?

-Michael Piantigini

Buffalo Tom: Intertubes | MySpace | Facebook | YouTube | Kitchen Door (exhaustive fan chronicle)
Bill Janovitz: Intertubes | Blog | MySpace | Facebook | YouTube

And Then This Happened: For Amie Breast Cancer Benefit with Colin Clary, Drew O'Doherty, Travels

Not pictured are these other kind performers supporting the effort: Broken River Prophet, Kristin Hersh and Bill Janovitz. We were surprised at how much fun an afternoon indie rock show where everyone brought their kids was. We'd like to see more of that happen, if only because it means we could finally blend kid time and rock club time. The short review is that Colin Clary was endearing, Drew O'Doherty's playing was mesmerizing and voice as killer as always, and Travels were even better than we had hoped. We left before the bigger names hit the stage, but had a really great time. If you couldn't make the show, you can still make a donation to a very worthy cause right here.

For Amie: A Breast Cancer Awareness Benefit | Oct. 17

All the info is there in the poster. Interesting fact: we've never seen Bill Janovitz perform, not solo, not with Buffalo Tom, not with Crown Victoria. So we're actually really looking forward to this for more than just a chance to get out and support friends and a good cause. We've never seen Ms. Hersh either, although her bands don't loom nearly as large in our musical past as does Buffalo Tom. That band's "For All To See" from the No Alternative comp is as perfect an indie rock number as has been recorded, and there are tons of great songs spread across albums like Big Red Letter Day, Sleepy Eyed and Smitten. If you haven't been keeping up with Mr. Janovitz lately, his blog is always interesting and entertaining. Even better, he has been recording and posting cover tunes for about a year, if not more. We're posting a couple of our favorites below. We'll note for the record that right after Palace released Hope we stole the opening line for "Agnes..." for one of our own songs, brazenly, blatantly. And we'd do it again. See you Saturday afternoon at the Middle East.

Bill Janovitz -- "Agnes, Queen of Sorrow (Palace Music cover)" -- Cover of the Week
Bill Janovitz -- "Johnsburg, Illinois (Tom Waits cover)" -- Cover of the Week
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[buy Buffalo Tom records from Newbury Comics right here]

Today's Hotness: Algernon Cadwallader, Bill Janovitz

>> Be Happy Records has reissued the debut "demo" 7" from Philly-based emo superlatives Algernon Cadwallader, and so we are finally initiating coverage of the act with an emphatic "buy" rating. A 2008 re-pressing of the release, originally issued in 2006, sold out briskly. The disc includes four tracks, "Second Rate Machines," "Breath Wish," "Look Down..." and "Sailor Set Sell." Those unfamiliar with the act(which in the excellent video clip above is a four-piece, but at its MySpace lists itself as a trio?) will be surprised to learn it sounds very convincingly like the fabled Kinsella-led second-wave emo goliath Cap'n Jazz. Which is a long way of saying that Algernon Cadwallader is awesome. Be Happy also sells a full-length from the band titled Some Kind Of Cadwallader, which sold out of its initial April 2008 pressing of 1,096 units (uh, random) and is now available via a second tranche of 1,100 made available last August. A 7" for "Hot Green" is expected soon, although not so soon that you can pre-order it anywhere. That piece of vinyl will be packaged with a CD of the tracks and other unspecified "extras." Who doesn't love extras? Anyhoo, the band makes a return to live playing later this month; Algernon Cadwallader had been sidelined since early November, when drummer Tank broke his ankle 12 days into what was to have been a nine-week U.S. tour. Check out the awesome clip of the band playing "Serial Killer Status" in Amherst, Mass. last June. We've posted the confirmed forthcoming dates below. We're actually hoping to get the band on-board for a Show Us Yours feature, but so far every time we've tried to message them via MySpace News Corp.'s awesome web site blocks my message because it considers it Spam. Awesome web site you got there, Rupert...

02/21 -- Lingerie Room -- Harrisburg, PA
03/11 -- Danger Danger -- Philadelphia, PA
03/14 -- Stomping Grounds -- Lancaster, PA

>> If you have yet to catch on to what Bill Janovitz -- who you may know better as the guitarist and singer in Buffalo Tom or the fronter of Crown Victoria -- is up to, it is time to seize the day. Mr. Janovitz has been posting at his blog a dazzling selection of acoustic covers over the last few months as part of his series Cover Of The Week. If anything the cuts are amazing because he has selected some of our favorite songs, including The Replacements' "Little Mascara," Palace Music's "Agnes, Queen Of Sorrow," Tom Waits' "Johnsburg, Ill." and, most recently, The Clash's "Straight To Hell." Get thee to this link and start following along or RSSing or whatever it is the kids do these days. We recall listening to a pre-release version of "Agnes, Queen Of Sorrow" in our dog Matt's mother's driveway in Amherst, Mass. when we were still in college together, and the song has been a favorite since Oldham uttered that first line. Janovitz most certainly does the song justice, so we're posting it below. Janovitz has a residency at Toad in Cambridge, Mass. every Saturday night of this month, and we're holding out hope that we'll actually make it to one. All those dates are in our sidebar, which in case you haven't noticed has had a little something called Clicky Clicky Club Picks in it since the beginning of the year.

Bill Janovitz -- "Agnes, Queen Of Sorrow" -- Cover Of The Week
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[buy Buffalo Tom records from Newbury Comics here]
[buy Bill Janovitz and Crown Victoria records from Newbury Comics here]
[buy Palace Brothers records from Newbury Comics here]

>> We can report that one additional 2009 vinyl release alluded to by Austin, Texas-based indie juggernauts Ringo Deathstarr last week will be issued by UK-based SVC Records; it remains unclear whether there will be others. SVC, which originally issued the band's exceptional 2007 self-titled EP, will offer this spring or summer a two-song 7" from The Deathstarr. The band is said to have plans to finish recording the tracks sometime soon. Notably, the single will be SVC's first vinyl release. The label expects to offer records from Sky Drops and The Vandelles prior to the single hitting racks. As we reported here last week, Maryland-based indie label Fan Death will reissue (and issue on vinyl for the very first time) Ringo Deathstarr's excellent Ringo Deathstarr EP as a hot pink 12" in a limited edition of 500.