Johnny Cash - American VI: Ain't No Grave

Johnny Cash is a legend. So legendary in fact, that he is still releasing music even years after his death. His most recent release, American VI: Ain’t No Grave, is a slow, refined work that is clearly late Cash, in touch with his spiritual and religious side. The works contained on American VI were recorded only months before Cash’s death in late 2003 in the same session as American V: A Hundred Highways.
American VI: Ain’t No Grave is a perfectly organized compilation of songs for Cash to have recorded so close to the end. Each and every song echoes the impending big sleep with an air of confidence and satisfaction. Especially known for his cover of Nine Inch Nail’s ‘Hurt,’ Cash is well versed in making the music of other’s work with is talents. All of the songs on American IV, one original and nine covers, are perfectly carried by the wise country singer.
‘Ain’t No Grave (Gonna Hold This Body Down)’ is a song written by Claude Ely. The song guests Avett Brothers Scott on Banjo and Seth doing footsteps. The song is a cover of an old religious tune, an eerie piece featuring dragging chains and church bells behind Cash’s voice and the light instrumentals. Cash sings in the song “Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.” He surely predicted the future.
‘Redemption Day’ is a Cheryl Crow song. The light guitar and organ provide a vehicle for Cash’s voice to carry Sheryl Crow’s lyrics on, lyrics that feel so natural coming from Cash that it may as well have been his own song.
‘For the Good Times’ written by Kris Kristofferson, is a song about enjoying life. Cash’s finely aged voice and his proximity to the big sleep really give this song a lot of power. ‘Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound’ is a song written by Tom Paxton. It is yet another song that can’t help but be applied to the end of Cash’s life, wondering where he’s bound at the end.
‘Satisfied Mind’ is a Red Hayes/Jack Rhodes original. The lyrics “How many times have you heard someone say, if I had his money I could do things my way, but little they know that its so hard to find, one rich man in ten, with a satisfied mind” are a bit of advice from a rich man to enjoy life regardless of your financial situation. ‘I Don’t Hurt Anymore’ is a Don Roberston/Walter E. Rollins tune and is yet another celebration of happiness. While the previous song was used to offer advice for happiness, this song is an exclamation of happiness.
‘Cool Water’ is a Bob Nolan song. The song is a conversation between the narrator and Dan, two men who just want water, in a desert. To put the song into the context of Cash’s life, a good old God loving man, would be to make it a metaphor for the afterlife.
‘Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream’ an Ed McCurdy piece, is truly a dream sequence musically. The most instrumentally rich song on the album, filled with guitars, piano, light percussion and organ, is truly a soothing piece.
‘Aloha Oe’ is a song written by Queen Lili’uokalani, and is easily recognized as ‘that cliché Hawaiian dancing song’ from movies. Despite this setback, the song is truly gorgeous. The ever heartbreaking slide guitar and Cash’s deep, old voice singing in a Hawaiian tongue are a true delight to the ears.
‘1 Corinthians 15:55’ is the only Cash original on the album. It’s an upbeat, religious ode to what the Man sees coming. “Hope springs eternal, just over the rise, when I see my redeemer beckoning me” is the chorus of the song. Cash, through all his trials and tribulations was still hopeful even in the end. “1 Corinthians 15:55’ is an impressive finale for the Man in Black.

John R. Cash will have been 78 years old tomorrow, February 26. Don’t forget the Man in Black.

Galactic - Ya-Ka-May

Galactic are a bunch of talented musicians from good old New Orleans, Louisiana. The band totally defies any sort of classification. The only words that can even begin to pin them down are crunch and funky. Your going to want to dance when you listen to their news release, Ya-Ka-May, and if you don’t want to dance, your not going to be able to stop your body from sharing in the groove without you. It has a lot of fantastic guest artist collaborations, in fact almost every song on the album does. There is so much New Orleans flavor within the confines of Ya-Ka-May that listening may actually incite a riotous dance party on the spot.
‘Boe Money’ (featuring The Rebirth Brass Band) is an awesome instrumental jam combining a lot of funky elements with a grand horn section to create a really solid groove. The Rebirth Brass Band does a great job adding a lot of New Orleans funk and jazz and really livens the track up to another level. The Rhythm section keeps it solid, not a second for your feet to stop for the duration of the track. Background gang vocals throughout the song give you the feeling of being in New Orleans at a street festival listening to a rockin’ band.
‘Heart of Steel’ (featuring Irma Thomas) draws on a light hip-hop feel in the drum beat while infusing the rhythm and blues in the sweet vocals and a little old school blues-rock in the harmonica and guerilla guitar riffs. That is a lot to chew on for one song, but Galactic was born for it and make it happen with a little help from Irma Thomas. This song is a powerhouse with a really catchy chorus, lyrically and instrumentally: you can feel the instrumentals meshing with Irma’s vocals for the chorus to really drive it home, while staying in the pocket during the verse. “Tight” is the word that comes to mind and you can surely feel the New Orleans again in this track.
‘Dark Water’ (featuring John Boutte) is a really low down funky, bluesy, soul track with some smooth lyrics from John Boutte. The song starts off leading each individual instrument in and you know its taken form once the guitar riff cuts through the speakers and shakes your soul alive. The breakdown is so crunchy that trying to resist it would be futile: every song on this album was made to move to.
‘Liquor Pang’ (featuring Josh Cohen & Ryan Scully from the Morning 40 Federation) is a heavy blues-rock tune with a bit of electronic thrown in right next to all the hard alcohol streaming through its sound waves. This song reeks of whiskey, especially in the lyrics: “Finger on the trigger / take your liquor in the fast lane.” The song moves along at a sluggish pace, slowly injecting it’s awesome instrumentals into your skull via a solid rhythm section, and a grungy, bluesy infusion of horns, guitar and electric organ.
‘You Don’t Know’ (featuring Glen David Andrews & The Rebirth Brass Band) may be the most powerful song on Ya-Ka-May. The Rebirth Brass Band comes back for another round to lay it down with Glen David Andrews. The heavy, raspy, blues lyrics come from the soul and the brass is just phenomenal. Galactic lay down a gorgeous foundation and work so smoothly with their collaborators you would never know it was a track featuring artists who are not a part of the band.
These are only a few of the songs off Galactic’s newest release, Ya-Ka-May. To try and describe any of the tracks on this album in only one or two sentences would have been a serious injustice. This is one of those albums you must give at least one listen to this year, because you WILL be hearing about it.

The Album Leaf - A Chorus of Storytellers

The Album Leaf is an experiment ambient post-rock group from San Diego, California. Their latest release, A Chorus of Storytellers, is the effort’s first release featuring a full band.

Perro, the first track on the album, fades in with a light static overpowered by a synth using a simple progression and gradually adding more and more body. Behind all of this are some sort of announcements by human voices that are barely audible and seem to be an adult teaching a child to speak or read. The track is otherwise instrumental.
Perro bleeds into Blank Pages adding a drum machine’s beat to the ever evolving synthesizer piece. Slowly throughout the song strings come and go giving way to a very post-rock sounding guitar and bells to compliment the drum machine.
There is a Wind picks up again heavily with the synthesizer but with real drums this time, and harmonized vocals. This song conjures a very dreamlike state, and the lyrics fit the instrumentals perfectly: “There’s a wind behind everyone that takes us through our lives.” After a moment with lyrics, the song breaks into instrumentals and slowly begins to incorporate background, chant like lyrics.
Within Dreams starts off with more drums machine beats and a slowly building chorus of instrumentals that gains momentum and by the middle of the song becomes a progressive ambience of strings, guitar, bass and a beautiful backing synth. This is another fully instrumental track.
Falling from the Sun seems to be a more vocally based song but still incorporates the symphony of instrumentals from previous tracks. Continuing on with the dream sequence that is A Chorus of Storytellers, the song’s lyrics again invoke a very dreamy state with harmonized, repetitive, chanting vocals: “We’ll find a way, yes we’ll find a way, yes we’ll find a way to fall.”
Stand Still is yet another beautiful, ambient, instrumental piece. This type of track is truly the essence of bands that create music like this. The intricate drum beats paired with the eloquent strings is enough but the guitar and backing synthesizer continue to add to the experience.
The end of Stand Still fades into Summer Fog. If the rest of the album is slow and ambient, this piece is certainly one step away from moving backward, not to say it is a bad song in the least. Another instrumental only track, it truly does illustrate a ‘summer fog’ and a lighthouse and steamboat, among other things. Until the Last follows in the wake of Stand Still as yet another awesome instrumental track.
We Are and Almost There revive again the use of lyrics and harmonized chants which compliments what the band is doing perfectly. Tied Knots creeps up with the same static that Perro came in with, creating a musical sandwich. The song takes it very slowly and casts off the album with more elaborate instrumentals than it came in with. Finally the song slowly fades the album out back into the static from whence it came.