Mixing it up

Radio Kings, rebuilthangartheory, and more

by Michael Caito

The L.U.V.'s

I got tuned in to the Radio Kings a few years back on the advice of the High Rollers, with whom they appear Friday at the Call. So when the new Money Road (Bullseye Blues & Jazz) arrived a few months back, it went right on, and has never travelled far from the hotpile since. Especially track four, which finds the trio bolstered by horns and backing female vox for the outstanding "Leave a Light On," co-written by Rory MacLeod. There's nothing wrong with Anthony Geraci's guest keyboards either, twinkling throughout "Disturb Me Baby" nine tracks in.

The Radio Kings' is an economical, un-splashy roots/blues sound which manages to send ears and feets for a twirl. They go easy on the watch-checking solos, keeping the groove frisky while spit-shining the trad blues idiom. Solos do drop in and out, but with a fluid grace whose strength comes from the band's rampant good taste. It's precisely that which brings this record up several notches -- there's never a need to prove their bluesworthiness by, say, tossing in a perfunctory 60-year-old nugget as ballast against the blowhards who may get their knickers twisted at the spectre of a contemporary-sounding blues disc. OK, so the closing title track is an old-school harp/National number with a John Lee Hooker feel. But even that's a quickie (under two minutes) and serves as an affirmation of the Radio Kings' dedication to roadhouse touring -- a lifestyle decision if ever there was one. A nifty appetite-whetter.

Singer Brian Templeton -- who's also partial to adding squeezebox or harmonica -- sounds a little like Sugar Ray Norcia, whose new solo record is around the corner. Guitarist Mike Dinallo is always in the pocket, with sizzling results beside Templeton's harp 'n' croon on "Money In Her Pocket." Except on this song their drummer is Bob Christina. 'Nuff said about that kitmeister's pedigree, and yeah, Fran Christina guests on the above ditty. Very nice. The two-t'ree slow tracks swing and moan but don't turn into wailfests sounding like somebody's parboiling a stray cat.

What it adds up to is the strongest release from the kinda-Boston-based trio, including the worth-finding Live at B.B.King's (Icehouse) from '95. So, teamed with like-minded counterparts in Dave Howard's crew Friday, they'll prize the Call's patrons with several hours of where it's at. OK, don't believe me . . . but you may defer to Dave Alvin, who remarks on Money Road's liners "By the way, have I mentioned that those guys play their asses off?"

rebuilthangartheory: "Jacques Cousteau" b/w "Cornerstone" (Brentwood Estates 7" single)

Initial offering from former WRIU DJ Reneé Bessette's nascent label, whose name has everything to do with her parents' old plat name and nothing to do with Orenthal James. It makes sense that long-time pop proponent Bessette would find allies in this veteran trio of Ken Linehan, Margie Wienk (also of Difference Engine, Amoebic Ensemble) and Rick Prior, who celebrate their single's release tonight (6/18) at the Century Lounge. You know if there's a New England band making a pop record worth its sugar guitarist/producer Dave Auchenbach is somehow involved, and this one's no different. It's a bit introspective, dangerously close to shoe-gazing turf, but Wienk's voice offers fine balance to Linehan's well-tempered guitar effects and co-vocalist Prior's croakier lines.

Also on Thursday we'll hear Connecticut's Musical Chairs (whose newest CD on Harriet Records was, like this single, produced by Auchenbach), Meridian 1520, whose 7" on Brentwood will be out by winter, and Philly's Aspera ad Astra. Yet another Dave Auch-produced Brentwood single by instrumental duo Olympic Hopeful is due just in time for their June 26 Century gig with the Wicked Farleys, whose newest pop fuzz-fest Sentinel and Enterprise (Big Top) is brawling for top spot in heavy rotation with the Push Kings' Far Places (Sealed Fate) and a great new Loud Family disc.

Delta Clutch / Nonions / Christine & Meredith Thompson / Comic Book Superheroes / L.U.V's: At Hear in Rhode Island at Lupo's June 14

The Delta Clutch set was necessarily lo-key, as their on-off relationship with bassist/saxophonist Aaron Burr is evidently off, meaning guitarists Nate Leavitt and Chris Cugini traded among acoustic sixes, basses and keyboards by Leavitt. "Porcupine" and "Wave Separator" crushed. By now you know we be partial to DC, now in label limbo after severing ties with Blackberry. Quartet? No prob. Nonions followed with a spunky ska set with horn quartet, and when those two 'bones clicked with the trumpet'n'sax it was OK, more due to their enthusiasm than their having added anything earth-shattering. Large hunk o' Save Ferris, but props for cheerfulness. The Providence native twins Thompson, touring behind Ivy sheepskins and their debut CD, have the voices and instrumental chops (hollow-body / flute), but were soulless, bringing to mind the oddly bloodless moments of their CDin their impromptu mini-set. Setting a song at the Maine mountain renowned as the first place in America to see the sun in the morning probably looks good on paper, but inside house of Lupo it sounded . . . good on paper. Comic Book Superheroes are tough to figure, though enjoyable. Well-orchestrated horn parts (trumpet / sax) set off their harder edges nicely, so just when you think they're doing the Fishbone-meets-Rage ape, they chuck a nifty slurve to parry cliché. As tight as necessary, they fall somewhere in the zone between Grüvis Malt and Freak Show, with that tricksy brass folded in to keep things vital.

Checked wallet, had eight beans, so dropped five on the L.U.V.'s 10-song debut, . . . Hate to Sleep Alone (Ejacula) because the Superheroes debut was a sawbuck. Evidently "L" stands for lascivious, "U" stands for underfed (somebody buy that bassist a Twix!) and "V" stands for vicarious thrill, as in if you close your eyes you could be standing ankle-deep in unidentifiable liquid in CBGB listening to a 'tween-set tape before headliner Iggy Pop and after openers the Voidoids. Their faux-Brit hijinks are hilarious -- singer Johnny Velour lewdly intro'ing "I Wanna Be the Man In You" was a gas and the dancer/contortionist replacing Roxy Lady on Sunday tried her damnedest to slip all the discs in her back, throwing down on five-inch stilettos. The music's nothing impressive -- basic and Pistols-esque with a King Ig chaser and maybe a splash of early Fall if the L.U.V.'s are having a real good day. Better news is that the sharpest song came from the quintet's upcoming CD, due this autumn. Leering, harmless fun (only a fartish killjoy could dislike a patent-leather-happy band including "Vinyl Ricci") from the reigning Rock Hunt champs, and a bizarro climax to a rain-bedeviled fest.

PLECTRIST POSSES. It's a large week for the mandolin family (including lesser-known sibs mandola, mandocello and mandobass), when the Providence Mandolin Orchestra appear at Roger Williams U. on Tuesday, performing Owen Hartford's mini-opera The Frog Prince. Coinciding with the American Mandolin & Guitar Summer School (June 22-28) at RWU, the week's activities culminate in a special musical accompaniment to Saturday, June 27's WaterFire at RISD Auditorium at 8 p.m. It's free, rain or shine (or rain), and will feature a 40-piece orchestra, along with a CD-release celebration for the World Café Quartet's debut Metro.That group includes the Mair-Davis Duo plus Nate and Brinsley Davis, and the MDD are contributing -- probably as you read this -- to the new Duke Robillard record. Check. In seven.