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Re: Bandcamp Friday

Jeff Curtis All Messages By This Member #110 On Fri, Nov 6, 2020 at 5:10 AM Mark via <mountainoaf=[email protected]> wrote: It is currently Bandcamp Friday, where 100% of all revenue from sales of music goes to directly to the artist. Listmeister Jeff has an EP available, for example: d'aww, thanks for the plug, Mark!? If anyone's remotely curious, I can point you to a couple of positive reviews:? This one most recently:? "Jeff Curtis - Summertime Stridulations - Coffee-Hut Records - 7 songs - CD, download You may know Jeff Curtis from bands as varied as My Dad Is Dead, Gem, and Satan's Satellites- the press release I have here tells me so– which, of course, are all absolutely great bands, though this one-sheet inexcusably leaves off J'accuse, one of the best area post-punk bands of the early '80s if you ask me. This does not sound anything like any of those bands. "Summertime Stridulations" finds Jeff with a new instrument: the banjo. However, this ain't no hillbilly pickin'. (Not that I would mind that, and in fact now that I've said it I kinda would like to hear Mr. Curtis do some Grand Ole Opry-style tunes). Some of this is based in traditional folk, like "Bat Sky" or, indeed, the traditional song "Dinah," but more often these songs are hypnotic instrumentals, with the banjo carrying the "tune" as it were with backing from a droning chord organ (or, in a couple cases, earth music: the sounds of rain and wind or the occasional car passing by). It's actually pretty cool stuff. I personally don't love the sound of the banjo, generally speaking ("Stop Stop Stop" by the Hollies is an obvious exception), but what Jeff does here is so unlike typical banjo playing that it almost feels like some other instrument. And yeah, maybe sometimes his playing isn't note-perfect or it's a little amateurish (he says as much in the liner notes), but what he does with the sound of it is far more important here. My favorite might be "Sweet Corn," which has a feel not unlike George Harrison's excursions into Indian music. "Birthday Raga" is indeed a raga, but its title brings to mind Bert Jansch ("Birthday Blues," ya see) and I certainly think Bert (or, at least, other artists who were inspired by him) was an influence here. A cool little experimental collection here. 3.5/5" And this typo-laced one from a few weeks ago (hat-tip to are Sasha for recommending the site!):?? "JEFF CURTIS - SUMMERTIME STRIDULATIONS (CDR by Coffehut) Before I started to listen to Jeff Curtis’ new latest album ‘Summertime Stridulations’ I had no idea what clawhammer banjo meant. I knew what the words meant individually, but I’d never really heard them put together. Now knowing their true meaning I have to admit I’m a convert at the alter of clawhammer. ??? Instead of playing a conventional up-picking of strings with the fingers and a down-picking with the thumb, clawhammer playing is primarily a down-picking with the hand looking like a claw. It’s the Ramones way of playing the banjo. ??? The first thing I noticed after listening to ‘Summertime Stridulations’ was how droney it all was. I’d never really hard a banjo sound like that before. This is down to the clawhammer style. It allows the banjo to create more drone motifs. This is on display on opening track ‘Banjo Trio in Double C: 1. Kinzua’. Throughout Curtis creates constant murmurs over which he laces these gloriously lyrical solos and runs. At times ‘Kinzua’ sounds a bit like the theme from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. You know the only good Eagles track ‘Journey of the Sorcerer’. As it swells there is a quirky cinematic vibe that shouldn’t work but does. ‘Birthday Raga’ and ‘Sweet Corn’ sound like they’re from straight out of the delta. The Nile delta. As well as making his banjo drone Curtis also gets some fantastic sitar vibes from it. What makes ‘Birthday Raga’ and ‘Sweet Corn’ so delightful is that after understated openings they just get locked in a groove and stays there, save for some runs and solos. It’s catchy, it’s heavy and it’s just so damn playable. ??? I went into this album, and review, with a very limited idea about Curtis’ back catalogue. I’d heard his name before but couldn’t really put a song to it. When I read it was an album of banjo improvisational music, I hoped for the best but feared the worst. How wrong I was. ‘Summertime Stridulations’ is the kind of album I live for as a music fan and journalist. It’s totally floored me from the notes and held me captive like Terry Waite or John McCarthy. The beauty of the album is just how sparse it is. There are no superfluous notes. Everything is stripped down to its bare bones. At 26-minutes it doesn’t outstay its welcome and leaves you wanting more. A LOT more. If the album popped round for a tea or coffee, the drink would still be hot by the time it had to neck it to leave. ‘Summertime Stridulations’ could be one of the catechist things this year next to COVID! (NR)" JC

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