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Akron Gamer:
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See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
Akron Fire Department veteran Rodney Stewart offers smooth collection of praise, gospel, R&B
Published on Thursday, Oct 29, 2009
But wait, there's more!
Yes, part two of the fall local CD roundup begins now. And again, if anything sounds interesting to you please support your local musicians the old-fashioned way by buying their stuff.
Rodney E. Stewart
The Best of Me — Elements of Worship
This local musician and 20-plus-year vet of the Akron Fire Department has released a few smooth jazz albums over the years. His latest is an equally smooth collection of praise, newfangled gospel and some R&B-flavored songs that seldom leave any doubt to whom they refer.
Stewart is obviously well versed in various contemporary gospel styles and enlists a talented cast of area vocalists, including some who have performed at the annual Gospel Meets Symphony shows; members of Divine Hope; YEPAW; and Akron churches, including Arlington Church of God, Mount Calvary Baptist Church, Second Baptist Church and others.
Stewart, who wrote the songs and performs the bulk of the music, matches his vocalists well with songs. He pairs LaShanda Evans' strong, powerful voice with the slow-burning praise song Come Holy Spirit, while Carla Conley Davis' warm, calm, soothing voice fits perfectly with the downtempo smooth jazz/R&B flavored My Little Praise.
Stewart takes the 91st Psalm (that's the one that starts ''He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty'' for my fellow musical heathens out there) and gives it a spacious arrangement similar to a popular arrangement of The Lord's Prayer, allowing Jocelyn Grant plenty of room to raise the rafters with her big voice.
Stewart gets uptempo with the funky I See You and creative with Sistah I Be Swingin' featuring a peppy big band arrangement (I bet you wish you had a real horn section, eh Stewbonz?).
Throughout, Stewart shows his prowess on the keyboard without detracting from the vocalists or the message, whipping out some jazzy and complex piano fills on the danceable I'm Here to Praise, and providing some fancy filigree behind India S. Whatley on the title track.
This is a very strong and well-produced, written and performed record that should appeal to fans of contemporary gospel.
It's available at 2 Live Music, 1286 Vernon Odom Blvd., Akron.
Full Wave Rectifier
Lecture 5
This local quartet just celebrated its 10th anniversary and this album is its third full-length release to go with two previously released EPs.
There's something about this band I can't quite put my finger on but everything it does on record sounds measured.
Raised (apparently) on '80s and '90s indie/college rock, the longtime foursome certainly has all the musical tools. Members know how to write a good alt-rock song, cribbing from bands such as Superchunk and the Pixies indie rock blueprint though they aren't as wedded to the soft verse-loud chorus song structure.
Good tunes include guitarist/vocalist Mary Plazo's multipart Here to Stay and singer/guitarist Jer Herring's Fall on Me, which recalls fuzzed-out bands such as Th' Faith Healers or a less self-loathing Jesus and Mary Chain.
Herring also has stuff on his mind, lamenting public apathy on Propaganda Parade and ends the album with a modified cover of X's New World that shouts outs the Rubber City.
The album sounds quite familiar, which if you're a 30-something or older indie/alt-rock fan (like band members) is probably a good thing. Personally, I wish Herring and Plazo would harmonize a bit more as their voices blend well and perhaps the quartet could down a case of Red Bull before entering the studio to ramp up the energy level a bit.
Nevertheless, if solid, tuneful alt-rock songcraft is what you seek, Lecture 5 should get your toes tapping.
Available at Square Records, 824 W. Market St., Akron.
Same Things
The Same Things EP
This local indie rock trio revels in catchy poppy tunes.
The EP was recorded by Bob Pollard/Devil Circus cohort Todd Tobias (a couple members of the band also were in a GBV tribute band, coincidentally).
The imaginatively named collection features five tracks of catchy chord-based indie rock.
Vocalist/guitarist Mike Friday isn't the strongest singer, but he shows he has a decent way with a melody on the peppy What Are We and provides some nice squealy yet melodic guitar solos on No Time.
Available at Square Records, 824 W. Market St., Akron.
Face Value
Rode Hard, Put Away Wet: Clevo Hardcore '89-93
First, kudos to Smog Veil Records for treating Cleveland's rock/punk history with a reverence and attention to detail usually reserved for deluxe versions of iconic records. Over the last few years, the Chicago-based label with Cleveland ties has released lovingly packaged collections of Northeast Ohio punk and rock bands, including The Pagans, Teacher's Pet, Tin Huey and this CD/DVD collection of Cleveland hardcore band Face Value.
The CD contains the band's two albums and two EPs covering 31 songs, most at breakneck speed in a little over an hour.
As hardcore goes, Face Value didn't revel in the blunt, self-righteous, hyper testosterone-fueled, metal-punk-flavored hardcore of contemporary bands such as Hatebreed (whose guitarist Frank ''3Gun'' Novinec pays Face Value and the Cleveland hardcore scene respect in the liner notes).
Rather the band mixes straight-ahead punk with some classic rock sounds via the better than-most-hardcore guitarist Anthony Brown, who obviously spent as much time listening to traditional guitar gods as he did Black Flag.
The second disc is a DVD of 15 live performances recorded by ''The Kids'' and as one might expect from grainy, nearly 20-year-old fan-shot videos of a punk band in dive bars, there are plenty of times when you can't see the band on stage but you can get a clear sense of how much Face Value meant to the aforementioned ''Kids.''
Available at your local record store, http://www.smogveil.com and iTunes starting Nov. 17.
Help needed
Periodically, a reader asks me about a band that existed long before I arrived here. Sometimes I can ask around and find out some info, but sometimes I am quite simply stumped.
So, I'm putting this query out to all you longtime local music fans. Perhaps one of you can help this reader and if it helps jog your memory, this search for a long-forgotten CD by a long mostly forgotten band is in the name of love.
OK, so if anyone out there remembers a pop band called Mint that apparently had at least one recording that was in rotation on WSTB (88.9-FM) around the turn of the century, please e-mail me.
I'll pass along the info to the reader so he can present it to his wife on her birthday (Whoops! I hope that doesn't spoil the surprise).
Hey, perhaps Smog Veil Records will find the band and the recording and give it the deluxe treatment.
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
But wait, there's more!
Get the full article here.
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