Saturday, August 10, 2019

Mark Sultan Let Me Out & Shows # 785, 786, 787


Let Me Out was released in October 2018 on Dirty Water Records on vinyl/CD and on cassette through Burger Records. Recorded at Sultan’s Sound Imperfection Studio in the woods of Berlin, this album is the latest release from Sultan, who has a plethora of releases in his discography with other groups such as The Spaceshits, Les Sexareenos, The Ding-Dongs, The King Khan & BBQ Show and as Mark Sultan/BBQ. The songs on this album are layered in fuzz guitar lines, 60s styled Farfisa organ and soulful vocals and rhythms. Let Me Out also has a punk influenced energy that when combined with the other elements that make up this album creates a world of its own.

“Coffin Nails” digs into the listener’s subconscious with fuzz guitar, surf guitar lines, 60s organ stabs and soulful bass and vocals. Lyrically with words such as “You dropped your casket/Into my heart/And there you stay girl until we part/Cause this world don’t mean a thing/It never did it never will” themes of anger, loss and love are cast alongside a desire to not be held down by the aspects of negativity. “The Other Two” delves into a lament for a connection between two people. In between Farfisa organ flourishes, guitar stabs, drum fills and a catchy chorus that states “Three out of five people looking for love/I wanna be the other two”, Sultan’s vocals grab a hold of the listener’s attention with a heartfelt melody that avoids all clichĂ©. “Everybody Knows” dips into a more cosmic, psychedelic atmosphere. With a deep, catchy bass groove, Sultan croons over simmering organ, subtle guitar parts and a chorus revealing the complexity of trust and the words that are often left unsaid that come along with it as the lyrics emphasize “Looks like everything came true/And there’s nothing left to do/Cause everybody knows/Everybody knows”.

“Believe Me” cuts below the surface with a groove taking inspiration from The Count Five, as it changes time signatures, creating a strong dramatic effect, “Don’t Bother Me” picks up the pace with up-tempo drums, organ and revolving basslines, “Last Chance” creates tension amongst fuzzy guitar breakdowns and catchy verses that seem to float between the choruses, “Humiliation” attacks with its stop and start riffs, drum build ups, crashes and otherworldly organ parts. Lyrically, with words such as “So come back baby into my heart/I don’t feel no shame/The prying eyes of a vengeful god are to blame”, this song calls for a sense of understanding from past mistakes and confusions. A new intensity grows with the psych garage of “Let Me Out”. This song festers with a frustration and need to move forward, “Heed This Message” musically goes back to some early 50s rock sounds mixed with early 60s soul and garage sounds, while “Black Magic” floods your speakers with organ, vocal harmonies and jangly guitar. “The Problem” moves back and forth with its own mesmerizing rhythms amongst lyrics such as “And maybe that’s the problem man/That you don’t understand/The way I wanna be” that plea for individuality and a sense of identity. This is a theme that is even more relevant today, but also one that can have many layers to it.

Drum fills and R&B rave up guitar riffs come in with the next track, “Tragedy”. With the lyrics “Drowning in an ocean of obscurity/Got no patience/I ain’t got security” and “Maybe the world’s slipping/None of that matters without you by my side”, this song searches for a place, but is also a love song with a Kinks/Animals musical outlook. “Wasting Away” ends Let Me Out. With slow, fluid organ parts and surf-inflected guitar mixed with pulsing basslines and a marching drumbeat, Sultan seems to be embracing the chaos of life whether it is good or bad. Let Me Out sizzles with intensity, authenticity and strong songwriting. A cohesion presents itself throughout this album with many layered possibilities and lyrical meanings. With all the instrumentation performed by Sultan himself, the music here may be a collection of 60s garage psych songs, but the album does not revel in nostalgia. Let Me Out finds its own voice and is set free with Mark Sultan’s impassioned vocal melodies and innate musical abilities showing why Sultan is a master of his craft.

Show 787 (Originally Aired On August 10th, 2019)(David Berman, Mark Sultan, B Boys, The White Stripes):

1. Silver Jews - Honk If You’re Lonely
2. Purple Mountains - All My Happiness Is Gone
3. Wilco - Red-Eyed And Blue
4. The Unintended - Beautiful Things
5. Smokey & The Feelings - Chores
6. Rheostatics - I Wanna Be Your Robot
7. Aweful - Lucid Dream
8. Oh Sees - Heartworm
9. Mark Sultan - Coffin Nails
10. Mark Sultan - Everybody Knows
11. Mark Sultan - The Problem
12. The Original Sins - Making Up For Lost Time
13. Light Bulb Alley - Walking Backwards On The Moon
14. Pow Wows - Hidden Future
15. The Black Lips - Noc-A-Homa
16. Shotgun Jimmie - 401
17. The Exits - Cheam
18. The V.I.P.'S - Who Knows
19. B Boys - I Want
20. B Boys - Cognitive Dissonance
21. Parkay Quarts - The Map
22. Ronald Regean Story - (Your Love Has Turned My Heart Into A) Hand Grenade
23. Psychic Void - Internet Human
24. Teenanger - Teenanger
25. PIL - Annalisa
26. Simply Saucer - Here Come The Cyborgs (Part 1)
27. The Pointed Sticks - The Witch
28. Danny & The Darleans - Soul On Ice
29. MC5 - Lookin' At You
30. The White Stripes - Stop Breaking Down
31. The White Stripes - Broken Bricks

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for August 10.

Show 786 (Originally Aired On August 3rd, 2019)(Jack Oblivian, The Oblivians, Ty Segall):


1. The Challengers - Skinned Shins
2. Revels - Revellion
3. Jack Obilivan - La Charra
4. Jack Obilivan - Scarla
5. Reigning Sound - Call Me #1
6. Oblivians - Shut Your Mouth
7. Oblivians - Something for Nothing
8. Membranes - The City is an Animal (Nature is its Slave)
9. The Black Fever - Keep You
10. Ty Segall - Radio
11. Ty Segall - Taste
12. The Hives - Good Samaritan
13. LTD - Leather Boy
14. Almighty Defenders - Cone of Light
15. King Khan Experience - La Responsabe
16. The Jackets - Steam Queen
17. The Vandells - French Girl
18. Iggy Pop - James Bond
19. Purple Mountains - Margaritas at the Mall
20. Leeroy Stagger - Strange Attractor
21. Digawolf - By the Water
22. Paul Jacobs - Stay at Home
23. Uppers - Parapet
24. Idles - Mercedes Marxist
25. METZ - Leave Me Out
26. Titus Andronicus - Beneath the Boot
27. Dude York - Unexpected
28. Snail Mail - Thinning
29. Necking - Go Getter
30. Snake River - Jeanie, I Know When I Want to Go Home

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for August 3.

Show 785 (Originally Aired On July 27th, 2019)(The Replacements, Foggy Tapes, Cellos):


1. The Replacements - I'll Be You
2. Violent Femmes - Hotel Last Resort
3. The Feelies - Fa Ce La
4. The Sadies - Leave this World Behind
5. Ron Leary - Miles
6. Snakies - Cobra High
7. X - Under the Big Black Sun
8. Prince - Sex Shooter
9. The Stranglers - (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
10. Talking Heads - Mind (Alternate Version)
11. Buzzcocks - Airewaves Dreams
12. Shotgun Jimmie - Cool All The Time
13. Dumb - Some Big Motor Dream
14. Cellos - Slow Revolution
15. Not Of - Tectonic Plates
16. Mannequin Pussy - Patience
17. Lungbutter - Depanneur Sun
18. Necking - Spare Me
19. Light Bulb Alley - I Don't Owe You a Thing
20. Foggy Tapes - Fly in my Head
21. Raised by Weeds - Another Day
22. The Routes - Mantohihi Brother
23. Takeshi Terauchi & the Bunnys - Black Carnation
24. Purple Hearts - Scooby Doo
25. Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers - Before the Beginning
26. Priests - Carol
27. Gang of Four - To Hell With Poverty (Peel Session)

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for July 27.

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