Review: Jack White 'Boarding House Reach' LP

This friday, March 23rd, Jack White's 3rd solo album, Boarding House Reach, will be released following several singles including Connected By Love, Corporation, Over and Over and Over, and Respect Commander, constituting 1/3 of the album already being released.
Mr. White is no novice to theatrics and the PR circus, delivering to the world such album stunts as the liquid record, the 3rpm record, and the tri-color 7", which was used for the one sided 7" single "Over And Over And Over" (side B having a screened Third Man image).

One could argue that White for a time lost sight of the ultimate goal of records (delivering sound) and aided in the swift rise in album prices and unavailability for smaller labels and bands to press albums at affordable prices in a timely fashion. But White, in a not-so-like-himself low key fashion, turned away from the monopoly of United Record Pressing, and the absolute destructive nature of Record Store Day, and quietly opened his Detroit store on Record Store Day 2015, without ever using the RSD wording in press releases, and announced the opening of his record pressing plant as a way to offset the monopoly created by larger pressing plants effectively edging out Independent labels and bands.

Personally this action got me back into the White camp; after all but writing him off after his wacky stunt records turned an effective medium into a commodity that drove record prices sky high seemingly overnight. But it's been nearly 2 decades since Jack and Meg injected fresh blood into the music world and possibly saving rock n' roll with their take on Detroit House-Rockin' blues, and over a decade since he moved to Nashville and effectively saved country music with his own take on the genre while also relaunching the careers of Country greats Loretta Lynn, and Wanda Jackson.



When White decided to kick off the motor oil sludged work boots for the rhinestone encrusted cowboy boots of Nashville we obliged and now we all have Wanda Jackson and Sturgill Simpson LPs mixed in with our Dirtbombs and Detroit Cobras 7"s.

In his latest rebirth White is trying his hand at Memphis Soul, on the heals of a soul resurgence including Curtis Harding, Charles Bradley, the late Sharon Jones and others. The difference this time is that instead of spearheading a revival like a traveling preacher (selling such snake oil treats as Detroit Blues or Nashville Country) he is joining the congregation of converts, and it shows.

For the writing process of Boarding House Reach, White hunkered down in a small apartment in Nashville; but with all the soul infusion, and lyrics about living rough, he would have done much better to have held up in a Memphis Boarding House and soaked in the world he was emulating  instead of  trying to connivence us that the rhinestone prince of Nashville could really understand the table etiquette of a Memphis boarding house.


The newest single, Over and Over and Over, starts like a classic White Stripes track fuzzed out guitar accompanied by only drums but quickly is injected (and not organically) by a southern gospel style chorus chanting 'Over and Over and Over' with sprinklings of "ooohs" and "woahs" as almost a quick reproducing of an early Stripes tune to fit the Memphis Soul goldrush.
Most of the album in fact is built along the bones of the great white Elephant but instead of meaningful lyrics and thought out choruses, is instead spackled together with theremin howls and pocket calculator bleeps, along with Curtis Mayfield style Hammond and congas creating a disjointed album poising as Childish Gambino but still wearing the fringed western wear.

Which isn't to say the album doesn't put in it's house rockin' time as well, and will find it's way easily to the dance floor for late night shoeless bridesmaids get-downs at wedding receptions,  but for classic White earnestness in whatever genre he has lassoed, this isn't the one. But we adored him in his Red and White phase, and loyally followed him south to his Black and Blue phase, hopefully we can hang in enough to see what he has in store next; For a man who seems enamored with the number 3, there surely is the next great phase right around the corner.

Best Of: Louisville Summer Events (includes FREE downloads!)

Now that the temperature has dropped and the end of the year is drawing closer, we thought it was a good time to reflect on some of our favorite summer LOUISVILLE shows!
--please notice we said Some, as there were many great shows this year (We decided to highlight ones we had downloads for..) & please feel free to leave a comment with some of your favorite shows from Summer 2014.

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS AT THE PALACE 6/16


Seeing Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds was a dream come true for this boy, especially since Cave finally shaved that mustache. I like a good Mustache, but it just made Cave look like the bad kind of creep, and not the kind he pulls off so well. This summer saw many great national & international acts in Louisville including several during the same week.. which may have been why People were giving away tickets at the last moment on the street for this show. weekday shows are hard to fill, especially when you can only pick one. I'd like to see these bigger acts Like Nick Cave, Broken Bells, & Elvis Costello play on a weekend,  and preferably not on the same weekend. Cave didn't play Deanna (my no.1 fav song of his), but he did play the Ship Song, which would be my second pick. And He was backed by Warren Ellis, which was also a dream come true.

SUMMER CASSINGLES SERIES VOL.1 w/ Citizens United, 1200, 2Strikes & Basement Up  AT NEW VINTAGE 6/25


Summer Cassingle Vol. II: Deloreans, Black Birds of Paradise, Plastic Bubble, Coins AT NEW VINTAGE 7/4
 Local summer shows are great, and Summer Series are better, and ones the include free music are tops! This summer LOUISVILLE IS FOR LOVERS and GUESTROOM RECORDS hosted 15 bands in a 3 part series at New Vintage, with a free Cassingle at each event. and for a holiday gift, all 3 volumes of the SUMMER CASSINGLE SERIES are available for FREE download here: www.louisvilleisforlovers.com/downloads  

Forecastle 7/18- 7/20






Forecastle 2014 had plenty of great national acts (would have liked to see more local bands though) including The Replacements (surprisingly backed by Billy Joe Armstrong), Outkast, & Slint, to name a few. Seeing Oukast was definitely on the Bucket List,  although I thought last years solo performance from Big Boi may have been better (and he pulled it off with a broken leg no less).
I was a little disappointed in SPOON, but in retrospect they sounded exactly like their records so I don't know what I was expecting.. Especially since I was a little disappointed in Jack White adding so many extra instruments to the White Stripes songs he covered, when back in the day he proved all he needed was a single girl backing him to slay an audience.  But I will say, that even though I wasn't overly impressed by the show, he definitely made up for it at the very end with this 7  minute slaughter of 7 Nation Army. It may have been the best 7 minutes of the entire fest.

Summer Cassingle Series Vol.3: Jaye Jayle, The Gallery Singers, eremy*JIrvin, Lydia Burrell & Twin Limb AT NEW VINTAGE 7/25
This last Summer Cassingle Series was a great way to button up the summer with killer performances by The Gallery Singers, eremy+JIrvin, Jaye Jayle, Lydia Burrell & Twin Limb! download this & all 3 volumes of the SUMMER CASSINGLE SERIES for FREE here: www.louisvilleisforlovers.com/downloads  

Forecastle 2014 Photo Review

37FLOOD's winner of Best Vendor: Valumarket! local, reasonably priced, delicious!

Replacements

Tune-Yards Photo by NA James/Eleven Music Magazine

Lucius. Photo by NA James/Eleven Music Magazine

Spoon

Dwight Yoakam. Photo by NA James/Eleven Music Magazine

Jason Isbell. Photo by NA James/Eleven Music Magazine

Jack White & Co. Photo by NA James/Eleven Music Magazine

Louisville's own Jalin Roze. Photo by NA James/Eleven Music Magazine

The crowd going coconuts over Outkast

Mermaids

Andre 'Ice Cold' 300. Photo by NA James/Eleven Music Magazine

Big Boi! Photo by NA James/Eleven Music Magazine

Art Wall & Artist

Special thanks to Kristen Luther & NA James of Eleven Music Magazine for sharing photos with us for Forecastle 2014.

Logan's Forecastle 2014 Day 2 Review

Day two began similarly to day one, overcast, breezy, but no misting like the day before. Completely exhausted from Friday's events, I didn't make it down to the waterfront until a little before Jalin Roze started. But once he did, it seemed like the day was finally in full swing. There was a crowd of a couple hundred in attendance when The Grand Nationals started into "Give it Up." Roze's crowd engagement and the Grand Nationals' intensity kept momentum until the Pass joined them on stage for a song. It was great to see so many people come out for a local hip-hop act, whether the audience was full of Louisvillians or not, he delivered an exceptional performance and got some much-needed exposure for Louisville's expanding hip-hop scene.

Jalin Roze. Photo by NA James/Eleven Music Magazine

An hour or so after Jalin wrapped up, Jason Isbell took to the Boom Stage with his band the 400 Unit. What struck me about this band is the quality of the songwriting itself. Having formerly been involved in folk music, I've had a limited exposure to Isbell's work, hearing a track here and there, receiving countless recommendations over the years, I knew that his was a set worth seeing. He played some of his songs that I'd recognized like Codeine, Alabama Pines, Cover me Up. I was really impressed however with Elephant, a song about a lover's diagnosis with cancer. 

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Here I have to say that there were two acts that I never expected to see at Forecastle. Often, it seems, a lot of the bands selected are safe bets. Bands that people will definitely show up to see. But Forecastle took a risk this year with Dwight Yoakam and Slint, unfortunately they had conflicting showtimes, but these things cannot be avoided. During this time, I bounced back and forth between Slint's set (which featured original members: Brit Walford, Brian McMahan, and Dave PAJO) and Yoakam's set. All bets aside, I'd probably say the highlight of the day was Yoakam's cover of Elvis' "Suspicious Minds" which soared for about six minutes with crashing highs, nearly silent lows, and one hell of an organ solo.

SLINT

Before I begin my review of Jack White's performance, let me just say that I have been a fan of his before. When Great White Northern Lights came out, I busked in front of the record store until I had enough money to buy it. Before the Dead Weather released their first album, I'd already bought a single and saw them perform live. When the White Stripes officially broke up, I sulked around the house with my red guitar playing their songs all day. That being said, Nashville has ruined Jack White for me. I'm not sure exactly what prompted the Detroit Rocker's transition to pseudo-country frontman, but the Harvey Dent quote comes to mind, "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

Throughout his set White sprinkled in Dick Dale, Hank Williams, and nine White Stripes covers (most of which felt contrived or obligatory). Though on a more positive note, he did run twenty minutes over curfew after leaving the stage for ten minutes around 10:40, and end with a stripped-down and intimate cover of "Seven Nation Army" before joining his band to take a bow and leaving the stage.

Jack White. Photo by NA James/Eleven Music Magazine

Special thanks to Kristen Luther and Na James of Eleven Music Magazine for sharing images of Forecastle 2014.

Forecastle 2014: What to See (John's picks)

Forecastle July 18th-20th

Here we go! It's time for the biggest Fest in Louisville!
Here is what we are excited to see:
Friday:
Old Baby 1:45-2:45
Local Natives 5:45-7
Spoon 7:45-9:15
Outkast 9:20-11

Saturday:
Spanish Gold 3:30-4:30
Jalin Roze 4-4:45
Band of Horses 7-8:30
Dwight Yokam 8-9:30
Slint 8:30-9:45
Jack White 9:30-11

Sunday:
Seluah 3-3:45
The replacements 7:45-9
Beck 9:45-11

Check back all weekend, we will be doing daily updates here and on twitter at @37FLOOD 

Editorial: Jack White=Rated X (ex-wife blues)

300 MPH Editorial Outpour Blues By Logan Nichols

Jack White and a Wurlitzer 200A

So as some of you may know, last week Jack White got a restraining order prohibiting all contact from his most recent ex-wife, Karen Elson, except to negotiate the pickup and drop off of their children because Elson stated that he made her feel unsafe. On Friday, TMZ leaked a series of emails from July 16 between White, Elson’s lawyers, and company (excluding, of course, Karen’s half of the conversation) in which White is very angry regarding: the placement of his children into the same private school as Black Keys singer Dan Auerbach’s child, custody rights, and Elson’s insistence that the two go to mediation/therapy.

A slew of music publications are covering this event, blasting White for calling Auerbach an asshole in these emails and criticizing him for, as the emails read, “calling her five times in ten minutes” which was labeled “harassment.” While the couple was divorced in 2011, it’s easy to see frustration with these matters still not being solved.

While we at 37 flood would certainly never claim to have any sort of knowledge into the two’s personal lives and refuse to take a side in the matter, we have to ask ourselves “Who gives a shit?” Honestly. Everyone who’s ever had a divorce has sent an angry email, and while it is completely visible that White had made no threat to Elson or the kids, why is it any of our business?

Sure, we all had a shiver in 2010 when White released Elson’s first studio album The Ghost Who Walks on Third Man Records, but it was on pink –peach scented vinyl, so we went along with it because it smelled good and the girl can sing. That’s where our opinion ceases to matter, after we judge the album accordingly, because that’s the only part of their relationship that we’re entitled to have an opinion about. So there’s a bunch of articles out there made to paint Jack White as an asshole because he doesn’t like the Black Keys and he’s angry at his ex. The man just donated over $340,000 to convert the Library of Congress’ 8-track collection to digital media and keep the Masonic Temple in Detroit from being demolished. Seems like a pretty nice guy to me. But I don’t like the Black Keys either, so I may be a little biased.