LEFT LANE CRUISER - Blender : Five New Songs We Love

Five New Songs We Love: September 23, 2009

BRIAN OLIVE - Five Tunes

If you ever heard anything by the now defunct Soledad Brothers, you’d understand why it’s exciting that former member Brian Olive has an album out. The Soledads were masters of taking a Southern rock angle to soul music, garage punk, and the blues. On his self-titled debut, Brian hones that sound down to a couple of definitive influences, staying more rootsy than garage-oriented.

His record has a nice mix of Memphis soul, ’70s Dylan, relaxing acoustic music, and, of course, a tinge of that country fried sound. But what’s most impressive about Brian’s debut is that while you can draw lines to influences and ponder on what else he sounds like, this record isn’t a ’70s Dylan clone album by a long shot. This is a well put together, well written, and well executed debut from an extremely talented dude. - 5 Tunes

TRAINWRECK RIDERS - Plastic Milk

San Francisco’s favorite rock ‘n roll country (“cowpunk”) boys, Trainwreck Riders, provide a breath of front porch, hyperactive country air into an often indie-rock/electro/hip-hop dominated city. Based on their sound (often compared to Meat Puppets and Uncle Tupelo), you might assume that the TR lads are not from around here. Au contraire! Singer Pete Frauenfelder grew up in Bernal Heights while brothers Steve (drums) and Andrew Kerwin (guitar) grew up in the Richmond district. Together as teenagers in a San Francisco basement almost ten years ago, a band was born.

Putting their own twist on traditional country, the boys stray from the subdued honky-tonk, and opt for a more energetic, dynamic approach. While there are rockabilly fiddles and lap-steel riffs , their songs are also full of hard-playing drums and guitar. Citing Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr. and CCR as some of their influences, the band also credits the Kerwin brothers’ dad for their sound. It was his collection of “old timey music” and fiddle playing that brought the country to these city boys.

Having just released The Perch (Alive Records), the follow-up to their 2006 debut Lonely Road Revival, Trainwreck Riders have been on tour since summer. Never known to not disappoint when it comes to live shows, they’re touring warriors… good news for their cult following. Personal favorites off The Perch include “Chug Along,” which sounds like a hybrid of Modest Mouse and Band of Horses. “Safety of a Back” (listen below) is a great example of the band’s ability to ebb and flow their sound from fast and slow energy. Reflective of the TR boys’ backgrounds, their songs are a perfect blend of laidback alt-country and fast-paced city. - JM / Plastic Milk

BRIAN OLIVE - PopMatters

Drawing inspiration from ‘60s psych-pop, after-hours jazz, and ‘70s glam stomp, Brian Olive, the onetime Greenhornes guitarist and Soledad Brothers multi-instrumentalist, steps out of the shadows cast by the Midwest garage-blues scene and into the light on his self-titled debut. Although it meant moving to Cincinnati and helping to build a recording studio in the vault of a pawn shop, the artist formerly known as Oliver Henry definitely proves being your own man can pay dividends. Helped out by ex-bandmates Jared McKinney and Craig Fox from the Greenhornes and with spectral backing supplied by Donna Jay Rubin and sisters Holly and Tori Kadish on the majority of songs, Olive drifts through an array of styles and imaginative arrangements during the album’s 33 minutes with “King of the Road” aplomb. There’s a gentle nod to both the Kinks and the Beatles in the marshmallow melody of “The Day is Coming (Sainte-Marie’s Dream)”; a gritty, down-in-the gutter piece of Detroit R&B called “Stealin’”; and a feral sax punch plus a cellar full of Beat-cool jazz on “High Low”. Meanwhile, the girls are most noticeable oozing through on the muddied country-blues raunch of opener “Ida Red” and the ghostly, fluttering psych swirl of “See Me Mariona”, a song reminiscent of contemporaries Pink Mountaintops. The highlight, however, has to be the tambourine-shakin’, sax-laden slice of glam-ourized R&B, “Jubilee Line”, which yields Olive’s most confident vocal outing and a kick-ass trip on the Tube through London to boot. - Alan Brown / PopMatters

LEFT LANE CRUISER - Organ Magazine

LEFT LANE CRUISER – All You Can Eat!! (Alive Natural Sound) – Some right there in the zone, raw, blistered, no messing, slide-guitar freight-train riding blues. Oh yes, Hillgrass bluebilly hard working good honest black-lunged blues music delivered with a nail on the head righteous punk-fried attitude. They’re from Fort Wayne, Indiana, they sound like Seasick Steve for Rose Tattoo heads in need of an Ol’ fashion lo-fi five dollar shoe-shine... This is good, this is very good, certainly not the putting in of a twenty and the taking out of a forty here, the good is there in these Broke Ass Blues. There’s just two of ‘em, broken down old scratchy electric guitar, gravel throats and drum kit. There’s some great You Tube footage if you have the time to go look. They got bags of soul in there, they got it all nailed, real deal stripped back raw broken bottle stripped to the bone blues goodness - www.alivenergy.com or www.myspace.com/leftlanecruiser Some YouTube: Left Lane Cruiser perform at Wooden Nickel Music in Fort Wayne, Indiana back in 2006. - Organ Magazine

LEFT LANE CRUISER new album "All You Can Eat!!" out now

US TOUR DATES
Oct 5 @ The Northside Tavern - Cincinnati, OH
Oct 6 @ The Green Lantern - Lexington, KY
Oct 7 @ Hal and Al's - Columbus, OH
Oct 8 @ The V Club - Huntington, WV
Oct 9 @ The Garage - Winston Salem, NC
Oct 10 @ The Bohemian - Greenville, SC w/ Black Diamond Heavies
Oct 12 @ The End - Nashville, TN
Oct 13 @ JJ's Bohemia - Chattanooga, TN
Oct 14 @ The Hideaway - Johnson City, TN
Oct 15 @ Visulite Theater - Charlotte, NC
Oct 16 @ The Star Bar - Atlanta, GA
Oct 17 @ Knoxville, TN
EUROPEAN TOUR DATES
Oct 30 @ La Boule Noire - Paris, France
Oct 31 @ La Peniche - Chalon s/Saone, France
Nov 1 @ Le Galion - Lorient, France
Nov 4 @ Peniche Sonic - Lyon, France
Nov 5 @ Queen Kong Club - Neuhatel, Switzerland
Nov 6 @ Caves Du Manoir - Martigny, Switzerland
Nov 7 @ Le Transformateur - Fribourg, Switzerland
Nov 8 @ El Lokal - Zurich, Switzerland
Nov 9 @ My Way - Freibourg, Germany
Nov 11 @ Cortinan Bob - Berlin, Germany
Nov 12 @ The Paradison - Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Nov 13 TBA - Stockholm, Sweden
Nov 15 @ Popdium - Sneek, The Netherlands
Nov 16 @ Little Devil - Tilburg, The Netherlands
Nov 18 @ Club Keller - Frankfurt, Germany
Nov 19 @ DB's - Utrecht, The Netherlands
Nov 20 @ Grand Wazoo - Amiens, France
Nov 21 @ L'Appel D'air - St Brieuc, France
Nov 22 @ Le Chalan - Binik, France
Nov 24 @ St Eupery - Bordeaux, France
Nov 25 @ Sant Des Seins - Toulouse, France
Nov 26 @ Cafe De Paris - Perpignan, France
Nov 27 @ Barakason - Nants, France w/ Black Diamond Heavies
Nov 28 @ Festival Blues Hauts De Seine - Mantes La Jolie, France
w/ Black Diamond Heavies
more European dates coming soon

Bar brawling blues.

Scampering out of Fort Wayne, Indiana comes a seriously hard punching, punk blues duo. Freddie J Evans IV and Brenn 'Sausage Paw' Beck make up the engine and driver of Left Lane Cruiser with their third release.

The record hits the ground running opening with Crackalacka. Jumping straight into a crisp, fast electric slide guitar and firecracker drumming makes up a perfect intro to this album. Heavily overdriven boot stamping riffs, growling hoarse vocals and leaving nothing to the imagination is exactly how LLC lead on. Each track brings its own edginess to the table. Hillgrass Bluebilly, a bottom lip biting stomp, Ol’ Fashioned, a classic, gritty, finger picking guitar which has inherited a fantastically authentic buzz and Hard Workin Man is a big kick of dirty, power blues which makes you drive your car fast. The whole record is just as it should be. High velocity, vicious, thumping, ass-kicking punk blues delivered with passion and depth. This is an out of control locomotive which is about to run off its rails.

Freddie J's vocals are frighteningly raw, mixed with his rampant guitar playing style puts him at the top of the pile of charismatic front men and with Beck’s machine gun drumming makes this an awesome pairing. An image of a smoky, whiskey stained basement and a bunch of stolen equipment is undoubtedly the setting for the recording of this album. A good full on record, no messing, in your face head splitting punk blues. This would be a great soundtrack for a cage fighting medley and is definitely not something for the faint hearted.

Left Lane Cruiser tick all the boxes from the relentlessly hard hitting sound to their cool names. This is not something for the faint hearted. Rest assured this is more than you can eat! - Will Bray / Blues In London

September tour dates

BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES
Lebowskifest - Speed of Sound Tour
Sep 8 @ Ogden Theatre - Denver, CO
Sep 9 @ Blue Cactus - Lead, SD
Sep 11 @ First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN
Sep 12 @ Crunchy Fog - Greenbay, WI
Sep 13 @ Portage Theatre - Chicago, IL
Sep 15 @ North Side Tavern - Cincinnati, OH
Sep 16 @ Majestic Cafe - Detroit, MI
Sep 17 @ Velvet Underground - Toronto, Ontario
Sep 18 @ La Sala Rossa - Montreal, Quebec
Sep 19 @ House of Blues - Boston, MA
Sep 20 @ IM Automata Chino - Jersey City, NJ
Sep 22 @ Terminal 5 - New York, NY
Sep 24 @ Court Tavern - New Brunswick, NJ
Sep 25 @ Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA
Sep 28 @ 9:30 Club - Washington DC, Washington DC
LIVE album out November 24th on Alive records

OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY
Sept 9 @ Bay area fun time - Oakland, CA w/ Devon Williams
Sept 10 @ Spaceland, L.A. w/ Devon Williams
Sept 11 @ Che - San Diego CA, w/ Devon Williams
more dates coming soon

BRIMSTONE HOWL
Sept 9 @ Cafe Bourbon - Columbus, OH
Sept 10 @ Bruar Falls - Brooklyn, NY
Sept 11 @ The Cakeshop - NYC
Sept 12 @ Sailor Jerry - Philly, PA
Sept 14 @ The Oasis - New London, CT
Sept 15 @ The Triple - Richmond, VA
Sept 17 @ The Union - Athens, OH
Sept 18 @ Now Thats Class - Cleveland, OH
Sept 19 @ Louie‚s Trophy House - Kalamazoo MI
NEW album out November 24th

RADIO MOSCOW
Sep 8 @ Bali Satay - Ames, Iowa w/ Mondo Drag
Sep 9 @ Ribco - Davenport, Iowa
Sep 18 @ Capones - Ames, Iowa
Sep 25 @ DG's Taphouse - Ames, Iowa
more dates coming soon

BRIAN OLIVE
Sep 29 @ Northside Tavern - Cincinnati, OH w/Drummer
more dates coming soon

T-MODEL FORD w/Gravelroad
European tour :
Sep 8 @ Thelka - Bristol, UK
Sep 9 The Old Market - Brighton, UK
Sep 11 @ Luminaire - London, UK
Sep 12 @ Luminaire - London, UK
Sep 13 @ End Of The Road Festival ˆ Salisbury, UK
Sep 15 @ Arlington Arts Centre - Newbury, UK
Sep 16 @ Norwich Arts Centre - Norwich, UK
Sep 17 @ The Musician - Leicester, UK
Sep 19 @ The Boardwalk - Sheffield, UK
Sep 20 @ Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, UK
Sep 21 @ The Duchess - York, UK
Sep 22 @ The Live Theatre - Newcastle, UK
Sep 23 @ Tolbooth - Stirling, UK
Sep 24 @ King Tut's Wah Wah Hut - Glasgow, UK
Sep 26 Open House Fest. @ Black Box - Belfast, Ireland
Sep 27 @ Sandino's Cafe Bar - Derry, Ireland
Sep 28 @ Whelan's - Dublin, Ireland
Sep 29 @ Crane Lane Theatre - Cork, Ireland
NEW album out this winter on Alive records

BUFFALO KILLERS
Sept 9 @ The Bear's Place - Cambridge, MA
Sept 10 @ Nectar's - Burlington, VT
Sept 11 @ Dover Brick House - Dover, NH
Sept 12 @ Union Hall - Brooklyn, NY
Sept 25 @ The Union - Athens, OH
Sept 26 @ Southgate House - Cincinnati, OH
more dates coming soon

MONDO DRAG
Sep 8 @ The Bali Satay - Aimes, Iowa w/ Radio Moscow
Sep 9 @ Racers Edge - East Moline, IL
Sep 10 @ The Darkroom bar - Chicago, IL
Sep 11 @ Carabar - Columbus, OH
Sep 12 @ W.O. Wrights - Fairborn, OH
Sep 13 House show - Bloomington, IN
Sep 29 @ The Picador - Iowa city, Iowa
DEBUT album for Alive records out this winter

OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY - The Stranger

Detroit's Outrageous Cherry are one of those groups that have never deviated from their original sound—reverent, obsessive-record-collector's interpretations of their favorite Vietnam War—era rock records. Because frontman Matthew Smith has impeccable musical taste and keen songwriting skills, Outrageous Cherry sound like simulacra of canonical psych-pop and garage-rock bands, as well as Nuggets-worthy no-hit wonders. Their latest album, Universal Malcontents, emits yet more sonic sunshine: Earnestness trumps irony, and sweet melodies embroidered with tasteful effects revivify paisley-shaped nostalgia. -- Dave Segal / The Stranger