New Music From Hamish Kilgour & Th’ Bad Francs, Here Lies Man
Hamish Kilgour & Th’ Bad Francs
Franklestein
(Ba Da Bing)
Hamish Kilgour is perhaps best known as the drummer of the frequently brilliant New Zealand band The Clean (newcomers can start with the generous Anthology), founded more than 40 years ago with his brother David Kilgour; he often supplied his distinctive, post-Moe Tucker driving beat, perhaps like a garage band version of NEU!’s motorik/Apache beat.
In the ‘90s New York indie-rock scene, he founded The Mad Scene, stepping into the front-person sing/strum role with collaborator Lisa Siegel, and he’s remained busy to the current time, having released his themed solo album Finkelstein last year, starting with a strummy acoustic guitar basis for expansive songs that go beyond standard indie-rock expectations.
His similarly titled new release Franklestein, credited to Hamish Kilgour & Th’ Bad Francs, begins with instrumental recordings taken from the Finkelstein sessions, but it has a very different sound to it.
Take the opener, “NYC Blackout”, which offers a nimble, layered, percussion-heavy approach with varied textures from a glockenspiel, tuned drums, malleted percussion, and woodsy rattling, plus trumpet lines and more.
Perhaps unexpectedly, “Say What?” probably has more in common with hip-hop than indie-rock, with a sample loop and glimpses of free jazz interjections, and for those who favor this direction, there’s also a companion 2-track, 10-inch vinyl EP, Funk/Fink R’mxs, released in conjunction with Franklestein.
If there’s a loose theme to Franklestein, it’s conveyed in the songs’ vocal snippets, which seem to be about haircuts—specifically, the particular directions to be followed during hair cutting.
There’s a mysterious ambiance to the album, with reccurring saxophone flourishes, rhythmic strata, prominent vibraphone playing, bass line grooves, and occasional whispers.
The final track, the 7-minute “Open/The ‘Creamer’”, nearly gets into ambient territory with its washes of echoing sax and bass drips, finishing a playful and inventive album, reclaiming studio scraps and turning them into kinetic, jazzy, atmospheric sketches.
Here Lies Man
No Ground To Walk Upon
(RidingEasy)
While popular culture remembers the original Shaft movie from 1971, featuring the badass private detective John Shaft with the funky and hilarious Isaac Hayes theme song, one of its sequels, Shaft in Africa, where Shaft takes on a human trafficking ring abroad, isn’t remembered as well.
But, Shaft in Africa is the film that comes to mind when thinking about the Los Angeles band Here Lies Man, from its heavy, fuzz-rock riffs (think “ass-kicking tough guy”), funk beats (think “sex machine with a cool swagger”) and Fela Kuti-influenced Nigerian afrobeat rhythms (the “Africa” in Shaft in Africa).
It makes sense that Here Lies Man guitarist Marcos Garcia (a.k.a. Chico Mann) also plays in the afrobeat group Antibalas, and drummer Geoff Mann (the son of jazz flutist Herbie Mann) was a former Antibalas member.
The group’s latest release, No Ground To Walk Upon, is a mini-album with each track providing a cinematic soundtrack feel; also, each song includes (mostly at the ending, but sometimes at the beginning) a short palate-cleansing interlude with a more minimal instrumentation approach, as if portraying the stillness after a devastating gunfight.
These interludes use slowed-down tempos calculated through mathematics to two-thirds to three-fourths of the primary tempos, based on the clave, the underlying rhythmic pattern.
Fans of Here Lies Man’s first two albums won’t find No Ground To Walk Upon to be much of an unexpected diversion, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since the group is far from running this method into the ground.
The heavier moments of Budos Band come to mind here, particularly when it comes to the groove, and Here Lies Man adds elements like ghostly keyboards, kalimba (thumb piano) runs, call-and-response vocals/whistling, and disembodied vocals that are typically barely distinguishable.
No Ground To Walk Upon is great for an immediate rush of energy, but after the album’s done, it doesn’t quite stay with you; this writer is looking forward to hearing how the band can shake things up in the future, where a sequel can equal the original.