Local discs are worth a listen

By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal music writer

Akron and Northeast Ohio are overflowing with musicians who periodically cobble together enough time, money and talent to release records for your listening pleasure and potential fandom.

Former Akronite singer/songwriter/guitarist Pat Sweany.

Here are a few releases by your musical friends and neighbors of mostly recent vintage. Most of these bands gig fairly regularly, so if someone looks or sounds interesting to you, please go out and support them at your nearest watering hole or live-music venue.

One caveat: I generally don’t bother with local records I actively hate, so don’t expect to see any gleeful tirades deriding your favorite or least favorite local band.

Also, if you never see your own band or your favorite band in these pages, there’s a good chance it’s because I don’t have the latest magnum opus. In other words, send me your stuff!

• The Rick Ray Band, Can’t Lie Hard Enough

This album is, according to his own count, Rick Ray’s 32nd release, a pretty impressive catalog going back through several bands. Fans of English oddballs such as Captain Beyond and early Hawkwind (they even have a sax player!) should enjoy this psychedelic/prog-rock quintet’s caffeinated rock riffs in tunes such as the title track, which also sports a rockin’ harmonica solo from singer Dennis Corrigan.

Throughout the baker’s dozen tunes, guitarist Ray displays his dexterous and fleet phalanges in many old-school shredding solos. Though the band is clearly technically capable of playing straight-up prog-rock (which some listeners find distant and soulless) and it throws plenty of fancy 32nd-note-filled curlicues into the mix, most of the disc’s songs are rooted firmly in riff-based heavy rock, and Corrigan uses his rough, bluesy bar voice to push fist-pumpers such as Gotta Be.

But the album isn’t all syncopated muscle rock. Corrigan shows his softer side on several tunes such as the ballad I’m Nobody, the breezy southern rock of View from a Train, and the downright delicate Spinning Round and Round. There are a few
songs such as the jazzy seven-minute What He Deserves where judicious editing would’ve helped, though it features some nice acoustic guitar from Ray.

For all their talent, it also would’ve been helpful if the mix on many of the songs was clear enough to catch all the subtle nuances of the softer songs and boost the blunt force of the heavier tracks.

Groovy tracks: The driving- with-the-top-down opening and title track, All I Want Is Peace, the Allman Bros.-flavored ballad View from a Train and the lengthy guitar workout Propaganda.

Find it at: CDBaby, iTunes, Emusic, Amazon.

Information: http://www.rickray.net/.

• Chaka the Aquaman of Akron, A.D.D. with HDTV

This longtime rapper, part of the Honeypot crew that’s been booking local shows, cranks out another CD of his left-of-center Akron-centric hip-hop.

Chaka’s unique flow is an odd-metered set of usually intense rhyming declarations that give his verses a freestyle feel. Chaka doesn’t spend much lyrical energy berating gold diggers or bragging about all the stuff he wishes he had, preferring to riff on the everyday blue-collar hustle, some social concerns and, of course, his own bad self.

Guests include his regular Honeypot rhyme partners, the twangy, molasses-flowing Gator who appears on several cuts and the freestyle king Infinity, along with local rapper OZ. The beats vary from au courant, heavily compressed, skittering synth-driven sounds on In the Club from Nevasaeno to loping R&B samples on In the World of Pimps and Hoes and sparse ’90s-style offerings on Chasin’ with Infinity.

There are plenty of head-nodders to be found among the 18 tracks, but A.D.D. with HDTV often feels more like a compilation of tracks than a constructed album.

Groovy tracks: The 12-minute mix track by DJ Sound Science that compiles several older songs shows Chaka and crew’s versatility, the Gang Starr-influenced Chasin’ featuring Infinity, and the head-nodding Black Inspector Gadget featuring Gator.

Find it at: Shows. Some songs are available on iTunes and Amazon.

Information: http://www.myspace.com/chakaaquamanofakron.

• Kal and the Bad Dudes, Bad Dudes

This is old-school rock ‘n’ roll from a bunch of reformed old-school Akron rock ‘n’ rollers. The veteran quartet features members of Hammer Damage, Jane Aire & the Belvederes and The Bizarros to name a few, and recently reunited to rock us all like early ’80s hurricanes.

The band is led by guitarist/vocalist Kal Mullens, and fills the 15-track CD with melodic guitar-driven hard rock. It throws in plenty of catchy chunka-riffs on the ’70s-flavored Hooked on You, gets all punk rock on Little Mystifier and lets out its funky side on the groovy Can’t Shake Your Love and Keep On Runnin’. Guitarist George Cabaniss mixes things up with some pleasant power pop on his tune Bad Luck Charm.

Bad Dudes contains the kind of straightforward and funk-flavored rock tunes that should get reasonably juiced-up bar patrons wiggling their hips (see for yourself when the band performs at Inferno’s in Akron on May 14 with Equals Four).

Groovy tracks: Hooked on You, No Time for Love, Is Elvis in Hell.

Find it at: Shows.

Information: kal@kalskorral.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_bsU1JEC-c.

• Pat Sweany, That Old Southern Drag

Singer/songwriter/guitarist Pat Sweany is another Akron musician (along with singer/songwriter Ryan Humbert, and both Black Keys) who has made the move to Nashville. On his fourth album, he stays pretty firmly in his established musical wheelhouse and many of the songs detail the life of a working musician.

Sweany’s guitar playing (he’s a self-taught finger-picker) and songs meld ’50s rock ‘n’ roll with blues, old-school rhythm and blues and the occasional hint of rockabilly. He tends to keep his arrangements simple, with just his voice, his guitar and his solid, supportive rhythm section, and it’s an effective approach.

Songs such as Oh! Temptation, the ballad Same Thing and More and More feature retro guitar licks, familiar chord progressions and soulful vocals. While most of Sweany’s musical references may be a few decades older than the 35-year-old, he doesn’t pretend that 1964 never happened, and he does bring it on up to the present (or at least the mid-1970s) on the chunky riff-driven Police Car Blues.

Groovy tracks: Early rock ‘n’ roll-flavored Oh! Temptation, the groovy R&B The Edges and the broke musician lament Heavy Problems.

Find it at: iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic.

Information: http://www.patricksweany.com.

• The Hipnauts, Welcome to Low

This quintet calls its music ”Conquer Rock” and on this sophomore release, coming only a few months after debut Hipnautized, the band members dip deeper into ’80s electro- and synth-pop, melodic punk and new wave.

Jeffrey Kaforey sings in the classic snotty, high-pitched bleat that fueled many an ’80s punk band, and the rest of the group does a fine job of re-creating familiar sounds of that era such as the thin, trebly bass, classic synth patches and a lyrical penchant for irreverence and humor. All this adds up to a fun and often catchy record.

Songs such as no-frills punk tune Run sit alongside the radio-ready new wave synth-pop tune Synaesthesia and retro electro funk of TV America and Extra Credit Chemistry, which recall mid-’80s bands such as Erasure and should be equally enjoyable for listeners who remember the era (fondly) and younguns for whom these sounds are relatively new.

Groovy tracks: Punky opener Run, the pogo inducing Dog Show Dance and the sexy bass line and hooky Synaesthesia.
Find it at: iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, EMusic, Napster.

Information: http://www.myspace.com/thehipnauts.

Read Soundcheck, the blog by Malcolm X Abram.