Grassy Sound. Photo credit: Katie Rey
Grassy Sound w/Scott Burton’s Exploitation Cinema
7:00pm doors, 8:00pm concert, $15 admission
Cash Bar (beer/wine available)
Guitarist Nick Millevoi & Keyboardist Ron Stabinsky’s Grassy Sound Announce Their Debut, The Sounds of Grassy Sound, an Album That Puts a Modernist Spin on the Vibe of Vintage "Exotica" LPs and '60s Surf Rock
"Much like Wilco’s Nels Cline… guitar maestro Nick Millevoi is a jack of all trades who shreds with both scientific precision and brutal abandon." — Brad Cohan / Bandcamp Daily
For guitarist Nick Millevoi, all manner of music can be a source of inspiration, including bachelor-pad "exotica" albums of the 1950s, surf-rock records of the ’60s or even old Hollywood cowboy tunes – at least if those influences are put into a modernist compositional and improvisational blender. Millevoi’s usual outfit, the Crazy Horse-meets-Coltrane band Desertion Trio, has released four ultra-potent albums since 2016. But he was inspired by his nostalgic sonic fascinations to compose a fun set of tunes to perform with frequent keyboard partner Ron Stabinsky, dubbing their duo project Grassy Sound. The pair’s debut album of those songs – The Sounds of Grassy Sound – will be released, digitally and on vinyl, via Destiny Records on July 8, 2022. The disc features such Millevoi-penned highlights as the groovy album-opener "Skylark" and the melody-rich "Lu Fran," both of which showcase his gritty electric-guitar lyricism and Stabinsky's Hammond B-3 swirl. Then there’s "Flitzer," an essay in bent surf guitar that has a noisy improv section with a Twilight Zone air. The first video from the album is a rocking live take on "Flitzer."
"Grassy Sound came about spontaneously when imagining what music would be fun for Ron and I to play together as a duo," Millevoi explains. "The concept came out of my affection for the 1950s easy-listening exotica records, as well as ’60s surf-rock guitar. So, the vision was kind of like Les Baxter or Martin Denny but with Dick Dale-style guitar. The Sounds of Grassy Sound title, too, is a tongue-in-cheek reference to some of the LP titles in that era. But I didn’t want this to be any pure nostalgic exercise, so we incorporated some 'fringe' elements into the music, like shifting meters and a bit of abstract tonality, to make the tunes feel more personal and of the moment. I wanted to update that fun, cocktail-party sound with a modern compositional perspective and my own more warped tastes, a bit more Monk or Captain Beefheart. Another thing is that while Ron has all those cool retro keyboard sounds at his fingertips – he is an authentic purveyor of that lounge-y vibe – we also have a naturally experimental, improvisational rapport together."
Along with Millevoi's appreciation of exotica and surf records, the retro-cool sounds of the Pulp Fiction soundtrack (ubiquitous in his teen years) were an influence on the Grassy Sound vibe, as was his favorite album by golden-age Blue Note jazz guitarist Grant Green: Goin' West, which included its own hip interpretation of "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." Stabinsky – who is also a latter-day member of beloved psychedelic country-punk band The Meat Puppets – drafted in Meat Puppets drummer Derrick Bostrum to contribute to three tracks, as well as Meat Puppets founders and brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood to sing and play on the album’s atmospheric interpretation of "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" (which many listeners will recognize as a hallucinatory theme tune from the 1998 Coen Brothers classic The Big Lebowski). The Grassy Sound cover serves as something of a 40th-anniversary homage, as the Meat Puppets recorded their own yowling, lysergic version of "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" on their eponymous debut album, released in 1982. Other key numbers on The Sounds of Grassy Sound include the prime Millevoi original "Astronaut," complete with a ripping solo by Stabinsky; then there’s the atmospheric bluesiness of "Another Blue Moon" and, with shades of Bill Frisell, the urbane cowboy feel of "Worried."
The Sounds of Grassy Sound is a cousin to Millevoi's Desertion Trio release of 2019, Twilight Time, which detoured from the usual epic Desertion Trio volatility to channel some vintage vibes with its covers of the title track (an iconic hit by The Platters) and Marty Robbins' "Red River Valley." Stabinsky was a guest contributor to Twilight Time, and both that LP and The Sounds of Grassy Sound were recorded in the same Philadelphia-area studio using the same vintage gear. Twilight Time was steeped in Millevoi's memories of youthful summers spent in Wildwood, NJ, particularly the carousel-like sounds of the oceanside boardwalk. Those trips as a kid from Philly to the Jersey Shore also figure into The Sounds of Grassy Sound, with the Grassy Sound moniker deriving from the name of a body of water along the drive from Philly. "Like Twilight Time," Millevoi says about the link, "The Sounds of Grassy Sound has a warm, dreamy, sort of weird feel to it – because it's the soundtrack to Polaroids in my mind."
Since Millevoi and Stabinsky met in 2014, the two have played together in multiple contexts leading up to co-producing The Sounds of Grassy Sound. "It's always a blast with Nick, whether we're playing his Desertion Trio tunes or jamming on a Neil Young song," Stabinsky says: "Nick is never short of imagination or technique. Grassy Sound is his modern spin on a vintage sound, a sonic vision that's inspiring to dig into – improvising on his tunes, bringing something of my own to the music. With Nick, the vibe is always king, and I love that." As for bringing in his Meat Puppets bandmates, the keyboardist adds: "It has been super fun performing and recording in the Meat Puppets for the past few years – they had long been one of my favorite bands. I played some of the Grassy Sound tracks to the drummer, Derrick, and he dug the sound right away and was game to contribute. Then it seemed obvious to ask the Kirkwood brothers to sing on ‘Tumbling Tumbleweeds,’ since they sang it on their first album. I think it's a poetic thing, the two of them performing the song – in a very different way – with us four decades later."
According to Cris Kirkwood, "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" was a song that his mother taught him and his brother when trying to get them ready to go on road trips when they were growing up in Arizona. "We have a familial, affectionate relationship with that tune," he says. "When I heard the Grassy Sound tracks, I liked them immediately. In particular, Nick and Ron’s treatment of 'Tumbling Tumbleweeds' was so creative and, of course, very different from our demented version of it all those years ago. It was fun to harmonize on it with my brother, Curt, and I just love playing with Ron. He's such an incredible musician, a force-of-nature improviser way beyond us and our punk-rock backgrounds." Bostrum also relished the chance to contribute drums to some Grassy Sound tracks. "I immediately felt simpatico with Nick’s concept and tunes," he says. "And working with Ron is always great – he’s an amazingly resourceful musician who can play anything from free jazz to polka to The Meat Puppets' brand of psychedelic country rock'n'roll. As musicians, both he and Nick humble me, so they were gracious to allow a simple punk-rock drummer to join in on things. It was really fun." Whether it's the album-opening hooks of "Skylark" or the otherworldly aura of "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," The Sounds of Grassy Sound should provide the ideal cocktail-party atmosphere today like Pulp Fiction and Another Taste of Honey by Martin Denny were in their day. Millevoi says: "I've made quite a bit of serious, hard-edged music so far in my career, but this record with Ron is something you can socialize to – even if it still has some twists and turns to reward closer attention. Most of all, we hope the music is as fun to listen to as it is to play!"
Scott Burton. Photo credit: Peter McElhinney
Scott Burton’s EXPLOITATION CINEMA
In an ongoing obsession with film and film history, guitarist Scott Burton's latest project Exploitation Cinema focuses on the darker side of the movies. Ever since he was a kid, Burton has loved film music. "Before Michael Jackson, my favorite music growing up came from my first 2 favorite films, Breakin' from 1985 and The Dark Crystal from '82" says Burton. "We would rent those things over and over again—I was fascinated with the box art, and just loved everything about those movies, even though they couldn’t be more different from each other!" This led to an ever deepening love of cinema and film composers.
The term 'exploitation cinema' refers to the on going practice of studio and independent filmmakers making movies attempting to 'succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content.' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploitation_film). "One funny thing about this project has been realizing that Breakin' was a classic exploitation movie. Made at the height of the breakdancing craze, the film itself is a total cash-in project, but still a movie I love."
Drawn to genre films from all over the globe, Burton has combed through many of the great soundtracks from some of the darkest movies, and arranged these tunes for solo guitar. Films such as John Woo’s 'The Killer' and Ruggero Deodato's 'Cannibal Holocaust' feature some of the most disturbing imagery as well as some of the most beautiful and haunting music, and by highlighting these differences, Burton hopes to bring a fresh perspective to some grindhouse classics.
"There is a lot more to say about this project, but everything has to start somewhere, and July 10 will be my first public performance of this material" says Burton.
About the Musicians
Nick Millevoi
Nick Millevoi's music reflects his enthusiasm for the vast history of guitar music, from jazz and rock'n'roll to noise and modern composition. His band Desertion Trio, featuring bassist Johnny DeBlase and drummer Jason Nazary, takes the history of instrumental electric guitar music and shakes it up, vividly. The band's sound has been described as "supremely weird desert noir" (Noisey) and "the sweet spot between Neil Young’s exploratory Crazy Horse jams and a spaghetti western soundtrack" (NPR). Desertion Trio has released four full-length albums: Desertion (Shhpuma/Clean Feed, 2016), Midtown Tilt (Shhpuma/Clean Feed, 2018), Twilight Time (Long Song, 2019) and Numbers Maker (Cuneiform, 2021). Millevoi's Desertion Trio records have also earned acclaim from Rolling Stone, DownBeat, JazzTimes, Pitchfork and the Philadelphia Inquirer. As a composer, Millevoi issued his instrumental songbook Streets of Philadelphia in 2019 and its audio companion in 2021. He released five albums as co-leader of brutal prog trio Many Arms, including two for John Zorn's Tzadik label. The guitarist has also worked with Nels Cline, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Chris Forsyth’s Solar Motel Band, Moppa Elliott’s Mostly Other People Do the Killing, trombonist Dan Blacksberg and Archer Spade, Toshimaru Nakamura, Fugazi's Joe Lally and keyboardist-producer Jamie Saft, among others. Millevoi has toured throughout the U.S. and Europe, along with performing live on the BBC as well as on NPR's Jazz Night in America and Tiny Desk Concerts.
Ron Stabinsky
Ron Stabinsky is surely the only keyboardist to perform with both Jack Black and Jim Black, his range typified in the jump of sensibility from the music-minded Hollywood comedian to an influential avant-jazz drummer. Stabinsky grew up playing polka in Pennsylvania (leading to that polka performance on late-night TV with Jack Black), as well as classical music and various strands of jazz, country, rock and more. In 2016, his debut album, Free for One, earned a four-star review in DownBeat and tied for the year's best debut in the NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll. He is currently a performing member of such disparate groups as The Meat Puppets, Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Relâche and the Peter Evans Ensemble, regularly touring across North America and Europe.
Scott Burton
Scott Burton is a guitarist and composer living in Richmond, Virginia. For over a decade Scott has been creating music in a wide variety of settings combining composed and free improvised sounds and practices. Burton has worked with everyone from artist/saxophonist Matana Roberts, to expat hip hop producer Jneiro Jarel (JJ DOOM) and his music has been featured on NPR and BBC Radio. In addition Scott has shared the stage with artists as diverse as MacArthur Grant winner Ken Vandermark to songwriter Julien Baker.