Isaiah B. Brunt – A Moment in Time | Album Review

Isaiah B. Brunt – A Moment in Time

Self Release

www.isaiahbbrunt.com

9 tracks / 39:39

Isaiah B. Brunt has an impressive amount of musical experience as a studio owner and sideman in Australia. He has worked with the Goo Goo Dolls, the Julio Iglesias Orchestra, and Randy Jackson, plus he toured with Keanu Reeve’s Dogstar when they opened up for Bon Jovi on their Australian tour. But at heart he is a bluesman, and an exceptional one too, as evidenced by last year’s killer release of Just the Way that it Goes and his trip to the International Blues Challenge.

Mr. Brunt has followed up this success with a new album, A Moment in Time, and it is his best work yet. This disc has nine tracks of originals that were written by Isaiah, and he served as the executive producer for this project in addition to taking care of the vocals and guitars. He was joined in the New Orleans studio by a core band of George Porter Jr. on bass, Doug Belote on drums, Mike Lemmler on keys, and a horn section of Jeffery T. Watkins and Ian E. Smith.

I do not hear much of an Australian accent to Brunt’s singing, but he has a wonderfully smooth and rich timbre to his voice, and the effect is quite unique. This is heard right from the start with “Still Waiting,” as Isaiah runs through a conventional 12-bars blues vocal construction. As with the rest of the album, there is a live feel to this mid-tempo tune, with Lemmler providing roadhouse piano and B3 over a fat bass line from Porter. A rowdy guitar solo from Brunt gives a touch of variety, as do a pair of trumpet and guitar solos. This segues into a piano-fueled rhythm and blues tune, “Singing the Blues,” which has lovely backing vocals from Sarah E. Burke.

Brunt can also dig deeper and belt out gritty vocals, and this is a cool contrast to his smoother work. One example of this is “May I Dance with You,” a nice bit of horn and organ driven funk. The backline is a more complex on this song, with Belote working the drum kit and Porter popping out the bass rhythms. This tune features a righteous solo break with interplay between Brunt’s guitar and Watkins’ sax, as well as a sweet horn outro. Isaiah also gets down on “Party Late All Night,” a more conventional 12-bar blues song. These are two of the standout tracks on the disc, and are both great party tunes.

There is also one track that is completely different than everything else on the album, as “Travel Back in Time” takes the listener all the way to New Orleans. This slowly grinder is held together by guest artists Tuba Steve on the sousaphone and James Evans on the clarinet, with snare from Belote keeping time. The horns join in halfway through to accompany a wicked solo from Evans, and the overall effect of this song will make you want to head off to Bourbon Street to forget your sorrows. Or maybe earn some new ones!

After about 40 minutes, the set closes out with “A Moment in Time,” an interesting blend of a mellow country bass beat, reverb-soaked guitar chords, and some jazzy flugelhorn from Smith. Brunt does well with the honest lyrics of remembrance and love, once again with Sarah filling in the backing vocals. After adding in David Stocker and his mellotron samples the overall effect is very pretty, and this ends up being a low-key way to bring things to an end.

Isaiah B. Brunt and his friends did an awesome job with A Moment in Time, and it is a solid follow-up to Just the Way that it Goes. Be sure to check out his website to keep up on his schedule – he only has gig dates scheduled in Australia at this time, but maybe the allure of the States (or another invite to the IBC) will draw him to our shores so we can enjoy his music in person!

Ivor S.K. – Delta Pines | Album Review

Ivor S.K. – Delta Pines

Self Release

www.ivorsk.com

5 tracks / 18:46

There is a strong blues scene in Australia, so I am surprised that more of their music does not make it to my desk for review. So, it was cool to receive a debut disc from Ivor S.K., Delta Pines. This young man has developed a mature voice and guitar skills in a short amount of time, helped along by the mojo of his beloved city of New Orleans.

Ivor Simpson-Kennedy wrote all five of the songs for this EP, and performed all of the guitar and vocal parts. Before he took up guitar he was a drummer, so you will hear that each tune has a cool and steady beat with subtle influences of soul, and maybe even some reggae or ska, but this is still undeniably based on Delta blues. Since there are a few less tracks to deal with than usual, following is the blow-by-blow for each:

First up is “Help Poor Me” and you will probably be shocked that an Australian kid has a voice like a grizzled man from the Delta. Also, he manages to break the word “help” into two syllables – I have never heard that before! In this tale of woe his guitar work is simple and clean, and this is a very listenable piece of music. Things change direction a bit after this. Many blues artists create their own ode to the bottle, and in “Missus Green” Ivor describes a man who puts aside all manner of liquor in favor of his chosen poison, which is all-natural, but not exactly drinkable.

Layers of acoustic and slide guitar are used to construct “Pelican,” an instrumental that is more roots than blues. It is a pretty tune that uses stereo effects to present a sound stage that makes seem like there is more than one player. Ivor’s guitar skills are up to the task, and his fingerstyle shows that he has a good feel for the instrument. A laid-back love song follows this up, and “I Like the Way” is a smart piece of acoustic blues with an intimate message.

The CD finishes up with “Delta Pines” which is a celebration of Mississippi and its music, with shout outs to cultural fixtures from all over the state. This is set to a simple quarter note kickdrum beat (provided by Ivor?), and this percussion provides an interesting change from Ivor’s usual guitar and voice formula. There are at least three guitar parts in play here, which makes me wonder which one he chooses when he is doing a live show!

Ivor S.K. has something going here, and Delta Pines is a solid first effort. His voice is impressive, and his original songs are easy to listen to with lyrics that provide a few surprises along the way. Hopefully he is busy writing new material so that we can get a full-length album from him soon.

Cave Passive Pedals Furry Tongue

Hey everybody! I have a Furry Tongue! Well, I have one in my pedal board, anyway. This is the latest bass effect pedal that I have received from Cave Passive Pedals.

Cave Passive Pedals is a boutique guitar and bass effect pedal builder located in Australia. I heard about them from my friend Mark Deayton, and I have been very impressed with their products, as well as with Heath and Georgina Cave, who are super-involved with every facet of production, distribution and customer service.

I have previously written reviews of the Cave Passive Pedals Grunt and Grunt Mk. II pedals, and I loved them both. They have simple controls, and add a manageable distortion/boost to my sound.

As with all of their pedals, the first thing to note is that the Furry Tongue does not require a power supply, so there are no batteries, and no need to plug in an AC adaptor. All the power that is needed is provided by the output signal from the guitar or bass. Not only is this convenient for setting up your pedal board, it is nice for the environment to not have more 9-volt batteries going into our landfills.

The Furry Tongue is similar in appearance to the Grunts. It is a compact-sized pedal that measures about 2.75 inches wide, by 4.5 inches long and 1.75 inches tall. This is handy if space on your pedal board is at a premium. The chassis is powder-coated shiny white, with a nice overlay for the logo and control labels. There are no feet on the case, so it is easy to add the Velcro needed to attach it to your pedal board.

This pedal is equipped with true bypass, and I did not notice any difference in sound by putting it before or after my Grunt pedals. Just for grins, I put it in the signal chain before and after my VT Bass pedal, and again it sounded the same. It did not hinder the operation of the VT Bass, either.

The controls are simple: an ON/OFF footswitch and a 4-position tone switch. That’s it. Even I can figure out how to use it.

So, the four different tones settings are all very different. Turning the knob is almost like the variable tone switches on the Kubicki or Aria Super Basses. Here is a brief summary of how I hear the tones, from left to right:

#1 Makes it sound furry, almost like a mid/bass boost, with a loss of some top end

#2 A hollow/thin tone, with a little bit of a drop in volume.

#3 More aggressive and overdriven with a re-introduction of the high tomes. It seems to have a bit more output positions 1 and 2

#4 This position sounds the most processed of the four (to me). It is a cool hollow tone, and the one I would be most likely to use.

For this test, I used a very good passive Fender 57 re-issue Precision Bass strung with D’Addario Chromes. As usual for this bass, I had the volume and tone pots dimed. For amplification I used my Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 through a Genz Benz Uber Bass 410 cabinet. I kept my usual amp settings with a lot of gain (12 o’clock +) into the tube pre-amp and not much boost to the low frequencies.

I did try a couple of active basses as well, and the Furry Tongue results with them were good, but not quite as dramatic as with a passive bass. Your mileage will vary, depending on your bass, signal chain and eq settings, of course.

Combining the Furry Tongue with the Cave Grunt pedals has given me a lot of new tonal options, and I am very pleased with how this has worked itself into my pedal board.

So, on to the administrivia…

The Furry Tongue comes in a sharp-looking eco-friendly waxed MDF box along with a microfiber cleaning cloth and some basic instructions. That is a lot of adjectives for a box, eh?

All Cave pedals come with a lifetime warranty, which I am sure you will never need. If something ever went wrong, though I am sure they would be happy to help if something went bad.

The Furry Tongue is priced at $129 AUD, or a mere $120 USD (as of today).

Cave Passive Pedals will soon be distributed in the United States through G Spot Music (http://www.g-spot-music.com) or you can contact the Caves directly (http://www.cavepassivepedals.com.au) and they can accept PayPal or bank wire transfers. Shoot them an e-mail for details of shipping costs.

I cannot forget my usual disclaimer: I am an endorsing artist for Cave Passive Pedals, but I paid for my first one, and was totally blown away. I would never represent a product that I do not 100% believe in.

Cave Passive Pedals Grunt Mk II Review

I am sure some of my friends are getting tired of me spouting off about Cave Passive Pedals. Well, tough luck. Here is another review!

Cave Passive Pedals is an Australian company that hand builds small batches of boutique guitar and bass effect pedals. They are very involved and customer-focused, so when you call them or send them an e-mail, you are dealing directly with the people that make them. A bonus is that they are very friendly and are great to deal with.

Their basic hook is that their pedals do not require a power supply, so there are no batteries, and no need to plug in an AC adaptor. All the power that is needed is provided by the output signal from the guitar or bass. There is more to the pedals than the hook, they work well too.

I wrote a review of the original Grunt pedal last month, and was very impressed with its function. It has very simple controls: an ON/OFF switch, and a Clean/Dirty selector switch. It provided a great-sounding distortion or a noticeable boost in output. One small drawback to me was that it could not do both at the same time. Well, it turns out that the Cave dwellers already had that in mind, and they have since issued the Grunt Mk II. Bass distortion pedal

The Mk II is a compact pedal that looks sharp. The pedal measures about 2.75 inches wide, by 4.5 inches long and 1.75 inches tall. The chassis is powder coated glossy white, with a clean-looking sticker for the logo and control labels. There are no feet on the case, so it is easy to add Velcro to attach it to your pedalboard.

New controls have taken the original Grunt and made it more versatile. It now has adjustable drive and level controls. An oddity is that the levels increase as the knobs are turned counter-clockwise. Is this because of the Coriolis effect? Anyway, this allows varying amounts of boost and distortion.

Not surprisingly, the Grunt Mk II will respond differently depending on how you have your bass and amplifier controls set. I have found that this pedal seems to work best with my passive basses, and with the volume and tone controls dimed (as usual). I also dial in a lot of gain (12 o’clock +) into the tube pre-amp on my Genz Shuttle 6.0, and do not boost the low frequencies. With this set up the tone is pure 60s/70s overdrive. Nice!

My results varied quite a bit when using active basses (Musicman, Spector, Sadowsky), and I will have to experiment more with them as time goes on.

As with the other Cave pedals, the Grunt Mk II comes in an eco-friendly waxed MDF box along with a microfiber cleaning cloth and some basic instructions.

All Cave pedals come with a lifetime warranty, which shows the confidence they have in their products. There have been no problems with my pedals, but I am sure they would be happy to help if something went bad.

The Grunt Mk II is priced at $129 AUD, or a mere $110 USD (as of today). It can be ordered directly through cavepassivepedals.com.au and they accept PayPal or bank wire transfers. Shoot them an e-mail for details of shipping costs.

Also, be advised that the original Grunt pedal is still available, so you can choose your poison, pardner. BTW, I took it a step further and have hooked the Mk II up in series with my original Grunt Pedal, so I can control the distortion and boost separately. Bwa Ha Ha!

Disclaimer: I am an endorsing artist for Cave Passive Pedals, but I paid for my first one, and was totally blown away. I would never represent a product that I do not 100% believe in.