Local Disc Reviews: The Warble and Seeing Red

THE GREEN GHOST

The Warble

Rise of the infectiously precious and considerably poppier Magic Kids aside, the Warble remain the kings of fey art rock in Memphis. No one has been able to match these seven Memphis College of Art school grads for the pure, almost unbearable whimsy they bring to music making. They do shows with a painter working on stage. Even their discs are precious artifacts, limited-edition (my copy of their latest is hand-numbered in green Sharpie pen “20/150”), home-recorded affairs burned onto ordinary CD-Rs and wrapped in a custom artwork.

On their first collection — the infuriatingly lo-fi (probably for some higher artistic reason) Live @ Indian Camp — the Warble’s genuine musical gifts struggled to break through amateurish playing and recording. Its follow-up, Spacetime Breakfast, was an incremental improvement. But with The Green Ghost the band has made a quantum leap forward. The audio quality — the disc was record by bandleaders Alex Warble and Ben Bauermeister at the band’s Midtown home — is still demo-ish but is considerably more listenable. And the songs are much more fully realized, relying more on hooks and melodies than on artistic attitude.

By the sound of the title track, “Somewhere In the Night,” “Mouth of Mouths,” and others, the group has been exploring early-’80s art rock, especially Brian Eno and Echo & the Bunnymen. But interspersed throughout are lovely, more organic moments like the country crooner “Paint Me A Picture” and the ironic disc closer “Lovework,” which suggest a band reaching for a wonderful fusion of head and heart.

STEREOTYPE

Seeing Red

Leeway Music

Regulars at Raleigh’s bastion of blue-collar leather rock the Stage Stop (guitarist/singer Nina Makris is the daughter of owner Nita Makris, the den mother of the Memphis heavy scene), the five-piece band Seeing Red is not as angry as its name would suggest. That may be due to the tempering influence of three women in the line-up, including Makris, who lent her name to an earlier incarnation of the group, as well as lead singer Jessica Willett and bassist Leann Carey.

But don’t make the mistake of equating femininity with softness, especially in the music department. On the band’s recently released six-song debut, Stereotype, Seeing Red go riff for riff with their testosterone-fueled brethren and more than hold their own. The title track, a defiant — if respectful — assertion of identity, works a staccato Alice In Chains-inspired guitar before opening up into the kind of big-throated chorus that the band specializes in, thanks to Willet and Makris’ powerful vocals.

And unlike a lot of heavy bands, Seeing Red is not to just play that basic formula out endlessly. The succinct Stereotype jumbles things up nicely with the power ballad “My Angel,” the funky ‘Why Do I,” and even a drum-less take on the Police’s “Roxanne.” Not all the material is strong; “California,” in particular, feels like barroom filler. But there’s enough here to make you want to see Seeing Red.

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