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re: seeyoutonite
https://www.metaljazz.com/2020/07/nonjazz_record_reviews_bob_dyl.php
flapping, Flapping, "Seeyoutonite" (Household Ink)
On and off for 25 years, this unusual Santa Barbara (and beyond) collective has
been making thoughtful, rooted, well recorded rock music. With attractive tracks
such as the wistful "Something for Nothing," the upbeat popper "The Aim of Love"
and the thudtrippin instrumental "Ruffriff," the latest from guitarist Joe
Woodard, keyboardist Tom Lackner and friends showcases the band's virtues while
softening the wit. Mature in a good way. Listen/buy here.
--Greg Burk,
MetalJazz.com
--From food/culture writer George Yatchison, “George Eats” blog,
link
Joe Woodard listens to more than you. Way more. You might want to say, “Of
course, he’s a musician and a music journalist, that’s his job,” but sometimes
one’s calling comes before the paycheck (particularly if you’re a musician or a
music journalist, ba-dum-bum). As guitarist-composer for Santa Barbara’s
Headless Household he’s helped music wander far and far-er, as album titles such
as mockhausen and post-Polka just begin to intimate. And as a
writer, well, he no doubt has penned enough column inches in periodicals ranging
from the SB Independent to Downbeat to the LA Times that if
you lay them end-to-end you could walk on them to the Montreux Jazz Festival*,
which Joe would no doubt be covering.
What’s more important for the subject at hand, he listens more, too, in
that way listening is deconstructive, reconstructive, a creative act.
So when his semi-occasional “rock ’n’ droll band” (his term) flapping,
Flapping (his capitalization) offers a song like “Tuesday Afternoon”
on its latest and third album seeyoutonite (his spacing), its horn break
will make you think Beatlesque. But Woodard, no doubt, thinks of a specific
Beatles moment, when he first heard it, who else has nicked it, and who arranged
the charts each time. Other songs on the disc will tickle your memory receptors
for bands as diverse as Steely Dan, Radiohead, Little Feat, Neil Young, Van
Halen, Peter Gabriel, The Move, maybe even Terry Allen.
All of that adds up to seeyoutonite being a total delite. (Couldn’t
resist.) It’s an engaging stroll down rock and pop’s hallway of mirrors with a
brilliant guide to give you only the best reflections, aided by many of the best
Santa Barbara musicians, in particular the one other remaining original player
in the band, drummer Tom Lackner. Versatility is Lackner’s watch word, as he can
swing, drive, parry, thrust, keep so much aloft.
And there is much, for while the album does hold classic FM radio sound as its
lodestar—heck, I called it an album!—it also ranges far and wide for texture,
nuance, grace. Take accordionist Brian Mann’s appearances. On “Something
for Nothing” he helps add to the Tex-Mex flavor that perhaps passes through
Talking Heads’ True Stories for a quick tequila shot, and when he returns
for “Wonder in the Backyard,” his squeezebox is distinctly more Gallic, perhaps
setting us up for the song to return as a recitative in French. Diversity like
that makes me toss my beret skyward.
Hooky as heck—check the tasty lick that opens “Closet World”—willing to wade
neck deep in the sea of cliché figuring there might still be a swell swell to
still ride to shore—one tune is bravely called “Boy Meets Girl”—and ever able to
engage with Woodard’s truest love jazz without ever becoming archly academic
(the parts in French are about asparagus) or pointlessly improvisational (the
one instrumental CRANKS), seeyoutonite has something for everyone, which
can happen when a band’s previous album came out the same year Clinton beat Dole
for his second term.
*Walking under oceans not recommended.
--George Yatchison, “George Eats” blog, link
Review in the Santa Barbara Independent, courtesy of the open-eared Charles Donelan link.
“Drawing inspiration from classic rock heavyweights
such as the Band and Little Feat, and filtered through jazz’s sophisticated
harmonic sensibility, the record sits comfortably alongside the work of
better-known ’80s/’90s acts such as Pavement and R.E.M. Not for nothing has this
creative duo of Woodard and Lackner gone to school with the world’s top
improvisers; seeyoutonite sounds
both fresh and timeless. The gorgeous and warmly inviting production, all of
which took place at Lackner’s studio on Mountain Drive, adds mightily to the
album’s sonic appeal.
“In a town often touted for its resemblance to
paradise, music ought to be equally divine. With the arrival of flapping,
Flapping’s seeyoutonite,
Santa Barbara has got the world-class rock band it deserves.”
--Charles Donelan, Santa Barbara Independent
re: Montgomery Street:
"At their best, which is fortunately much of the time, this quartet
makes really thoughtful guitar rock blending XTC, Toad the Wet Sprocket and some of those
guit-pop bands form the Athens, Georgia heyday of yesterday. Try, for instance,
"Doubly Doubting Thomas..." --Seth Berner, Portland, ME
FACE
"flapping, Flapping is (among other things) a side project for Toad the Wet Sprocket frontman Glen Phillips. If you’re into Toad, Montgomery Street would be a good investment. Some songs, such as "Doubly Doubting Thomas" reek of classic Wet Sprocket, but this album’s big strength lies in the fact that with two other Flapping band members (besides Phillips) contributing material, no one song sounds quite like another (and the disc as a whole doesn’t seem a Toad knock-off). Furthermore, two of Phillip’s offerings, "Positively Double Negative" (alternative title, "Toad meets Funkadelic"?) and "Eye Wannabe Likes Lye" (and the Family Stone maybe?), reveal a fascinatingly funky side to the singer. Other nice tracks include the brit-pop tinged "Lazy Susan" and "The Frogs are Alive" and the just-plain-fun "Calling Matt" and "My Favorite Guitar (fruit)". --nw, Splendid e-zine
"Montgomery Street is the new CD form the collective soul of the mysteriously monikered flapping, Flapping. It is an awesome collection of fat tracks that span the globe of musical interests. Joe Woodard shows up with an array of tone and approach on the guitar and some beautifully imagined lyrics. Glen Phillips vocally shows why he gets paid more than me in this world by turning out some w-w-wicked vocal acrobatics—is that Patti Labelle? Bruce Winter rounds out some beautiful harmony, and Tom Lackner again pulls an array of tones out of the drums. Check it out, get funky, get pensive, get smiley…"
--Mark Fahey, Santa Barbara Independent
re: TEX:
"...in their capable hands, flapping is not sloppy.
It's four creative people jamming on top of a solid base of musical talent and inventive,
push-the-envelope songwriting. The band is indulgent, but these indiscretions are always
forgivable...the album warrants attention. It embodies the pop experimentalism and hooks
of Sgt. Pepper with an ironic approach of anti-pop pop performers like Pavement and Liz
Phair, and has layers that open up with repeated listening...What makes this disc truly
worth spinning...is its reigning sense of musical intelligence and maturity of lyric,
qualities which are laid nicely in a nest of cheeky good humor and backed with truly
kick-ass rock instrumentation." --Russ Spencer, Santa Barbara Independent
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last updated: july 16, 2020