Review: Radio Moscow – Brain Cycles

Radio Moscow’s debut album solidly established the band’s expertise at a certain style of psychedelic blues rock, but seemed to suffer from a lack of creativity. In the two years that followed their debut, the band seems to have matured a great deal, and their sophomore album, “Brain Cycles,” displays much more musical confidence. This album ranges quite a bit farther than its predecessor, from the funky Hammond organ solo in the title track to Southern rock stompers like “City Lights.” The material on this album is well fleshed-out and solidly performed, but it still leaves me feeling that the band is a solo project for frontman Parker Griggs.
What I would really like to see out of this band is the introduction of another musical personality that Griggs can push against. Paul McCartney produced very little of note in his solo career. His personality clashes with John Lennon may have broken up The Beatles, but the tension and and rivalry between them produced much of the best music of the twentieth century. Likewise, I feel that Griggs could blossom into a first-rate guitarist and songwriter if he had another first-rate musician and songwriter in the band to challenge him to improve. I feel like he’s coasting right now.
The song “No Good Woman” is the best indicator of the growth of this band. The guitar hook underpinning the song is extremely catchy, and the bluesy vocal melody is actually pretty good too, though I can never sing it the next day. The production on this song is good, and altogether it sounds like it would not be out of place on the average classic rock station. That is, until the drum solo starts. Radio Moscow is normally a two-person band, consisting of Griggs and a bassist. (That each album has a different bassist is more evidence that this is Griggs’s solo project.) They tour with a drummer, but Griggs drums on the album in addition to singing and playing guitar. While Griggs is a proficient drummer, his drum solo in “No Good Woman” sounds charitably like a car driving on a flat tire. And thus is the Achilles’ Heel of Radio Moscow. By maintaining such stringent artistic control over every facet of the music, Griggs has limited the capabilities of the band to only what he can do himself. Griggs may be the equal of Hendrix or Clapton, but Radio Moscow really needs a Mitch Mitchell or a Ginger Baker if the band is going to excel.

Review: “Radio Moscow”

Radio Moscow is a band that wears its influences proudly.  Their self-titled first album is very attractively packaged, with a retro-looking painted cover that evokes vintage psychedelic and blues rock alums.  I can set this album on the shelf next to Cream’s “Disraeli Gears,” and it’s almost impossible to tell which is from which decade.  The most contemporary thing about the physical album is that the record is pressed on slightly transparent orange vinyl.

Once the needle is in the groove, the music itself is no less retro.  A few songs amplify delta blues riffs to sound a lot like early Led Zeppelin.  Songs like “Luckydutch,” with their parallel bass and guitar lines accented with warm, bent notes call to mind Cream songs like “Sunshine of Your Love.”  I’ve always loved the blues rock of the late 60’s, and I’m glad to see bands go back to revisit it.  However, Radio Moscow is so rooted in these traditions that it’s hard not to draw comparisons between it and the albums that inspired it.  “Disraeli Gears” has slower, sustained tracks like “Dance the Night Away,” straight blues numbers like “Outside Woman Blues,” and even the old music hall song “Mother’s Lament.”  “Radio Moscow” has no such adventures.  Instead, it sticks to a mid-tempo blues rock almost without exception from start to finish.

Halfway through the B side, “Deep Blue Sea” comes as a massive breath of fresh air.  It’s a little slower, a lot sparser in orchestration, and a lot more singable.  This song is relaxed enough to allow impromptu callbacks in the chorus, as well as a laconic slide guitar solo by their producer, Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys.  This is, without a doubt, the best song on the album.  Unfortunately, it is followed almost immediately by “Ordovician Fauna.”.  It’s a brief instrumental exploration of Indian rhythms and harmonies, which is, at once, the most adventurous and most disappointing song on the album.  As much as I want to see Radio Moscow stretch themselves and play things a little outside their comfort zone, this track smells so musty, and is frankly so poorly performed, that it would make George Harrison blush.

I don’t mean to say that “Radio Moscow” is not a good album.  The band tenders a solid enough blues rock performance that the it is certainly worth a listen.  But it’s only good; it’s not great.  Cream and Zeppelin have left big shoes to fill, and as much as Radio Moscow wants to, their debut album just does not quite fill them.  Perhaps they should have let the first track be the title track, and called the album “Frustrating Sound.”

Review: Radio Moscow at Launchpad

I had the opportunity to catch Radio Moscow at the Launchpad on Friday night.  In spite of their relative obscurity, they are musicians of the first class.  They play a loud, distorted, and slightly psychedelic blues rock that calls to mind modern acts like The Black Keys or The White Stripes just as well as classic bands like Led Zeppelin or Cream.  Perhaps it’s fitting that the first show that I actually made it to the Launchpad to see has such a retro sound.  However, I find there’s a visceral immediacy to this style of music that is lost in a lot of the over-produced, over-orchestrated newer styles.  This is not to say that all new music is bad or all old music is good.  However, there is a cult of innovation among music critics and fans that holds that new music, to be good, must be new and revolutionary.  However, there is a long, glorious musical tradition to be maintained, and bands like Radio Moscow serve as torch-bearers for older styles.  The way forward in music has (almost) always been built on the traditions of the past.  But I digress…

Radio Moscow is made up of Parker Griggs and a rotating cast of bassists and drummers.  Zach Anderson played bass and Cory Berry played drums at the show we saw.  But, in the same way that there would be no White Stripes without Jack White, it is plain to see that there would be no Radio Moscow without Parker Griggs.  LIke White, Griggs leaves his mark on every moment of the band’s music.  Griggs writes the band’s material, plays lead guitar, sings, and plays the drums on the albums.  He is completely aware of the full sound of his band at all times, and his perfectionism both helps and hinders his performance.  Since he has evidentially held his other band members to such high standards, the band’s music is always amazing, whether live or recorded.  He tuned his guitar after every song, and he knew immediately when the head on the bass drum started to tear.  When the bass drum was rendered unusable, he ended the set immediately, saying the music would sound terrible without it.  It certainly would not sound as good, but the rest of the band was good enough that I would have been willing to listen to a set in which the drums did not play at all.

Despite the short set and the reasonably small crowd, I was impressed by how many people I saw carrying out records at the end of their show.  I don’t think I saw a single CD sold, but I would not be surprised if everybody in attendance bought both of the albums they had on vinyl.