June 2020 REVIEWS

by Mike Baron

NICK PIUNTI & THE COMPLICATED MEN: Downtime (Jem)

Piunti’s sound is as instantly identifiable as Marshall Crenshaw or Gary Ritchie, built around his honeyed tenor that never fades, never falters. Like Ritchie, his songs all feature bridges and hooks. This is just good architecture. If architecture is frozen music, than Piunti’s music is like a series of Charles Haertling houses. Each is unique. Each is enticing. They don’t look like other houses. You hear Beach Boys inspired “doot do do doots” on “Going Nowhere,” but no one woujld mistake Piunti for the Beach Boys, with his strong Midwestern power pop style, of a piece with the Shoes and the Hawks.

“All Over Again” is elegiac acoustic, leading into “Gonna Be Good,” with Piunti’s plaintive vocal. “All This Time” has a mesmerizing drone. Sometimes a drone is just marking time. Not here. With Ryan Allen adding backing vocals and this and several the tracks, Downtime is another memorable brick in Piunti’s house of sound.

BRAD MARINO: False Alarm (Rum/Bar)

These songs sound like they burst spontaneously, words and music together, effortless and irresistible, emanating from the open door of a roadhouse on the outskirts of town. Marino just rocks all over the place with punk energy reminiscent of The Cry! or the Buzzcocks. “At Night” begins with formal keyboards, something George Martin might add, before exploding into honkytonk bliss. The hortatory “What’s My Scene?” has the power to raise the comatose. “Hey Girl” shows Marino would fit right in at the Bluebird in Nashville, where he would have the crowd jumping and screaming when he sings “Peggy Sue Got Married.” Like most of Rum/Bar’s bands, Marino blasts out of the garage like a ’69 GTO.

THE CORNER LAUGHERS: Temescal Telegraph (Big Stir)

Redwood City’s Corner Laughers continue their idiosyncratic, addictive blend of folk rock, chamber music and sun, following their brilliant Matilda Effect from two years ago, Karla Kane’s ukulele a siren’s call from up the canyon. You hear it on “The Calculating Boy,” with its steppe-like progression, and on the “Accepted Time” with a harpsichord intro that might have been written by Michael Brown. There’s a dreamy quality to “Loma Alta” like a hazy summer day when you lie back and watch the clouds, and they sound a little like Voice of the Beehive on the cheeky”Sisters of the Pollen.” “Wren In the Rain” sounds like something Ray Davies might write, and that Michael Brown sound creeps in on “Goodguy Sun” and “Skylarks of Britain.”

Strong Top Ten contender.

HAWK: Fly

Sleek and sinuous, Hawk is reminiscent of the Quicksilver Messenger Service, particularly in the Cippolina-like guitar on “She’s An Angel.” “This Is It” hooks you with first and fifth harmonies like Gary Ritchie and an insistent doo-wop chorus, which extends into the Turnback-like “I Still Want You.” “What’s Your Name” sounds like a harder-edged Field Music, as does “Everstill.” “I Believe In You” starts with a Scott Miller-like riff before soaring into pure Hawks territory with Cippolina-like guitar. “You Are the One I Want” has the bones of a Lolas song, but the band has a unique sound characterized by that one/five harmony and relentless forward momentum and enthralling thrum. Also, the cover art is brilliant.