Hier soll es also "Schluß mit lustig" sein? Glaube ich dem E-Street-Springsteen-Arlo's-Restaurant-Ramblin-Elliott-Harvest-Young-Verschnitt nicht so ganz! Erstens klingt jede Menge Spielfreude durch diese sicher teils gewollt unterirdischen Aufnahmen. Und zweitens lässt soviel Understatement aufhorchen! Wer es sich leisten kann, 9 wirklich nette Folksongs mal eben hinzurotzen, sowie außer wagen Angaben über irgendwelche Mitspieler und ihre Instrumente dem Zuhörer nichts weiter preiszugeben, hat schon von vornerein einen gewissen Kultstatus verdient! Folks, diese Scheibe ist richtig schön gegen den Mainstream gebügelt! Die Songs sind in Ehrfurcht an die alten Meister mit der nötigen Unvollkommenheit eingespielt und verdienen Zuhörer, die sich zur Not auch auf den Weg ins Wohnzimmer des Sängers machen würden, um ihm und seinen Kumpels zu lauschen. Und vielleicht noch die eine oder andere Flasche Wein dabei zu leeren.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Home of Rock Review by Volker Gruch
Friday, May 14, 2010
Letter From a Friend by Paul Bodig
It starts somewhere around Cisco Pike, a man with a hard-shell case walking in profile, going to meet a man — probably not about a horse. The sun is sharp, and judging by his coat, there's some chill in that sunlight. There's music playing, accoustic guitar surrounded by a full arrangement, and a voice singing about the past, and how remembering it is a hell of a lot easier than facing what's ahead.
The man, of course, is a drug dealer played by Kris Kristofferson, and he's coming to give a guitar and a way of seeing to some teenage mug from the Midwest named Patrick Crowson. There'd be other heroes, too. The late, great Townes, the Willie Nelson of 'Red Headed Stranger', and Haggard, naturally, (though it's not in Crowson's fingers to pick you to pieces like Merle, or, hell, Jerry Reed for that matter). But the particular method of conveying that longing, with a mixture of physical detail followed by a summary line you can hang your hat on — the way of being elegiac and clear-eyed at the same time — strikes me as coming from that man and his hard-shell case.
Then there's Josh Allen, Meanwhiles auteur, soundtrack composer, with a suitcase in his hand, bringing temperature to the air outside the rooms where loss is taking place. There's a little more light on the proceedings thanks to this man, both candle and electric. It's a neat trick, to clarify the shadows without taking them away. But bless him, Josh let's the man do his one thing he does well, well — I'd have had to kick his ass if he hadn't.
Finally, it's about splitting a bottle with Crowson, sitting back and listening to a new song of his weave four, five minutes late at night. There are empties underfoot, a cat somewhere around the toe of your boot. It's pleasantly dark, but maybe that's your vision fading. Crowson plays his new song. You listen to its crooked path without trying to follow it. Your head starts nodding, not with sleep, but in agreement, not like for what Townes did when he reduced a whiskeyed-up farrier to a red-eyed mess, but like for what Dylan did to Peckinpah when he sang him, "Billy, you're such a long, long way from home" over coke, weed and tequila until Sam broke down and said, "You cocksucker, you son of a bitch," with tears in his eyes.
www.patrickcrowson.com
Insurgent Country by Johanna J Bodde
Patrick Crowson
"Patrick Crowson"
by Johanna J. Bodde
PATRICK CROWSON "Patrick Crowson"
(Self-Released)
http://www.patrickcrowson.com/
www.cdbaby.com/cd/crowson
http://http://insurgentcountry.net/Patrick%20Crowson%20-%20Review.htm
Don't worry, Patrick Crowson doesn't look one bit like the muddy creature on the cover of his self-titled CD! He is a handsome young man who explains: "You know, the cover came out of an accident. A friend of mine and I were doing construction down in Waco one Summer. We were bored of the heat and decided to make a claymation western. We spent some time creating the clay cowboys - borrowed a Super 8 camera with stop-motion - set up the light and started to film. Unfortunately the lights were too hot and the clay cowboy started to melt and that was pretty much the beginning and end of the western. I always liked the one shot we got. My friend always called it the "meltin' cowboy". He'd say: "Just like you and me in Waco, man."
Patrick was born in Alton, Illinois. How did he get involved in music? "As far as learning, my older brother Mark and my good friend Paul Bodig taught me more about music than anybody else - along with the first two Kristofferson records and some others. My first band was with my brother, a guy from Austin who just had a kid and a friend from Missouri. We were the Oblate Brothers. We played in a bunch of different Ice Houses in Houston. Played a couple of shows in Austin and a couple in Shreveport and then we just kinda burned out. We were moving pretty fast at the time but we had some fun. I took off for a while and ended up forming a band called Cockfighter. I ran into a guitarplayer whose heroes were The Minute Men. We made a couple records, made a lot of noise and then I was called back home for a while." Paul Bodig -the good friend- also wrote the biography, not your regular bio but a well-written novelette, that begins with a quote of Townes Van Zandt: "In motels, I've written a lot of songs during the day -- because in a motel room there's not much difference between the day and the night. When the door's closed and the big rubber curtains are shut, it's just like night." Patrick adds: "I don't think I really deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence but Townes Van Zandt is one of my heroes. Then of course Dylan, Kristofferson, Newbury and a bunch of others."
No big surprise, that his lyrics turned out to be impressionistic dark poetry, about people. "The present is always dark," said Patrick Crowson, who wrote the songs for his record at a particularly trying time and comments a year later: "As far as the inspiration and lyrics, it's hard to say. It's not like I'm trying to be coy or mysterious but once they're done I don't really think about them much. I'm glad they're there but why or how I got 'em doesn't really matter much to me." How about the music? Patrick lives now in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. His friends are Josh and Todd Allen from Meanwhiles. Josh produced the CD (together with Patrick) and plays guitars, piano, harmonium, genie organ, keyboards, sanctum & tone educator bells, while brother Todd is the bassist and Patrick himself plays guitar. Josh describes the results as "dark acoustic songs with shadowy arrangements weaving through the narratives."
Well, I hope my music loving friends who visit this site, also like listening to poetry. It's worth trying anyway! And if Townes Van Zandt had been born in the late 70s, he might have made music like this...
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Written by Johanna J. Bodde, March 2007.
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Hanx.net from 2006 - Review by Wim Boluijt
Review
Hanx.net
September 5, 2006
Patrick Crowson - Patrick Crowson (Eigen beheer) ............................................................................
Debuut als Dylan Lees verder
http://www.hanx.net/recensies.htm#crowson
(This was translated from Dutch to English so)
Paul Bodig wrote a Letter from a Friend to character. You can find the letter on the Internet site of Patrick Crowson (www.patrickcrowson.com). The tale of record and man puts my review here in advance in the shade. The rhythm of the senses, the words, the
pictures. It is everything unequalled. With loving distance and finding humor it is exactly as beautiful as this music debut. And that is what I say too, because I think on this debut that Patrick Crowson reached the height, breadth and depth which can be found in the better works of Dylan. Just like on Time Out of Mind the case is, you enter the record on Patrick Crowson somewhere by means of a song and wander around full of amazement. Josh Allen is Crowsons Lanois. Without him it seems that Crowson would be like Dante without Vergilius; Allen is the man who knows the way. Already, the most natural deepest way is not known. Because the songs of Crowson know particular qualities which make them difficult to hang your hat on. Crowson sings with an ostensive flat voice and his acoustic guitar is simple. Allen adds thrifty instrumentation; a piano here, an organ there, some bells and especially lots of electric guitar. Percussion is missing. And then there are the songs. Refrains are scarcely there and when they are we hardly hear them. But then the nuances appear, in Crowsons voice, in Allens production. You hear a driven obscurity which has not been damaged by the dark. Somewhat similar to that of 16 Horsepower for example, but instead of dogmatic, Crowson brings literary observations, brought with the reserve of a good narrator. Also similar to Tom Waits, for example but instead of the too forced stubborn lecture, Patrick brings his own idiom, naturally like that of a young talent. Bodig tells of the influence of Kristofferson (film and music), Cash and Jimmie Rodgers and the distinction between
rhythm and melody in the guitar. In Little Rose an echo of the guitar of Bert Jansch is heard according to Bodig. Perhaps. Perhaps. He also mentions Townes Van Zandt. His presence (what nevertheless on the ultimate master student proportion indicates) is obvious. But already the songs of Van Zandt are a lot more uniform than those of Crowsons. Therefore, this is a real beautiful debut. In fact with regard to form and contents, there is nothing to compare it to. Although this may musically serve they of a slightly other language, but also the weaver of the songs is himself missing as well as he places and names along the way. And now nevertheless we have a concern for these places; a surplus of things we will never hear and we find ourselves left with the job of finding them ourselves. The reward here is to anyone that takes the time to listen.
(Wim Boluijt)
Americana UK Review by Jonathan Aird
Patrick Crowson "Finito La Comedia" (Independent, 2009)
Crowson has something going on here that separates him from the pack
Dark American folk, a voice hidden deep in the shadows, and mostly just a guitar for accompaniment. There are flecks of, if you will, the tradition, moments when you're inches from an early Dylan recording, never more so than on Missouri, but more often you're a lot further back, way down a side road somewhere rural enough to still be far beyond electricity, where someone is singing inside a wooden shack with broken glass in the windows. More like a mood than an album, and the mood is distinctly bleak.
For all that, it's not a hard listen. You want to strain your failing ears to pick up whatever Crowson is mumbling at the moment. It seems like it might be important, or if not then at the least of interest. The songs flow like a stream of consciousness, although that's a blues tinged folk consciousness, and on their elliptical trajectories almost become clear amongst the clouds of obscurity.
Ragged bar drunks redeem themselves from judgement by buying drinks for all. Mexico becomes worthy of blessing for being so poor - if it wasn't the girl's grandfather wouldn't have pushed North. True Preachers offer something better than what's gone before without even the confidence of being sure they are right.
Handful of Rain opens with a mournful Neil Young mouth harp break, then promises that you can get by, not forever maybe but for quite a while, on alcohol. And if alcohol lets you down then maybe the angels will hold you up. Maybe best not to bank on it though.
It's a crowded market for singer-songwriters, but Patrick Crowson has something going on here that separates him from the pack. Musically sparse, an elemental voice dragged up out of a dirty ditch, and somehow mixed in with the bleak despair there really is hope even if it's not of better things. Midnight music, whatever time midnight is for you.
Date review added: Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Reviewer: Jonathan Aird
Reviewers Rating:
Related web link: Patrick Crowson MySpace
Rootstime Review by Valerie Sampermans
Wednesday, 2/10/10
PATRICK CROWSON – FINITO LA COMEDIA | ||||||||
Luisteren naar de songs van de uit Brooklyn stammende zanger Patrick Crowson kan je amper enkele seconden volhouden zonder al gauw bij de bedenking uit te komen dat zijn stem en sound wel heel nauw aansluiten bij het werk van Bob Dylan. Diezelfde rasperige, nasale stem - begeleid door een akoestische gitaar - zingt zijn zelf gecomponeerde folksongs zeker op een uitstekende wijze maar die vergelijking met Dylan zal misschien toch wel een obstakel voor hem blijven in de verdere ontwikkeling van zijn muzikale loopbaan. Buiten die akoestische gitaarklanken moet je bovendien enige overige instrumentatie intensief blijven zoeken op deze zeer minimalistisch georkestreerde plaat. Op Patrick Crowson’s titelloze debuutplaat die we eind 2006 voor u besproken hebben was het al niet anders. ‘Grande Tristesse’ en een emotionele warboel van jewelste sieren nu ook zijn nieuwste plaat “Finito La Comedia”. Voor de aandachtige, geconcentreerde luisteraar zijn er meer dan voldoende songs die op de gemoedsrust kunnen wegen. Soms cynische, maar altijd donkere songteksten volgen elkaar in snelvaart op en zorgen er voor dat je geen seconde de tijd krijgt om wat positivisme bij te tanken. Duister à la Duyster. Deze tweede studioplaat werd ingeblikt met de muzikale ondersteuning van Crowson’s vriend Josh Allen, die ook de productie voor zijn rekening nam. Zijn poëtische liedjesteksten komen bij elke song opvallend op het voorplan en de muziek dient voornamelijk voor wat subtiele klankbijstand. Een meerwaardezoeker zal dan ook gemakkelijk de hoogstaande kwaliteit kunnen ontdekken van songs als “For Old Horse” of van “Handful Of Rain” dat naar onze smaak het beste nummer op deze cd is. Ook titeltrack “Finito La Comedia” en “Hardin” klinken heerlijk oprecht en emotioneel. Het afsluitende liefdesliedje “Mine Forever” is de spreekwoordelijke kers op de taart van deze tweede cd, een nieuwe stap voorwaarts in de muzikale carrière van een getalenteerde singer-songwriter uit de donkere buurten van New York. (valsam) | ||||||||
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My Flyin' Shoes Review by Maurice Hope
Category: Music
PATRICK CROWSON —FINTO LA COMEDIA (Self-released)
More and more I hear him he reminds me of a young Dylan. As on the spare and effective five minute Mexican inspired title track ‘Finto La Comedia’ and the likeness does not stop there as the ‘Missouri’ rambles through the darkness of night along a back road leading along the deserted highway. Apart from Dylan, Townes Van Zandt and Mickey Newbury are also heroes of the talented Crowson who’s music could well appeal to followers of Ray LaMontagne (and if he goes on to be half as successful he won’t have done bad) such his economical, uncompromising style of writing and vocals.
On listening to ‘True Preacher’ due to his shot vocals I thought or no is that it! However, normal service is resumed quickly as ‘Handful Of Rain’ with himself on guitar and harmonica with Josh Allen on ukelele and who is also the only other musician on the album composure is re-established. ‘Hardin’ is a darkish number, but nothing in comparison to the pained ‘I Pray For You’ —while ‘Mine Forever’ shuffles at a measured mournful pace yet not without it at different stages possessing a rare, poignant beauty.
On reflection Crowson most certainly offers something different and refreshing —but could well have some people slate him for his Bob Dylan trait. Whatever the score, I shall be regularly checking out this release and expect to discover little nuances missed early.
Maurice Hope
Roots Revival ALBUM of the WEEK 4/5 - 4/11/10http://http://rootsrevival.webklik.nl/page/rootsrervival
cd of the week
week 11/23 to 11/29 : Corin Raymond (There will always be a small time)
week 11/30 to 12/6 : Zoe Muth and The Lost High Rollers(Zoe Muth and The Lost High Rollers)
week 12/7 to 12/13 : Or, The Whale(Or, The Whale)
week 12/14 to 12/20 : Anny Celsi(Tangle-free world)
week 12/21 to 12/27 : Dave Rawlings(A friend of a friend)
2010
week 1/4 to 1/10 : Tom Ovans(Get on board)
week 1/11 to 1/17 : I See Hawks In LA(Shoulda been gold)
week 1/18 to 1/24 : The Coal Porters (Durango)
week 1/25 to 1/31 : Jana Keeley(Trouble)
week 2/1 to 2/7 : Tokyo Rosenthal(Ghost)
week 2/8 to 2/14 : Christopher Lockett(Christopher Lockett)
week 2/15 to 2/21 : Rich McCulley(Startin' all over again)
week 2/22 to 2/28 : Second Wing Bandits(A gift of love)
week 3/1 to 3/7 : Little Country Giants(Fist of foam and fury)
week 3/8 to 3/14 : Whispering Pines(Family Tree)
week 3/15 to 3/21 : Merrick Section(Merrick Section)
week 3/22 to 3/28 : Brian Molnar & The Naked Hearts(Miss You)
week 3/29 to 4/4 : Overmountainmen(Glorious Day)
week 4/5 to 4/11 : Patrick Crowson(Finito La Comedia)
week 4/12 to 4/18 : Jess Klein(Bound To Love)
Keys and Chords Review by Cis Van Looy
Patrick Crowson: Finito La Comedia
Emotionele kortsluiting
Het debuut van Patrick Crowson kreeg enkele jaren geleden terecht lovende recensies. Ook de opvolger klinkt bijzonder. Het word je niet gemakkelijk maakt, de liedjes zijn niet opgebouwd volgens het gebruikelijke patroon, een refrein ontbreekt, het is eigenlijk een opeenstapeling van woorden die over je heen kruipen in een tergend trage ritmiek. Maar het werkt wel die sobere aanpak, naast de akoestische gitaar en harmonica horen we klagelijke achtergrondzang en af en toe het orgel van producer Josh Allen (The Meanwhiles). De verhalen stralen een identieke mistroostigheid uit als het harde overleven in de verloederde stadwijken. In het geval van Crowson is dat zijn recente thuishaven Brooklyn maar het is helaas een universeel gevoel dat Crowson oproept en op helaas zowat elke grootstad van toepassing is. Er is geen tekstboekje bijgevoegd en dat maakt de donkere poëtische songs nog mysterieuzer. Met zulk repertoire betreed je onvermijdelijk een muzikaal territorium waarin grootmeesters als Townes Van Zandt heersen. Crowson steekt het niet onder stoelen of banken dat die betreurde songsmid samen met Kris Kristofferson en uiteraard Dylan tot zijn belangrijkste inspiratoren behoren. Patrick Crowson creëert toch een beduidend somberdere visie dan zijn illustere voorgangers. Enig terughoudendheid is wel geboden als je dit schijfje integraal wil beluisteren. Er is nergens een nooduitgang die een uitweg biedt, ver weg van dit uitzichtloze emotionele tranendal dat niettemin toch weer een niet ongevaarlijke aantrekkingskracht uitoefent.
Cis Van Looy (3½)
Label: Eigen Beheer
Nr.: Zonder Nummer
Distr.: www.cdbaby.com
Promotion: www.hemifran.com
Meer info: www.patrickcrowson.com
Rocktimes by Norbert Neugebauer
Reinhören - Patrick Crowson kann eine Entdeckung, aber auch eine absolute Enttäuschung sein!
Beat Surrender Posted by simon2307
Musically spartan this nine track release is a plaintive lo-fi offering of melancholy, Crowson's (Dylanesque) vocal and guitar is supported with instrumentation supplied by friends Josh and Todd Allen (Meanwhiles) that compliment and reflect the albums sombre atmosphere.
THE NEXT BIG THING by Lindsay Hutton
http://http//nextbigthing.blogspot.com/search?q=patrick+crowson
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Melodic.Net Review by Par Winberg
AltCountryFolk.blogspot.com by Johan Schoenmakers
|
NME Video Page on 4/10/10....
Category: Music
www.nme.com/awards/video/id/4yAu3Anm5fQ
..
Musik An Sich by Ingo Andruschkewitsch
Category: Music |
MUSIK AN SICH - Online Music Magazine
Review by - Ingo Andruschkewitsch
http://http://www.musikansich.de/ausgaben/0510/reviews/crowson.html
At Patrick Crowson is it is an American singer / songwriter, with Finito La Comedia submit a CD, which is in the tradition of the great Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt as well or Kris Kristofferson. Information about Crowson is quite difficult to get. From the internet you can learn all the same, that this is the CD to his second album.
The recordings on Finito La Comedia sound very spartan and a little cranky, mostly acoustic guitar plus vocals in absolute lo-fi sound. This sounds like it could be enormous: according to Bob Dylan, yes you can even think to listen to an early work of the great master of mumbled vocals. Musically Finito La Comedia Although everything in the green area and please know the songs, but you will never shake the feeling listening to someone else. Autonomy sounds different.
Thus, Finito La Comedia become a very ambiguous work. If it Patrick Crowson able to act independent, he could succeed in a big step forward. Each must decide whether a (good) copy or maybe want to have the original.
Score = 14
11 - 15 - (mostly for fans) recommended
Altcountry.nl music review by John Gjaltema
daardoor blijft dit werk toch intrigeren. Verkrijgbaar bij CD Baby. |
Leicester Bangs Review by Michael B
www.myspace.com/patrickcrowson
Michael B.