{"id":48560,"date":"2019-04-04T17:03:55","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T16:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=48560"},"modified":"2019-04-07T20:46:31","modified_gmt":"2019-04-07T19:46:31","slug":"no-strings-attached-arizonas-meat-puppets-return-with-original-line-up-for-new-album-dusty-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2019\/04\/no-strings-attached-arizonas-meat-puppets-return-with-original-line-up-for-new-album-dusty-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"NO STRINGS ATTACHED – Arizona’s Meat Puppets Return With Original Line Up For New Album ‘Dusty Notes’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Best known for their appearance on\u00a0Nirvana<\/strong>‘s\u00a0MTV Unplugged<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0performance in 1993, Meat Puppets<\/strong> have been quietly churning out consistently fine records in a variety of genres for the best part of 40 years.<\/h4>\n

Dusty Notes<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0is the first album brothers\u00a0Curt <\/strong>and Cris<\/strong>\u00a0Kirkwood <\/strong>have made with\u00a0original drummer\u00a0Derrick Bostrom <\/strong>since 1995’s\u00a0No Joke!<\/em><\/strong>.<\/h4>\n

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The trio are augmented by the keyboards of jazz-trained virtuoso\u00a0Ron Stabinsky<\/strong>, with additional guitar from Curt’s son\u00a0Elmo<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For the most part it’s a laid-back slice of Americana, with elements of folk, Bluegrass, alt and traditional Country thrown in.<\/p>\n

It’s a warm, comfortable record, albeit with sufficient psych weirdness to unsettle and pique your attention.<\/p>\n

Opener\u00a0Warranty <\/strong><\/em>sets the mood, the simple tune ambles along merrily enough, but there’s an otherworldliness to the lyrics, augmented by the shimmering echo guitar overdubs.<\/p>\n

A musty old book bears the warning “please go away don’t come again’<\/em>, while the unreliable narrator is a ghostly presence throughout.<\/p>\n

“Oh what you see is what I am\/You’re looking through an invisible man\/Satisfaction cannot be guaranteed,” sings Curt, his weathered voice pitched somewhere between\u00a0Bob Mould<\/strong> and\u00a0Eddie Vedder<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Songs like\u00a0On\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> and\u00a0Nine Pins<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(see below video) continue in the same vein, playing with traditional song structures and conventions, but always with a twist; Curt adding bite to the apparently bucolic, folksy charm of his deceptively simple songs.<\/p>\n

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Unfrozen Memory<\/em><\/strong> introduces a harpsichord into the mix, with again slightly sinister lyrics about a shadow escaping into the night through an opened window.<\/p>\n

Enlivened by snatches of mariachi brass, the title track\u00a0is a beautiful evocation of the art of songwriting and how melodies arrive, often unbidden, in the mind of a composer.<\/p>\n

‘Imps of Dionysus” and the devil make an appearance in The Great Awakening<\/strong><\/em> which sounds like\u00a0REM <\/strong>in their most reflective moments.<\/p>\n

There’s a stripped down cover of Don Gibson<\/strong>‘s Sea of Heartbreak <\/strong><\/em>before the reins really come off for\u00a0Vampyr’s Winged Fantasy<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

A loud grunge metal rocker, with squalling guitars and lyrics that wouldn’t be out of place on an\u00a0Ozzy Osbourne<\/strong>\u00a0album, it’s a fun wig out, but feels like an odd curio here.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, normality is restored on album closer\u00a0Outflow\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>where guitars wash gently like waves on the shore, while bass and piano pick out the rolling melody.<\/p>\n

Sometimes reunions are a bad idea, bands struggling like punch-drunk boxers to recreate the magic of old.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0Dusty Notes\u00a0<\/em>is the sound of a group of creative musicians who are totally relaxed in each other’s company, the perfect accompaniment to long drives and sunny afternoons.<\/p>\n