ShareThis"GOODBYE BLUES," The Hush Sound (Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen)The Hush Sound's music could use seasoning, but the band's spirit would do well not to "grow up."The young Chicago group's new third release, "Goodbye Blues," shows the act still needs to develop a desirable depth and breadth for its sound, something the group members might accomplish by the time they all get into their mid-20s -- and it should be noted lead singer/pianist Greta Salpeter still has a few years to go.Yet often when a band matures, it sours, and if "Goodbye Blues" has anything going for it, it has a bouncy sound that sways and pops and excites. So with any luck, the Hush Sound will gain instrumental momentum without sacrificing its joie de vivre.But for today (and bands like this always live for today), the music is infectious, if flawed.Salpeter assimilates a more upbeat/next-generation Fiona Apple on "Honey," staying atop the buoyant rhythm while reaching down for some lower-range soul with lines like, "You've got a dark heart/You've got a cold kiss." She also commandeers playful vocal flips for the flouncing theatrics of "Molasses," pounds out rollicking keyboards for "Medicine Man" and settles down for the unexpectedly pretty "Hurricane."Salpeter has the chops and presence to front "Goodbye Blues" from start to finish, but she relinquishes leadership occasionally to guitarist/singer Bob Morris, who plugs electricity and tight vocals into the punchy "As You Cry" and carves a little edge into the wide-open "Not Your Concern."Although some tracks seem incomplete, the Hush Sound has a distinct style -- pop-rock with a bit of old-fashioned swing. And when Salpeter's "la-la-la's" converge with Morris' "la-la-la's" on the bigger-than-life "Love You Much Better," it's just impossible to hold their indiscretions against them.Rating (five possible): 3-1/2"LIGHT AT THE END," Rustic Overtones (Velour)The members of Rustic Overtones have resurrected their act after a five-year hiatus brought about by disheartening luck in the music industry.In 2001, the Maine-based band had a major-label deal with Arista thanks largely to the support of the company's president, Clive Davis, But when Davis left Arista, the deal fell apart. Rustic Overtones was then picked up by Tommy Boy Records, which released the group's "Viva Nueva!" just before that label went under, and the act subsequently disbanded.Given the loose sound of the group and the easygoing demeanor of its lead singer, Dave Gutter, it's hard to imagine the bandmates would have been ruined for the business -- and in fact most of them did stay active in side projects until they came back together last year."Light at the End" is a spunky return, driven by an active rhythm section, horns and the charismatic soul of Gutter.Rustic Overtones zigzags on the fresh-sounding release, the raspy vocalist steering around jolts and jabs and rumbles on the theatrical opener "Rock Like War," succumbing at the end to a bombastic flare-up, and then he shifts to a plaintive tone against the plucky folk background of "Letter to the President,' assuming the role of a soldier and new dad who wonders why he's at war and when he's coming home -- "I just killed some baby's father/Better him than me."Yet the band doesn't dwell on the dark side. His voice jumping around with the horns on "Troublesome," the vocalist embraces his inner bad-boy with, "You say 'don't bother me'/Well you ain't seen nothin' yet," he whimsically bemoans a lost love on "Carnival" with, "She loves the clowns that make the horses dance," and he mines a joyously soulful vibe on the laid-back closer, "Happy."The arrangements make Rustic Overtones seem like a (mostly) focused jam band playing around with rock, funk, jazz and even a little rough-around-the-edges Beatles sound, resulting in a "Light at the End" that could double as an abstract rock opera. The also group ambles and meanders, bogging down in such tracks as "Black Leather Bag" and "Valentine's Day Massacre," but its endearing ways ultimately shine through.Rating: 3-1/2"ISHUMAR," Toumast (Real World)Those narrow, electronica-based drone artists don't have anything on the vivacious trance music of Toumast.The act, formed by singer/guitarist Moussa Ag Keyna, is based on the music of the Tuareg people, a sometimes-nomadic group that inhabits the Sahara and has faced decades of strife with the governments of the nations in which they live, particularly Niger and Mali. Keyna, who was wounded in combat while fighting for his people in the 1990s, relocated from Africa to France, where he healed and pursued his musical interests influenced by the Tuareg group Tinariwen and Malian singer/guitarist Ali Farka Toure as well as Western blues and rock artists such as B.B. King and Jimi Hendrix.The core of Toumast was formed when Keyna was joined by his cousin, Aminatou Goumar, herself a singer and instrumentalist."Ishumar," produced by Dan Levy, is at once surreal and accessible. Keyna employs hypnotic techniques of the Tuareg -- chants, clapping and feisty rhythms -- and puts them in American-friendly context, electric guitars that might suit a Louisiana blues club and emotional vocals that transcend their foreign words. And for what it's worth, the "Ishumar" insert offers English translations of the mostly depressing lyrics about frustrations and injustice that defy the celebratory feel of the music.However, all of "Ishumar's" contradictions are somehow complementary -- Keyna's rasp versus Goumar's ululations, frantic percussion versus steady guitars, Third-World themes versus First-World production. Resulting tracks such as "Ikalane Walegh" ("These Countries That Are Not Mine"), "Ammilana" ("O My God, O My Soul") and "Maraou Oran" ("For Twelve Moons") are both mesmerizing and stimulating."Ishumar's" tracks do fall into a predictable pattern that doesn't adequately exploit Toumast's diversity, with long instrumental stretches emphasizing Keyna's guitar at the expense of the fascinating vocals and percussion. But the over-indulgence in the one instrument makes everything else seem that much more special when it surfaces in the mix,Rating: 4(Contact Chuck Campbell of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at www.knoxnews.com.)
With any luck, the Hush Sound won't get the blues
Paying taxes unites us. It also divides us. People can pay five and even six times more in state and local taxes than other folks in similar circumstances making similar incomes.
Who's got your number?
In one of the fastest-growing forms of identity theft, crooks are stealing tax refunds by swiping personal information and using it to trick the Internal Revenue Service.
