MEMPHIS POP REBORN Good Luck Dark Star + J.D. Reager
Apr 28, 2009
A pair of musical savants reclaim and resurrect the city's rich pop legacy as originally forged by Big Star et al.
BY STEPHEN DEUSNER
Memphis' music history extends not just deep, but broad. In addition to the early rock sounds of Sun Records, the soul of Hi and Stax Records, the snarling lo-fi rock of the Grifters and the Oblivians, and even the nasty hip-hop of Three-Six Mafia, the city has a strong pop legacy, with bands as cult-big as Big Star and the Scruffs or as obscure as any of the garage-bound acts playing the frat circuit during the ‘60s. Since then, the form has been taken up by different artists over the years, including two performers who have spent nearly a decade playing Bluff City clubs: J.D. Reager, who has performed with a variety of acts over the years, is finally releasing his solo debut, and Bret Krock, who toiled with the power trio Eighty Katie earlier this decade, is make his own debut as Good Luck Dark Star.
The obvious touchstone for Reager is Matthew Sweet; his vocals on opener "Water" recall the Midwestern singer/songwriter/Winona fan very closely, but where Sweet has his head in the past, Reager's is, well, somewhere else. The Repechage (Makeshift; www.makeshiftmusic.com) crackles with ideas and ambience. "Panic," which shows off Reager's upper register, two-steps its lament against a guitar that wants to be a bagpipe, and "I Can't Decide" pogos on a spiky chorus and a needling organ that wants to get to the next song. Venturing into lite-country territory, "Knoxville Song" is nudged gently along by Tim Regan's lap steel. The stand-out here may be "No One Wants to Know," which glides on a patient, pointed guitar theme and fluidly segues into Justin Jordan's outta-nowhere sax solo that may be the album's best, most devastating moment. There's grit and dirt in these songs - what sounds like lived experiences rather than pop constructs.
That there are more obvious historical precedents in Krock's first album as Good Luck Dark Star shouldn't diminish his accomplishment on You'll Need It, which was originally self-released but is getting a wider digital release via local label Shangri-La Projects (www.shangrilaprojects.com). With energy to spare, Eighty Katie devoted itself to heart-on-sleeve pop songs about unattainable girls and the Who's Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy. GLDS has more to do with life's harsher disappointments and ELO's Out of the Blue. He's not just making the old sound new, but space-age: Especially on the lower-key second side, Kevin Cubbins' production is airy and open, creating a roomy ambience for Krock's layered vocals and some melodies inherited from Chris Bell. Softer, keys-based songs like "Good Luck and "Phenomenology" sound weightless, while the guitars on "Mirror Ball" and "Last Hurrah" sound jet-propelled. "Map of the Sun," with its arcing George Harrison guitars, is immediately catchy but only deceptively sunny: That chorus will stick with you for days until you realize how heartbreaking it is. Like Reager, Krock is using pop's energy and effervescence to explore darker ideas about isolation and emotional drift. Every night he tells himself he is the cosmos.
Ultimately, both of these albums have ideas to spare and songs that never quite go where you expect, which only makes them more rewarding with each listen. That neither sound like any of their Memphis peers or forebears only makes the sound even more Memphian.
[Pictured: Good Luck Dark Star, by Matt Isbell; check out their MySpace page HERE; check out J.D. Reager's MySpace page HERE.]
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