Monolith-Sound: “Rick Shaffer is as gritty as they come.”

Pure unadulterated, no fucks given Rock n’ Roll is what Rick Shaffer is all about with his latest album, “Stacked Deck.”   It’s a non-stop barrage of riffs, power and old school gritty vocals.   Shaffer stays true to the sound and vibe his fans have come to love, so if you loved his previous work, expect to love this one as well.

The sound of this record is what we’ve come to expect from Rick.   Stripped back, raw and nothing but balls against the wall.   It’s an immensely pure album in a sense that it embodies what Rock music is and should be about, the essence of humanity.   You can feel that there’s only people making music on this record.   Nothing is fake, nothing is digital.   The sound retains its human element and thus, hits you where it matters.

Rick Shaffer is as gritty as they come.   His vocal delivery on this record is superb and shows just how it’s done.   He nails that old school, ‘Howlin’ Wolf’ vocal groove with no trouble at all, giving his music a distinct characteristic.  Shaffer’s instrumental abilities are also second to none.   The guitar work is tight, twangy and plucked with feeling whilst the rhythmic section is solid, meaty and ballsy.

If you dig the tunes of Southern music, Jack White, The Black Keys or Early Rolling Stones, give Rick Shaffer a listen.  His pure stance on Rock n’ Roll will have you movin’ and shakin’ in no time.

MONOLITH-SOUND

Stacked Deck CD’s or mp3′s can be purchased HERE.

4th Rick Shaffer Solo Album Is A “Stacked Deck”

Tarock Music has released Rick Shaffer’s fourth solo album, Stacked Deck.

Written and produced by Shaffer, he continues the “sonic minimalist” blueprint of his previous solo albums.

The sound combines hard fuzz guitar driven garage-blues, a blues edged two step, lazy insistent rolling beat, new colors in the harmonica and spoons style percussion, along with an unadorned and unaffected blues narrative.

Click on the song title to get a free download of track 7, “Cool Treatment“ via SoundCloud.

To purchase a Stacked Deck CD or mp3′s click HERE!

Fans of THE CLASH . . .

. . . there’s only a few days left to pledge a couple of bucks to help publish, “We Are The Clash: The Last Stand of a Band That Mattered,” written by Mark Andersen and Ralph Heibutzki.

Please don’t wait another minute, pledge now!

3 Songs Licensed For “Freefall” Series

El Cee Productions has licensed three songs from Tarock Music for three episodes for their new season of their very popular series, Freefall.

Award winning writer/director/cinematographer, Lamont Pierré, along with writers Chris Saunders and Geno Brooks, have created a controversial and successful crime drama about three masculine black gay men who are involved in a life of crime, while dealing with the trials of their personal relationships.

Two of the licensed songs are, Ringing The Bell, from The Reds© album, Fugitives From The Laughing House, and We’re On, an instrumental from Tarock’s music library also by Reds members,  Rick Shaffer and Bruce Cohen.  The third song, Death In Venice, is from Cohen’s first solo album, One BC.

“This Way” Licensed For Grand Benders 2nd Season

Toronto’s Robeter Productions has licensed “This Way” for two episodes of  the second season of the Canadian TV Show, Grand Benders.

Grand Benders is an original docu-soap that follows the exploits of the Rapaport family — Mickey, Nancy and Justin — owners of Cocos, a one-of-a-kind hotel, nightclub, restaurant and bar located along the strip in Grand Bend, Ontario.  Season 2 premieres  mid-May 2013.

“This Way” is track 2 on Bruce Cohen’s second solo album, Two BC.  To purchase a CD or mp3′s click ► HERE!

FIVE YEAR PLAN ● THE REDS®

“Five Year Plan” is track 1 on The Reds® album, Fatal Slide.   All the photographs in the video are from the band’s 1982 tour of Western Canada.

For all  mp3 purchase options visit . . . http://www.theredsmusic.com/fatalslide/buyfatalslide.html

UNIVERSAL MUSIC Re-Releases “Green With Envy” By THE REDS®

Universal Music has digitally re-released The Reds®  EP, “Green With Envy,” originally released in 1979 on the A&M label.

The EP features The Doors song, “Break On Through,” which suggests some of the The Reds® roots.

Click on . . . GREEN WITH ENVY . . . to purchase mp3′s from your favorite download site.

Japan’s Music Pirates Now Face JAIL Time

A new law has been passed in Japan that could result in jail time for people pirating music. Downloaders could face up to two years under the new definition of piracy as a criminal, instead of civil, violation.

Japan was already home to some of the more draconian laws concerning copyright violations; someone caught illegally uploading music or video can face up to 10 years in prison and a ¥10,000,000 fine (around $128,000). But the penalties fordownloading were comparatively mild: a heavy fine but no threat of incarceration. The updated law makes the offense criminal and now downloaders of copyrighted material can potentially be sent to prison in addition to being fined.

The BBC notes that the changes were pushed for by the Recording Industry Association of Japan. The organization has lobbied heavily for stricter file-sharing laws following a widely publicized 2010 study which found that there were almost 10 times as many illegal downloads in the country as legal ones.

Critics point out that the laws misunderstand the actual process of piracy; by using a BitTorrent service to download music, for instance, users will frequently also be uploading it at the same time, exposing them to a potential 12-year stay in prison. Such a sentence would be immensely disproportionate to one for a similar crime like shoplifting a CD.

Some also worry that the wording of the law might include such minor acts as watching a YouTube video that turns out to be violating copyright. Since the user technically downloaded a copy of the video to their computer, that could constitute an offense.

Copyright law in the US also prohibits illegal downloads, of course, but punishments for users who have pirated music and movies have always been limited to fines (although these can be quite high). Only extremely prolific distributors of illegal media and people selling it have been subjected to criminal charges and jail time.

Catching an offender in the act, whether in the US or Japan, however, is not an easy task: Privacy laws and well-known technical workarounds make avoiding detection easy for dedicated pirates.

► Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

 

Universal Music Re-Releases “Manhunter” & “Band Of The Hand” Soundtracks

Universal Music has re-released the film soundtracks, Manhunter and Band Of The Hand, for digital download on the most popular download sites.  Click on the film title above for all the info about the film and listen to a track, and on the film title below for all the buy links . . . Manhunter . . . Band Of The Hand.

Rick Shaffer and Bruce Cohen, a/k/a The Reds® composed and performed the score for Manhunter, and Band Of The Hand, which also contains four songs by The Reds® written for the film, as well as, Waiting For You, a track from their Shake Appeal album, released by Sire/Warner Bros, and unavailable anywhere else.

(An extra bonus on the Band Of The Hand album is the title track written and performed by Bob Dylan, with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.)

The Reds® 1979 Debut A&M Album “THE REDS” Now Available On ALL Popular MP3 Sites

Fans of The Reds® will be happy as pigs in you-know-what now that their 1979 A&M debut album “The Reds“ is available on iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, MOG, Rhapsody, TradeBit,  7 Digital, Zune, with most other popular download sites to follow.  The re-release was via Universal Music, who now controls the A&M masters.

Produced by David Kershenbaum, the critically acclaimed album still lives up to the warning, “This is not an album for the soft of heart, or head.”  But, don’t take our word for it, following are a few album review quotes . . .

Kurt Loder, Rolling Stone (1979): “On their debut album, The Reds® prove themselves capable of kicking up as much urban art-rock ruckus as any band this side of Pere Ube.”

Robert Palmer, Sounds/Penthouse (1979): “Unconditionally recommended.”

Chuck Eddy, in his book, Stairway To Hell – The Best 500 Albums In The Universe (1991): ” . . . upon initially hearing “Self Reduction” on the radio I thought that somebody’d finally knocked some sense into Deep Purple’s heads.”

Vinyl History (2008): “The album explodes with fireworks in a black sky, as the 1970′s come to an end.  Put simply, it’s a “Landmark Record” which is why it has never lost its allure.”

Visit the Tarock Music web site and click on “The Reds” tab, and sub-tabs, to read the album’s liner notes and all the reviews.  To license songs for film, TV, and games, click on License Songs to tell us about your project, and the appropriate person will contact you ASAP.

Rick Shaffer’s Searchin’ For The Thing That’s Got No Name

SEARCHIN’ FOR THE THING THAT’S GOT NO NAME: RICK SHAFFER CHANNELS HIS INNER BEAT MOJO ON 3rd SOLO ALBUM, IDIOT FLATS

Long story short: this record burns with a wicked swagger that most artists in today’s marketplace would feel hard-pressed to match, let alone top.
We need some kind of rock ‘n’ roll highwaymen to wipe away those social ills that the original ’77 punks hoped to blot from the landscape – yet continue to bubble over with a noxious fever that makes every cardboard ’80s Steeltown movie landscape seem like paradise, by comparison.

Double-digit unemployment?  Check.  A never-ending drought that turned the most well-manicured lawn to brown?  Double-check.  The serpentine wind of consumer debt used to gut the American Dream, as in, “Keep the plebs quiet through interest rates that go up, up and away?”  Triple-check . . . hell, the only missing ingredient is a royal jubilee (don’t worry, somebody’s probably got that scenario fleshed out in a drawer somewhere) . . . so this is what bowling alone got us, I guess.

With its repeated calls to flout conformity and convention, Idiot Flats makes the perfect soundscape for this social-Darwin-on-steroids-mess that we take for current culture.  When I interviewed Rick for this site in the fall of 2010, he’d just released his first solo album, Necessary Illusion, which moved me to joke with him: “When the Rolling Stones finally figure out how to get their ’64-era mojo back, it’s gonna sound like this stuff.”

Those tendencies grew even further pronounced on Rick’s second solo album, Hidden Charms, and burst gloriously to the fore here – wrapped around fuzz guitars, psychedelic drones and hill country blues, goosed along by shaker, or tambourine-driven backbeats (courtesy of Les Chisholm and the colorfully-named Boo Boo Spencer).  Except for a few extra bass bits from Leon Wingfield, Rick’s carrying the musical load here (guitar, bass, lead vocals and percussion).

And carry it, he does, from the opening bell of “Unforgiven Man,” a driving, ’60s-ish slice of Beat manifesto that throws down (“get deep inside his naked eyes, he’s got nothing to hide”), capped by some ad-libbed howls near the end: “Well, C’MON!  Well, C’MON!”  That’s the perfect setup for “One More Heartache,” whose spaghetti western twangs can’t mask its darker, freakbeat-tinged undercurrent, one born of convention-bustin’ aggression (“Well, it’s so bad/you don’t know/end up doing just what you’re told”).

Nostalgia-mongers don’t fare any better here on “Around The Bend,” which clangs along a fuzz-guitar-laden R&B groove (“You keep on askin’ me about the good old days/But I’m sorry, man, they’re comin’ to an end”). The same story goes for “Getting Low,” another declaration of intent (“Take it or leave it were words I often heard/Why are you so stressed and so disturbed?”) that marries its fuzzy chunk-a-chunk to some tastefully twangin’ guitar leads, plus a six-pack of attitude (“I ain’t wastin’ time, just waiting on you/I’m getting busy, just seein’ this through”).

That makes two more standouts in an album brimming with ‘em, which is all down to Rick’s strengths as an arranger – and is truly the secret weapon here.  Just when you think it’s impossible to wring anymore mileage from this brew of ’60s garage, hill country blues and freak beat pysch, you get surprises like “Remember” – basically, an uptempo cocktail of the above-detailed elements, held together by a highly-mixed tambourine, one of many subtle textures put to good use here.

On “Idiot Flats,” Rick lets his Southwestern blueswailin’ side hang out, over an understated, mid−tempo funky bed of drums and tambourine – as he recalls his chance encounter, Marquee Moon-style, with an old, been-there-done-that sage who warns him about the ways of the straight world (“This world gets too unkind/If you don’t live/If you don’t do/If you think now, brother, like they want you to”), and its never-ending encroachments on your life, but not in this particular company, where no tune breaches the four-minute mark – a welcome alternative to this age of CD and DVD bloat.

I could go on forever, but you get the idea.  As I mentioned at the beginning, whether it’s the state of rock ‘n’ roll, or our increasingly sorry,  Soviet-style culture, we’re way overdue for some changes – and Idiot Flats will give you the conviction to lead that charge.  If you only know Rick from his New Wave pioneer era in The Reds®, you’ve heard half the story – the rest of it’s here, and the contents will make you a believer out of you in a hurry.  Here’s to the real hissing of summer lawns!

Highlights: Unforgiven Man, One More Heartache, Idiot Flats, Around The Bend, Getting Low.

Lowlights: None, dammit!

Rating: 5 out of 5

● Chairman Ralph – Ministry Of Truth

(Ralph Heibutzki is the author of “Unfinished Business: The Life & Times of Danny Gatton.”  His articles have appeared in Bass Player, DISCoveries, Goldmine, Guitar Player, Vintage Guitar, and is a regular contributor to the All Music Guide.)

DZ tha DoK says, “Rick Shaffer is a legend in the making.”

Skope’s DZ tha Dok interview with Rick Shaffer about his new album, IDIOT FLATS, can be read by clicking on INTERVIEW.

YOKO & SEAN LENNON ● ARTISTS AGAINST FRACKING

Visit YOKO and SEAN LENNON’S new web site, ARTISTS AGAINST FRACKING, to help save our water BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!

The BL Rag says, “Rick Shaffer is for fans of Iggy Pop and 16 Horsepower”

For fans of seriously hooky rock n’ roll of the more badass variety (Iggy & The Stooges, 16 Horsepower, Tom Waits, etc), take a close listen to the surprisingly masterful work of Rick Shaffer on his new release IDIOT FLATS, which I can honestly say there isn’t a miss on. Must-listen tracks include “One More Heartache”, “Dangerous Dance” and “Getting Low”. Note: this is not your average, clean-with-a-perfect-sheen modern rock. But it’s probably what you’ve been waiting for.

THE BL RAG − Music Watch − RHYTHM & TRUTH IN MUSIC

Click on the song title to get a FREE mp3 of “ONE MORE HEARTACHE“

Luxembourg Gladly Enters IDIOT FLATS Time Machine

I first took notice of Rick Shaffer back in 2007 when his band The Reds® released their exceptional comeback album Fugitives From The Laughing House.  This was followed two years later by the equally appealing Early Nothing, and since then Mr Shaffer has been busily releasing solo albums.  I always thought that Necessary Illusion from 2010 was his first solo venture, but now I find myself surprised that he did already one as early as 1971, one year before I was born.

This means of course that Rick Shaffer is by no means a youngster, but as on his previous records, he never sounds old and weary.  I missed his last album Hidden Charms, but the new one – Idiot Flats – is frankly not that different from what I have come to expect of him.  Playing the guitars, bass and some percussion, and of course in charge of the vocals, he only hired the services of a drummer and an additional bassist for the ten tracks featured on this new CD.  The recipe is still quite the same: garage rock rooted in the early Sixties, inspired by early Stones and the Pretty Things, funneled into concise three minute tracks that overwhelm their audience with reverb driven guitar, bluesy melodies and Shaffer’s cool, distanced voice that reminds occasionally of Lou Reed and Alan Vega.  The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion are another band he can be likened to, for all those who started listening to music in the Nineties, a long time after Rick Shaffer began his active musical career.

It’s hard to highlight any specific song, as the whole album is one extraordinarily listenable experience from the beginning to the end.  Last time I complained a little about the CD’s short length, but this time I guess I have come to accept that this kind of music works best in smaller doses.  Idiot Flats never sounds modern, and always catches the atmosphere of Sixties garage rock, and while this would feel fake with a lot of younger artists, Rick Shaffer has the necessary experience and years in the music business to make it all work.  Fans of dirty, unpolished fuzzy garage blues rock will feel as if they have just stepped out of a time machine.

Pascal Thiel ● DisAgreement ● Luxembourg

James Moore says, “Rick Shaffer delivers near perfect rock album with Idiot Flats.”

As a lifelong rock n’ roll fan, I can honestly say that I’ve explored and re-explored a wide range of what the genre has to offer.  Coming across the work of Rick Shaffer recently, though, made me wonder if I’ve really been paying close enough attention.  His new CD “Idiot Flats“ is a joyous mix of the Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop and the Black Keys with an occasional rockabilly tinge to the proceedings, and it’s a solid effort.  “Unforgiven Man” showcases Shaffer’s one-of-a-kind pepped up badass vocal chops, and it would be hard for any rock fan to not love it.  “One More Heartache” brings Springsteen to mind with gut wrenching honesty.  Already, by track two, I’m blown away and requesting a physical copy for my nest road trip.  “Remember” doesn’t slow things down – it heavy’s things up a la 16 Horsepower to keep the momentum strong and forceful.  The title track is a low down blues number, dirtier than the Black Keys material we’re used to hearing these days.  Highlights from the rest of the release include the mean romper “Around The Bend” that’ll make you want to dance by yourself (it’s that kind of number), and “Dangerous Dance,” which brings the great Steve Earl to mind.

I would not hesitate to HIGHLY recommend this release to any serious fan of rock, rock n’ roll, blues, Americana, and even country.  This album is near perfect and delivers a swagger most artists don’t even dream up.  GET IT.

James Moore – IMP – Vancouver, BC, Canada

(James Moore is the author of the best selling music marketing book “Your Band Is A Virus,” and is also a contributor to The Muse’s Muse, Skope Magazine, Target Audience Magazine, Evor, and Music Think Tank.)

WATCH RICK SHAFFER’s NEW VIDEO

Tarock Music called on director and editor, David N. Donihue (Super Rad Motion Picture Group) to give “One More Heartache” the vintage look it required to match Rick Shaffer’s vintage sound.  Shaffer’s poignant lyrics of turning your back on what’s continually forced fed to everyone daily demanded Donihue’s expertise of creating commercials and music videos.  Donihue’s concept was to tell the story of children choosing not to blindly follow the hype from big company advertising, by visually creating two worlds − the real world in black and white,  and the glossy world of advertisers in color.  After searching through thousands of 1960’s commercials Donihue creatively shows the progression of the children’s alarmed state to the final conclusion of their ultimate choice.  The finished video provides the powerful query − is it what you believe, or what you know.  © 2012 Tarock Music

“One More Heartache” is track 2 on the album, Idiot Flats.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

Chris West says, “Rick Shaffer has simply never told a lie.”

Until the release of his debut solo venture, I had never heard of Rick Shaffer.  I am proud to say that ever since that initial review, I’ve never forgotten him and apparently he’s never forgotten me either.  So when I was asked to review this latest dose of Rick, I happily obliged.  See, to me there is just something about keeping a sense of honesty to music and I personally feel that when it comes to his music, Rick Shaffer has simply never told a lie.

Following up his last album, Hidden Charms, in true Rick fashion he has continued to expound on his sound while sticking to his roots with Idiot Flats, his latest 10-track full length of bent-note blues, vintage garage fuzz and stripped down honesty, “Unforgiven Man” blasts at the intro with jarring blues finger lead over slightly dirty backing melody.  The hallmark vocal delivery is eerie in how much Rick can effortlessly channel a young Jagger.  Through the track he maintains his trademark “sense of urgency” with the lead still wailing through to the fade.  The fuzz finally takes the lead on “Remember” while the finger-picking wail takes the undercurrent role.  This is the facet where Rick shines most.  I believe in “too much of a thing” but no matter how much fuzz Rick pipes from his rig he never loses control of the ethos of the track.  The bluesy drone, guitar interplay and the vocal delivery find a commonality that makes the track mesh while allowing a full appreciation of the individual elements.  Title track “Idiot Flats” continues the dirty fuzz with bent-note fills and a nasally twang in the vocal delivery; noteworthy in that what I notice is Rick is peppering this album with a dose of vintage Psychobilly/Honky Tonk. The minimal shaker/tambourine percussion keeps time in the background while the fuzz melody plods the track along over the bluesy picking at the foreground.  What is dramatic about it is the multiple soundscapes and layers Rick can lay down and then morph into one harmonious drone.  “Around The Bend” features a slide work intro over the scratchy backing drone. Hard luck Blues vocals bolster the dirty ethos of the track with what sounds like triple guitar interplay.  Again, this track reeks of raw, organic grit that creates a complexity sum of the parts.

What’s important to note is that Rick Shaffer doesn’t put out new albums.  What he offers is a series of recorded evolutions of a sound.  Yes, the basic elements of blues guitar and 60s garage fuzz are ever-present, but the additional facets of vintage R&B, Honky Stomp and Hill Country rhythm can only be identified as evolutionary.  And fittingly so, in that Rick isn’t one to put out static music; this stuff moves and shakes.  It vibrates and resonates.  This isn’t simple “listening music”; it’s a sonic assault . . . an aural hostile takeover.  And there is something special when an artist can command your attention without asking for it . . . such is the case with Rick.

Christopher West - SKOPE Magazine - RATING: 4 (OUT OF 5)

▼

Download a FREE mp3 of ONE MORE HEARTACHE.  The CD can be purchased directly from TAROCK MUSIC with FREE shipping to any country or planet, or from CD BABY, and iTUNES.  

INDIE MUSIC CRITIC Names Idiot Flats PICK OF THE WEEK

INDIE MUSIC CRITIC has named Rick Shaffer’s new album, Idiot Flats, PICK OF THE WEEK.

Shaffer’s latest venture is built on a garage/blues framework, Mississippi Hill Country rhythms, a garage/blues framework mashed together in a 1960’s psychobilly/R&B sound.

Download a free mp3 of ONE MORE HEARTACHE.

Psychobilly blues conjurer infused with a melancholically hopeful Gospelish stomp . . .

Rick Shaffer’s IDIOT FLATS is music by which to read Wild at Heart.  The distorted guitars harken back to Link Wray and King Bee-era Stones, but also ahead to garage-rock California blues billy bands like The Blasters.  But there’s nothing clean or obviously tight in Shaffer.  If anything, there’s a bit of the devil in him, in his stomp, an edge, an unwillingness to hoe the musically pretty party line.

He sings just as unapologetically as he arranges his bass, drums, and guitars.  He doesn’t posses a great voice, or a classically bluesy voice, or a classically rock voice, nor does he have the sort of voice that’s “seen things.”  Not that you don’t see things when your listening to Shaffer’s, One More Heartache.  You see all sorts of great things − duck tails and syringes and back alleys and dancers dancing hard to his music.

But Shaffer’s voice, like his music, like his musical tastes that have influenced his music, just is what it is.  It’s take it or leave it.  A bit haunting, a bit raw, a bit in your face.  But knowing, almost intellectual.  And with an unusually Gospel hopefulness lurking just beneath as well.  The kind of hopefulness that has the veracity of pain and sacrifice to it.  Damn fine.  Just really damn fine.

▬ Devon Jackson

(Devon Jackson is the author of Conspiranoia! (Dutton 2000), and Editor of the Santa Fean Magazine, as well as a freelance writer for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, Details, Vanity Fair, and The Huffington Post, to name a few.)

Purchase the Idiot Flats CD directly from TAROCK MUSIC with free shipping to any country, or planet.