Tarock Music’s 2012 Review

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!  We hope 2013 will be the best year ever for all of us.  Everyone at Tarock Music was busy throughout 2012.  We had lots of activity with ventures completed and started to pave the way into 2013, and following are a few of the highlights.

We started off the year with Rick Shaffer’s video, Buy And Sell, from his Hidden Charms album, being nominated for a Rock Wired Radio Music Award.

Universal Music Group digitally re-released two Reds albums – The Reds and Green With Envy.  As well, as soundtracks that Rick Shaffer and Bruce Cohen wrote songs and score for, Manhunter, directed by Michael Mann, and Band Of The Hand, directed by Paul Michael Glaser.

Shaffer also released a new album, Idiot Flats, that immediately became Indie Music Critic’s Pick Of The Week, along with great reviews by Devon Jackson, James Moore, Chairman Ralph, Chris West, and lots more.  To read all the reviews visit our Tarock Music web site, and click on the Idiot Flats tab and sub-tabs at the top of the page.  A video of track 2, “One More Heartache,” was also released,  directed by David N. Donihue (Super Rad Motion Picture Group).  While British director, Peter McAdam, started work on a video of track 3, “Remember,” using his patented iCoda software, that will debut in 2013.

Director Steve Balderson (Dikenga Films) licensed Bruce Cohen’s instrumental, “Saturn Night,” for his film The Far Flung Star, that’s scheduled for release in 2013.  And, Pump Audio licensed  tracks from Cohen’s solo album, Two BC.

Director John Lawrence licensed Shaffer and Cohen’s tracks, “Big Town” and “Dark As Night,” for his feature film debut, Peloton.  The film was the official selection of the Heartland Film Festival, Napa Valley Film Festival, and Lucerne International Film Festival.

Tarock Music signed  with Los Angeles based Chris Brown and Jeff Johnson’s Natural Half Note Songs,  to license our catalog for TV and film.

Tarock Music joined the effort to save the United Kingdom’s 99-year-old Twickenham Film Studios.  The fight is still on and their petition currently has 4,866 signatures, with 5,000 needed ASAP.  Take a minute to support Twickenham by adding your name . . . Save Twickenham Studios Petition.   And, we continue to support Yoko and Sean Lennon’s Artist’s Against Fracking in New York.  You can still add your name to this ongoing cause that will eventually terribly affect all of us in every state if we don’t protest now.

We also steered you to noteworthy directors from the Once A Week Film Festival and we hope you enjoyed watching their unique indie films.

Now, we’re happily going forward into 2013 ready for new ventures and opportunities, and hope you’ll all be doing the same.

New Web Site For SUPER RAD MOTION PICTURE GROUP

Super Rad Motion Picture Group was formed by writer, director, post production wiz David N. Donihue to create attention getting commercials, bold feature films, and inventive music videos.

Donihue’s unique eye for visuals and award winning knack for story allows him and his teammates at Super Rad to continue to churn out amazing work on reasonable budgets. Whether in need of a full production or simply post-services, Super Rad is here to turn visions into realities.

Tarock Music experienced Donihue’s expertise when he directed Rick Shaffer’s video, ONE MORE HEARTACHE, from his album, Idiot Flats.

Check out the Super Rad Motion Picture Group’s new site ► 
http://www.superradfilms.com/

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.)

Enter The ORANGE COUNTRY REVERB CONTEST To Win An Autographed IDIOT FLATS CD

Visit Canada’s ORANGE COUNTRY REVERB to enter their contest to win an AUTOGRAPHED copy of RICK SHAFFER’S new album, IDIOT FLATS.

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.

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)

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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.

Tarock Music Releases 3rd RICK SHAFFER Solo Album

Tarock Music has released Rick Shaffer’s third solo album, IDIOT FLATS.  His 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.  Idiot Flats’ lyrical and vocal tone takes on the packaged commercialized plague, asking the listener to live free in the moment, instead of in the past or the future.

The ten track rave-up comes straight on with reckless abandon.  Among the highlights are, Unforgiven Man, and One More Heartache.  Both are hard-hitting raw 1960’s R&B rockers, tapping into elements of, The Pretty Things, and early Stones. while delivering their own individual character and intensity.

The CD can be purchased directly from TAROCK MUSIC with free shipping to any country or planet, or from CD BABY, iTUNES.  And, it will soon be available from Amazon, Spotify, eMusic, and all popular music sites.

“BUY AND SELL” NOMINATED FOR BEST SONG

song . . . “BUY AND SELL” . . . from his album, Hidden Charms, has been nominated for Best Song by the 2012 RockWired Radio Music Awards.

We hope you voted for Rick before the polls closed on March 9th.  And, if you did, thanks so much for all your support.

RICK SHAFFER HAS THE BLUES . . . (“DOWN TO A T!”)

Johnny Lee Hooker once said: “The Blues had a child and that child was Rock N’ Roll.” And it is no secret that the success that British Invasion era bands enjoyed stateside was due in large part to their obsession with the Blues. The Yardbirds did it. The Rolling Stones did it. Zeppelin even did it. The melding of period British pop with Blues not only created an appeal to American fans, but it gave birth to a sound that seemed almost obvious and appropriate. But the trend of lacing Rock and Blues continues even today . . . John Spencer is doing it. The Black Keys are doing it and The White Stripes is nothing more than deconstructed Blues. But the front-running torchbearer of the 60s garage Rock and Blues amalgam has to be former Reds guitarist Rick Shaffer. When I spoke to Rick, the interview was one part Q&A, another part music history lesson on the benefits of “vintage,” why he obsesses over the Blues and the merits of making albums the old-fashioned way.

“I think for me there is just a purity to those records and their production style,” Rick said of his Blues influences. “I think a lot of newer acts that I see everything is so thought out it and there isn’t any reckless abandon to it. I just think the old production style of the Sun Records and Excello stuff that I like, the music just holds up and there’s a lot to it in both the performance and the production.”

The foundation of Rick’s commitment to vintage began in his teens at shows the likes of Muddy Waters and Magic Sam. “Getting in to these places to see these guys, and the fact that they were accessible,” he said. “You know, you could go up and talk with them and ask them stuff, they were just larger than life to me. They always had great outfits and great suits and they were just really dynamic performers. The way they did their shows and the set pace everything just kept moving and it had this sense of urgency to it.”

And it is that “sense of urgency” that Rick has successfully brought from ago to current. When asked if he worried whether his sound would translate to the contemporary, he eschewed the notion saying: “I stopped caring about that stuff. Even with The Reds stuff, we never really worried about what people thought about it. We didn’t ‘follow the program’ and try to produce hits. All this stuff is all subjective. I mean you take somebody like The Black Keys, what are they doing? Today people seem to think it’s phenomenal and I think their very good at what they do and I like the way they present their music. But that’s neither here nor there to me.”

So whether it translates or not, Rick’s focus is bringing the song in his head to his records in a manner of fair representation which has led him to take the reins of every facet of the record making process. And the process that he feels presents his songs best is in the same vein that the vintage records he admires were made. “Having done it both ways, I just prefer this,” he said. “And I prefer producing the stuff myself because I know the sound I have in my head that I want that I don’t have to translate to a producer or an engineer.”

The latest fruits of Rick’s labors lie with Hidden Charms, the follow-up to last year’s release Necessary Illusion. Being much in the vein of its predecessor, Charms boasts another 10-track full length of Rick’s guitar magic—prototypical 60s garage fuzz, Blues riff work and the raw and organic ethos that has become synonymous with his sound. “From a production standpoint what I wanted to do was a harder sounding record and try to better some of the things I did on Necessary Illusion,” Rick said. “Things like the songwriting, the production and the style part of it . . . I really wanted to bring more of the garage element, like the fuzz, to it but also keep the groove part of it.”

The focus on the garage aspect comes through with prominence on tracks like album opener “No Big Thing.” The distorted fuzz serves as a constant backbone over bent-note Blues fills while Rick channels early Jagger in the vocal delivery. Tambourine and shakers serve as the minimal percussion section and in his signature style; the entire track is stripped down to the barest of elements allowing all the facets to shine with equal merit. “Nobody Home” continues the fuzz, which sits just below the vocals in a constant distorted growl. The track also illustrates another of Rick’s signature elements—dual guitar interplay. The drone and finger picking mingle back and forth with the fuzz almost serving as a second time-keeping bass line with intermittent blasts of Blues lead. “Cruel World” boasts slick slide work and bent-note riff work that almost sounds at times like pedal steel. The midpoint slide solo is simply dirty. “Gonna Shout” is arguably the height of the fuzz from the opening notes straight through. There is nary one “clean” note to be found on the track and by its end the guitar sounds to be begging for mercy. Rounding out Charms is the down tempo trudge of “The Stranger.” Again, Rick sings in the range of a young Jagger as the track plods along over the Blues-laden guitar work. The midpoint guitar solo wails and continues through in occasional fills through the last verse on to the outro.

Once again, Rick has offered up another installment of his Blues/garage melding that shines with raw, gritty, organic power. It is borderline overwhelming the vast amount of soundscapes he is able to produce with a simple stripped-down rig and a head full of fuzz melodies and Blues sentimentality. But Rick is simply playing to his strengths, building on what he has down, all the while continuing to give that nod to those that came before him. But more so than anything, it’s his work ethic that shines the most. “I’m working all the time,” he said. “I’ve got material, I’ve got ideas, I want to do stuff.”

So again, Rick Shaffer has the Blues . . . and if this genre of music even remotely appeals to you, you’d do well to go out and get them yourself.

● Chris West ● Skope Magazine

REDEFINE MAGAZINE’s Jesse C. Dienner Takes A Ride With HIDDEN CHARMS

Rick Shaffer’s sophomore solo record, Hidden Charms, is a gritty, fuzzy, and dusty blues-rock album that is perfect for long car rides and smoky bars. It starts abruptly, almost as if we missed the first few seconds of the first song, entitled “No Big Thing.” However, in a form-matching-content sense, that’s not a big deal, not a big thing. And that is because the album nonchalantly moves into the second track, “Buy And Sell,” which is by far my favorite song on the album, perhaps because it is the most memorable. Initially, I get the sensation that the track is a downer song, based off the tone of the melody over the first 45 seconds of the song; then all of the sudden, it starts to lift up, and so does the feeling it gives off to the listener. In songs in general, I appreciate the sour and the sweet, the dark and the light, and this track melds those oppositions into a catchy, groovy tune.

It is no wonder to me that Shaffer has experience writing songs for films. I didn’t need to know that he had penned a few songs for a couple of Michael Mann films, and songs for other movies back when he and Bruce Cohen were together in a group called The Reds™ — because this album feels like the soundtrack to a film yet to be written. Each track seems to fit a different scene. Track three, “Shadow Line,” could be either the opening shot’s song, when the plot is being set up right from the get-go, or it could be the credit music, foreshadowing the sequel. (Incidentally, this is also the song where the title of the record is born, with some of the few lyrics I can without-a-doubt make out.)

“Cruel World,” track six, could suit the flirty love scene, where the main character and his love interest meet for the first time — perhaps on a dance floor? And, though this may sound obvious, the final track of the album, “The Stranger,” could be the theme song for the villain of the film. I’m envisioning Jim Jarmusch directing this would-be film, whereby the essence of Shaffer’s songs match Jarmusch’s storytelling style, both give off a real time or real life feel as we listen to or watch the various adventures of a rebel or loner protagonist.

Shaffer’s voice is unique, possessing a cool-guy drawl. Fortunately or unfortunately, the lyrics are a little muffled, as previously indicated, but most of the time that only adds to the intrigue. Track eight, “Gonna Shout,” incorporates some background male vocals that fit remarkably well for being quite simple. I could envision this being a single for the album, like with “Buy And Sell.” Shaffer’s guitar playing predicates itself on various levels of distortion, all dependent on the feeling of the particular track; but there is a constant presence of slow fuzz throughout the album giving it a laid-back allure.

• JESSE C. DIENNER • REDEFINE MAGAZINE