- Roaring Out of Austin !  America’s Route Back to Quality Music

These days – and despite this humble and despairing writer’s attempts to fan the flames of originality – everything seems to sound pretty much as you think it will. Black cowboy hat – well-recorded tuneful vocal, multi-layered lush guitar tracks, puddingy drum sound. Baggy sports pants and chains – monotonous boastful rapping, fingers-in-the lens videos, bouncy cars and honeys by the pool. Pale-faces and piercings with black clothes – gloomy, grinding metal filmed in graveyards with guitar tones like Land Rovers in reverse hitting a pile of oil drums. Does it have to be like that ? Am I the only bloke saddened by Bob Dylan selling songs for advertisements ? ‘Don’t follow leaders ?’ – OK Mr Z, we’ll ignore your sponsors’ pointers to their products, how’s that ?? Pah !

In short, citizens – what happened to quality ? And – deep breath – SOUL ???

Well there is a light at the end of the musical tunnel..for the discerning anyway. I am sanguine enough to now that there are fellow humans whose tastes are so ground down and well, lost that they will…..watch things like ‘Lost’. Which is what that series’ writers are.

A new band cannot and will not save the planet. But MPTu might just enrich the cultural  atmosphere – if I gave you the heads up, you can investigate and make up your own mind. Please do…

Following a recent relocation to Austin, Texas rock journeyman Phil Brown has been playing with the great and the good in an area that even this English chap knows is a musical hotbed. For the lowdown on Brown’s singing and guitar prowess please look him up on www.fairhearing.co.uk but even I could scarcely believe that he was about to work with singer/interpreter supreme Malford Milligan. His work with Storyville which included the Double Trouble cats defines what blues, rock and soul can blend in to. Also he sang with The Boneshakers, a Was Not Was spinoff featuring Hendrixy guitar stylist Randy Jacobs. Malford’s distinctive voice would grace any lineup but the prospect of him singing with and writing with Phil Brown is mouthwatering. Not content with laying this news on me, Brown said the bassist would be Mark Andes ! Now this cove has hit the boards with a list of bands that you would struggle to beat – Canned Heat, Firefall, Jo Jo Gunne, Heart and the mighty Spirit ! A band I saw in its full glory at London’s Lyceum back in the day

(Randy California’s perspex guitar driving ‘1984′, what a memory). Tuneful and edgy, Andes is a player’s player, what an addition. “OK, Phil – the drummer’s Carmine Appice. – right ?” I taunted him. No, Phil says – it’s Pat Mastelotto. Good grief ! What is THIS going to sound like ?? A few live cuts were sent over to me and as I hoped, there was power and space and melody…but also, the Great Lost Art – interplay. Now, I don’t mean the ‘don’t step on my grey suede shoes’ cozy doodling tone-tennis beloved of ‘Jazz Artists’. No, I mean the presence of players thinking on their feet and making the songs work.

Now ‘m not sure when the first MPTu album will come out. What  have is some rough mixes and yes, I should wait till the business side is all ready to go. But I can’t, because you should please get out and SEE and HEAR this crew as soon as you get the chance. As to what you’ll hear…..

‘Queen’ has a rattling, buzzing coming-to-life opening. Brown being a singer knows exactly how to frame a vocal, tweaking a harsh buzz that sings into lead lines, while the rhythm guys groove with sporadic emphasis. You can’t label this style. ‘Electric Soul’ maybe ? The nearest thing over here is The Inmates, whose singer Bill Hurley has comparable depth and grounding to Milligan. As far as I know, Joe Tex never sat in with Living Colour – but does that give you a hint of MPTu’s sound ?

‘Call Me’ is moody as hell and I just love it. Brown plays (mostly) without a pick so I’m not sure how he sound this pokey..but no wonder other axemen acknowledge his individuality.

Malford sounds liberated by this panoramic dark backdrop, telling the story as a neat vocal arrangement purrs alongside his pleading. A just-so guitar solo edges out of the breakdown..only players who really listen to each other can play this way, it’s rare.

A re-invented ‘I Got A Line On You’ takes the Spirit south of the border to an almost Lowell George feel – gorgeous. The Storyville gem ‘Bitter Rain’ is performed with a psych twist, prompting Milligan to gasp “Kinda funky !” – what a drummer !

Phil’s compositions ‘Heaven’ and ‘La-lah Land’ sound fine as played here. Wistful and sinister by turns, the group are so far beyond the show-off mentality that plagues so many of their contemporaries that you have to smile. They even include an old Fleetwood Mac song that I once had a chance to discuss with Peter Green, but you get along to see them

to find out what it is…

Aware of their roots but pushing forward, MPTu will remind you why you liked music. Truly

Pete Sargeant