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splendidezine
-- Billy Gil
Shit, look at this guy. Dan Smolla's look is all wrong. You see his album cover, and it's him standing there, arms crossed, looking harmless like a kindergarten music teacher with glasses, old jeans and hair mussed from letting too many six-year-olds give him hugs at the end of class. Christ, his album is called Under the Rainbow, scrawled in crayon across the cover. And it's so good, it's hard to believe he isn't signed to a major, argued about and adored across the country.
Back to Smolla's packaging: he includes a business card! On it, he describes his sound as "Alt.country soul." Such a genre doesn't seem like it could be feasible, but it's about the closest you can get to an accurate reduction. In "River of Love", Under the Rainbow's jaw-dropping opener, Smolla sings descending, off-key melodies over a drum machine and random horn blurts until a constructive bass line and guitar and keyboard miscellany pull it together The harmonies become grander and more melodic as the horns and guitar unleash into unobtrusive exploration. It's dizzying and mysterious, and takes a few listens to fully digest.
Much of the rest of the album consists of more straightforward solo country tunes, which are impressively soulful in and of themselves. The best songs, however, branch out into wider territory. "The Rain Can See (If It Wants To)"'s multi-tracked vocals are positively tribal, with percussive "na na na na"s supporting the higher-register singing. A live drummer could certainly be helpful to Smolla, although his sound might lose some of its "alone in my room, doing this for myself" feel. Perhaps unintentionally, the drum machine beats even add a krautrock feel to "Peace (for 45 Seconds)".
Smolla certainly has a way with melody, which even holds fast when he returns
to atonal experimentation in "Kathy's Clown". The sort of rough but
hummable vocals and melodies Smolla employs make it sound like Modest Mouse
covering a children's song on the title track. Seriously, about that kindergarten
teacher thing: if for some reason a music career doesn't work out for Smolla,
he's got the sense of humor and wonder to make a terrific music teacher.
Smolla's less-orchestrated numbers aren't quite as powerful. He's not the heartbreaking type -- more of an artsy, experimental performer, though the falsetto breaks in "Remember Me" are a nice emotional touch, and his garbled vocals and mangled syllables in "Prison Letter" create the mood required to sell the song's prison narrative. He occasionally sounds like Ryan Adams, and shares Adams's debt to Paul Westerberg and penchant for genre hopping, but Dan Smolla is his own artist. Free from pretension, divorced from any particular scene (the free-folk movement is closer as a classification than alt.country, really), his music exists completely alone. Almost any other artist would be hipper or nicer to look at, but good luck finding even a handful of unknown performers who can match Dan Smolla in creativity, incisiveness and complete consistency.
Real Roots Cafe,
The Netherlands --Written and translated by Johanna J. Bodde
Dan Smolla does everything by himself: composing, writing lyrics, singing,
playing a wide variety of instruments and recording all the results at home.
Look at "my messy little studio" on the backcover of the CD. Dan had
made up his mind to make something of this third CD he could be proud of, including
the (boarded out) mastering,the quality of the disc and the looks. He succeeded
in doing that, although his "Indie = cutting costs"-joke was very
funny, with the Smileys on those hand-lettered covers are picked out with great
care, as from the original demo containing nineteen try-outs only two were used
in the end, thirteen other tracks were added. There aren't as many winks as
on the previous album, except maybe at
Beck, so we hear more of Dan's own - often multi-tracked - sound. These are
complex recordings anyway, roots orientated but experimenting with jazz, psychedelic
and trance at the same time. Dan has a powerful trump in his hands with his
intelligent, existentialistic lyrics. There are little stories, like "Prison
Letter", "Remember Me" and "The Drive", reminiscent
of Earle and Springsteen, but listening to the more abstract poetry you can
find your own explanation. So revel in Smolla's lines: "I met what we already
said the first time with our eyes" or "By the way, in my dream you're
beautiful". Wonderful to hear a person who isn't corrupt ("My soul
can't be bought"), but full of hope ("We're all under the rainbow")
and peace-loving ("Try not to judge each other for fortyfive seconds")!
Rootstown Music --Antoine Legat
Under The Rainbow is the third cd by Dan Smolla, on which he sings and plays all alone. Smolla is a musician and eccentric (the sequence is of no importance) from Bloomingdale, Illinois. He calls it, not without irony, his alt.country record and reminds us of its predecessor Swimming In Wind, that already pleasantly ravaged our laser, as you could read in RTMF # 76. If you thought that Eels, Captain Beefheart, The Mekons, Syd barrett, The Residents, Johnny Dowd and the recently (re)discovered Daniel Johnston did or do something weird in a recording studio (or something that looks like it) then reconsider: Smolla is an ethereal trip far beyond most of these.
We must admit that this Under The Rainbow is a fraction more unconventional
than the other one, if we are allowed to say this, a little bit more stuffed
too. Whatever that may signify, it obviously has a larger impact than the predecessor.
How minimal, deranged and disordered they may sound, Smolla's works don't let
you be indifferent, unmoved. His deconstructions are destructive, yield whimsical,
idiosyncratic and unquestionably new sound colours (the vocals!) and structures,
"sometimes with the wild taste of lime"(*) (the opening "River
Of Love" and "By The Way" are excellent examples) Call it a Beck
advanced course. There are very beautiful things to be heard on Under The Rainbow
and this time we even found something that resembles a straightforward rock
song. Peace (For 45 Seconds) even has a particular or non-particular kind of
hit potential, as it thrives on a funky, almost sexy rhythm, very catchy overall.
Remember Me sounds like the impromptu meeting of Lou Reed and Bob Brozman. "Use
That Energy" has something of a sing along factor, if you possess a falsetto,
that is. Well, it's not all on that genial level. Often it lacks a certain amount
of tension and intensity, engendered by the watery, sometimes floating sound,
although all of this can be the consequence of what we get to hear in this revved
up music world, also in alt. country. And if Under The Rainbow is one
thing absolutely not, it is answering a format or prefabricated pattern of any
kind. Fans of regular, classical Americana will probably flee this kind of music.
If you dig the names cited above, there is nothing that stops you from giving Dan Smolla a fair chance. Maybe, yes maybe, he's the only normal person in a world that�s finally gone berserk? We have not been bored listening to Under The Rainbow. Antoine Legat (Hansbeke-Belgium; original piece October 16th ; this translation: October 17th 2004) (*) reference to a commonly known commercial for a brand of soap: it seemed appropriate here, as it is totally out of context, the only thing it merits!
Billybop --Mr
Blue Boogie: Blue Boogie Cd Review writing for Billybop
To start with I have to admit that this album is one of the toughest I ever
got to review. Under the Rainbow doesn?t fit in any of all the genres we discuss
at Billybop and at the same time it fits in all the genres. It?s tough one that?s
for sure. Musical influences are so big here that I can?t name them all? one
that comes back very often is the old-field blues or ?Country Blues?. Dan Smolla
comes from Illinois and writes joyful, emotional and thought-provoking songs
with elements of Alt. Country, folk, blues and echoes of the early '70s rock
sound. On his latest album you hear stuff that reminds you of Bod Dylan or Muddy
Waters, But also Sonic Youth & Neil Young are amongst the references? Like
I said to much to name them all. Dan would describe his music as Alt. Country
Soul?so let?s stick to that then. There are fifteen self-penned songs on his
third album and most of them need a second time around. Opening Track ?Sea of
Love ? is one of these tracks. It comes with a good, scenic sound and really
gets under your skin at the end. Almost all tracks are slow tempo songs, leaning
heavily to the Folk-blues, Folk-country genres. The use of Double bass, saxes
& clarinets are also putting an extra dimension to the album. ?Prison Letter?
is one of these tracks where you can hear the old blues styles overwhelming
the song. The acoustic guitar and lyrics have country blues all over. The next
one ?Use that Energy? is like an acoustic version of the Rolling Stones. The
same blues feeling here, but spiced up with an Electric Guitar & Slide Guitar.
?By the way?, number nine on the album could easily be mistaken for a JSBX track.
Not so angry and maybe a bit more tame then John Spencer but definitely the
same spirit at some moments. More of this spirit can be found on track twelve,
?Kathy?s Clown?. Hot Pick of the album is ?The Drive?. An up-tempo song with
good vocals & guitars. Simple and pure like a tame version of the White
Stripes
Dan Smolla is something you have to discover and try to find out for yourself
if you like it or not. Like I said before, it?s not in the usual range of music
I review but it certainly has it fine moments.