In the pantheon of musicians crazy enough to attempt an album's worth of songs whose jumping-off points include freakish, ever-changing time signatures (within the same song, yet); cookie-cutter remnants of traditional verse-chorus song structure; and, last but certainly not least, an almost total disregard for structure of any kind, Caeser Bach is a wunderkind extraordinaire, a one-of-a-kind singer-songwriter who certainly plays by his own rules, if he plays by any at all, and comes up with the goods each and every time. That Bach, a textbook-versatile musical magician with the prototypical singular vision, has come up with such an accessible, highly-enjoyable mess (and I mean mess in a good way) will come as no surprise to those of you with a penchant for surprising music, who will give anything a chance. You risk takers, you're in for quite a treat. The rest of you...well, you too. Studio whiz Otto D'Agnolo, obviously a Bach confidant (or is he more...?), has produced and engineered one hell of a record that incorporates enough styles to choke a CD player's laser beam. Bach is hardly what you'd call a linear songwriter (well, not most of the time, anyway), but he makes his mishmash approach work. This is exhilarating music for fans of just about any genre you'd care to name. This is music that dares you to listen, to pay close attention, and for that you will be rewarded in kind. The first wild and wooly track, "Unwind Me," incorporates elements of the poppier side of Prince (in the harmony vocals), rock, hip-hop and, in some of the background vocals, the trippier aspects of the Beatles (think "Tomorrow Never Knows"). There's also the sound of a telephone ringing, as Bach makes his way through this infectious, sweetly-cacophonous song. "Why Should I Care" is an aggressive slice of hard rock, sweetened with poppy lead and background vocals and a tender melody (especially in the middle-eight). Bach calls this song his "letter to John Lennon." It's certainly a Fabs homage of sorts, and a pretty damned good one at that (don't blink or you'll miss the quick, sly allusion to a musical moment on the Beatles' Let It Be album). "I'm Gonna Make You Remember Me" might as well be the name of this album, because you're not likely to forget it. "I Am Your Problem" might be another good moniker (this particular song unravels in both 11/4 and 4/4, for you musician types). Either way, at this point in the record, you're hooked, just in time to come face to face with about as straight-ahead a song as you're likely to encounter in Bachville. "Put It In the Closet" boasts a beautiful, pretty melody, and as hooky a chorus as you're likely to find. The slide guitar lines could just as well have been flown in from a Lynyrd Skynyrd record, but that's the Bach experience for you, tripping over cool stuff when you least expect it. The other, rather traditional-sounding tune, "All I Ever Wanted," is a lullaby to Bach's daughter; the pedal steel accents are well-placed and most effective. So what kind of musician is Caeser Bach? He sort of gives the answer, however cryptically, in the funny, time signature-crazed "Rappers Can't Smile." "I'm not a rapper/Rappers can't smile/I'm not a rocker/Wearin' all torn up clothes/I'm not a pop star/Pop stars are porn stars/Pretty much all they're good for," Bach sings, tongue in cheek, against a rocking track, but, really, he's a little bit of all of them, a kind of golem, a Pinocchio among musicians, starting as an artificial thing and ending up as a living, breathing wild man with a guitar, piano, bass, and the desire to do something different. Something cool. Rule breaker, risk taker, and music maker, Caeser Bach is "now", and now or later, you're going to succumb to his ever-changing charms. - Alan Haber, on-air personality, WEBR - Fairfax, Va |
I was listening to the CD when I opened your E-mail. It's the White Album done by a Martian on Acid! I love it! "Unwind Me" is great, it just jumped up and smacked me! Gorrilla groove! Some brilliant use of samples throughout. I like your vocals, a little Lennon mixed with a little Peter Gabriel and some super harmonies. I'm also reminded of King Crimson and Adrian Belew because of some of the time signatures. I use the feeble comparisons 'cause words don't really describe the CD very well. It's one of the most original CD's I've heard in a long time. It makes me long for the days when inventive artistry was on the airwaves and we had not been reduced to conveyor belt corporate rock. I've heard the CD in my studio, my car, my living room and my computer. It sounds great on everything. But obviously, it really comes alive on a good system at a high volume level. I can't imagine how many hours you must have spent in the studio putting this all together but it was well worth the effort. There's a lot of layers to listen through, I hear new things everytime I hear it. Great work, don't stop! Thanks for the refreshing music! - Michael Botts, artist, session drummer, original member of the 70's super group "Bread" |
| TAXI Custom Critique of "Put It In The Closet" - This is an excellent song! Everything about it works, and better still, it sounds
fresh and contemporary, and not once during the performance could I think of how you could possibly improve any of it.
I love the sound of Caesar's voice, and the guitar solos are exceptional. (Thanks for doing something with a clean sound.
It's so nice to hear a tastefully done solo that relies on taste and skill rather than just another wailing, distroted
"rawk" lead!) The arrangement also flows beautifully, and conjures up within me all the right emotional responses.
It's an excellent song and if you could fill a CD full of others like it I can't understand how people won't sit up
and take notice. Well, in this day and age a lot of record companies aren't necessarilly interested in "quality" music.
They prefer something more trendy sounding, by someone with lots of sex appeal. But for people who loved bands like Squeeze
or Crowded House, or people who love The Wallflowers and Matthew Sweet, I would think this is right up their alley. And
honestly, I don't think good quality song writing will ever go out of fashion. |
| Hail Caesar-And don't forget the anchovies! Caesar Bach would not mind if you proclaimed him a new rock messiah-the song titles alone tell the tale: "I'm Gonna Make You Remember Me", "I Am Your Problem," "Why Should I Care." Kinda sounds like Kim Fowley doesn't it? Let's face it: the guy's a punk. But he's also a genius. Residing out in the Arizona desert, with only a few horn-toed hyenas to keep him warm at night, this quirky sandman weaves his pastiche-like recordings in blithe indifference to the low expectations of the mainstream recording industry. Listen to the weird-but-funky web of sound that manifests "Unwind Me," which, as far as one-man-band opuses go, outsmarts earlier monolithic entities like Jack Drag's Aviating in its nearly extraterrestrial blend of soul, the Beatles and studio perfection. Once again, anyone who could list George Harrison and Liz Phair's whitechocolatespaceegg amongst his five favorite LPs ever (where was Shell is Swell?) is not to be taken lightly. And like those albs, and the aforementioned Drag opus, Caesar Bach -the debut album-is a similarly lush and sophisticated affair. Another jitterbug number that comes to mind is the hypnotic "I'm Gonna Make You Remember Me" which once again showcases the Harrison influence, all through this weird rapture of totally updated Hip Hop-techno sounds-the only thing is, Bach ain't afraid o' pluggin' in Lucille for some real six-stringed sounds on top of the tech tomfoolery. "Put It In The Closet" for example proves that behind the kozmo-geezer façade Bach could easily compete in the singer/songwriter stakes on a par with, say, Billy Joel-and I say that in all seriousness. Remember when CBGBs was ravin' on the Bowery, and Studio 54 was raving a few blocks due North, Billy Joel was castigating the decadence of the day with stuff like "Big Shot"-how punk was that? "Can You Imagine" which has Bach rapping laconically over the motorized beatbox, employs embryonic "fake" female backing vocals (is this guy weird or what?). Hey Bach (and I don't mean Sebastian), try sampling Pink Lady next time! One of the best tunes is "All I Ever Wanted" which manages to combine the fractured folk-rock of early Bowie with, believe it or not, the dusty mountain trail of the Eagles and Poco. But then before you know it he's twizzlin' the electro-assed stuff, as on the percolating "My Confession" which is pure super-hero rock on an eighties Don Henley level-which once again brings up the Eagles connection. The harmonies even sound like the Eagles while the rhythm pulses in stuttering stop-steps as Bach passionately sings "I'd hate for this to be my confession/ 'cuz there are still three sins I haven't tried yet." What's that? Sex with a dog? It gets lonely out there in the desert I would imagine. And a little bit of water goes a long way when it's hot. And "hot" is what this track is, particularly given its almost Latin rhythms. Once again, this guy isn't just some schmo who came face-to-face with his first
iguana last week. He wears those things-as epitomized by the lyrics to "Rapper's Can't Smile" which says: "I'm not a rocker, wearin'
all torn-up clothes." This guy is dressed for success-but in this case, that might be "success" at a public rest stop at midnight.
As for the lyrics-which proclaim "I'm not a rapper/ rappers can't smile"-I thought at first Bach was trying to absolve those rap
killjoys, but then I realized he was making fun of them. And such is the crux of the man's work. Caesar Bach is going to win-it's
just a question of when. If you wanna ride on his rocket ship, be ready to fly without a helmet. File under: "King Missile."
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- Joe S. Harrington, acclaimed music critic and hit author of Sonic Cool: The Life & Death of Rock N' Roll
Review of Sonic Cool by Face Magazine, July 2004