Voyage by The Vintage Caravan

Voyage by The Vintage Caravan

The Vintage Caravan is a trio from Iceland that delivers a brand of classic rock heavily influenced by Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, which contains no irony whatsoever. There are no smiles, grins or anything hip on the band's debut Voyage and its straightforwardness—combined with the trio's powerhouse riffs and room demolishing punch—makes for an undeniably refreshing experience in 2014.  

That doesn't necessarily mean that Voyage is a truly effective album.  It's not missing grit.  It has plenty of that, in fact.  What it is missing—and absolutely needs—is a few truly spellbinding songs.  In that department, this trio provides none.  Those looking for a hard rock hit a la "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" will be disappointed.  But, if you just want to rock for 50 minutes, you really can't go wrong here.

At their best, The Vintage Caravan makes a totally convincing case for charging a $5-$8 cover to see them at a hot bar in town.  At their worst, they seem only marginally better than the average seasoned hard rock band taping posters to the windows at Guitar Center.  

It's not a bad debut record though and on "Winterland," an Alice in Chains/Pink Floyd pastiche, and especially on the 12-minute epic "The King's Voyage," these Icelanders sound good enough to ask for—and receive—a case of beer on their hospitality rider.  

Folk Alliance 2014 Report

Don't let the title of this article mislead you.  I am the least qualified person to evaluate and report on the talent that came to the Westin Hotel in Kansas City for the 2014 International Folk Alliance Conference.  The problem is not my judgment of talent.  On that end, I think I'm pretty good!  The problem is that I was just so damn busy.  The conference was a total trip, but that doesn't change the fact that there's still only 24 hours a day and that that's not an adequate amount of time to hear everything.  Yes, Graham Nash was there.  Yes, I had every intention of hearing his keynote speech. Was I able to catch him? No. 

That said, it was impossible not to hear great musicians 24/7.  Literally impossible.  You could walk through the Westin lobby, ballroom, mezzanine and bar and there would be a 100% chance of hearing either an organized performance, impromptu jam session or an acoustic guitarist riffing around like a maniac by the elevator.  And in the elevator—and in the men's room.

One thing's for sure:

51 weeks out of the year this would never fly.  If this wasn't a contracted thing, literally every single registrant would be kicked out of the hotel for totally valid, repeated noise violations. To call this a liberating musical experience would be an understatement.  If for some reason you were a grinch who hated folk music, this conference would be hell.  At noon you would be suffering.  At midnight you'd be suffering.  At 5 am?  You better believe you'd be suffering.  For people like me though, this was heaven.  Albeit a very busy version of it.

But when I wasn't busy I heard some great music by some great artists.  Below are just some of them.  I recommend you check them out.

Baskery

Whiskey Shivers

The Appleseed Collective

Star and Micey

John Fullbright

The Midnight Roses

Carolina Story

And, of course, Gangstagrass—the reason I was even there.

Security by Antibalas

Security by Antibalas

This hour-long afro-beat jam album may not be essential, but it's wildly fun free-form funk, filled with brass, scissor-y guitars, b3 organs, static electronica and percussion thats rivers down like a violent hailstorm.  The whole thing is masterfully arranged and, at times, these virtuoso musicians' sonics are quite hypnotizing.