Published on Jan 26, 2000
I’m convinced that inside the chest of every alternative-country
musician beats the heart of a rock ‘n’ roller.
Take Minneapolis’s The Cultivators, for example. For most of
their disc
Mama’s Kitchen, guitarist/vocalist Dan Israel and company
put out some of the more enjoyable alterna-country this side of The
Jayhawks – though it does take some time and effort to really get
into the disc. But the band slowly starts moving towards a more
rock-oriented sound, and by the end of the album, their focus has
changed. It’s kind of an interesting shift, but it’s not an
unpleasant one at all.
The first thing that strikes you about The Cultivators is the
professional sound they have. Israel is a veteran of the indie
scene, while this venture – also featuring lead
guitarist/mandolinist Tom Sampson, bassist Jeremy Smith and drummer
Andy Rauh – sound like they’ve been honing their craft together for
the longest time. The flow of the music is so natural and smooth
that it would be an easy opinion to share. It’s so smooth that you
can hardly tell when guest musicians join in the fray.
But with this comes the one difficulty that listeners might
have.
Mama’s Kitchen is not the easiest disc to get wrapped up in;
if you’re not holding on to every note, there’s a good chance
you’ll find yourself distracted from the music. Then again, maybe
this is just me; I seem to recall having the same difficulty with
The Jayhawks the first time I tried listening to them.
The Cultivators keep the spirit of alterna-country alive for the
first half of the disc; tracks like “All Alone,” “Never Stopped To
Run” and “Scrambling Scheme” all do a good job of keeping this
viable form of music alive in people’s minds. But somewhere around
the middle of the disc, a shift in styles begins to occur. You can
hear it a little bit in “Graduation Day”; you can definitely hear
something happening by the time “Word On The Street” kicks in.
For you see, Israel seems like he can’t totally forsake his
alternative rock roots, and he gives them room to grow in this
musical mixture he’s created. But, instead of distracting from the
original vision, the flow into a more alternative vein seems to
fuel the band musically, so that by the time things wind back into
a country vein on “Stranger Things,” the band seems to have been
injected with a new-found energy. I don’t mean to imply that the
music on the second half of
Mama’s Kitchen stagnates, but it does seem like Israel knew
when the right time to breathe some life into the scene was.
Mama’s Kitchen might not be the kind of disc that will bring
The Cultivators instant wealth and fame. Instead, what it should do
is bring some well-earned attention to this group, as well as open
people’s ears and minds again to the mixed breed of country and
alternative rock. It may take some effort to get through this disc
the first time, but the effort will soon prove worthwhile.
2000 Christopher Thelen and “The Daily Vault”. All rights
reserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without
written permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of the
record label, and is used for information purposes only.