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Art Amiss mix features 22 NW Arkansas bands

Art Amiss 15
Art Amiss 15

B Various artists

Art Amiss 15

Art Amiss

The 10-year-old Fayetteville collective, Art Amiss, recently released Art Amiss 15, a 24-track compilation featuring 22 bands from Northwest Arkansas (mostly Fayetteville), Fort Smith and Little Rock. The mix is available via cassette (for a limited time) and digital download ($10 at arkansas-music.bandcamp.com/album/art-amiss-15). Songs veer from shoe-gazey to pop, thrash to punk and hardcore to metal. What this means is, those who love some tracks will hate others.

The first few tracks are among the strongest. May the Peace of the Sea Be With You offers a dreamy mumble of sentimental lyrics, sway-worthy beats, wet guitars and an unexpected garage break, in "Summer Lovin'."

The Airplanes' "Paper Hearts," is pop candy for fans of the Beach Boys, Big Star and Architecture in Helsinki, while Doctor Nod's "Walkin' the Dog" intersperses childish lyrics against droning and honky sounds and a catchy melody.

Teenagers' "Good Vibes" starts as part Neutral Milk Hotel, part Nirvana before opening into breezy pop with endearingly off-key vocals, a harmonized chorus and surfy guitar. Neon Glittery's "In Clover" is noodle-y twee pop, whispery and fragile.

Things pick up again with SW/MM/NG's surf-pop number, "Some Dreams Come True," and Wasted Colours' "Burn Me Blank," which borrows from post-punk, like The Slits, and garage-punk, like The Coathangers.

Chasing Pictures' "Who Are We" is a radio-friendly take on '90s emo (think Sunny Day Real Estate), while Monsterheart's "Colonies" is spacy, blippie electronica. The Brothel Sprouts contribute a freak-party tune called "If I Can Still Stand," and The Chads offer accessible punk in "Tell the Girl." (The hardcore punk comes later with Mister Blister, Vessel and the Shook Yang's thrasher "Crab Kill.")

In between these bands are atmospheric rock (High Lonesome and Dead Indian), meandering guitar-rock (Eyes of Iron), guitar-heavy electronica (Liquid Skulls), more emo (Dividend), jammy prog (Friday, Maybe Saturday), sludge metal (Auric and Cowards), noise (Charnal) and four sisters from Springdale, who emit an updated Stevie Nicks vibe (Witchsister).

Hot tracks: "Paper Hearts," "Good Vibes," "Some Dreams Come True," "Burn Me Blank."

-- CHEREE FRANCO

B The Cate Brothers Band

The Malibu Sessions

Swingin' Door Records

Well, this is a trip in the wayback machine. Arkansas stalwarts Ernie and Earl Cate have unearthed this four-song EP from 1982 when their Cate Brothers Band was searching for a major label deal. Recorded in Shangri-La Studios, the same place their pals The Band recorded parts of The Last Waltz and where Bob Dylan camped out in a tent, The Malibu Sessions is certainly the sound of a band looking to make an impression.

The liner notes point out that these songs don't sound dated. We beg to differ, but that's not a bad thing. The Malibu Sessions is like a time capsule that finds the Cate Brothers mixing their Arkansas-flavored R&B with a radio-friendly pop sheen -- check the sax on "Hold On," which was probably a requirement for every pop song ever recorded between 1981 and 1985.

Cate Brothers pals Bonnie Raitt and Garth Hudson show up on the other tracks, with Raitt adding slide guitar on "Don't Need a Woman Like That" and Hudson's keyboard fleshing out "I Can't Keep Up With You" and the rootsy, soulful "I Can't Change It."

This demo didn't turn into major label gold for the Cates, but they did alright for themselves over the years. And The Malibu Sessions is a perfect little snapshot from a past over three decades in the rearview.

Hot track: "Hold On."

-- SEAN CLANCY

A The Levon Helm Band

The Midnight Ramble

Sessions, Vol. 3

Vanguard

Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble concept always seemed like such a neat thing. Here was a guy who'd spent most of his life on the road, bringing music to the people. Then he flipped the script and started playing gigs in the barn on his Woodstock, N.Y., property and brought the people to the music.

This collection is the last project the Phillips County native and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member was involved with before his death from cancer April 19, 2012. Ranging from blues and R&B to gospel and country, Levon and company -- including guests Chris Robinson, Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint -- rattle the rafters on these 13 tracks, which were recorded mostly in 2009, with some sessions dating to 2006-07.

Helm's vocals are strong and the band is locked in on "Driving Wheel," which was originally recorded by fellow Phillips Countian Roosevelt Sykes. Helm also soups up Muddy Waters' "The Same Thing" with a snaky R&B strut. Daughter Amy Helm takes lead vocals on Sam Cooke's "Ain't That Good News" and Brian Mitchell does his best late-period Dylan on "Simple Twist of Fate," which has a New Orleans groove here.

These are just a handful of the highlights, but we can't ignore Levon closing the proceedings with a euphoric reading of Al Green's "Take Me to the River." It's a perfect ending to this excellent compilation.

Hot tracks: "Driving Wheel," "Take Me to the River," "One More Shot," "Jealous Man."

-- SEAN CLANCY

Style on 08/19/2014

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