Coitesy of E-PUlse: 1. LICKS OF THE WEEK: What is it about the steel guitar that contributes to the good-nature of Western swing music? Is it the shimmering slide vibrato that makes notes and chords float easily above the rest of an ensemble? Or the complex series of string-bending pedals that can be used to send notes careening around like a handful of stirred-up fireflies. Or maybe it's just the good nature steel players bring to the genre. Whichever, Jeremy Wakefield and his pedal steel, two stars of 'THE HOT GUITARS OF BILLER AND WAKEFIELD' (HMG/Hightone, out now), have it in spades. Cuts such as "Martian Guts," on which Wakefield trades rapid-fire licks with Telecaster man Dave Biller (no slouch himself) and Robert Williams' "Steel Crazy," which sports a guest vocal by Big Sandy, feature inspired, mood-lightening steel playing. "Grinding Geers" and "Siamese Strings" make good on the music's cartoony potential, bringing to mind the cute dancing bugs or forest animals from some '30s-era Warner Bros. animated short. Biller gets in on the act during "Good Enough," basically an excuse to turn periodic stops to tune up into a running joke. Loose, open-room production, courtesy guitar phenom Deke Dickerson (who also chimes-in on vocals here and there), lends a freewheeling air to the entire session. But make no mistake: none of the light mood that characterizes 'Hot Guitars' undercuts the seriousness of Biller & Wakefield's chops. A sure bet for guitar freaks and fans of upbeat, happy music alike. (Hammad) 4. ADVANCE WORD OF THE WEEK: When arranging a phone call with producer HOWIE B to discuss his contribution to the minimalism-meets-electronica 'Reich Remix' compilation (Nonesuch, 3/2), his London management explains why he's so darn difficult to track down at the moment. Howie's deep in Paris, recording a new album by LES NEGRESSES VERTES in, reportedly, an abandoned theater he transformed into a recording studio after the assigned studio proved inhospitable. Given the relative disappointment of his recent dub-meets-electronica project with Sly and Robbie, 'Strip to the Bone' (Palm Pictures), the news of the emergent gypsy-busking-dance-hybrid-meets-electronica is welcome indeed. Howie's best known for Skylab, a minutes-ahead-of-its-time international electronic quartet, as well as for producing and/or remixing, among others, Everything but the Girl, U2 (as a member of Passengers, along with Brian Eno), Tricky and Robbie Robertson, and for his small output of solo recordings. The Green Black Ladies (loose translation) have struggled a bit, musically at least, since the passing in 1993 of Helno, the closest thing to a lead singer that the marvelous anarchic collective had achieved. Frequently compared with the Pogues' Shane MacGowan -- inevitably, given the pair's drunken-punk-crooner stylings -- Helno lent a further layer of grit to LNV's already gritty music -- itself a force of rural violins, folk-ritual drumming, cabaret mysticism, and washboard-stroked acoustic guitars. "There's five of them right now," says Howie, regarding LNV's ever-fluid membership. "It's a wicked little vibe. We're nine tracks into the album. It's really very much song-based, but a lot of humor, and a lot of seriousness, very groove-oriented, an avenue they haven't been down. It's a mix of heavy acoustic and really good songs, and magic groove." (Weidenbaum)
