In a robustly physical and thoroughly engaging set last night at the 930 Listening Room in Louisville that centered on the assembly, embellishment and rapid deconstruction of pop melodies, Liam Finn worked, in essence, as a one man band.

Sure, the New Zealand songsmith had a fellow down under pal, E J Barnes, along as a harmony vocalist, percussionist and all around onstage sparring partner. But Finn largely served as his own rhythm section by playing guitar and drums and then creating loops and delays that let riffs initiated on both instruments bounce about like jettisoned spirits in the sound mix.

On the show opening Better to Be, for example, a live guitar riff was quickly recycled as a loop. A second guitar loop was added. Then came a bass groove, a slashing surf-style guitar lick and a move by Finn to a stand-up drum kit. The tune swelled and then subsided with a very singular sense of orchestration that sounded as homemade as it did technologically stirring.

But such a literally loopy concert design would have quickly disintegrated into a tired, static novelty act if Finn didn’t possess a bold command of pop essentials to begin with. In other words, under all the loops and pedal effects was a keenly emotive singing voice that was equally at home with the melodic swagger of Fire in Your Belly and the more folkish reflection of Energy Spent.

Likewise, the songs - all of which, save a goofy mid-set improvisation, were pulled from Finn’s debut album, I’ll Be Lightning - possessed a literary wistfulness crossed with the kind of human conflict that, in lesser hands, would have come off as grossly sentimental. With Finn, such aggressions - like the “vicious love” saga spelled out during I’ll Be Lightning’s title track or the more winter melancholy of Remember When - would have been electric had they been played completely straight.

In fact, if you zeroed in on Finn’s high, lyrical singing and the mix of pensive and passionate storylines, you heard the unmistakable sound of his father, Crowded House founder Neil Finn. But add in the loop effects and the like, including the blast of hair-raising, intensely fuzzy guitar that sent shock waves throughout Remember When, and you had a performance rooted in pure pop craftsmanship that was also ripe with a drive and urgency all its own.

When Finn took to the drums as guitar loops bounced around during Second Chance, the effect seemed - at least, initially - almost punkish. But in the end, Finn’s deliriously unhinged backbeat steered closer to unadorned garage rock.

Barnes (another pop celebrity offspring; she’s the daughter of Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes) added nicely to the fun by sampling and looping vocal purrs and shrieks. But even she couldn’t help but crack up at times when Finn’s sense of instrumental devilry went into overdrive.

“That’s a beautiful sound,” she remarked with a laugh as Finn concocted a scorched solo guitar grind in the midst of Lead Balloon. Finn replied with another blast of ornery noise that sounded for all the world like electronic flatulence.

Killer songs, a performance drive both playful and inventive, and a mischievous spirit that was pure rock ‘n’ roll - all were parts of an evening’s work for this thoroughly modern Finn.

Neighbors will be helping neighbors over at Al Bar’s tonight. The occasion is a record release party for the third and newest edition of Know Your Own, the free CD anthology series of local indie music compiled and overseen by the ever-industrious Ross Compton.

But that’s just half the agenda. The celebration, along with performances by four Know Your Own acts - Thee American Revolution, Bedtime, Matt Duncan and The Joybombs - will help raise further funds for WRFL-FM’s “Build the Tower, Boost the Power” fund.

There is barely a wasted second on the newest Know Your Own sampler - literally. It squeezes in tracks from 29 different artists onto a single 80 minute CD. The running time: 79:59. Really.

Among the many highlights: the jangly power pop of The High Water Marks’ Finding Clovers, the folk/jazz psychedelia of Eyes and Arms of Smoke’s In Your Room at Night, the flamenco-friendly strut of Noisycrane’s I’m Walking Through the Room and You’re Asleep, the cheery electronica of Big Fresh’s As It May Be, the organic hip-hop of Dialectics’ Incognito, the orchestral loops that give way to the wide-eyed pop of The Joybombs’ Washed Away and the aloof guitar beatfest of The Oxford Farm Report’s We Wear Blinders.

(Above photo of Jeremy Midkiff by Herald-Leader staff photographer Whitney Waters. Midkiff plays with The Joybombs, although this shot caught him in action earlier this month at FreeKy Fest with Big Fresh.)

The release party for Know Your Own, Vol. 3 gets underway at 8 tonight at Al’s Bar, 6^th and N. Limestone. $5. Call (859) 252-9104.

It was an intriguing but intense few minutes when Liam Finn dug into Second Chance, one of the many fine pop delicacies from his debut solo album I’ll Be Lightning, in February on the Late Show with David Letterman.

First up was a fetching melody on acoustic guitar over which Finn’s airy and emotive vocals quietly sailed. Then Finn turned the guitar line into a computerized loop that played on by itself. Next, he tapped in a few guitar colors to embellish the groove. Those also bounced about in independent repetition.

With the delayed effects creating an orchestrated backdrop of sorts with help from vocalist/percussionist EJ Barnes, Finn moved over to the drums and bashed about like a child bent on making all the playful racket he could muster. Finally, without warning, the mix of live and delayed music stopped, Finn shot off the drum stool and the performance was over.

The effect of having a musical mood pieced together in almost piecemeal technological fashion and then halted with the immediacy of a light switch being turned off was rather dramatic. Even the tough-to-impress Letterman seemed momentarily stunned when Finn got to his feet.

“I’ve always played a lot of instruments and I’ve always dabbled with the loop pedal in the privacy of my own home,” said Finn, who performs tonight at The 930 Art Center in Louisville as part of a double bill with Oregon songsmith Laura Veirs. “So when I started doing live solo shows and trying my songs out, I knew how to utilize what I do on different instruments to make things more interesting than just a singer-songwriter kind of show.”

Such a singular performance sound backed by a solid sense of pop songcraft has given Finn a rich musical voice of his own. And when you’re a Finn, standing out among the family ranks, let alone a torrent of other new indie acts, is a tough task. After all, he is the son of Crowded House leader Neil Finn and the nephew of Split Enz founder, veteran solo artist and one time House-mate Tim Finn.

“I’ve tried hard not to use the family thing to get a leg up on anyone,” the younger Finn said. “But people are always going to ask about it.

“I mean, I love my dad’s music. I love my uncle’s music. I’m proud to be a Finn and would never be embarrassed by it or want to get away from it. But I’ve tried to make my music my first and foremost thing. And hopefully, that music speaks for itself.”

So far, it has and then some. I’ll Be Lightning has earned wildly enthusiastic critical praise since its release in late January and has kept Finn continually on the road for nearly a year.

As far back as last summer, Finn opened for, and served as an auxiliary member of, Crowded House. Then as recently as last month, he served as a warm-up act for Eddie Vedder’s first solo tour.

“That was amazing,” Finn said. “We got to play in some really beautiful theatres. I also got to play a few songs with Eddie himself each night, which was a real buzz. It was a luxurious little tour in the middle of all this little person touring.”

 Laura Viers and Liam Finn perform at 8 p.m. Friday at the 930 Art Center, 930 Mary St. in Louisville. Tikcets are $13. Call (502) 635-2554.

A few years ago, I was invited by the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame to sit in on a committee that reviewed potential inductees for its 2006 ceremony.

As everyone in the room represented varying degrees of musical interest and intent, our choices purposely ran all over the stylistic map, from obvious country and bluegrass celebrities to less heralded names from the worlds of jazz and theatre.

Curiously, one name popped up on everyone’s list: Dottie Rambo. The Madisonville native was a multi-generational voice of Southern gospel that also possessed an expansive and often fearless view of country music

How fearless? Well, these ears were largely unfamiliar with the literally thousands of songs she wrote that were subsequently covered by such varied artists as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Porter Wagoner, Charlie Louvin, Bill Monroe, Andrae Couch and dozens of others. It took newer covers of her music by Alison Krauss with the Cox Family and Rhonda Vincent to make her lasting influence more personally visible.

My introduction to Rambo came by way of an extraordinary 1974 country-roots solo album by Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts (who went by Richard Betts at the time). Titled Highway Call, the recording favored not Rambo’s songwriting, but her sterling singing alongside then-husband Buck and daughter Reba.

Hearing the Rambos harmonize with unspoiled country gospel cheer alongside Betts on guitar and dobro and the equally joyous piano playing of Chuck Leavell (now a co-hort of the Rolling Stones) was a wake-up call to then-teenaged ears that thought a Betts solo session would offer little more than a mild variation on the Allmans’ signature Southern rock recipe.

A Grammy winning artist, Rambo survived health difficulties and severe, almost soap opera-ish upheavels in her personal and business life. Last weekend, as we all know now, Rambo died in a bus accident at the age of 74 while enroute to a Mother’s Day concert in Texas.

Rambo’s veteran fans can likely reel off scores of appropriate song titles that would do a remembrance of her career proud. I can’t help but recommend Highway Call, which was reissued on CD in 2001.

Betts obviously dominates the album. But within its grooves, you hear a Kentucky voice full of country faith that never falters. 

Who else but the veteran European jazz label ECM would issue an album called January with summer at the proverbial doorstep? Who else would then conjure a session full of sparsely designed, sublimely executed piano trio chill and wrap it up in cover art of a twilight skyline blurred to obscure any identity?

In quiet but striking fashion, ECM has remained true on January to its defining sound. The label has veered off at times into more abstract exercises, taken boppish retreats and occasionally delved into electronic, even rockish diversions. But January boasts everything that has made ECM music so arresting over the past three-plus decades: an improvisational sensibility rooted in jazz, a soloist/leader with a sense of musical reserve as versed as the technical command of his instrument and compositions ripe with rich impressionism.

Last year, the trophy for the most ECM-like ECM album went to Norweigan pianist Tord Gustavsen and a recording of jazz sleight-of-hand called Being There. While 2008 isn’t even half over yet, the winner of this year’s prize will likely be Polish pianist Marcin Wasilewski. Unlike Gustavsen, Wasilewski has a prized apprenticeship under his belt. Since 2001, he and the rest of the trio on January - bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz - have played behind the celebrated Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko as the free-jazz pioneer developed more melodic form for his music. The group also issued an ECM record of its own called simply Trio.

January understandably places the focus on Wasilewski’s meditative playing, but its ensemble sound still underscores ECM’s warm but decidedly wintry timbre.

The First Touch sets the mood for January, albeit very slowly, with pastoral, mid-register piano and the slightest of brushed shuffles on drums. There are heavy suggestions here of the ‘70s improvised solo piano recordings of Keith Jarrett (which, what a surprise, were issued on ECM). Melodies are pronounced, but remain spacious and unhurried.

The January entries that spark the greatest contemplative warmth, however, are cover tunes - and pretty diverse ones at that. Ennio Morricone’s luscious theme to Cinema Paradiso glides along with almost the same airy tempo as The First Touch, with piano creating an icy glaze around a theme that stops just shy of melancholy.

Similarly, the trio’s take on Prince’s Diamonds and Pearls, with a theme introduced not by Wasilewski, but with the beautifully organic sounds of strings popping on wood by Kurkiewicz, is a ballet of sorts. The tune’s pop leanings melt into attractive, descending chords that are repeated just enough to remind you of the song’s origin. But once Wasilewski digs in, the tempo turns to the sort of rubato that recalls Lyle Mays’ late ‘70s piano orchestration for the Pat Metheny Group (also on ECM, by the way).

The modern and playful phrasing of Carla Bley’s King Korn kicks up some dust within these soundscapes. But a lovely reading of Stanko’s Balladyna, which cries out for a cameo by the composer, furthers January’s blissful cool.

It should be noted that despite ECM’s preference for recording studios in Oslo, January was cut last year in New York - in February, no less. But when the music is so lusciously sedate as this, the times, locales, even season don’t matter. January, in this instance, is here and now.

The longstanding definition of the blues has been one of hardship. Never mind how accurate that portrayal has been in reality, especially given that some of the genre’s most arresting music has been nothing sort of jubilant. The blues, as we have come to view them, have been marked by loss, solitude and no small degree of suffering.

Most of all, and this is one of the few points many major blues stylists tend to agree on, you have to live through life’s experiences to credibly sing about them.

If that it is truly the mark of vital, breathing blues music, then Janiva Magness is a scholar.

Just listen to her recordings, such as the forthcoming What Love Will Do album, her debut with the celebrated Chicago blues label Alligator Records after a nearly three-decade career. On it, you will hear funk fuming with brassy soul. You will hear deep pocket Southern grooves and chunks of churchy cool. You hear will tunes by Al Green (I’m Glad You’re Mine) and Annie Lennox (Bitter Pill) re-tooled to suit the sass and sensitivity of Magness’ fearless singing.

But look at Magness’ story, to the life that led her to music, and you discover a saga of survival.

A lost love? A broken heart? It’s nowhere near that simple. Magness has a tale to tell that is operatic in scale. And in recent years, she has been discussing it freely with lawmakers, care givers and victims of the same life circumstances she experienced.

That’s because Magness has discovered, in the midst of an extensive but still mounting blues career, the power to heal and the ability to share that resulting strength with others.

“There is a saying that tells us that which is your greatest tragedy can become your greatest asset,” Magness said. “I don’t know if my story would be my greatest asset. But it has awkwardly and unpredictably turned into a gift, one where I can now try to help other people as a result. Because I came out the other side.”

* * * *

At the age of 13, Magness’ mother committed suicide. A year later she ran away from home, lived on the street and began drinking and using drugs. During the two years that followed, she passed through 12 different foster homes and three psychiatric facilities. Just before Magness’ 16^th birthday, her father killed himself. Following a subsequent pregnancy, she gave her daughter up for adoption. Her own thoughts of suicide were frequent.

She was finally placed with a single mother of five children who worked as a drug and alcohol counselor. To Magness, she became a mentor that helped piece together a shattered life. By the age of 18, Magness began re-examining a childhood loves of blues and R&B by auditioning for singing engagements.

Flash forward to a far brighter present. Magness has starred in the West Coast production of the Tony-nominated It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues, has worked as a vocal sidekick to such varied blues and pop giants as Brian Setzer, R.L. Burnside and Jimmy Buffett and has recorded a string of critically acclaimed albums that led to her Alligator Records.

Magness also reconnected with her daughter. At age 51, the singer is now a proud grandmother.

“I can say to you honestly that I’m not hardwired for success in any arena,” Magness said. “I’m simply not. I’m obviously a fighter. But it’s been frightening because I’m not used to the idea of having a good life. And I have a remarkably good life for someone who came out of what I came out of. Experiences, I believe, form and shape our personalities.”

Living through the turmoil of her teen years was one thing. To publicly discuss her past was quite another. Initially, that wasn’t part of her new life. But that changed after talks with her publicist and long time friend Michael McClune. That’s when Magness realized she was in a position to help others.

“Michael knew me well enough to say, ‘You really should consider going public with your story.’ I was like, ‘I don’t think so.’ I mean, I never felt it was anybody’s business. But he thought I could help people. So I thought about it for well over a year because I really wanted to consider everything that might happen and that might be asked of me. That’s when I decided there was great merit in what Michael was saying.

“But here’s the prize I didn’t consider. Sharing my story with other people has helped me heal more.”

* * * *

Today, Magness balances duties as a blues artist with her work as national spokesperson for Casey Family Programs and their promotion of National Foster Care Month - which just happens to be May.

That means as she gears up for intensive summer touring behind the June 10 release of What Love Will Do, she is working just as aggressively as a public speaker for government organizations, care facilities and anyone who can benefit from her core message that one adult can make a substantial difference in the life of troubled child.

For Magness, such engagements focus on a very different means of performance to a very different audience. But the method of communication, she said, isn’t that removed from performing a blues tune at a club or festival.

“I’ve been taking money for singing songs for 33 years now,” Magness said. “The public speaking is something that became new to my world in the last couple of years. But in my experience and in my opinion, an audience is looking for a connection, whether it’s an audience in a club or an assembly of legislators. They are looking to relate. People want human connection.

“The experiences in the early part of my life no longer define me. But they are part of my landscape that feeds my music and informs my craft.”

(above photo of Janiva Magness by Paul Natkin)

Janiva Magness and Griffin House perform at 7 tonight at the Kentucky Theatre, 214 E. Main St. as part of the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour. Tickets are $10. Call (859) 252-8888.

The week’s off-hour listening has included:

Matching Mole: March - A second volume of live recordings by Robert Wyatt’s short-lived post-Soft Machine band recorded in 1972, but not released until 30 years later. The music borrows heavily from the Softs’ rugged blend of jazz, prog and psychedelia. And, yes, Wyatt’s singing is just as trippy here as it was during his Softs heyday. But guitarist Phil Miller is the ace in the hole on these recordings, especially during a treacherous Part of the Dance that makes March a live snapshot that rocks with depth and invention.

Zappa Plays Zappa: Zappa Play Zappa - The title refers to a band led by guitarist Dweezil Zappa devoted to the music of his father, Frank Zappa. Available in several formats, including a multiple CD/DVD package with a $50 price tag, I opted for the more checkbook-friendly single CD version for $15. Here, the focus is on more familiar Zappa material, if there is such a thing, that includes a faithful cover of I’m the Slime and a hysterically frenzied Cheepnis. But when Steve Vai joins the party for The Black Page, things really get heavy.

Quinteplus: Quinteplus - A new discovery, but an old sound. Last year saw the CD issue of a 1972 recording of a Buenos Aires jazz ensemble seemingly modeled on the more progressive music of Cannonball Adderley. It’s not exactly fusion, though Santiago Giavobble’s Rhodes-style keyboards give the brassy arrangements a modest pop accent. This new edition boasts 36 minutes of live recordings that percolate with even more flair than the studio work. An obscurity that is well worth seeking out.

Steve Nieve/Muriel Teodori: Welcome to the Voice - Inspired equally by Elvis Costello’s recent visit to the bluegrass (Nieve is Costello’s longtime keyboardist) and to the rediscovery of Matching Mole (Wyatt is among Voice’s voices) was a new listen to this 2007 neo-operatic “work about unlikely encounters. The mighty guest list includes Costello, Sting and soprano Barbara Bonney along with musical settings that shift from the one time Costello collaborators of the Brodsky Quartet to guitar renegade Marc Ribot. Indescribably wild.

Los Lobos: One Time One Night - Subtitled Live Recordings, Vol. 1, there are few clues in the notes as to where (other than “live in the U.S.A.”) or when these performances were presented. A good guess would be mid-1996, given the repertoire’s reliance on material for the band’s Colossal Head album. Regardless, One Time One Night captures a looser, funkier Los Lobos in action, from the brassy swagger of This Bird’s Gonna Fly to a recasting of Colossal Head’s title tune with a dose of Norman Whitfield-era Motown. Very cool.

The ruckus surrounding the proposed CentrePointe may have settled down a bit as of late. But that should not suggest the project is no longer with us. The deal on CentrePointe is neither dead nor done.

To help out Preserve Lexington, which is promoting alternative construction on the downtown “Dame block” that blends new architecture with existing structures deemed historical, is a benefit tonight at Al’s Bar. Performing will be a strong regional music bill that features the always hearty grooves of Club Dub, local popsters The Phat Mavericks, the Versailles psychedelic blues troupe Joint Venture and Sans Serid.

Aside from serving as a cool show for a vital cause, the Saturday benefit will be an opportune time to catch The Phat Mavericks in action. The band’s new Zebra Gazebo album is a clever cross-generational party that wraps up rockabilly, reggae-fied grooves, tropically inclined pop, swing and modest hip-hop accents in one bright, melodic package.

There is a fun performance attitude surrounding this lot, as well. Check some of it out via a fun homemade video for the tipsy Sideways Strut now playing on the Phat Mavericks’ myspace page.

Need another reason to check out Zebra Gazebo? Try this: The Phat Mavericks will donate half the proceeds of the album’s sales tonight to Preserve Lexington.

The band will also be chatting and performing Saturday on WRFL-FM between 4 and 6 p.m.as a warmup for the show.

Still want more? Then keep May 15 open. That’s when The Phat Mavericks will headline its own concert at The Dame, one of the very downtown businesses Preserve Lexington is hoping to preserve.

The Benefit for Preservation Lexington will be held at 8 tonight at Al’s Bar, Sixth St. and North Limestone. Admission is $5. Call (859) 252-9104.

How fitting that the Nashville-bred, traditionally flavored funk, soul and R&B of The Dynamites would be compacted onto an album called Kaboom!

Sure, it’s easy to assume by the title that the big, brassy sound The Dynamites are packing is explosive. What isn’t nearly as obvious is the road it took for the band’s singer, Charles Walker to gain appreciation by an American audience,

Walker began singing in Nashville clubs over a half-century ago and spent ensuing decades cutting roots-savvy R&B for Chess, Decca and various independent labels in New York. Among them: No Fool No More, which appeared on the extraordinary Night Train to Nashville, Vol. 2 compilation in 2005 .

But Walker’s audience remained modest in size until a soul revival in Europe provided him with steady performance work. After living in England and Spain, he returned to Nashville in the 1990s.

Enter the eight-member Dynamites led by guitarist Leo Black. Sporting a three-man horn section and a tireless rhythmic drive, the band’s high retro sound steers closer to the James Brown school of funk and the early 70s albums of Tower of Power than the recent works of such torchy soul revivalists as Sharon Jones and Bettye LaVette.

On Kaboom!, the sound is thick, pervasive funk with a wicked backbeat. Horns pepper the grooves while Walker recalls The Temptations’ David Ruffin strutting against the furious Brown-savvy groove of Killin’ It, the swampy voodoo refrain of Way Down South (the closest thing on the album to a slow tune) and the sly twist of Slinky.

There are no plans for Black and Walker to bring their soul caravan through Lexington this summer. So if you’re in the mood to spend some time in the Kaboom! room, a short Saturday road trip to the Southgate House in Newport is in order.

(above photo of The Dynamites by Eric Adkins)

The Dynamites performs at 10 p.m. May 10 at The Southgate House, 24 East Third St. in Newport. Tickers are $10. Call (859) 431-2201.

Time was that an Elvis Costello concert was defined by a shattering pop melody, a cynical turn of a lyric and, quite often, a magnetic sneer on the part of the host performer.

Last night at the Louisville Palace, though, a far less pensive but no less artistically restless Costello made a raised eyebrow, a sideways grin and lyrics to new songs that embraced everything from drunken weddings to fatherhood the cornerstones of his performance.

There were plenty of ruminative rockers from the postpunk days - a cranky but giddy Lipstick Vogue, a fitfully groove-savvy Watching the Detectives, and a solo acoustic encore of Alison - to please those in the crowd still tied to Costello’s past. The singer even had 2/3 of his Attractions band (keyboardist Steve Nieve and drummer Pete Thomas) on hand with a comparatively new bassist (Davey Faragher, who joined in 2001 when the unit was officially re-dubbed The Imposters) playing with ageless drive and invention.

But this was a night where new music was also placed front and center. Over the course of a two-and-a-quarter hour set, Costello sneaked in all 12 songs from his new Momofuku album, which hit stores in its CD format on Tuesday. It was in these tunes that Costello’s most crafty profiles emerged.

Stella Hurt opened the evening with Nieve taking charge on carnival like organ sprints and hand-modulated theremin rings while Costello and the rest of the Imposters stirred a pot of purposely jagged and voluminous rhythm - either that, or the sound mix took a good song or two to settle in for the night.

By Harry Worth, the surprises began. Faragher added vocal harmonies that suggested the great multi-tracked Costello vocal recordings of the late ‘70s, while Costello himself guided the tune’s generally tipsy wedding day mood through light bossa nova turns. My Three Sons, performed during a trilogy of encores, was Harry Worth’s straightfaced, more autobiographically inclined alter ego.

But the Momofuku tune destined for classic status, at least in terms of its performance potential, was Flutter and Wow, a more modestly sentimental slice of wide eyed pop that compacted the epic song structures Costello explored with Burt Bacharach on 1998’s Painted From Memory into a lean combo frame.

The evening also steered into areas of repertoire other than the very old and the very new. Beyond Belief and a beautifully, patiently paced Man Out of Time served as bold re-affirmations that the album they hailed from, 1982’s Imperial Bedroom, still stands as Costello’s unrivaled masterpiece.

Similarly reflective were the three tunes pulled from 2004’s The Delivery Man highlighted by Country Darkness, a broken waltz full of regal words, riveting soul and stark jabs of some very nocturnal electric piano by Nieve.

The best was appropriately served during the final encore. The two song medley blended Costello’s best Momofuku tune, the grand kiss-off groove-a-thon Go Away, and his still anthemic reading of Nick Lowe’s still topical (What’s So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding.

The two tunes encapsulated every magical element of Costello’s industrious pop design. Luckily, there were another 26 songs over the two preceding hours where those machinations took form and ran wild.