Written by: Dave Cantrell

As we keep saying rather ad infinitum-ly, the great thing about this music-writing gig is the constant discovery of talent we had no idea existed, which under perhaps other circumstances would make a person feel that they’d been somehow negligent but when it comes to music and the joys such discoveries bring us, whatever tinge of embarrassment we might normally feel is invariably drowned by the resounding chorus of “Wow!”‘s and “This is aMAYzing!”‘s and of course the occasional “Geez! Where have I been all these years?” Such was certainly the case when presented with the work of Chandler Travis last year as represented in a collection of tracks that had resulted from his long-standing partnership with Duplex Planet founder David Greenberger. Though aimed at the pair of them, when we said of that work that it was “at once literate, wry, [and] craftily diverse” we could just as easily been referring to any of the many parallel projects Mr Travis has his hands in at any given time, not least his ‘big band’ project The Chandler Travis Philharmonic.

The Chandler Travis Philharmonic is a 9-piece ensemble from Boston that includes a horn section, string bass, keyboard, mandocello, guitar, drums, accordion, and, for that Travisian coup de grace, a singing valet. It’s been said by some that the CTP could possiby be the missing link between the Kinks and Sun Ra and we here at SEM can see absolutely no reason to dispute that claim. The Philharmonic was almost accidentally created in the fall of 1996 at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, on the occasion of Chandler doing a guest spot there with a house band led by multi-instrumentalist/singer Dinty Child. When asked if he would like to add any additional instrumentation, Chandler, having always hated when elderly bands run out of ideas, suggested, half-jokingly “Yeah, sure,let’s get some horns and a few chick back-up singers.” Without batting a single eyelash in response to this sarcasm, Dinty went ahead and complied with the horn part, booking (among others) genius trumpeter Keiichi Hashimoto, and the epic Chandler Travis Philharmonic was, against all odds, born.

Since then, the band – all eight garishly garbed pieces of them, along with singing valet Fred Boak – have introduced the concept of alternative Dixieland and idiosyncratically-tagged ‘omnipop’ to audiences all over Massachusetts and far beyond; San Francisco, Chicago, and especially New Orleans and New York City have proved particularly responsive. And now it’s your turn. “Human,” which if you have any sense you’re listening to right now, is a wonderfully crunchy and eccentric slice of pop of the first water, reminding of Big Star had Alex Chilton handed the reins over the Robyn Hitchcock, leaving instructions that the first song they produce be a sly, perhaps slightly twisted anthem to the odds of our species making it out of our self-made mess alive. In short, a cheery, shadow-punching romp that doesn’t stint on the hooks, just like it sounds. The track comes from a new, download-only EP rather demurely called Waving Kissyhead, Vol. 1 (just released September 1st on Chandler’s own Sonic Trout label), which is a taster for the forthcoming (this fall) full-length entitled – you guessed it – Waving Kissyhead Vol.2. 

All of which is a lot of information at one sitting so perhaps we oughta just shut up and let the CTP do the talking. Here goes…