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Review: Southeast Performer By Gregory Nicoll
For a collection of music by artists who have little in common other than a zip code, the new compilation Decatur Decorum is a surprisingly good set of tunes, one that may really surprise listeners who expect to hear a buncha Indigo Girls wannabes and the sort of Lonely Goatherd balladeering on which Decatur, GA's musical reputation was constructed. This disc is the handiwork of the tiny indie label Demagogue Productions, so it's no surprise that Adam Leland (Demagogue's flagship artist) starts the ball. Leland renders three very solid numbers in '60s Britpop style, the best of them being the clever "Reunion Blues," which offers an insider's perspective on the story of a defunct rock band which is reluctantly coerced into reuniting ("Dontcha play any new songs `cause the audience might get bored / Tell the reporters lies about how much we've matured"). Swinging things in another direction, rockabilly guy Brent Cashman turns back the clock even further with three number which, although recently cut at Robin Salmon's FMG Studio in Atlanta, could almost pass for `50s gems recorded at Sun Studios with Sam Phillips himself twiddling the knobs. Cashman's voice hovers in a sweet zone somewhere between vintage Elvis and classic Orbison, with potent elements of both.

Elizabeth Elkins of the group Alastor weighs in with a fine solo effort with "Shortcomings," a gentle ballad that's radically different from the more rockin' delivery of her band's work, and one which better serves her dense lyrical poetry. (Also included is an Alastor song, "American Universities," which illustrates the difference.) Elkins' Alastor bandmate Scott Roberts contributes two solo tunes here which were previously available on a 1994 cassette-only release; and one of them - the clever, catchy, and darkly humorous "Too Many Songs About Janes" - certainly merits this wider exposure. Kristina Graham, a now-you-se-her-now-you-don't vocalist of the band Rooke, checks in with two breezy numbers that suggest some `80s New Wave / pop act in the Motels / Muffins / Quarterflash vein. Carla Ulbrich offers a funny look at obsessive love in "What If Your Girlfriend Was Gone," a novelty song with speedy, amusing wordplay, and her "Boy Wonder" is a surprisingly touching lament of a kid genius who forfeits childhood for scholastic success, only to realize too late what he's missed.

On the lighter side, Blake Guthrie's lo-fi recording of "I Wish I Was A Hippie" effectively mixes humor with sarcasm, even mocking a cliched jam band-styled improvised guitar break, and his "Uninspired" expresses the frustration of an artist trapped in a demeaning day job that exhausts his creative resources ("I want to write a book and run a marathon / But I'm workin' as a grillcook and cleanin' the john"). Nicely complementing Guthrie's humor, Gregory Fleeman's amusing "Tarzan, Come Back" is a faux-operatic production worthy of Meat Loaf. Fleeman also has the honor of closing out the disc, an assignment he executes with considerable comic flair on "It's Not Her Fault (She's French)." In addition to his trademark witty wordplay ("She's been to London, and she's been to L.A. / She's been to the McDonald's on the Champs-Elysees!"), the song also gives Fleeman a chance to indulge in his notorious Jerry Lewis impersonation, bringing this Decorum to a side-splitting and anything but decorous conclusion.