Churning power-pop, heady art-rock and rich psychedelic folk from this former singer, guitarist and synth-wizard for Air and Mr. Bungle.

10 MP3 Songs in this album (41:34) !
Related styles: ROCK: Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, POP: Power Pop

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WELCOME TO ROTOâS SUMMER HOME
âFirst solo album by former member of Air and Mr. Bungleâ

Itâs tempting to describe guitarist, pianist and songwriter James Rotondi as a âjourneymanâ musician, due to his lengthy stints with the French group Air, Mike Pattonâs Mr. Bungle, jazz-hop pioneers The Grassy Knoll, and other groundbreaking bands. Still, the Brooklyn-based performer would insist that the title of his first solo album, Summer Home, aptly suggests the sense of homecoming that the record represents; a laid-back, free-spirited musical home base, rooted in power-pop, psychedelic folk and jazz-rock, that heâs never really left.

âThis is the record Iâve been carrying around in my head and in notebooks and on dirty cassette tapes for the last several years, while on the road with other bands,â says Rotondi (better known by the nickname âRoto,â given to him during his West Coast years by fellow players from outfits like Bungle, Garaj Mahal and Critters Bugginâ). âThe title Summer Home, on one level, speaks to that place you go where you leave the working world behind, and rediscover all the things that you connected with as a kid.â

For Roto, those touchstones include his older sisterâs vinyl copies of CSNYâs Déjà Vu and the Beatlesâ Revolver; his big brotherâs Jeff Beck and Led Zeppelin records; and his Momâs penchant for Astrud Gilberto, French crooners like Gilbert Becaud, and the smokier side of John Coltrane. Those sounds, and beyond, are distilled on Summer Home into a smoky, bracing and headyâbut still warmingâmusical tonic that Roto ironically likens to his favorite single-malt scotch: âLike a glass of Oban, the album should ideally wake up your palate, be smooth and warm in your gut, and go right to your head!â

While the album boasts some head-buzzing synths and trippy guitar textures, itâs Rotoâs thoughtful and multi-layered lyrics that provide the most cerebral thrills. The title track, for instance, is less an homage to the sunny American Dream than it is a critique of wealthâs insulating effects: âI donât want to know about those good citizens/And their sad innocence,â declares the songâs narrator. âJust let me cynical, even clinical/In my indifference/Itâs just good common sense.â (Rotondi brings a similar kind of satiric bite to his regular column for The Huffington Post, and his many past articles and reviews for Spin, Guitar Player, The Boston Phoenix and other magazines and blogs.)

The Harry Nilsson-inspired track âChasing My Shadow,â says Roto, deals with âthe uncomfortable process of discovering your inner jerk.â âSalvation came and went/I moved a little too slow,â he sings. âMy soul was heaven-sent/Sent me chasing my shadow.â But thereâs poignancy as well. In âWhen the Talkies Come,â Roto creates a metaphoric love-gone-wrong tale set in 1920s Hollywood: âWhen the cameras had come and gone/The sets were struck and the dailies were scattered on the cutting room floor/I declared our contract void, and left my favorite star/To find her fortune on the boulevard.â

With a stunning cast of musicians fleshing out these pop novelettesâincluding keyboardist Didi Gutman (Brazilian Girls, Bebel Gilberto), drummer Shawn Pelton (Sheryl Crow, Bob Dylan), guitarist Joe Gore (Tom Waits, Tracy Chapman), and acoustic bassist Jeff Eyrich (Tim Buckley, Kelly Flint)âSummer Home is more than just the sunny sum of its musical parts. Produced by Roto with engineer Steve Rossiter at Axis Sound in Hellâs Kitchen, New York, itâs a collection of urbanâeven urbaneâfolk tales in which romanticism and sarcasm happily coexist, and where the French chanson of âColletteâ and the analog art-rock of âThe Fullness of Time,â the power-pop of âCongratulationsâ and the pop-tropicalia of âBaby, Youâre the Man,â seem entirely of a piece.

Welcome to your new Summer Home. Have some taffy.