listening in

Collisions - Another Storm

               

Talk about sleeping on a band. I downloaded Collisions’ Volume One EP a few months ago. I actually can’t remember when.  I liked it, but for some reason I never returned to it. Dumb move. I’ve been painting my new place and there are a lot of walls and I’m a slow painter. The only thing that gets me through it is beer and good music. I rediscovered these guys while painting my living room “sanctuary green.” Kind of appropriate given the intro to Another storm.

The slightly overdriven picked guitars at the beginning pull me in hook, line and sinker. The bass and drums creep in and I’m sold.  Collisions’ Another Storm feels like a second wind.  It makes me think of John McClane in Die Hard getting his ass kicked over and over again only to pick himself up and just beat the living hell out of everybody.  There are four  movies, you pick your own bad guy.

Collisions’ Volume One EP has a ton of power as a whole and while they draw from pop punk, they leave out the frilly bullshit and and really deliver as songwriters.  Keep an eye on these guys.

www.facebook.com/collisionsmusic

The Soonest - Simple Question

              

Some nights I just can’t sleep. Doesn’t matter what I do, I just can’t seem to put my mind at ease. Most of these nights are spent watching bullshit television, trying to read, or sometimes even writing music, but they all usually go in the same direction: nowhere.  On very few of these sleepless nights do I find anything of any importance. Tonight I found The Soonest and I’m loving it.  They have one song, “Simple Question”, from their forthcoming EP and two youtube videos.  Apparently June 12 I can get a few more tracks once they release their EP, “Lions At Your Door”.

I’m getting a storyteller vibe from this song. Young Lee’s voice sounds well composed and controlled, but the emotion still comes through and rings true. His voice is a little reminiscent of The Killers and Snow Patrol.  The instrumentation is beautiful and the band obviously has a serious case of chemistry.  The Soonest’s “Simple Question” embodies beauty in songwriting and captivates me as a listener. I feel like I’m getting pulled into the wardrobe.  

www.thesoonest.tumblr.com

Fire Is Motion - Smile, It Makes This Easier

                         

I remember when nobody knew who Iron and Wine was. I remember when people used to furrow their brows at the question of, “ever heard of Pete Yorn?”  I bring up these two musical references not as supposed influences on Fire Is Motion, but rather as drawing similarities between good honest music.  When I first heard the early recordings of Iron and Wine it really did sound like one guy holed up in his bedroom, pouring his heart out in whispers and falsettos.  

While Fire Is Motion has it’s own sound, or should I say, his own sound, (because it’s one guy), I’m reminded of that slightly folksy, slightly playful, but completely entrancing feeling I first got when I listened to those early records by Iron and Wine and Pete Yorn.  His voice sounds a little like the lead singer of Plain White T’s, just a little.  I feel like this is a song I would hear walking into my unsuspecting local coffee shop looking for just a cup of sweet sweet java but getting so much more.  It’s completely unassuming, stripped down, but Fire Is Motion seems to thrive in this setting. I just wish I could hear more. 

www.fireismotion.bandcamp.com

Please Dance Hell Bear - MY

                         

This is cool. Please Dance Hell Bear is instrumental rock at it’s best. They don’t need vocals, but goddamn do I want to sing over this.  I love their music. I can groove to it and I’m envious of those intertwining guitar lines.  They’re catchy as hell. You can hear them feeling the music. These guys definitely know how to have a good time.

Please Dance Hell Bear’s “MY” is invigorating. It feels like I’m waking up into a dream. Am I running from somebody? Am I chasing somebody? Am I flying on a pegasus through clouds of cotton candy? You decide.  The changing time signatures just add to my love for this song.  I’m on my 5th or 6th time around and I’m just about ready to discover the other 2 songs on their free EP, MY NJBR BLIND. These guys know how to write. Download and enjoy.

www.pleasedancehellbear.bandcamp.com

www.facebook.com/ppddhhbb

PS

Thanks to Edelweiss for the sweet recommendation.

Edelweiss - Icarus

                          

So…massive bass. These guys love driving bass lines, huge kicks, dance beats and some minus the bear inspired guitar lines, but that’s selling them short.  They really do a damn good job of combining indie rock, the illest dance beats of all dance beats, a little funk, a lot of groove and a goddamn good time.  I couldn’t tell you what the singer is saying, “down with disco?”, but I’m feeling it.

I liked Edelweiss so much I burned a cd of the download they provided us with, (thank you kindly, gentlemen), and put that bad boy in my car. Now there’s an example of a good idea/bad idea: great music and a lot of speeding.  I made sure to roll my windows down and push my speakers to their max and, at the few stop lights I didn’t blow right through, I found people looking at me, dancing along to the beat.  It’s intoxicating.

Edelweiss presents a style of rock I’m not too familiar with. Pulsating bass lines, a deft rhythm section, really well thought out guitar and keys that layer together like sheets, women and closed doors. Edelweiss’ style of music is a lot of things, but if you asked me to pigeon hole their sound to one word…sexy.  Pick up their ep, Pre-Columbians. 

www.facebook.com/EdelweissOfficial

Hidden Hospitals - Atonement

      

If you don’t know who these guys are you should really educate yourself.  Hidden Hospitals is what awesome music sounds like.  If you could wield the sword of progressive rock in a pop cage fight, this is what it would sound like. These guys take unforgettable vocal lines and put them over what I can only describe as perfectly calculated music.

Atonement is a huge song without being overbearing. They dip in and out of a wall of sound, letting the song breathe. The bass is there at all the right times and skips class on occasion letting that kick drum really shine through. Speaking of which…their rhythm section is ridiculous.  Sure, you can do a lot of tricks in the studio, but there’s some real chemistry going on. Also, I just saw these guys live and they nailed it. They put their record to shame and Hidden Hospitals’ EP 001 is stellar. One of my many things to do this week is find out who engineered this record. Jealous.

The inter workings of any band is a mystery, but I would love to see how these guys put songs together. Both guitarists seems to share rhythm and lead parts pretty equally, which is impressive considering one them is singing. Their guitars work together perfectly and I love their tones.  The bass lays a massive foundation, but also stands on its own at times as an instrument capable of driving this song into Never Never Land. 

Hidden Hospitals is doing something original, which is so hard to come by these days.  When I heard Damiera was dead I was crushed. I didn’t cry, because I’m not a bitch, but that sucked.  I forget when and where I heard about Hidden Hospitals, but talk about stepping up your game.  Too often great bands disband and transform into other projects that just don’t hold up to their past greatness. Hidden Hospitals is definitely an exception.  Record a full length and then find a way to pump it straight into my veins, gentlemen. 

http://www.facebook.com/hiddenhospitals

Abel - Saints

       

I don’t make it out to shows very often.  Day jobs and life really do get in the way. If you’re not playing at my local bar down the street than odds are I’m not going to see you live. When I heard that Hidden Hospitals, (ex Dameira and Kiss Kiss), were playing within driving distance, I had to go.  What I didn’t count on, however, were awesome openers. Abel was one of those. 

Listening to a record and seeing that record live are two completely different things.  These guys are awesome.  I’m not a religious person, and while these fellows definitely fall into some kind of religious rock, their musicianship, songwriting and stage presence really take them beyond what can sometimes be a pigeon holing genre. Saints is a song that I think exemplifies that.   These guys rock and those vocals are catchier than your seasonal cold.

You should really see them live. Their record is amazing and more than worth picking up, but they were breathing life into that stage.  Their bassist gets a little funky on this track and I love his tone. It sounds like Fender dipped in gold, wrapped in chocolate and sprinkled with rainbows.  It’s a good one. The gang vocals make me want to join in and when his voice breaks up at the end it’s so damn bittersweet. Their drummer kills it. The song is beautifully orchestrated.  The rest of the album is stacking up to be equally over-satisfying.  Be sure to check these guys out.

http://abeltheband.tumblr.com/

Val de Val - Pioneering

                        

Are you feeling that bass groove? If a bass line could talk this one would sound like Barney from How I Met Your Mother. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Educate yourself, NPH is a god among men.  

Val de Val has a unique blend of sounds.  I feel like they all come from very different musical backgrounds.  They present a style of groove driven mellow rock with just a touch of fuck yeah.  Their singer, (or are there two?), sound spot on and I’m getting tinges of Tragic Kingdom while listening to their harmonies.  Pioneering is a beautiful recording. Makes me want to turn the lights down low and make some bad decisions.

www.facebook.com/wearevaldeval

Thanks to North End for the recommendation

Face The King - The Burning & The Falling Down

   

Face The King’s vocals have a Muse meets Radiohead who lives next door to The Fray kind of sound to them.  It’s an interesting mix. There’s something else in there I can quite pinpoint…maybe a little Chris Isaac?  Either way, he sounds good. When he reaches for those high notes and his voice starts to break up, but still maintaining pitch, that’s just butter.

Gotta love those rhythmic delayed guitars that open up the song.  I know The Edge has just completely raped that method, but I still love it.  Face The King isn’t the kind of band I would normally listen to, but you have to recognize talent when you hear it.  They certainly know how to build a beautiful wall of sound.  This is the kind of song you hear at the end of a movie when the good guy is about to lose it, then makes that Rocky Balboa rally and just starts wrecking shit.  Let’s go boxing.

www.facebook.com/facetheking

Thanks to Civil Pilots for the recommendation

North End - Archipelago

                         

I hear the Minus the Bear influence.  It’s apparent, but not overbearing or overpowering.  Their guitar tones are super clean, a little raw and I dig it.  At least one of those has to be a Tele. Loving their bassist. The opening 40 seconds is a bit of red light green light back and forth with the guitars and keys, which is cool. Reminds me of stuttered lines of brilliance when hitting on a girl. She’s caught off guard, you’re shooting from the hip and it just works.  When they dip back into that part around 1:30 I love it even more.

It’s difficult to make 5 instruments work well and still be able to hear each one individually, but they knock it out of the park.  Maybe Vaseduva has opened my eyes to world of instrumental rock. I’d really be interested to see these guys live.  North End may be from PA but I feel like I’m on a Jersey boardwalk right as the last entrails of light are going down over the ocean’s horizon at sunset: pink, purple and endless waves.  

www.facebook.com/northendmusic