April 2012
31 posts
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...
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...
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.
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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...
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...
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...
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...
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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.
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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...
Strawberry Jam! - Mr. Caulfield
Strawberry Jam!? Mr. Caulfield? Don’t judge a book by its cover. I expected something like bubblegum or sprinkles, but what I got was a uniquely alluring female vocal over a tapestry of bewitchingly calculated instrumentation.
Strawberry Jam’s Mr. Caulfield starts off with haunting palm muted delayed clean guitars that border on pizzicato strings with a back beat of tom...
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Vasudeva - Back To The Feeding Ground
Vasudeva. New Jersey, right? There’s a lot of good music coming out of New Jersey. I don’t know if it’s always been that way, but it really seems that way to me. First off, a band without a singer, is just something I can’t really get into, but these guys are damn good. They’re pulling off melodies without a singer and doing it really...
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Least of These - Grace
Ever get drawn in by a singer? Just did. 30 seconds into Least of These’s Grace and I know I’m listening to the rest of this song. I haven’t heard half the song and I’m writing this review. You can put a great singer in front of a shitty band and still kind of enjoy what’s going on. Put a great singer in front of a great band? Bliss....
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Caravela - Hundred Years
Remember when Dashboard Confessional was new? Pure acoustic emo-cry-your-eyes-out-who-gives-a-damn. I miss it. I’m not a big fan of where Dashboard is now. Caravela reminds me of early Dashboard Confessional, but that’s certainly not their only influence. I couldn’t tell you what the rest of their delicious pie is made up of, but I’m having it for breakfast, lunch...
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The Speed of Sound in Seawater - Delmar Fisheries
Now here’s something interesting: a band that plays guitar almost like a piano. Some of the runs I’ve found in The Speed of Sound in Seawater, (loving the alliteration), would put most classical pianists to shame. And that’s not to take away from the rest of the band, either, (or those crooning Death Cab-esque vocals). If you lose the intricate guitar...
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Coast Jumper - For Youth
Crimson Arrow said listen to Coast Jumper. What a good call. Not just your average good call. This isn’t like choosing a slamming-place-to-eat-lunch good call. This is like, you-just-hooked-me-up-with-the-hot-girl-next-door good call. Not to say that Coast Jumper is a hot girl, but damn they sound as good as hot girl looks. And not just your typical hot blonde,...
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Jindas Emcees - Illy Joel
Hip hop isn’t my forte. It’s been years since I called myself a fan, but Jindas Emcees has a slightly throwback feel to them that I can get into. Maybe it’s the Billy Joel backbeat or the Terror Squad/Rawkus Records influences I’m picking up. Yeah, I went there. It’s nice to hear that sound again.
I’ll give it up to Jindas Emcees, they give Mr. Joel his...
Moksha - The Introduction
According to Webster’s Dictionary, Moksha is freedom from the differentiated, temporal and mortal world of ordinary experience. What it means to Moksha the artist, well I guess that’s up to Moksha to explain. Moksha’s The Introduction is catching me off guard. At first I hear a bold and graceful piano line, then the fattest of all kick drums comes in...
A Paper Tugboat - Don't Race The Sun
Don’t race the sun. I have no idea what that means, but I can’t get this song out of my head. It’s simple. There’s muted horns, a tambourine and group vocals. What’s not to love? Was that a xylophone? Is this what rainbows and sunny days sound like?
A Paper Tugboat is one of those singer/songwriter outfits that you either get or you...
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Dan Tillery - Somewhere In Between
Broaden your horizons. Here we go. Dan Tillery has got a bluesy southern rock sound going on and for some reason I feel like this guy probably surfs. Make any sense to you? I walked in a skeptic and I’m walking out wishing had a little twang in my voice and definitely looking to pick up slide guitar.
Mr. Tillery’s track, Somewhere In Between, has this mellow groove to it that...
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Backseat Pilots - In The Brightest Room
Four on the floor and a big swelling synth. It’s not what I would typically groove to, but apparently today is a day of pilots and new music. It sounds damn good, though. The vocals come in with rhythmic delayed guitars, (a little reminiscent of the Edge, but he’s badass, so that’s a good thing), makes for a full but not over powering sound.
Whoever is holding down...
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Civil Pilots - Loose Ends
With one song up and two and half minutes before vocals, Civil Pilots doesn’t keep you waiting for nothing. Their layering may be sparse and simple, but it’s quite elegant, and they deliver it well.
The vocals creep up on you, dipped in edges of Thrice and Muse. The band itself offers a plateau of sound at a slight incline. Never too much, never too little. I love their...
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Harry and Lloyd - Wishing Well
I love a band that catches me on the first song of their album or EP. Granted, some of my favorite bands are those I have to listen to a few times over, but it’s always nice to get pulled in immediately, and Harry and Lloyd did just that.
First off…awesome band name. If it’s not a reference to Dumb and Dumber I’m totally cool with it, just...
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Into it. Over it. - Midnight Carroll Street
Ever listened to Further Seems Forever’s The Moon Is Down? It’s an exceptional album, not without flaws, but it encapsulates music that at the time at least, was singular and awesome. Into it. Over it’s Midnight Carroll Street reminds me of it in the best way. I’ve been listening to a few of their tracks on this soon to be Tuesday...
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Streets of Fire - Latin
Streets of Fire is making my impromptu day off really interesting. I’m getting little bits of Adam Lazarra in the vocals, (a little Sting and Jack Johnson too), just enough to keep my interest without turning me off. Being a big fan of Taking Back Sunday’s ‘Tell All Your Friends’, I hate rip offs, but Streets of Fire has their own brand of...
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Cold Fronts - Strange Architecture
As a rule I’m not a big fan of garage rock, or that Strokes inspired sort of pop/rock, but Cold Fronts seem to be the exception. Their singer is very adept at pop melodies and the rest of the band really lays the foundation for some damn catchy songwriting. It’s simple, but well put together, honest, but well thought out.
Cold Fronts appear to embody the...
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Slim Charles - Triangulate
I don’t know what these guys sound like, but I love their instrumentation and the sparse gang-like vocals. If you can judge a band from one song alone, then I want to hear the rest of their catalog. Slim Charles presents this funky almost latin infused groove that just catches the listener, reels you in and steals you from your everyday surroundings.
Slim...
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Young Summers (formerly Adobayondei) - Neglecting...
Horns. Didn’t see that one coming. I’m just starting to listen to Young Summer’s music, so I guess I’ll find out as I go. So far I’m digging it. I’m getting some clean guitars, which I love, and some intricate dance beats thrown in at just the right time. The horns work, really well, actually, and it’s not something I’m hearing a lot of...
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Crimson Arrow - Forever
Yes. Something I wish I had written. I can’t get enough of this track. Crimson Arrow’s Forever is one of the best songs I stumbled upon in 2011, and I think I’ll be listening to it for some time to come. Clean guitars and a beautiful voice open up this hauntingly beautiful song. I can’t really place their influence, but it sounds so familiar. Maybe...
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This Old Ghost - This Lifeboat is for Gold, Not...
If Death Cab For Cutie married the Old 97’s, lived in a desert, combined forces and starred in several western movies, I think they might change their name to This Old Ghost. I can’t find a damn thing wrong with this song, so I’ll just keep it on.
It’s not often you can find a band that seems to reinvent a sound or just outright invent their...
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Pilots In Orbit - Falling Forward In A Backwards...
Being a musician it can sometimes be hard to appreciate any music other than your own. You set your own standards, things you deem important and boundaries that can or can’t be broken for whatever reason. I’m the music snob who can’t enjoy much and always finds something wrong with your new favorite band. I’m that friend.
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