listening in

Collisions - Another Storm

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:00:32 -0400

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

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 03:06:04 -0400

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

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:48:00 -0400

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

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:14:47 -0400

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

Thanks to Edelweiss for the sweet recommendation.

Edelweiss - Icarus

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:20:00 -0400

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

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 04:01:00 -0400

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

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 03:42:00 -0400

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

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:09:00 -0400

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

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:13:00 -0400

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

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 03:26:16 -0400

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

Strawberry Jam! - Mr. Caulfield

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 02:16:00 -0400

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 work. The second guitar comes in with sparkling chords and a sneaky little in and out bass line. If Sting had a daughter, she might sound like Strawberry Jam, but maybe that’s giving way too much credit to Sting, because Strawberry Jam is far more than just supposed influences. Who knows what these cool cats listen to? They sound like sexy organized crime. Strawberry Jam is the bad guy I route for. They’re dark, at least while delivering Mr. Caulfield, and I dig it.

www.facebook.com/strawberryjamx3

Many thanks to Pilots in Orbit for the awesome recommendation

Vasudeva - Back To The Feeding Ground

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 01:47:06 -0400

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 well.

Vasudeva’s Back To The Feeding Ground makes me think of the first early spring morning of the year. It feels like the sun is just coming up and the dew is still on the leaves. Maybe that doesn’t make any sense but that’s what I’m getting from these guys. Back To The Feeding Ground is upbeat and a little on the faster side of things, but it still comes across as mellow, yet driving. It’s an interesting combination. I’m going on a road trip soon, and I think Vasudeva is coming with me.

www.facebook.com/VasudevaMusic

Thanks to Pilots In Orbit for the sweet recommendation.

Least of These - Grace

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 01:30:10 -0400

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. Least of These is a great band. I hope to hell the rest of the EP holds up.

Are those teles? If I’m wrong then don’t let me know. I love that guitar tone. The drums are tight and hit with emotion. You can tell the drummer is feeling it. The bass has a got a slight growl to it, like a rottweiler spotting dinner. I can’t hear a damn thing wrong with this song. Looks like I’m gonna have to take this EP to my car to really give it the listen it deserves. If Least of These comes to the northeast they need to let me know. I don’t know how to describe these guys, but damn are they good. Melodic vocals, hard hitting rhythm section and guitar tones that I long for. Here’s a band I want to know. You need to own this EP.

www.leastofthese.bandcamp.com

Caravela - Hundred Years

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 23:46:59 -0400

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 and dinner. Maybe a la mode, I’m not sure if we’ll have enough time.

Caravela does a beautiful job of letting the songwriting come through, with powerfully honest and naked vocals that call like sirens to these ears. It’s almost enchanting. They really let the electric guitars in without letting them take over that raw acoustic haven. A perfect accompaniment. I love their guitar work. Are they from New York? Holy shit they are, same county, too. Looks like I’ve got a new local band to go stalk. Awesome.

www.facebook.com/caravelany

Thanks to Crimson Arrow for the recommendation.

The Speed of Sound in Seawater - Delmar Fisheries

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 23:31:00 -0400

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 lines there’s this poppy goodness beneath everything else, but I would never lose those guitar lines.

Delmar Fisherie seems to be a bit on the mellower side of their intricacies, and it’s definitely doing a number on my ears, in the most pleasant of ways. The Speed of Sound in Seawater takes pop and experimental rock to the beach, right before it gets crowded, when it’s still serene and welcoming, watching the tide come in.

www.thespeedofsoundinseawater.bandcamp.com

Coast Jumper - For Youth

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 23:16:00 -0400

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, but something new, maybe something exotic, something you’ve never seen or heard before.

Coast Jumper makes me wish I had easy access to California so I could go see them live. They present this playful, sort of sing-songy presence, like they want you to sing along, but they keep playing with the arrangement of the song as deftly as Jeremy Lin wields his mighty orange sphere of magic. Maybe that’s an odd comparison, but the bottom line is Coast Jumper is breathing life into what sounds like a new genre of music to me. I feel like these guys should write the soundtrack to something magical.

www.coastjumper.com

Jindas Emcees - Illy Joel

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:07:49 -0400

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 due credit in the title, which is playful, and at the same time, fucking dope. At the same time, I wouldn’t call this a rap/rock track, it’s hip hop at it’s finest, and Billy Joel just happens to be involved, whether he likes it or not. I like these guys. Reminds me of my summers in high school, which were some pretty fun times. I look forward to hearing more from Jindas Emcees.

www.facebook.com/JindasEmcees

Thanks to Scout The Music Promoter for putting us on to them

Moksha - The Introduction

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:21:04 -0400

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 and I suddenly find myself listening to the piano a bit differently. For lack of a better phrase, I’m feeling it.

When it all comes together I’m getting this 80’s inspired dance beat with a swirl of synth sounds. I feel the need to dance. Moksha’s got some killer instrumentals and I’m making my way slowly through their latest work, Asinine, which is anything but. It’s an electronica induced craze and I’m loving it. I know quite a few vocalists who would love to collaborate should Moksha’s curiosity ever arise.

http://mokshadubstep.bandcamp.com/

A big thanks to Scout The Music Promoter for putting us on to this one.

A Paper Tugboat - Don't Race The Sun

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:10:00 -0400

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 don’t. I won’t lie, I’ve seen them live, band and solo, and I love it. I’ve heard a few different versions of this song and it always comes across as damn good. I love singing the title line at the end of the song with the rest of the crowd. A Paper Tugboat makes me want to drink beer and kiss girls. Check out their bandcamp for all their songs.

www.apapertugboat.bandcamp.com

Dan Tillery - Somewhere In Between

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:47:00 -0400

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 I can just fall into. I’m bobbing my head has I right this, which is making it increasingly difficult to type. I really do dig this guy’s style. I’m picking up what he’s putting down, and you should too. Go listen.

www.facebook.com/DANTILLERYMUSIC

Thanks to Scout The Music Promoter for turning us on to him

Also…I want to steal that dog.