Less Talking is a duo consisting of Taylor Stoma (vocals/ukulele/guitar/percussion) and Bob Kling (double bass/backing vocals). Their release Less Talking Live is a live performance at The Spanish Moon. I will say right off the bat the quality is quite good for a live performance. It’s almost surprisingly good at times but it’s certainly is live as you hear audience applause as well as them talking to the audience.
After spending some time with this Less Talking Live I would say it fits most into the freak folk genre. In fact I thought there were some notable similarities to Dirty Projectors. Like Dirty Projectors Less Talking Live balances self-indulgent artistic proclivities with enough solid songwriting to make it work. That being said there were some moments where it seemed Stoma may have been a little bit too much in love with the sound of his own voice and the songs veer towards being artistic for the sake of that alone. Things start off “Slaves to Our Own Defeat” which is arguably the highlight. The vocals are pleasant and enjoyable on this track and the music is quite upbeat. Lyrically the words are about in the same place as the delivery. It can come off as highfalutin language or ambiguous open-ended poetry depending on how to you look at it. Lines like, “The sand where we stand, is melted by the fires of our fears. / I hope that it's becoming clear, / That this makes the glass / That sticks in our feet” can mean something or nothing depending on the meaning the listener wants to assign to it. The same could be said for the lyrics on “Tributaries.” If I had to guess I think the song might be about taking a hike to a river but it’s really up for interpretation. Stoma sings, “The smell of green pushes my intuition / To follow the trail of landscape's composition. / There is no wrong / When every single Tributary opens up to one body.” The music is quite good, especially the bass. “Alien Feelings” has a bit more of a concrete subject that revolves around feeling like an alien in your own body while closer “Plagiarizing Personalities” is a catchy song but you really don’t have much of an idea what this song is about. Stoma and Kling are talented songwriters and I can appreciate their music. That being said, with this release, they are standing at the precipice of coming off as too ostentatious. As I said before they are balancing this decently right now a bit similar to acts like Tune-Yards, Animal Collective and Dirty Projectors. I have high hopes for their studio album as long as they stay humble and focus on the songwriting and delivery.
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Anj Barton (vocals/guitar) and Tim Gau (drums/vocals) are Ready Sett. The duo recently released a four-song EP entitled The Badger. The Badger is a no frills indie rock EP that boils down things to the bare essentials. I can’t argue that this EP is doing anything inventive that hasn’t been done before but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth your time. The songwriting is solid and I found the vocals to be quite aesthetically pleasing.
There are good things and a couple of not so good things about this EP. Let's starts with the not so good. The songs stretch to an average of around five-minutes when they would have been more effective around three-minutes. I have nothing wrong with a five-minute song when it's warranted but in this case the verses tend to go on a little longer than needed and they stretch out jams that would have benefited from a lead instrument. They start with “Shake It Loose” which contains blues-rock as well as a chorus that feels like a tip of the hat to “Come Together” from The Beatles. It’s a solid song but also not the most original this duo has. “The Shiniest Knife” is an enjoyable, high-energy song. There is a bit of a Sleater-Kinney vibe on this and it has more of a raw edge then the opener. The highlight of the EP is “Boxer Me” for a number of reasons. I thought the vocal melody and the guitar parts were particularly memorable. On top of that the energy from the drums really elevates the songs. As much I liked this song they still ride out the one riff too long. They close with “D-Roller” which hits somewhere between early Pavement and Sleater-Kinney. I really like the sound that Ready Sett has and I think with more focus and practice they can be competitive with some of the ‘90s indie rock they are reminiscent of. Most importantly they need to either condense their songs or have enough transitions to fill up the time. The other thing was that while the verses were often very infectious the choruses weren’t as impactful. I’d love to hear similar hooks that are all over albums like “The Woods” or “Slanted and Enchanted.” The Badger is a solid start from a band with a lot of potential.
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My brain was barely able to handle the beginning of Clam Fake by Salon de la Guerre. The first song feels like an incongruent puzzle of sound that is serving multiple levels of dissonance. I can surmise that the opening song will turn off at least half the people who have no idea what to expect. It sounds off time, the singing style is unconventional and if you can dance to it then you should be on America’s Got Talent. I have to hand it to de la Guerre for giving zero shits and having me at the very least captivated to what I was listening to. If there is one thing I always mention it's that artists need to be different and I have to tip my hat when it appropriate, In this case I give kudos to de la Guerre.
The second song “Red Clay Moses” in no way makes things easier for the listener who hasn’t ventured into the fringe of what music can offer. Guitars and saxophones flare about with multiple vocal lines. There is one steady element in the song. I liked it. “Steal the Water” feels a little more “conventional” and mixes in rock and pop. That being said the sound sounds oddly dissonant, almost as if you were listening to a song on Quaaludes. Up next is “Green Tumbler” which felt more like an ether high. The vocal melody is pretty damn catchy as the guitar bends and melts all around you. Snare hits are implemented which almost feel random but somehow work brilliantly. “Talk About the Guns” sounds like an off-kilter punk sound. A highlight was “Malishin’” which contains an amalgamation of strings and other things I couldn’t even really get a handle on. Guitars melt as does most of the song. As much as I was digging what was happening some songs such as “Lind’s Blues” fall a little short. The centerpiece may be “The End Looked Like the Beginning” which is an eight-plus-minute piece with a dizzying array of sounds. Sometimes it takes awhile for everything to come together for an artist. It may take some effort but sometimes it eventually clicks. The transition from his previous album Toe-Tapping Songs of Pain and Loss to Clam Fake is an as clear as day example of this. It seems as if de la Guerre lets loose and embraced experimentation and the payoff is immense. Clam Fake may or may not be your cup of tea but if you want to hear an artist coming into their own this is essential listening.
Gilliam Michael is a singer-songwriter from the San Francisco area who recently released Love & Loss & In Between. Love & Loss & In Between is an album strictly comprised of acoustic guitar and vocals. The energy throughout these eleven songs feels almost identical especially upon the first listen or two. Sure sometimes Michael strums chords but the egocentric melancholy feels ubiquitous amongst the eleven tracks.
The songs focus almost solely on the “I” instead of the “you” or “us.” Michael prefers to lament his own sorrows with the spotlight pointed directly at him. Instead of making the listener feel solace for their melancholy it felt more geared towards feeling sympathy and empathy to his experiences. The title of the first song “The Way I Feel” is indicative of the perspective he writes his songs from. He sings, “And the way I feel / Is only real I know / It’s only real for me / Opened up my heart / Felt a little spark / But it wasn’t meant to be.” There is just as much melancholy in his voice as there is in the lyrics. The comparison to Neil Young is undeniable on “Human Feel.” His inflection feels dead on when he sings the verse. Michael explores a contemporary topic of human connection versus a digital connection. As the album progressed the topics changed just a little more than the energy did. “Distance & Time,” “Fool For Love Again,” “Love That Never Comes Is Here To Stay” and “First Love” all dance around lost love and loneliness. In fact the major theme that starts to emerge is heartbreak and not being able to get over it. After spending some time with this album I got the impression Love & Loss & In Between was almost a form of therapy for Michael. That's all well and good but sometimes this can backfire in that you can start to forget about the listener. I can’t say Love & Loss & In Between is an easy listen because it’s not. You really have to be in the right mood for the thick coat of melancholy that Michael paints on these songs. I would say that if you enjoyed one of his songs you would enjoy them all. The one thing I would encourage Michael to do is have some variation in his songs. It doesn't have to be major but a song with some additional instrumentation like a violin or even an additional vocalist would help break things up a bit. Love & Loss & In Between is a solid effort with heartfelt lyrics although I hope to eventually hear an upcoming album where he finds the love he seems to have lost.
Music doesn't work if your jaded or cynical in any way. Either you go along for the ride or you don't. Personally, I find undaunted optimism in music very brave and honest, even if I don't always gravitate towards that end of the spectrum. I love that people feel passionately enough about beauty and positivity to spread it around. It's so easy to talk about the negative things all the time, to get wrapped up in anger and bogged down by bitterness.
Music is, at its very core, an optimistic, constructive act. It is an alchemical transformation of life into the strictures of song - constrained within verses, bars, choruses, all the moments of life. Whether you care to assemble with the purest gold or the dirtiest mire is entirely at your discretion and there is, after all, a place for all art. It’s just that sometimes, often times, the tin and the tumult tends to drown out the quieter, more peaceful souls. If we're not careful, we might forget they're there all together. To All Things from The Living Roots Trio is a murmured rejoinder to walk around, to look around, to take stock, to ponder, to step outside of the chaos of life for an hour. Music's great like that; it's like a portable, foldable mountain meadow that you can take out whenever you need it. It's like having an emergency deep breath. Thinking of To All Things as a meadow is a good way to approach this sweet gem of a folk record. It's a bit ragged around the edges, a bit of a microphone burn here, a raw field recorded trumpet there - some phoned in MacBook vocals. If you find fault in the seams, you're likely to get jarred out of the spell. Personally, I like a bit of grit in my acoustic music. It adds to the sense of immediacy and closeness and honesty, coming across like a documentarian's camera rather than a VH1 spectacle. The Living Roots Trio pre-dominantly ply a quiet, subtle British-style folk, delicate, ringing guitar picking a la Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Nick Drake, which quickly breaks into an American jazz-inflected swing blues, that is pure '20s class, like with the Django Reinhardt-worthy "Any Good Name" complete with Grapelli violin. Meaghan Witri's vocal harmony brings a lovely light to the proceedings, ringing out clear as a bronze bell over the smooth burr of Seamus Maynard's cello tenor. These voices twining in thin air, over a barely there two-note guitar refrain, is just one momentary example of the joys that lie in store To All Things. For anyone into M. Ward's revisionist history, or the time traveling talking blues of Wilco or Billy Bragg is likely to find a favorite song on here. But they also bring an airy, graceful gentility to the folk gathering that is particularly, stunningly beautiful, giving a rarefied air to these 47 minutes. It's like looking at the world through lace curtains; Or just stopping to notice the flowers. It's getting nice out there. Crack the window a bit and let this one float!
Love can be a drag. It can also be the most exciting, amazing thing on Earth that takes your breath away, sending goose bumps up and down your neck and arms, making you lightheaded. Love can make you want to surrender, to be swept away. It can also make you want to drive a nail file through someone's eye.
Seeing as how love is intimately tied up in our survival, both personal as well as a species, it's not surprising that there's a lot of energy behind it. Libidinal forces as psychologists put it. The kind of thing that can make you can crazy. Or blast you into the stratosphere into ecstasy. Rock n’ roll, being the most id-centric/libidinal music on the planet, is uniquely qualified to express this roller coaster ride, as you can hear on Good Not Great, the debut LP from Grand Rapid, MI's Lipstick Jodi. Lipstick Jodi have been described as the "lesbian love child of the St. Vincent and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs," which basically means smart, driving, aggressive guitar rock that you can dance to. Lipstick Jodi sounds like late '90s girl-fronted alt-rock, all grown up and pissed off. If Avril Lavigne had dropped the cutesy, stylish act, or if Garbage had grown to be as popular as other Butch Vig-produced acts, like the Smashing Pumpkins, they might've grown up to be Lipstick Jodi. It's refreshing to hear an emotional range in driving, energetic rock n’ roll. Too often, we're left with a bunch of guitar slingers pretending to be medieval barbarians or hired mercenaries. That's not to say that the average Williamsburg indie band hasn't fought off a marauding band of Goths or Vandals, but it is unlikely (and I would definitely buy that CD). Instead, Lipstick Jodi talks about things everybody can relate to, no matter their gender (or age, or class, or background for that matter). Guitar player/singer Karli Morehouse is the driving force behind Lipstick Jodi as the principle songwriter and she reveals herself to be quite a songsmith, as well as having a great set of pipes. You've likely heard someone who sounds like Morehouse before, so it's up to you to decide if that's a good or bad thing. If you're into complete novelty, these sounds are likely to drift right past your eardrums. If you're looking for someone transforming and transmogrifying existing styles into something distinctive and personal, you're in luck! Glorious guitars and powerful beats are tightly choreographed to fit the vocals, creating a compelling backdrop that perfectly accentuates Morehouse's tales of new and fading romance. Interesting effects are dropped in periodically, on every front, like the distorted lo-fi vocals of "Exist." which brings to mind the raging storm of industrial rockers Curve, or an ever-more-pissed Shirley Manson. Guitars also range wildly from the thick, sludgy sheets of sound of "Exist" to catchy palm-muting, and explosive, sunburst post-rock lead on "Caught By A Whim." All in all, it's nice to hear a different kind of story in a short rock n’ roll EP that has enough hallmarks of both pop and extreme rock to satisfy both. If Taylor Swift fans are looking for a way to get into Metallica, or vice versa, here's your bridge! Expect great things from Grand Rapids, MI's Lipstick Jodi.
This is some weird, wild stuff. Not in a bad way—no, quite the opposite. It's electronic! It's jazzy! It's full of lush vocal harmonies and a seemingly infinite number of layers! It's hard to nail down and easy to listen to. At the end of the day, Electric Rays is an exciting, eccentric foray into soft, bright, restless music where songs themselves are loosely bound by themes rather than traditional structure.
Myliobatoidei's sound is as vast it is nuanced. There's no one artist that bodes easy comparison, but there are a lot of little aspects that sound familiar. There's a lot of Radiohead influence present, especially in the bass lines, often in the progressions and occasionally in the percussion—but the music as a whole is way too bright for someone to say that it sounds like Radiohead. There's a distinct ‘90s sort of jazz/R&B appeal bubbling under the surface—almost a piano driven ghost of Jamiroquai, dancing throughout the many layers. The omnipresent cascades of multi-layered vocal harmonies can sound quite a bit like those of mid-2000's of Kevin Barnes, but the staggered, start and stop pacing prevents Myliobatoidei from catapulting to the full the of Montreal level of intensity. Electric Rays doesn't ever stay in one place for more than a measure or two. Unlike much electronic music, songs on the album don't rely on systematically building layers to create lush soundscapes—instead Myliobatoidei starts with a full sound and takes away layers just as often as adding them, so the songs tumble forward rather than inching upwards. The constant movement is a double-edged sword. Did you really dig that last little movement or vocal hook? Don't expect a reprise anytime soon. On the other hand, though, you can really appreciate the root theme of the song—instead of hearing the same riff or part over and over again, you realize that all of the parts are simply offshoots from the base idea behind each song. While the album is seemingly the collection of a million ideas, the capture of such can be pretty effective on a couple of the tracks. The song “Return” is somewhat bound together by a simmering bass line and the vocal range is the most expressive of the album, with ascending call and response parts. The track “Disposable” allows ringing piano to intermingle with multi-tracked vocals to paint a lush soundscape, before going off in pretty much all of the directions. It captures the unbridled energy of the album in a nutshell pretty well. Electric Rays is the collected musical musings of Colorado artist Myliobatoidei (it's not a made up word, believe it or not, it's the scientific/Latin name for a stingray), and despite being all over the place makes for a pretty good—and quite interesting—album.
It's not a state secret that time is precious in 2016, especially when it comes to the media that we consume. It's both the up- and down-side to having access to nearly any work of art from throughout recorded history.
These demands on our times have produced a line in the sand, as far as albums are concerned. On one side, you have the "definitive album statement" (think of Tool, and the ten years between albums for instance) and on the other, you have the independent artist, who does their thing to the best of their ability. In this case, albums are more of a sketchbook or diary, offering a glimpse into the band or musician's life. It's up the listener to decide on which side of the line they stand. Where you land will greatly color how much you enjoy Insignifance Tames from Houston's Tact Actors. Oddly enough, I was already thinking of the prolific Guided By Voices before reading Tact Actors list of influences, although they don't sound that much alike. Maybe it was the slightly fuzzy portrayal of catchy guitar-centric power pop, like on the title track. Tact Actor's is like Guided By Voices if they were fronted by a slightly acerbic post-punk like Jeffo Biafra or The Feelies' Glenn Mercer. This means tight, taut, tense, anxious, but whip smart new-wave-tinged rock n’ roll, for those that are unfamiliar. A slightly more good-natured Elvis Costello would be another reference point. Tact Actors go the "throw it all at the wall and see what sticks" route of album presentation/songwriting, over the duration of Insignificance Tames' 14 tracks. It's a lengthy listen, but oddly, it never drags. Songs get in and get out, in keeping with Tact Actor's Husker Du fetish, also bringing to mind the great Wire if they were to repeat a chorus twice. The guitars are as hook-y as a bait shop, latching in your memory for days and weeks at a time, making you reach for the repeat button. This gives the opportunity to get to know David Cotton's wordy lyrics, which can be a bit dense and daunting at first tack. The more you listen, the more you get used to Cotton's slightly reedy vocals, which is true of most of the greatest uber-prolific artists, such as The Mountain Goats. The more you listen, the more you realize Tact Actors is a real, committed band, full of great ideas, memorable guitar hooks, and heartfelt, if slightly thin, vocals. If you like smart pop-infused classic rock, you'll find something to love on this record. At 14 tracks, you're likely to find yourself returning to one or another, dropping a track here and there on a mix tape or playlist. Gradually, over time, you'll realize you've been listening to Tact Actors every single day, for weeks. Truly the mark of a true artist, talented pop-smiths, and further evidence that the lo-fi approach is at least AS VALID as the holy grail record, if not more so. Nothing is definitive anymore, so why not make music by, for, and about the present? Take some time and dig into Insignficance Tames. You'll be glad you did, and are likely to find a couple of gems to jam out to. A great start from a committed band!
A year in the making, Tidal Wave EP is Echoed in Earth’s debut album, and it draws out musical ideas from all five members of the band. With a plethora of guitar effect pedals paired with raw talent, Echoed in Earth manages to create a truly unique sound that carries over well in both recordings and undoubtedly in live shows as well.
The title track begins the album with a soft acoustic guitar plucking out folk-tinged chords as Mike McMaster gently sings his melody. The rest of the band sneaks up on the listener, and by the song’s halfway point the sole acoustic guitar is joined by echoing electric guitars, driving percussion, vocal harmonies and thumping bass guitar. The energy built up in the first song continues seamlessly in “One And the Same,” a fast-tempo rock tune with hints of grunge and punk. The band showcases its vast array of guitar effects through the power chords and solos replete with distortion and warbling. This song is super- catchy and definitely is one of the most danceable songs on the record. “Grateful” takes the album to a slightly more mellow place, at least for the first minute-and-a-half of the track. After a wistful, melodic ballad portion of the song, a steady drumbeat and upbeat guitar lift the atmosphere to a more optimistic level and steadily raises the dynamic dial until the song evolves into a full-fledged rock anthem. “Wraith” echoes the soft side of “Grateful” but never gains the angst present in “Grateful.” Instead, droning guitars and highly reverb-laced effects pad the background of the soothing tune. The album ends with “Home,” a groovy acoustic-based rock song that is the most memorable track on the album. All of the band’s aspects seem to come together to generate the “perfect storm” closing the record in a fashionable manner. Overall, Tidal Wave is a very impressive debut for the band Echoed in Earth, and will surely guarantee them a spot in gigs and festivals, as well as a place in listeners’ music collections.
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An improvement even if incremental is still an improvement and that is what you have with Big Blue aka Callan Walsh. The seventeen-year-old who most likely will continue to improve as he gets older and gains some more life experience is on the right track with his release Daydream.
Some of the songs on his self-titled EP Big Blue were so dismal that they were hard to appreciate. With Daydream Walsh introduces some rays of hope and levity and it sounds better than anything else he did before. Suffice it to say there is still room for a lot of improvement but some of the self-indulgent aspects of his first release are gone. He opens with “Kool-Aid (For Sam)” which revolves around simple chord progressions and pretty catchy vocal melodies. I believe he repeats the lyric “I want to go surfing” like it's a mantra as the music slowly starts to build. The build up leads to more build up but maybe he will figure out the other part on his next release. “King of the Waves” is the next notable song which is relatively upbeat compared to his other songs and pretty catchy. “Gone Sufrin'” is a three-minute-plus ambient piece that went on a bit too long. I feel like it would have worked better as a short thirty-second transitional piece. There simply was not enough here to keep my attention. Walsh does a good job mixing up the vibe with more upbeat songs like “Since You Asked” compared to the more melancholy “Where Is Everybody.” He closes with the baffling “Porchlight/Outro” which is twelve-minutes long. The first four minutes are a lush, atmospheric song, which eventually fades out to silence for about six minutes before coming back into a sparse guitar and vocal piece. I’m not sure if the silence was an artistic decision but even for those who prefer the more John Cage way of thinking this didn’t make much sense. At the end of the day there are noticeable improvements and it’s still one of the best things to witness. Eventually, I hope to hear better production and recording quality but one step at a time. |
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