Kevin Stewart aka The So Long Showdown describes himself as “self-taught, metalhead (but not metal writer), retro gamer, small Midwestern town victim, husband and father of two, '80s child, over-caffeinated, hypochondriac. In a nutshell, 6'3" of pure tattooed awkwardness, with glints of success and blinding supernovas of failure.” The reason I mention this is because his latest effort entitled Radio Tower starts to make sense after knowing a bit more about him. Radio Tower is a collection of 12 songs that were recorded over the last six years and they sound like 8-bit video games melded with power punk, acoustic ballads and heavy metal. Listening to the album in its entirety is more like listening to a bunch of singles rather then a journey that has an end. This isn’t a bad thing and conceptually can work as we saw with Les Savy Fav’s Inches a couple of years back. Stewart has mainstream tendencies that can cause some concern when listening but there is enough originality here that I was able to look past them for the most part. The one thing you have to appreciate listening is how good the recording sounds. It is incredibly produced, almost over produced at times. It’s a professional sounding album that has a quality to it that a lot of indie albums lack. The album starts with “Advisors,” which sounds like a mix between a sea shanty and a power pop ballad from the 80’s. No, I'm serious?! What’s even odder is the song works. Immediately switching gears on the second song entitled “Cellar King” which is a mish mash of video game music and heavy pop, which becomes a pretty vicious onslaught of sounds. There’s even a hip-hop breakdown in the middle of the song that somehow doesn't sound that out of place. It was clear to me at this point that Stewart didn’t give a rat’s ass about the cohesiveness of the album but it wasn’t until I heard the next song “Knock ‘Em Dead” which is primarily an acoustic ballad with some accompaniment that I realized that this guy might be the next big thing. With so much cross pollination of genres I felt like this is already becoming the norm for a lot of mainstream acts. How often do we see hip-hop artists incorporating rock elements in their songs? Or electronic artists like James Blake incorporating elements like r&b vocals into his tracks? Quite often I’d say. While Stewart may have more luck simmering down a bit and refining one style than incorporating everything under the sun, I have to admit it caught my attention. Stewart has created a genre-bending album that has its fair amount of highlights that sound professionally produced.
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Formed in the early fall of 2012 Watershed Drag just released their sophomore album entitled Radiations which mixes elements of metal, 80’s glam rock and even math rock. The songs here are a mixed bag that sound like they are a bit out of time. The recording and sounds felt misplaced almost like I was listening to a Yes album at times. Guitars are the primary instrument on most of these songs but there are also a lot of synths present as well. The EP consists of five songs that all hit around the five minute mark and create a pretty decent flow listening to the album all the way through. Overall, the songs mostly fall into a favorable category songwriting-wise and often excel because of the technical ability of the players. The lead guitar playing is technically proficient and the metronome timing of the drums is spot on. I enjoyed Amy Fehrenbach’s vocals which had a distinct 80’s diva feel to them and sounded absolutely appropriate for the music that was being played. The album opener “Wolves” can’t sound much more retro. The bass sprawls as layers of vintage synths permeate the air leaving plenty of room for the vocals. It isn’t until about the two minute mark that we hear a shredding lead guitar and the intensity of the song raises a couple of levels. “Skyward’ abandons any discretion and starts with an onslaught of heavy metal riffs and airy synths that stop on a dime before a delicate piano riff begins to accompany Fehrenbach’s vocals. The catchiest and best performance by Fehrenbach was “The Ghost Of Winterfell.” That being said this was also the song that contained the most genre hopping. I have to say I was a bit taken back when I heard something that could be considered death metal change almost instantly to progressive 80’s glam rock. Perhaps the finest moment of the entire album is the last minute of “Affectation” which sounds like a powerful rock opera. The album takes inspiration from a number of different genres and while does it not completely succeed at melding them together at times showcases talented musicians, good songwriting and a solid attempt to meld a number of different genres
Holler-Folk? I was unaware this genre existed but apparently this is how The Ghost Of Paul Revere describe themselves. I think you can describe it as a mix of bluegrass, folk, and older country music from the 50’s and 60’s. The notion of “Holler” is a tip of the hat to the old field hollers that workers would sing in unison that were used to get through the work day. After listening to their latest entitled North you start to understand why they used this term. The first thing that jumps out at you is the vocals in these songs. They are soulful, harmonized, and would often probably sound just as good without any musical accompaniment. Remember that movie with George Clooney called “Brother Where Art Thou?” – the kick ass Coen brother film that had a great soundtrack? The music here has a similar type of vibe and a very innate emotional center that will never be able to replicated by computer software ( at least not in the not too distant future). Banjos, mandolins, and acoustic guitars create beautiful cascade of strings on a song like “Wolves” while other songs are a bit more sparse such as “Kodiak.” The strings are gorgeous and played by talented musicians but ultimately serve as a background to the stellar vocal performances. The first track “San Antone” starts with the line “I lost my heart in the heat of San Antone” in which the delivery immediately drips with heart and emotional reverence. I would have been fine with the song repeating the intro for three minutes but instead they opt to speed up the song which is something that will make even the most callous of individuals feel the unbridled joy of Holler-Folk. Second at bat is “Grandpa’s Chair” which takes things up a notch. It is a soulful number that contains some harmonica and mandolin. Other songs like “Mountain Song” have poignant lyrics about the sweat and blood poured during the vigorous days of living of the land. The album ends with “Spirit” which felt like a walk back home after a long day’s worth of work. It’s a song that revolves around the human condition and ultimately leads to the salvation of the soul. Simply put North is an album that shouldn't be missed.
Crompy began this album, The Karmic Loo, more than ten years ago. It has 18 songs on it, most of them three minutes long, which makes sense because there is a British 60s psychedelic pop thing going on and the length of a pop song back then was somewhere around three minutes long. Some of the songs are four or five minutes long, reflecting versatility and modern pop sensibility. Did Crompy really need ten years to craft this quite frankly great debut? Probably not, but it's here, it's now. Also Crompy is a New Zealander. Take that for what it's worth, but when it's regarding psychedelic pop, it's worth quite a lot. The Karmic Loo covers a bunch of topics that range from misanthropy, the throes of young love, the cosmic unfairness of life, comedy and love, love, love, LOVE. Crompy has a nice little petulant growl going, sometimes it makes a song awesome, like in the power-pop opener "Fight to Live" and other times it pushes the track into gushy waters, like in "Live! Love Life!”. It's a distinct sound his larynx makes, like an old man who knows he's grown up but doesn't want to be. Whether it works or not, it does create an attention-getting tension in the songs, which makes for interesting listening during The Karmic Loo's merry moments. The production is excellent as far as letting all the sounds breath. Each instrument is given its own space for exploration in the track, and the tracks are built with Crompy's voice, not for it. The music as a whole primarily retains a soft, silly folk approach, sometimes suddenly becoming riotous. Indeed some of the more delicately arranged numbers can shift into an Elephant 6 outtake with no warning. Throw in the odd schizophrenic studio touch, and this album has plenty going for it musically. Crompy's lyrics straddle that line between the pleasant pop mechanics of decades past and being so shamelessly saccharine it's sickening. In “Telegram,” Crompy accuses you that "You've been sending me purple butterflies again my love/you've been sending me messages from turtledoves.” He walks a fine line but manages to pull it off for the most part. The songs as individual components are not boring. But listened to one after the other for nearly 20 tracks, the sound gets a little too familiar. Is that even a factor in reviewing an album since everyone can just shuffle their stuff across the board? At some points Crompy even starts recycling melodies and song structures. "Rohita Bonita" recalls the same nursery rhyme tactics Crompy displays in "Amy.” So did Crompy need ten years to make this album? It doesn't sound like it. What it does sound like is a man having fun with the musical ideals of Syd Barret, Roy Wood and whoever was leading The Pretty Things in songwriting. As far as debuts go, Crompy has already established a sound recognizable as his own and one that begs to be explored further.
When did people from South Carolina get into industrial beats? The easy part would be calling this an instrumental hip-hop album, because, well, it's what it is, and getting away with it. But the numerical rating I've given to this only begins to scratch the surface of my thoughts for Imagery, So Dark. Julian Mentch prefers to toil near the dangerous side of things. His world is powerful and confrontational. There's a relaxed approach to music making here, and yet the tracks shiver with energy. "Murdered Imagery" gives off the air of a futuristic speakeasy, bursting with saloon-style piano riding neo-noir fuzz and being supplemented by a choir from more pure parts. The "I'll bleed you slowly" aesthetic is achieved by running the sounds through makeshift microphones. This is the definition of a bedroom album. Hell, Mentch isolated the guitars in a bathroom so he could record them at high volumes. The lo-fi approach was done more out of necessity, but the syrupy tones work with the music. There are 11 tracks (12 including the 30-second opener), of bizarre and wonderful tape and sample experiments. He sets these back to foggy beats and live instrumentation. The samples and synthesizers sound disjointed or like they're being asphyxiated, and there's usually some evil electronic background grind like in "Water from Glaciers.” Yet the music as a whole possesses an almost narrative flow. Especially when Mentch enters jazzier territory like in the urban decay of "God Noise,” the labored layers of noise and dead-leave detail of melody leaves little question of how on the fly this music was conceived. Mentch chooses left-field samples, some which are downright alienating, but boy does he know how to use him. "Pure In Form" cuts off a preacher's "Up on High" and puts the bite through the blender. The result is a jarring but jazzy gospel hymn for the modern Manson. Relaxed beats played against reversed guitars and international music samples only add to the dreaminess. Note also the Arctic machinery on "Pain" with sawed-off bagpipes. Some songs lose steam: "Drapper" the closer sets up stoner metal riffs over cavernous beats, and I suppose the intended effect is to frighten but it comes off plodding and trite. There's a calm depravity found throughout Imagery, So Dark, a willingness to confound and the biting feeling that Mentsch knows a thing or two more than you about how rotten life is and this is his way of letting you know. The music knows how deep it can take you, and Mentsch is sane enough to pull off the riskier moves that are often the pitfall of new MCs. As it, he's setting himself up for a fruitfully barren career. Every week we mention a couple of artists that are worth your time to check out that were not featured in our weekly reviews.
Take almost two years of experimentation by songwriter Kate LeDeuce and guitarist Ryan Ford, who were joined along the way by Marty Kerslake on bass and then Matt Servo (who first acted as producer and then stayed on as keyboardist), as well as drummer Chris O'Connor. Now include almost full a year of recording and mixing and you have the brilliant self-titled debut EP by Canadian retro synth-rock group, roboteyes. The band completed their debut EP in February 2013. The recordings were produced, mixed and mastered entirely by Ford and Servo at Das Bootleg in Toronto. The EP also includes a creative shoegaze remix by Foxes in Fiction and a modern dance remix by Infrared Riding Hood.Roboteyes bring back the best the 80's music scene had to offer, mixed in with a modern twist. Their songs are filled with delightful hooks, melodies and great instrumentation. They are in an odd category, which cannot be genre-linked today, looking very alt rock, but performing the kind of upbeat danceable tunes that crossover into pop.
The EP contains six songs, cuddled in a bold, tenacious, production that allows the band complete freedom to move into your consciousness and lurk there, long after you've finished listening. On the first hearing it may sound like the past bubble-pop sound rearing its artless head again, but patience is a giver of lasting rewards; on subsequent hearings, the EP reveals all kinds of depth and nuances in the roboteyes’ music, certainly above and beyond the highly polished veneer with which it is presented. “Break My Heart” is a good song, all glammed up and vigorous, with a killer chorus. Kate LeDeuce’s echoey vocal will send a chill down even the most resistant spine. The powerful vocal and music arrangement on this track vaguely reminded me of classic 80’s hit releases by Jefferson Starship, like “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” and “Sara,” even though totally different in musical concept and final sound. But one swallow doesn't make a summer, and it's a big task for any band to come up with a whole EP, which can stand eye-to-eye with its ravenous and beautiful opening track. However roboteyes don’t dilute as the following tracks like, “Supernatural,” “Docks” and “You and Me” crank the excellence quota up another level again. What follows is a series of songs blessed with the same kind of innate grace, and tight, whirling rhythms. It’s like Howard Jones meets Yazoo meets The Thompson Twins in the year 2013. Their songs expand and draw you in rather than just drag you around the dance-floor.The self-titled roboteyes EP once again proves that good songs, intelligently presented, are always a winning proposition, over and above the musical genre. Enjoy this work, a good album by a group who on their debut release already sound at the absolute apex of its talents. Jam-packed with confidence and verve, roboteyes deliver top notch soulful, atmospheric and sensuous anthems, almost nonchalantly. It sounds so effortless, you get the feeling they just knocked it together in a few hours; instead this is the culmination of two year’s work. Roboteyes also plan on releasing the core four songs as a blog series from inception to final product, showing the power of a good idea and how it can start from anywhere. Spring, the latest release from Christoffer Hylander aka Killigrew, is part of a four-part series of EPs that are released in conjunction with that season. I was intrigued by the concept but I don’t know how much influence the seasons actually had on the songs. The songs here are electronic composition that are vibrant and that pull from hard-hitting drum beats, buzzsaw synths, whimsical airy synths, and vocal samples. There's enough here for a veteran advocate of electronic composition to give a damn. The songs have a good structure, are easy to enjoy, and have a lightness about them and while not always innovative have enough to leave the listener satisfied. A majority of the songs on the Spring infrastructure are built on the piano and then the blueprint is utilized in his computer to assemble the sounds. You don’t hear piano on every song and wouldn’t think of these as piano pieces but it starts to make sense as you listen to the layering of notes and melodies.“Set Me Free” is a strong opener that contains powerful piano chords laced with a bit of reverb and delay; a well thought out drum beat leaves enough space for the voltage like synths. It’s a powerful yet has a chilled out dubstep type vibe. “Sweet Solitude” has a progressive techno type feel that utilizes a lot of the same elements as the first song. The voltage type synths are present however this time instead of piano we hear a spacey guitar taking over the center stage. The song was pleasant, uplifting, if not bursting with an emotional backbone. “Where is the Love” is the first song that utilizes vocals in a more standard fashion. We hear soulful female vocals sparsely placed in the song to bring in a touch of the human element. The last song “Khaleesl” is on the verge of r&b as we hear traces of those soulful vocals we heard on “Where is the Love.” The beat itself is more derivative of something you might hear from Frank Ocean. This EP while not awe-inspiring had enough quality craftsmanship, attention to detail, and inspiration to have me anticipating Summer. Jess Hotchkiss has 15 years experience trying to make her guitar and voice be the channel for her struggles, pain, broken relationships and other life experiences. Jess Hotchkiss goes by the moniker oh be joyful which starts to take on a couple of shades of sarcasm as you start to listen to her latest album entitled call me island. The music has a darker tone that is covered with a sometimes-yearning type of sadness that is seeking solace. Similar downer albums like “I See a Darkness” by Bonnie “Prince” Billy have a special place in my heart because of the intrinsic, transient moments of beauty that expose themselves. Music as dim and hopeless as this needs to do something quite difficult and that is not to leave the listener with those feelings. Oh be joyful does a half way decent job of leaving the listener with solace and empathy rather then hopelessness and despair. Call me island was recorded by minimal equipment in basements and bedrooms and suffers because of it.The recordings themselves sometimes distort and you can clearly hear the poor quality preamps doing their magic to introduce unnecessary white noise that can take away from the songs at times. Some of the songs sound better then others quality-wise which cause discrepancies when listening to the album as a whole. It would suggest that the artist take the time to go into a proper studio next time around to maximize the emotional resonance of these songs. What I liked most about the album was Hotchkiss’s voice. It didn’t sound too cute which was appropriate and instead sounded very visceral, as if she was singing from her stomach. The occasional sour note aside, her voice was fitting for the music. For instance, on “the bow” we hear a rustic acoustic guitar barely strummed as her commanding vocal performance takes center stage. The powerful voice in unison with the delicate guitar playing created a dichotomy that was quite engaging. One of the highlights was “on a mend” which had a sense of hope behind the melancholy. The song was well written and catchy enough for me to add it to a playlist on iTunes. The album ends with “extended break” which is the poppiest song on the album. Behind the poor quality is a fun song they may have even benefited from a simple drumbeat. Call me island is a melancholy album that while it suffers from poor production has moments of beauty that are undeniable. We seem to be getting a steady influx of Australian artists. No complaints here. Found At Sea is a Sydney-based quintet that's been playing bummer alternative rock since 2005. On their most recent release, the band shows their maturity over the course of five harmony-focused songs. Everyone Was Swimming opens up with Tim Linnegar's powerful drumming preceding lush guitar work. The guitar is a staple on the album and along with clever keyboarding, makes up the nucleus of most of the songs. Ryan Linnegar's confident throaty singing calls to mind the tortured male vocalists of this century's heavy pop music. Linnegar's voice is a good fit for the music, which is often heavy and pressurized with despondency, and he manages to rescue the more personal lyrics from melodrama like "We'll make the world shrink to a living room." The band also goes for the soft sell in the last two songs. "Off His Feet,” for example, is a plodding stroll through lonely streets of steady drumming and gently but spirited guitars. A bit over 20 minutes long, “The Coloured Heart” does a good job in determining the tension created by the track's length. For this style of music - bitter emo ballads with flavors of hard rock and acoustic pop - this is important for leading listeners in but not suffocating them with feeling. For the most part this works, but it does backfire. "Off His Feet" is more than six minutes long but feels played out by the end, whereas "Summer Crept In,” a sun-going-down acoustic number that features Linnegar at his most gentle, feels like it fades too quickly. There are moments when I wish the band didn't take itself too seriously, for this is the work of serious musicians who craft their music too tightly. And yet, tight rhythm and frustrated guitar work make for a good, easy listen.
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