Jimmy Nonas (bass), Shawn Fafara (guitar/lead vocals) and Matt Yeager(drums/vocals) are Ike's Dark Days. The band apparently disbanded in 2009. They released Time Ticks Away where the time line is a bit confusing but apparently took about ten years. It mentions that the songs were recorded in Shawn's mom’s basement. Ahhh good old basement recording.
Let's starts with the recording. They do indeed sound like they were recorded in a basement. It has all the hallmarks I have heard over the years that differentiate a DIY basement type recording versus a professional recording you might expect from a commercial release. I’ll have to admit as an engineer myself I was hoping to get a lot more of a professional sound since the music is actually really well performed. They open with “If It's Real” where the bass and drums play off of each other. When the vocals came in I enjoyed the melody but it sounded like they were recorded from another room. There was no nuance to his voice. The song had a jam band type quality to it. Up next is “The March Of John Brown” which has a ’90s alternative vibe with a couple of catchy hooks. Their playing is top notch and they find a great groove right before the two-minute mark. “Opened Eyes” is a slightly bluesy yet heavy rocker. There's an unexpected spacey synth that sounds pretty rad. They hit the mark with “Hideout” which has some exceptional performances and vocal harmonies while the closer “Time Ticks Away” seemed like a cool song but in all honesty the snare was loud and it was hard to concentrate on anything else during the heavier parts, So I will surmise these guys have moved out of their parent’s house. It’s 2017 so maybe at this point they can do a reunion and record the songs at a studio? Maybe not. Either way this serves as a timepiece for them to remember where they were when they wrote and recorded these songs.
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James Martin is a singer/songwriter from New York who recently released a four-song self-titled EP James Martin. His style is diverse and each song has a different approach. I found his voice to be familiar sounding in a general way. In all honesty it reminded me of a lot of singers from grunge bands back in the ’90s.
Up first is “From Here to Eternity” which is a heavy song and to my ears had elements of prog and metal. The production is top notch but also pretty straightforward. Martin focuses on guitar, bass and drums and a familiar bed of distortion on the chorus. Towards the end of the song there is a breakdown with clean guitar but it goes back into the heavier part with almost no warning. “Lost Your Wings” has a more classic rock approach at times. On the verse it reminds me of Iron Butterfly while the bridge and chorus veer towards a ’70s metal vibe. It’s a pretty catchy tune with no real surprises either. I was a little more surprised by “Autumn Song” which takes advantage of bongos and acoustic guitar. The song leans towards pop and folk which he handles with ease but it felt a little out of place against the other songs. He closes with “Kakia” which has a lot more in common with “From Here to Eternity” and “Lost Your Wings.” Martin’s vocals felt a little more aligned with Ian Curtis on this song especially during the verse where he is little less dynamic. Overall, this EP isn’t introducing new concepts or ideas but the songs were well written and produced. On that note I’d be interested to hear what Martin has in store for us on a longer release.
Darnomite aka Jonah Lustig recently released Darnomite & The Magical Flying Zen Electric Oboe. Lustig explains that the EP was inspired mostly by Brian Wilson and Daft Punk. I heard the influence of Daft Punk right away and you can hear the Wilson inspiration mostly within the vocal harmonies.
The music is fun and loose. It’s not a cerebral experience that makes you think. In a way you can say it's easy listening. You also say the music fits into the electropop category. if I’m not mistaken, the music consists of almost entirely electronic elements. Up first is “Still Here” which starts off with wavy synths, a simple beat and vocals. It feels like it drags but not in a bad way. It actually really works well because of the transition that happens about a minute in. The bass is what made me think of Daft Punk as it intensifies with an arpeggiated synth and vocal harmonies. I loved the way “Swollen Spaces” started out. The synth lines are warm and the vocal melody is catchy. It’s a short song but Lustig covers a lot of ground. The last minute or so actually reminded me of the band Air. “Your Move” was a subdued dance number. It might be the catchiest song on the EP. The vocal harmonies work really well. Up next is “Wine Reconsidered” which is the most experimental sounding of the four songs. It does turn into more of a dance number about half way through. There are a couple of things I’d like to see Lustig attempt in the future. The songs felt like sketches and ideas that could have been fleshed out a little more. On the songs “Swollen Spaces” and “Your Move” both the songs start with solid vocal melodies but the second halves of those songs were dedicated to slightly repetitive instrumental attempts which felt a bit anti-climatic. I think I wanted really meaty hooks and choruses throughout the songs. The kind that you usually get in a Daft Punk song. Overall, Lustig is definitely on to something. I think this builds a solid foundation for this type of material and I hope to hear more soon.
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Again with Waves brings an interesting indie sound with their new latest album Wisdom of Motion. The band described their album as a “montage of different styles.” The tracks are certainly distinctive but all remain firmly in the indie rock ballpark.
The first track is called “Fruit” and it had all the tools to become a song I could really get into. Cool lyrics, laced with metaphors and riddles. The vocals were really on point for this alt/indie sound that was being delivered. They added some nice additional instruments and effects that were not expected. As I said, this song had all the tools to become a song I could get into, but there was one flaw which haunted me for the entire album. I really struggled with the mixing choices made for Wisdom of Motion, and it kind of broke my heart. I was straining to hear the lyrics which killed me because when I could hear them they were awesome. The additional instruments and added sound effects were also lost in the shuffle. All the elements are there in “Fruit.” I really wanted to hear that song but I felt like I got a low-quality bootleg copy. Nothing was coming through clearly. It was a struggle to really hear anything. If this was done intentionally to create some sort of effect I would have to advise going back to the drawing board and starting from scratch. The audio production needs a complete overhaul and I only say this because I truly, truly want to hear all the cool elements that I know are there. The same thing occurred for another track I felt had the potential to be great which was “Tripping Over.” Again, I got a cool alt/indie sound and when I could hear them, the lyrics were sensational. As for the other tracks, I had a hard time with the vocal element. “Even Cartographers” and “Secrets Untold Stuck” were a little more rugged and grungy in tone. It seems as though the vocalist wanted to adopt a different method for these songs. I feel in the attempt to come off as more severe that it just sounded contrived. After listening to the album for a second time, I realized I “Farewell Waltz” was also a song that had a lot of potential, especially on the musical end. The vocals on this track were not my favorite. But musically there were good elements there. I feel as though I was thrown the first time I heard it and I realized this was probably due to its placement in the album as the second track. This song has a great tone suitable for a final track placement. The potential in this album is pretty strong, I simply wish it was more than just potential. I would be curious to hear what Again with Waves does next. I’m crossing my fingers for perhaps some fresh blood regarding production collaborators.
Sky Remedy is Allan Kalich (guitars/bass/synths/drums) and Jared Morris (vocals). The duo released All My Life which is an eleven-song album. They play pop/rock that has been pretty popular for about the last five to ten years in different forms. At their best they have similarities to bands like Coldplay and Explosions in the Sky. Unlike Explosions in the Sky that don’t have many shades of emotional ambiguity to their music. They mostly play into a very uplifting, inspiring and hopeful sound that can quickly feel saccharine if overexposed.
They open with “The Middle Rope” which I felt was the best song on the album. The song while very catchy avoided some of the tropes that the others songs can’t seem to avoid. I think a large part of it was the prominent percussion that played next to the shimmering guitars. The tinge of melancholy on the vocals was the cherry on top. The band goes into more commercially familiar territory with “For The Moment.” They are riding a line of a straightforward pop band and something that has a little more cred with the fringe. I was reminded of the band The Doves that is a great band in my opinion. For the next couple of songs the band embraces grand crescendos that sound like they could be rolling at the end credits for a coming of age film. The band seems to be chasing the same feeling on songs like “Tonight,” “All My Life and “Bittersweet” which all ride a similar wavelength. “How Long Have I Waited” is a solid tune that I thought was going to stay a little more grounded but the band can't help themselves by the end of the song. They are more subdued on “I'll Never Let You Down” which was a nice change to the energy. I mentioned Explosions in the Sky earlier. On the earlier albums while pretty incredible the band didn't have as many layers of emotion compared to their latest album The Wilderness. If there is one thing I would like Sky Remedy to do in the future it's to explore more complex emotional terrain. They do a couple of things really well but I felt like I was more or less riding the same optimistic, hopeful, a little too perfect feeling throughout the album. I wanted some tension and release, a little bit of dissonance at times and a sense of unfamiliarity. The band also does a lot of things right that makes the album work. It’s very cohesiveness from top to bottom and never drags. It’s an extremely smooth ride thanks to solid production and impressive songwriting. Overall, I found this to be a solid album that is certainly enjoyable and worth your time to check out.
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The front cover of Sacha Mullin’s second solo record Duplex might startle you the first time you see it. At first, Mullin’s unflinching eye contact and plaintive expression may make you slightly uncomfortable, but as it sits in front of you for a while, it grows difficult to avoid looking it over every few seconds. Though it seems like a pretty straightforward option for album art, I thought the image represented Duplex well—Mullin’s confident presentation of his songs can be at first jarring, but once you’re indoctrinated into the record, your attention is constantly pulled back to the music.
Duplex quite cleverly refers to its structure in its title; the front half of the album has an electronic bent, while side B has a bit more of a human touch. Though they’re technically separated, the two styles are very much like neighbors, each contributing to making the record their ‘home.’ That home seems to have an eclectic decor, at turns dark, classical, dissonant, stark, rich, poppy, tense and explosive. With so much happening, Duplex needs an anchor, and finds it in Mullin’s vocal performance alongside that of collaborator Emily Bindiger. Their timbres are powerful in an almost theatrical way, and mesh well together again and again across several tracks. There are occasions, however, where the punch of the vocal parts outstrip the substantial instrumentation. It seems backwards to say Mullin is upstaging his own music, but when the dramatic flair really lands, as in piano-and-violin-led “Dream Ain’t Dead,” it makes some of the emotionally dissonant moments more awkward. Fortunately, this particular quirk smooths out as Mullin moves into the more organic material. I’m a big fan of expansive electronic production, and that’s one of Duplex’s strongest elements. “Eureka,” or “ユーレカ,” as it’s stylized, has a gigantic stack of synth parts that almost seems to breathe in time with the trip-hop-inflected beat, and Mullin’s falsetto vocal in Japanese makes me feel like I’ve reached the end credits of a cerebral sci-fi anime. I believe it’s the heaviest-hitting track on side A, and it most capably demonstrates both Mullin’s musical talents and aesthetic diversity. Not many people can pull something like this off. “White Hot Room” is another high point on the record for me, functioning almost like a paranoid version of an Adele song. Though it bears an aural resemblance to a torch song, Mullin never stops shifting around his vocal range, and ultimately ends the track without letting it resolve. It’s maybe the most sparsely arranged song on Duplex, but despite that (and maybe even because of it) it’s one of the most emotionally evocative moments on the record. Mullin has said he completed Duplex over the course of nearly five years, which brings both its strengths and its flaws into focus—he has been sitting with these ideas for so long that nearly every aspect of the record is maximally developed. Though the record may sometimes sag under its own weight, the audacity of its scope and the impressiveness of the musical delivery make Duplex worth several listens. Very few musicians can accomplish what Mullin has as an independent production, and on Duplex he makes his first few steps toward virtuosity.
Willamena is a band based in Kalamazoo, MI that has released six independent albums to date with six singles getting national radio play. They have played live shows all over the country and have a local following. Their album Strong Enough to Last features five rock tracks with a folk vibe and a sound that is accessible to all music fans.
The album started with the title track “Strong Enough to Last” which had a nice harmonica intro which blended into a Tom Petty-esque sound. The vocals came off as a little aggressive to me that didn’t jive well with the overall sound, at least for part of the track. Production wise, the song was solid. Everything was mixed perfectly and sounded professional. I liked the feel-good quality of the music, it reminded me of something you’d hear at a summer festival with free-spirited bohemian types rhythmically swaying by the stage. Although there is a rock foundation, it has more of a jam band quality about it, without the long periods of jamming, if that makes sense. The second track “Open Up the Stars” opened once again with pretty harmonica and had a universal “Hold on, it’ll get better” kind of message with the lyrics. At times the lyrics felt cliche and a little ordinary, but overall I still enjoyed the song. “As Long As I Can” reminded me of a Bruce Springsteen song, although I couldn’t figure out which one. As with the previous tracks, it had a folksy positive sound, even when the lyrics are brushing on tough issues, the sound is upbeat and fun. “When You Close Your Eyes” had more of a rock feel and started off feeling like an anthem. I enjoyed the vocals on this track more than the others. They were slightly more understated and felt more real and natural. I really dug the lyric “I’m drowning from the weight of my dreams” and it worked with the feel and flow of the song. The final track “Darkest Before the Dawn” had some really nice harmonies but the lyrics were lacking for me. Some of the cliche phrases were intentional I’m sure, but they came off as a little much. Strong Enough to Last had strong points but I felt the album sometimes lacked diversity and felt familiar. Willamena definitely has talent but there wasn’t anything that really stood out to me that felt singular to the band. I think the need to be accessible might be holding back some real potential in some of the tracks. I still enjoyed the album and I think there's a definite possibility for greatness. I look forward to future evolution.
Kevin Hyland is a seventeen-year-old musician from Connecticut who recently released Frontiers. What does a young man who has barely experienced much of life to begin with write about? In his own words “in its most basic form this is an album about growing up and its effects on the relationships we have. Experiencing many things for the first time during our teen years can bring us closer to certain people. Conversely, once we've experienced these first times and have matured, our relationships with certain people can degrade.”
He goes on to explain “I compared this idea to the notion of manifest destiny and Frederick Turner's frontier thesis. He theorized that America would only succeed if there was a frontier. Once the frontier closed, America would be in jeopardy.” So there you have it in a nutshell. Hyland explains “I tried to stray away from typical pop song structures” but to my ears this songs were fairly straightforward pop/rock songs. He sticks to 4/4, mostly major and minor scales and does not introduce aspects such as dissonance. The songs are easy to follow with palatable elements and catchy melodies. Maybe it's just me but when I think of musicians who stray away from pop structure artists like Fennesz, Greg Haines and Keith Fullerton Whitman come to mind. After a quick yet pretty instrumental piece called “1890” he gets the album moving with “Nothing But The Same” which at its best has some similarities to The War on Drugs. His lyrics sent me back to my college days about fifteen years ago. I guess not much has changed. I got into the works of Henry David Thoreau myself and was in a constant state of change. He sings “army coats, phonographs, a new found taste for prose an admiration for Kerouac and Henry David Thoreau it's funny how, with each semester passed, you found a different you.” “Hourglass” is more nostalgic and contemplative while “The Architect” felt like a straightforward alternative song that you might hear on FM radio. “The Night” on the other hand is atmospheric and cerebral. I was impressed with his songwriting as the album progressed with songs like “The Turner Thesis.” The recording quality was really good considering it was DIY. I was impressed for the most part. The one thing that wasn't working was the programmed drums. The hi-hat work in particular sounded unlike a real drummer. Overall, Hyland has a lot of promise. He should be proud of what he accomplished and I am sure his style will evolve as he goes through these transformative years.
A funny fact about the band Closer Than Ever. Aside from their drummer MatthewStenfort , the rest of the band members do not play their primary instruments. They are actually all saxophonists. I have to admit that I was curious about what the band would sound like with three saxophonists and drums. Sounds pretty interesting to me. For this EP they approached it from a pretty standard rock format. Dante D'Angelo (vocals/guitar), Colin Hastings (guitar), Nathan Howland (bass) and Matthew Stenfort (drums) are the players on their release Away.
The members are young students and the topics reflect that. D'Angelo sings about relationships, lose, hope and more. It felt like pretty standard coming of age topics that reflect the thinking of a young man contemplating his surroundings and feelings. The EP opens with “Thing We Call Love” which is a pop/rock song. It’s a pretty straightforward song that revolves around clean guitar, a catchy chorus and a slight by the beach Jack Johnson vibe. Up next is “Video Game” which has an upbeat carefree vibe where he starts questioning the decision he made in his life. Up next is “Galaxies” which has a chill, funky vibe while “Children of Tomorrow” is a contemplative song which has resemblance to The Dave Matthews Band. The EP closes with the nostalgic, melancholy and thought provoking “All Gone Away.” The production/recording quality is about demo quality. There will need to be pretty significant improvements in the future if they hope to compete with professional quality recordings which is easily achievable with the proper team. The songs felt pretty familiar overall. I’d like to see if the band can narrow in on a more specific sound instead of such a general vibe that has been replicated countless number of times before. I’d say this is a solid start and certainly showcases some potential. I’m hoping to hear more saxophone on their songs in the future.
Kam Singh is an artist from England who released Rock Star. On his Bandcamp page it states that these songs were released a couple of years back. The songs are extremely easy to enjoy for a number of reasons. The production/recording quality is top notch, the songs are fairly short but fit in a lot of memorable melodies and his vocals are aesthetically pleasing.
Up first is “Rock Star” which revolves around acoustic guitar, piano, bass and percussion. There is a slight grunge feel to it during the verse but what I really enjoyed more were the buildups during the verse which reminded me of Ben Folds Five. Singh introduces some distortion during the instrumental section to really drive home the grunge vibe. “Indigo” has a ’90s alternative vibe. The song is fairly simple in a number of ways but fun and catchy. It's all about the delivery. “Ice Cream” was the highlight. Singh steps away from the ’90s alternative vibe and replaces it with folk. Everything on this song sounds exceptional. The rolling snare work propels the acoustic guitar which combines to make a very attractive collection of sounds. I also thought his vocals sounded great as well. The lyrics were heartfelt and I thought his delivery was spot on for the feel of the song. The energy gets amped up on “Counting Stars” which again embraces a more alternative arguably pop vibe. He closes with “Into Your World” which was more nostalgic and grand in a Coldplay type of way then the other songs. Singh showcases a couple of different sides to his music with this EP. Overall, I thought they fit together for the most part and certainly made for an enjoyable listen from beginning to end. Recommended.
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