Weird Beard is a band from Chicago, IL that makes very accessible pop music. It’s on the softer side of hard rock and they recently showcased their talents with a short three-song EP entitled uh EP. The band consists of Mark Stevens and Matt Settle on guitar and vocals, Mark's cousin Kevin Stevens on bass and vocals, and Ryan Berger on drums. Everything came together rather quickly for the band. They were roommates drinking beers and rocking out and decided to take it to the next level by going into a professional studio and laying down these tracks. In about three months they produced a solid EP that shows that Weird Beard has potential to make it out of their basement. The songs are recognizable but hard to pinpoint to a specific genre. You could use a general term like alternative as a reference since they seem to have a lot of influence from bands from the 90’s The album opens with “All To See Her Smile”which is a solid song but also feels a bit too cliché at times. Everything is in the right place and despite the song’s recognizable quality they all are accomplished musicians. I did thoroughly enjoy the end of the song where the band was singing “doot- doo” with vocal harmonies. Things take a positive turn on “Say What You Say.” The band rocks out a bit harder and the vocal melody is more original. On top of this the vocalist has one of his most dynamic performances as it sounds like he is increasing the octave range throughout the song. Closing with another solid song is “Turkish Bath” which is the highlight of the album. It starts off with some excellent tom work, an attractive guitar melody and the best vocal performance on the album. The song is a visceral experience bringing into it emotions like nostalgia and melancholy. This is a young band that still has some work to do before they can compete with the big boys but they are off to a good start and they have a lot of time to make it happen.
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Based out of Lower Merion Township, PA, 13 Lines is a hard rock band that has influences from punk and alternative and consists of Nik Rajagopal (vocals/guitar), Jae Hoon Choi (guitar), Ron Borisovsky (bass) and Adam Tuttle (drums). They formed in 2010 and in only two years signed to ATR Records and proceeded to work with producer Ian Cross (Janet Jackson, Usher). It took about a year to finish their EP entitled Read Between the Lines. The EP contains five songs of guitar-heavy tunes that show a band that has a knack for creating a catchy pop song under a heavy bed of distortion. The album’s first track “Unknown” starts out solid with Black Sabbath-inspired guitar riffs that got me going, That good ole guitar crunch sounded inviting and it put me in the mood for unpretentious rock. Despite the heavy guitar chords on the chorus the verse is pretty clean consisting of delicately picked guitar patterns. The 80’s inspired guitar solo solidified that the song was a winner. The second song “All Of This” still has heavy guitars but has a pop punk feel instead of the 80’s metal vibe I was grooving to on the first song. That sound is distinctly more modern on this track but fits the song. You will find yourself with a bit more energy after listening to this song as the chorus is an anthemic sing-along. I was digging the guitar work from the first moments I heard “Not Alone.” Powerful bar chords fill up your speaker but the speed metal lead guitar work was the main attraction. In addition to the impressive guitar Rajagopal delivers some of the best vocal work on the album. His vocal melody is addictive and feels more inspired here than on some of the other tunes. The band closes with “Fixation” which is a bit deceiving. In the beginning the song consists of just vocals and guitar. I was thinking they were going to end on a soft note before things changed rather suddenly at 2:00 mark. They rock out pretty hard before it’s all over. Read Between the Lines is a solid EP with some good songs on it. It’s not reinventing the wheel by any means but has some intriguing moments.
You know how Vashti Bunyan's Just Another Diamond Day had people thinking it was a modern take on classic folk music but then it turned out to BE classic folk music? Eleanor Murray's Bury Me Into the Mtn is like that album if the album was an actual modern take on classic folk music. Make sense? Fancy Lee Hazlewood-like production throughout this album, which definitely makes the mostly acoustic folk songs hit harder and appear sharper. Also very surprising considering Murray claims the album was recorded during a windstorm. No complaints here and they even use the natural sound sometimes. The opener "Fourteen" features, as a treat, surprisingly heavy production in the middle of what first sounds like a mix of lounge and Americana. Murray's backing band, perhaps not surprisingly, is Mount Eerie, purveyors of the darker sounds of modern folk music. Their playing is soft and careful, like a game of hopscotch, but still add muscle to Murray's punch. For her part, Murray resurrects the spirit of Sibylle Baier and channels it through her own willowy chords. Check out "Rebel/Summer," where she scats verses over a dusty guitar melody. Murray characterizes the album as one of sincerity, or at least that is what it sounds like on songs like the gem "Louise," with Murray's echoed vocals sounding like she's singing from a moonlit well. The murky guitar playing manages to sound as bright as the soul they're trying to illuminate. The title track is just as brilliant, with Murray carefully revealing lyrics as if blowing seed from her palm. "Something in me slipped way, I don't know its names/Or if it travels to find me as a baby" carries much more weight in than in today's lyrics where dangerous behavior is mistaken for a cure for forgetting your troubles. Murray continues a powerful tradition of female-voiced folk music, mixing in potent lyrics with simple compositions that expand like ripples in pond. Bury Me Into the Mtn is a beautiful album, delicate, refined but also brutal in its honesty.
Over the past few decades Brian Dean performed in a number of bands and has opened for popular artists such as Tammy Wynette and Steve Wariner. In 2008 he left California and moved to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands where he scuba dives and performs throughout the year (if that isn't living the sweet life I’m not sure what is). He recently released a full-length album called Life’s a Beach, which seems to be mimicking the life he is living. The songs have a country vibe but also have a carefree island thing going for it that I think only someone living in the Virgin Islands or Hawaii could implement into their songs. When listening to the album it’s too easy to imagine Dean playing these songs beachside for tourist as the sun sets. The production is top-notch sounding as it should be as it was recorded, mixed and mastered at Direct Image Studio, Nashville TN, by Ken Royster. The songs’ production is radio ready but the songwriting isn’t too shabby either. While it’s clear the songs are a bit commercial sounding and intended for a broad audience there are enough quality moments to make even the most cynical of hipsters cave in. The album opens with “Give It Your Best Shot.” This one has a distinct country vibe and doesn't waste any time as it kicks in with the full band before it simmers down to let us hear Dean’s comforting, almost fatherly voice. His voice is deep and calm but also commanding. In fact, his voice is what creates a distinction from being just another song on the radio to something that may make your take out your smartphone and figure that you are listening to. His lyrics are simple and unpretentious as he sings, “Give your best shot I know my girl is looking mighty hot. One of the highlights for me was “So You Think I’m Sexy” which has a distinct island vibe as it utilizes a number of additional percussive elements, upward strumming on the guitar and a wah pedal. If you are looking for a band that sounds like a Pitchfork approved “indie rock” this is not it. This is a solid album of commercial country pop mix that sounds unapologetically refined.
Christian Bassett is on top of it. He's been playing music for a decade, and a year or so ago released his first album under his Skyed Pillars handle. Then, realizing he did not have to wait on anybody but himself, released his second album, Cloud Opus, that you are reading about right now. Cloud Opus reveals itself over five tracks as a Teutonic narrative of perseverance. The music exists somewhere between the post-rock thunderstorm of Mono and Pelican and the churning guitar miasma of Boris. The tracks show their metal lineage by opening with graceful notes and chords that edge into carefully crafted swords of white noise and guitar riffs. The eponymous track ascends to Explosions in the Sky heights with its glistening guitar work bubbling over keyboards before giving way to an even deeper noise chasm. Here is the general blueprint for Cloud Opus: give the listener a riff, stick with it, and build the noise and nuances later. It's not an original strategy, but it pays off in the skilled hands of Bassett. The sameness heard throughout the album is hardly unwelcome, and he knows how to trim the fat, and when to leave it on. "Davenport Creek" is noticeably more optimistic than the other tracks, while "Creation" explores the strengths of silence and percussion midway through the track before relinquishing itself to a buzzing instrumental passage (I mean, it's ALL instrumental). "Fated Children" as a closer is probably the weakest track on the album, but still boasts a mean coda at the end. Every track also features some tough percussion in the back of the noise. This is a cool listen. The music is graceful without being safe, and still loud enough to warrant a noise complaint from the neighbors.
Nazarevox’s previous release Inside was experimental, sparse and relied on a lot of electronic elements. For his latest release, Exotica, a lot of the arrangements are still experimental and sparse but they rely more on the guitar than they did before. Marcelo Naz the one-man behind Nazarevox self-describes this as having elements of hard rock, which might be a bit far-fetched. You do get distorted guitar but that doesn't always equate with hard rock. What you do have here is a bunch of songs that are an improvement from his last effort. While some of the songs still move with about as much momentum as a tortoise the structures are a bit more balanced and songs have more variety. For example, “Constelation” relies on bongos, sparse bass notes and acoustic guitar. The song has a slow bpm and at the four-minute mark we are finally introduced to the vocals. In comparison “Shoot Me” has a rock/jazz/ samba type feel even though the bass work feels a bit rigid.
The album starts off with the title track “Exotica.” It’s as if a drone metal band and David Lynch had a meeting of the minds. At first it sounds like a pretty basic track with distorted guitars, drums and bass but it progresses as he decides to go into free jazz territory. It actually sounded a bit reminiscent of something you might hear of Scott Walker’s latest album Bish Bosch. A lot of people would take that as a compliment. “The Way I See The World” begins with a steady repetitive hum of ambience that eventually fades away and is replaced by guitars that are treated with a lot of reverb. It changes a number of times after that not only the structures but the entire tone of the song. It almost feels like eight songs in one. For example at around the 3:30 mark we hear the song becomes incredibly dark as Naz plays whole notes that reverberate on the guitar and give off down right scary overtones. A minute later we hear piano chords that could be the beginning of a Billy Joel song. Naz ends the album with “Hallucinating,” which had the best beat on the album except the guitars sounded a bit too lo fi for my liking. Towards the middle of the song he starts to sing in an 80’s inspired hair metal type voice to add some life to the song. I haven't quite figured out where Nazarevox is going with this music but I think it’s slowly growing on me. He combines different genres and goes beyond simple experimentation on most of the songs, which makes it extremely hard to define. Quiet Child from Adelaide, Australia, plays combat-ready progressive rock that owes a good deal of its lineage to Muse and Radiohead. Despite their major influences being major players in shaping contemporary sounds of alternative rock, Quiet Child, with their excellent use of musical friction and release, craft a listening experience that's far more different, I think, than their peers. The band is a standard four-piece: Pete and Ash on guitar, Brent on bass, and Ryan on drums. But they get so much music out of their instruments it's ridiculous. The music on their EP The Coming Storm mostly stays at progressive rock levels with lengthy instrumental passages often dominated by a heavy guitar sound, but they easily melt into metal or out right psychedelia. "Cannonfire March" is a forceful blend of neoclassical composition with metal guitar riffs and thunderous percussion. I'm more partial to songs like "0400." It's just amenable to being radio-friendly, but there's no denying the thoughtful drumming and glam-rock guitar lines. Whatever song they play, you can tell they're dead set on making an impression (of your silhouette burned against a cement wall). The sublime keyboard paranoia of "In Out,” heavily punctured by fiery guitars, for example, trumps some of the Radiohead songs it emulates. Lyrically, the songs are pretty sparsely populated, given their length. But Quiet Child manages to say very much with very little, infusing their lyrics with imagery both subtle and stark. On "Hotel Shade" vocalist Pete quietly moans, "I dream a formless wish/Set against faded 70's lime/Cigarette burns in the shape of half smiles in the carpet." I mean, who writes like that anymore? Inertia is also explored in the piano-in-a-funeral-parlor "Ghost Town:” A paperweight made of gold/A death I could control, if I thought you were coming home" sounds like it was recorded in a monastery. Quiet Child fill me with hope for the psychedelic scene wanting in, well, psychedelia. Sadly, their future is not to be. As of Sept. 1, Quiet Child announced on Facebook they were calling it quits. Dammit, that makes the album even more beautiful, and its name darkly ironic, because for all its mournful music, rays of optimism cut through the gloom and give the music a sense of expectation rather than longing. If you had a chance to read our review of Chill by Duvid earlier this year we described it as if Brian Eno took a stab at contemporary music while listening to elevator music for two weeks straight. Unspoken is pretty much any extension of that. The music strongly reinforces the album cover, which depicts a beach as the sun starts to set. Most would consider it a relaxing scene where tranquility seeps into your consciousness. The same could be said about Unspoken. If nothing else it is an extremely relaxing experience that fades into the background. In fact you don't need too have to focus your attention to enjoy it. I'm pretty sure this was music that was made for playing while you are relaxing on a hammock or getting a massage. The music itself is all-instrumental and contains a prominent amount of piano and pads. You do hear the occasional percussion and also a shining example of what elevator music bass sounds like. There are 13 songs on this album, which may sound like a lot but it doesn't really matter with this type of music. Duvid could have 50 songs on here and the album will still have the same effect. “Unspoken” kicks off the album, which presents us with a rather passive electric piano melody that immediately got me thinking about laying down and closing my eyes. Duvid uses an occasional pad sound that pops up in the song, which adds a bit of variation. That elevator bass I was talking about is all over “Drifting.” Drums come way late into the song and almost weren't even worth putting in. The song also contains the sounds of samples of steel drums, which gave me this feeling I was hanging out in an elevator in Hawaii. One of the highlights for me was “Juliette” which was a nice change of pace. Duvid implements guitar and some pretty cool sounding trickling like electronic sounds. It was the most engaging song so far for me. As the album progresses there are a number of other highlights such as “Poems Without Words” and “One Way” but in the end all of the songs blur together. This isn't always a bad thing because it creates a similar feeling of contentment and relaxation throughout its duration.
Daniel Orvik was in the rhythm section of the band Stars of Track and Field before he went at it alone under the moniker The Joint Compound. He went on to create his solo EP entitled Please Don't Leave Get Out, which he wrote, performed, recorded, mixed and produced entirely by himself. I am completely dumbfounded by this fact and the record sounds great production-wise and the arrangements and the amount of instruments he plays is more than impressive. The debut EP is 22-minutes long but packs in a lot within that time. Take for example the opening track “I'm Gonna Miss You. The song burst from the beginning with great guitar melodies, bass, drums and more. As the guitar gives way Orvik has great lyrics talking about Atari and early gaming systems and interweaving that with lines like “I'm gonna miss you.” The little production tricks are well played and don't sound like a gimmick whether it is the extra reverb on his voice for a single word or the electronic glitches. As the song progresses it introduces a number of different of instruments and by the end you are saying to yourself why haven't you been doing solo work sooner. Orvik proves the first song was no fluke with “Neverending Fuckaround.” The song is more experimental than the first song as he adds textures such as whirling synths, and bass drops behind unique guitar riffs He sings over these somewhat chaotic textures. When the drums come in it gives the song some more foundation and out of nowhere he rocks out as we hear distorted guitars and the synths drops off. It is such an awesome change - very original and had me do a double take. On top of this the songs just seems to get better. “Hold Your Ground” was the most straightforward song on the album. It was far from my favorite but was still pretty darn catchy. “Rock in a Quarry” is a good experimental rock tune. He changes the song plenty of times and no one would ever accuse Orvik of being boring. He closes with “Trophy in the Sky” which is arguably the best track on the album. The album is more electronic than anything else but also has some of the most inventive sounds as well as the catchiest vocal melodies on the album. The songs just get better as it goes on. This is one of those albums that just took me by surprise. There are some moments on this album that are beyond good and are simply exceptional. All I can say is that you need to check this out.
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