London-based indie-rock singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Vittorio Tolomeo, aka Quarry, has an electrifying, zanny new album, Super Arcade. It’s quite a ride.

The lead single from the album is the title track, “Super Arcade,” which was recently chosen as Song of the Day by Rolling Stone (France).

With a hard-hitting, gritty romp, rebellious vibe, quirky, sometimes creepy, vocals, and fuzzy guitar riffs that are connected to many pedals, it’s understandable that the magazine editors picked this stomping, rocking track to present to its readers. In addition, they created a nifty and artistic music video as well.

“It was fun making this stop-motion video. There are marvelous drawings and the director had a brilliant idea. There are two parallel worlds. I’m based in an ideal environment within the underground world.”

“There is the transition from cartoon to human when I come down from the messed-up world above, through a porthole,” Tolomeo explains.

“Many people asked if we shot the video inside of a boat because of the porthole. But we filmed that in the illustrator’s bathroom where there is a porthole,” he says, adding, “I think that the video conveys the idea of detachment from many unnecessary things of this age perfectly.”

Super Arcade has many other surprises and intriguing moments.

It’s important for context to set the scene that led up to the recording and release of Super Arcade. It was a project long ago planned by the British rocker. We need to go back a bit.

The setting is a quiet warehouse filled with dozens of old pinball machines and arcade games. For Tolomeo, a longtime video and arcade game fanatic, it’s heavenly.

Combining games like pinball machines and music may lead one to think of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” but that is not what we have here.

While Tolomeo casts himself as “an occasional pinball wizard,” neither his love for arcades and video games, nor music, was the result of The Who. The combination was completely manifest within his own interesting universe from childhood into adulthood.

The master plan for the album started with the idea to construct a recording studio in the warehouse and amongst the pinball machines and video games. Once the studio was set-up, Tolomeo started a musical journey many musicians do not experience.

What followed was years of experimenting with sound effects and compositions.

It was in his new recording studio that Tolomeo found his techniques and skills were improving and maturing the more he experimented. It was the perfect environment for his creativity and talents to blossom.

“For a musician, a place to make music is a continuous journey in unexplored galaxies, it’s freedom, it’s shelter,” explains Tolomeo.

It wasn’t just video games, sound effects and unique compositions that he had on his mind.

“Making the record in such a strange place was necessary to stop time and detach myself from the unnecessary things of this age. I realized that I wanted to express the value of awkwardness.”

“When I think about the invasion of bloggers of nothingness, talent shows, false myths and ephemeral notoriety, I get comfortable with being out of place and out of time.”

Such observations are plentiful on the 10-track album.

Take the second track, “Inside The Morning Light.” It also opines on modern life. The stomping, distorted sound may remind some of the Black Keys or Cage The Elephant. That technique, paralleled with riveting guitars and percussion, gives the track an unmistakable overall ominous vibe. One will notice while listening to the album the effective stomping sounds; techniques Tolomeo employs often and with great effectiveness.

That’s followed by the frenzied song, “Everything And Its Opposite.” The track is a fast-moving, spiraling rocker driven by Tolomeo’s intriguing guitar playing and techniques.

The song presents a surreal, even terrifying, “picture of giant corporate digital monopolies” whose precious algorithms, unfortunately, influence every aspect of daily life. The lazy, mystical track, “Man With The Scars,” pays tribute to David Bowie, he says.

Other tracks like the zany, grooving and rocking “Haters Online” (another hater online/that’s what you’ll find) and “Firefighter,” with its infectious and unforgettable guitar riffs, take direct target at social media and “the border between virtual and real,” Tolomeo says.

Then there is the infectious, oddly-titled visionary ballad, “Sweet Alien On Creamy Skis,” which Tolomeo says celebrates people who still hold out hope that the planet might be saved from visitors from beyond. However, in reality, that’s a bad strategy.

Tolomeo’s vocals sometimes remind me of Tim Curry’s voice in the cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show movie. His voice is often deep and sometimes creepy while at the same time perfectly fit for the sonic landscapes he creates. He can even hit high notes, although he rarely does.

The track, “London Cloak,” creates a strange, almost surreal, vibe, starting out in slow-motion almost, percussions until the track hits the chorus. Then things get crazy musically and vocally. It’s funk and rock mixed with a Frank Zappa-like approach and veins of psychedelic music (that take on so many shapes and textures throughout the album that it truly is amazing). Tolomeo is totally free to create the sound he wants and it’s not your ordinary fare.

Songs like “Longest Years,” have so much going on and so many elements that it would be quite a challenge for anyone to replicate or cover most of his songs. This track also has bongo drums and mystic, almost Middle Eastern like chanting along with a riveting set of electric guitar notes that are fed through a number of pedals and filters.

The album closes with, “Reborn,” a sinister-sounding track with a precious pairing of note changes between his powerful guitar and the bass. As the track progresses it dives head-first into shifting notes, story-telling, and Tolomeo’s distinctive vocals.

Tolomeo’s years of experimenting with sounds in order to make this uniquely sounding, engaging, entertaining and rocking album. It’s not hard to say that it’s one of the best albums we’ve heard this year in as far as musicians who are intent on making rich, ingredient-filled, textured, layered and totally different music by taking advantage of their artistic freedom.

Afterall that’s the greatest aspect of the indie rock genre – that musicians who can’t, or won’t, fit into a nicely formed genre identity, are allowed to experiment and genre-mix as much as they want. And often what comes from such freedom is good stuff.

But no matter how heavy or sarcastic a subject is, the music is infectious all the way through, combining heavy-hitting drums, slashing guitars with melodic hooks, distorted, chunky bass lines with an alternative pop-rock confection.

Tolomeo played all the instruments for most of the tracks on the album. He and his band plan to tour Europe and the U.S. in the spring and summer of 2020.

From the midwestern plains arrives the music of the relatively new Kanasan indie band Miles on End.

Their own one-sentence pitch is a damn good one at that:

“From the high plains of Kansas, Miles on End is a groove rock band which has carved an audible canyon through the thick sod with interwoven guitar melodies and funky rhythms.”

Nice, huh?

And the band backs up it up with an eclectic and jam-loving style on their debut self-titled album.

The album opener, “Hit The Heat,” is a chunky-funky lo-fi rock burner with shifting rhythms buoyed by a sweet little jam and guitarist Nathan Engel’s understated vocals.

Following is the slower and more instrumentally-driven track, “Electric Plantation,” which starts out with an interesting garage pop swagger and totally develops into a full-throttle highway rock blazer. The song then slows down again into a Jerry Garcia-like riff-out.

The band’s penchant for jamming to the rafters is not to be overlooked or even underappreciated. In fact, their live shows are famous for long late-night jam sessions.

Engel says the next track on the album, “Flatirons,” is one of Miles on End fans’ favorites at live shows. That’s believable thanks to its bluesy/jazzy intro that transitions smoothly into more alt. rock/garage elements that work nicely and make it one of the strong tracks on the album.

The song was named for the Flatiron Mountain range outside of Boulder, Colorado. The band members had a treacherous and unforgettable hiking experience there which led to the song’s title and lyrical content.

Opening with a funky groove and blaring guitars, together with sick percussions from drums and bass, “Dead Ends,” has a darker appeal than other tracks on the album. But also like so many tracks on the album, it transforms into a full-on jam and emerges from the darkness.

Next is the rambunctious, energy-driven indie-pop piece, “White Walls.” Engel said it is one of the tracks that fans love at shows. It is also, he says, a track that “seems to best encapsulate the band’s diverse groovy dance rock sound.”

“The song is catchy and features a fantastic trance-like instrumental break that really gets a crowd moving,” he says.

“The Skirmish of Trinidad” is an interesting instrumental; it opens with soft waves and seagulls and transforms into a chugging rock track that is something of a mini adventure features various transitions that one could say is part of the band’s signature sound. Engel said it is intended to “musically paint a picture of a pirate naval battle in the Caribbean Sea.”

The closing track, also an instrumental, is the funky, riff-driven, “Of Crickets and Constellations.” It is not the campfire song of your parents.

Engel said it came from a book that he cannot remember and symbolizes that which is “all-encompassing; everything in the world, from big to small, from crickets to constellations.”

Miles on End was formed in 2017 by brothers Nathan (vocals, guitar) and Ryan Engel (guitar). Soon after, the band brought on bassist Nick Schlyer, percussionist Keith Dryden, and trumpet master Layne Moe.

The band’s music inspirations are varied and include bands and artists like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Doors, Steppenwolf, The Allman Brothers Band, James Brown, Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock, Grover Washington JR, Miles Davis, Donald Byrd, and Grant Green.

It’s sweet to see an appreciation for great music among young bands since too many of them are trying to do something they think sells rather than do what they enjoy the most and make them stand out. These cats mix all them styles – rock, funk, jazz, blues, R&B – into one good time.

For a debut album by a DIY indie band, this is a solid start. It could have used a bit more polishing in sound quality/production department, but nevertheless, a respectable first outing from a band that has something different going on and who you can tell enjoy themselves.

The LP was recorded at Blue Moon Studios in Mulvane, Kansas and mixed and mastered at Heavy Eleven Studios in Hays, Kansas.

The new album, Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll, from California musician Carol Blaze, sets out to ‘bring back’ those elements of a cultural reference that dates back at least 40 years now, at a time when rock and roll ruled the music world.

“I am disciple of decadence. I happen to believe that most of our problems in the world could be remedied by these three things,” Blaze says.

“I’m annoyed and dismayed at the lack of sex, drugs, and rock and roll in many places of the current USA. It reflects my disdain for an America lacking art or culture and my disdain for the lack of SDRnR in today’s youth.”

The opening title track struts and sways with a more modern mix of edgy rock and darkwave. Therefore, the album title may seem a little misleading to those expecting a classic rock sound.

Aside from that, Blaze and his band chug along intently through the track laying down a hard-edge vibe. It’s a stellar rock track that can grow on you.

Switching it up and keeping it real are important considerations that Blaze seems to understand in a musically savvy sense.

On his Bandcamp page, he describes his music as “darkwave, psychedelic rock created within a world of cyberspace, analog performance, and dark imagination.”

Indeed darkwave blended with rock would be a good descriptor. (Haven’t heard the word ‘cyberspace’ since the early 2000s.  For those not sure what that means – it’s an older word for the Internet, just like another beauty, ‘information superhighway’ . )

The second track on the album, “Trouble,” starts with a beeping, electro psych-pop sound before launching into a full-blown track with blazing guitars, dance-oriented percussions, creepy vocals, and synth sound effects.

It’s no wonder the band made this track their lead single from the album.  The single smokes and should be playing on popular playlists and has become one of our top under-the-radar rock singles of 2019.

That’s our humble opinion, and of course we are basing that on only the tracks we’ve heard in 2019, which must be somewhere approaching 2,000 songs by now.

Other tracks like the late 70s arena rocker, “Fall Away” and “Come With Me,” are fine songs as well. The latter song has a creepy, sinister vibe which is just right for this Halloween season.

The lyrics are particularly dark: “Come with me/and if you dare/I welcome you to my nightmare/you must decide before the killing time.”

Then there is the surprising, and seemingly out of place, track “Passing Time” sounds like an 1980’s-leaning love song perfect for parking the car at the overlook on a warm summer night.

“Passing Time” might remind some of the stellar 1980’s band Big Star. It does have that vibe that is the ‘Alex Chilton’ sound. It’s encouraging that there are young musicians who are still making original pop-rock songs of this quality while also giving a nod to the trailblazers of yesteryear.

The album closes with the gloomy anthem-like “Takako.” This song is cinematic in a sense:  one may imagine hearing it on the play on a soundtrack for a movie or show like Game of Thrones; meanwhile, the camera pans over a large field blotted out by a sea of warriors ready for battle. This is the level that Blaze’s music is at.

Therefore, it is no big surprise that Blaze’s music has appeared on soundtracks for shows such as Disappeared; Deals from the Darkside; True Life; Pros vs Joes; Remodeled, and Last Call with Carson Daly, among others.

As stated previously, the album title is not a match for the music itself because one is expecting a collection of ordinary classic rock songs. And yet there is nothing ordinary about this album. It’s a must-hear if you dig rock, psych and darkwave mixed together in varying hues.

Blaze recently moved to California’s famous (or infamous) Silicon Valley to be “one step closer to being out of the country” but found, to his surprise, a lack of “art music or culture, except as it pertains to rich people.”

“I was surprised at the number of people surrounding me who were lacking any knowledge of sex, drugs, or rock and roll in the artistic sense. What an absolute fucking bore it is.”

“I was dismayed at the lack of musician infrastructure here, and the lack of interest in music. Quite different from my home of Pittsburgh.”

“My music is out of fashion, but its honest and the only thing I can do.”  We’re not so sure we’d agree, per this review, that his music is ‘out of fashion.’

Perhaps Silicon Valley – not exactly known for its past as a haven for rock music and counter-culture, especially compared to the greater San Francisco Bay Area that surrounds it – is the problem and not Blaze.

Blaze, whose real name is A.T. Vish, was the drummer for the popular 80’s Pittsburgh dream-pop band, Lowsunday and for the psychedelic band Thickhead Grin.

Following those experiences, Vish set out on the solo path to create music “filtered through my own sensibilities and limitations.”

The first minute of the opening track, “Races,” on the band So Dirty The Flamingo’s new self-titled debut album, draws the listener in with a comforting slide guitar and an Americana/country-rock vibe.

The Toronto band’s six-track debut, clocking in at some 25 minutes, is a story of contrasts, loss, and regret, set to some of the best DIY Americana/country-rock we’ve heard this year.

The raspy vocals of singer-songwriter Lionel Doe are brilliant – soothing but with an edge that connotes a life of experience, love, and grit.

A melodic chorus accompanied by a soaring desert-rock guitar solo, and the band’s superb timing, make the song a sure-fire hit on country-rock radio (if country radio would play DIY artists).

“Races” draws from roots country and blues, Doe says, adding: “it’s a song about betting it all and losing it all.”

The song, he says, developed initially from a simple drum beat shuffle and a three-chord progression. The ensemble also included the ‘cowboy gang chorus’ and the stellar performance from veteran pedal steel player Steve Crosgrey.

There is a synergy between the pedal steel guitar and Doe’s hollow-body electric guitar leads that sets a beautiful tone for the song.

The Americana track, “I’m Out,” is about growing up in a “tough town” and violence he faced as a youth, singing: “I remember the swinging, I remember the hits, I remember being out of breath. With blood on my hands at the foot of the steps, my sister turns to me and says, ‘kid, I’m out.'”

This is a story that many who left their hometowns can relate to in one way or another.
You know the old saying (from Thomas Wolfe) “you can’t go home again.” That’s true.

Next, the band switches gears completely on the breakup song, “Good Game.” Doe plays all of the guitars and mixed a chord progression with distant feedback to create an effect.

Adam Drury’s venturing bassline steers the song through the various chord changes, while Scott Dunn’s Hammond organ elevates the choruses. Ciara Logar’s vocals imbue the song with a ghostly female presence.

The song “Daughters,” one of a number of standout tracks on the E.P., is a story about ‘crossing over,’ Doe says.

The refrain in the song reveals the bottom-line: ‘Going to meet my maker and make my amends/Going to make my daughters feel pretty again/Gonna bring them flowers from that distant plain.’

The idea for the song came from Doe’s work as a forensic analyst where he was processing the body of a young girl killed in a mass shooting that actually looked like his daughter.

“I have a daughter at home who could have been her twin,” he laments, “so for the first time in my career, I was completely traumatized…I wrote from the perspective of the fathers of the victims.”

The track is also the lead single from the album and went on to rank in the Top 100 of the Canadian Broadcasting Company’s ‘Searchlight Competition.’

“There’s pedal steel, inspired harmonica from Brian Bettencourt, and Devin Jannetta keeping the beat by stomping on a plank of wood, but it’s the chorus of vocals that gives rise to the belief that this song is truly singing to the other side, to that distant plain.”

Acoustic finger-picking from Doe and accompaniment of the Hammond organ with Scott Dunn give the track “Away” its haunting vibe. As Doe says, “Away” is another song about loss and regret, about searching for love, finding it and discovering it is too suffocating.

“If you’re a parent and a songwriter, and you don’t write about what that’s like, somehow, I just don’t understand that. Watching your children grow into a world you know from experience, is the most heart-wrenching experience there is.”

The song features a cello played by musician Mark Wang right before the Mimico Children’s Choir, led by his children, Penelope and Ramsay, sing, “Hold on, kid, let the light shine in, let it fill every room, you’ll blow their mind!”

His children’s voices are singing in the chorus, which Doe says means everything to him. He also wrote “Headfirst into the Sun” about his children.

The E.P. was mixed and mastered by Vancouver producer Paul Shatto who scores many television shows and movies, including Ice, Pyros, The Outer Limits and Freaky Friday.

SDTF has played around Toronto to much success over the next year. Vowing to not just play bars, the band has played in a church choir; a record store; a coffee shop; a billiards lounge; a grilled cheese festival, among other interesting and fun venues.

The band is inspired by Lucinda Williams, Townes Van Zandt, Wilco, Nick Cave, among many, many others.

Most recently, the band performed an all-electric set at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern.

The album itself started forming years ago. But last summer, Doe was finally ready to record the songs that had been “fermenting in my consciousness” for years.

He set out to put together a band of veteran musicians from the Toronto area, many of them collaborators and long-time friends.

At the same time, his bassist, Drury, embarked on transforming his home basement into a professional recording studio.

They then recruited Devin Jannetta, a workhorse drummer who somehow managed to perform in seven separate bands. Of course, Dunn, the band’s Hammond organist was also enlisted.

Ciara Logar was welcomed as a backing vocalist “to add to what was to be a signature sound.” It was now complete – So Dirty the Flamingos was born along with the new Sodipop Studio.

The recording itself is a big part of the story behind the success of the E.P., Doe contends.

“The arrangements changed and grew,” he says, “prompting the inclusion of additional musicians, and in the end, the E.P. was a full-fledged Americana sonic boon, complete with piano; a Hammond organ played through a Leslie speaker; pedal steel guitar; cello; The Mimico Children’s Choir; cowboy gang vocals; harmonica; bouzouki, and every percussive instrument known to us, including a plank of wood to be stomped on for ‘Daughters’.”

The third L.P. release, Haunt Yourself, from Boise indie band Sun Blood Stories is a mesmerizing recording of palatable experimentations; soaring shoegaze parts; psych-rock melodies and creative infusions of blues and funk.

SBS’s high desert rock style is a mix of harmonic sonics “distilled into delicate, but always haunting, songs. Sun Blood Stories is dreamy, aware, personal, open, fuzzed-out, and loud as fuck,” says founding member Ben Kirby.

In fact, the Idaho trio started as a Kirby solo project a few years ago. He has since recruited guitarist and bass synth musician Amber Pollard and drummer/keyboardist Jon Fust.

Kirby says the new album “maintains Sun Blood’s core sound and content while simultaneously sounding like nothing they’ve ever created before.”

The band is serious about this release. They’ve pressed vinyl and CDs and also have cassette tapes and digital downloads.
 

 
Sun Blood has recently released a number of singles from the album, starting with the riveting, dark track, “Up Comes The Tunnel.”

The song brews with slowed-down ringing and distorted guitar riffs, haunting vocals, and heavy-hitting percussions.

According to Kirby, the single was the first song he wrote for the album. It came to him, he says, as he was stuck in a daydream with “a psychopomp escorting” him through a “dark tunnel with no light on the other side.”

“It’s about the voice inside your head that tries to convince you that the car in your rearview mirror is actually following you,” he says.

“It’s that feeling of impending doom.”

The listener definitely picks up that vibe listening to the track. It was also a good pick from an album with a handful of solid songs to pick from.

The mood changes on “Everybody Loves You.” The track’s sweet vocals create a Beach House cloudy day vibe that is intoxicating and sad. The refrain “everybody loves you when you’re dead” is ghoulishly disturbing.

The quieter, more introspective, mood created by the song is driven mostly by a lightly-played looping electric guitar, accented by sound effects, including chimes and seagulls.

The song has a beautifully haunting lullaby. Interestingly, it was initially a 20-minute track with more than six pages of lyrics.

The track’s theme is an ode to two friends that the band members lost in tragic events – one friend to military combat and the other to suicide.

That’s heavy stuff for anyone. The song is a fitting tribute and hopefully therapeutic for the band members and their friends’ loved ones.

The fourth track, “See You On The Other Side,” breaks open a floodgate of sonic noise with ringing and buzzing shoegaze-laden guitars; heavy bass lines; sporadic drumming; twinkling synths creating a space rock feel of drifting in outer space.

The song is powerful enough to trigger warm and happy feelings in the mind and body. That’s a powerful thing.

The following song, “Like,” is more down-to-earth but without quite having feet on the ground. Sporting bubbling bass lines and swirling guitars, the vocals are dark and creepy. Goal to creep out has been reached.

On the dark rock-opera-like track, “All the Words in Meaning,” things turn dark and disturbing.

The song is a musical journey that takes the band and the listener through slide guitarist Pollard’s troubled childhood, navigating through the trauma of growing up in an abusive household.
 

 
Like many children from abusive homes, she found a way to escape into music. She says the song is her 10-year-old self expressing her “fear, anger, and yearning to have a different life.”

Clocking in over six minutes, the slow-burning, lazy shoegaze-driven, “No One Can Hear You Dream,” is yet another standout track on the album.

The song is marked by a stomping percussion; a backward tracking guitar part with another guitar ringing in the forefront; chilling vocals and choruses.

Then the orange glow of an Arizona sunset comes alive via the sci-fi-like experimental instrumental, “Smoke.”

The song is very much indicative of the high desert feel; almost spiritual with an uplifting swirl of synths and background notes from acoustic and electric guitars. (Perhaps there was some mescaline involved?)

This song could have been twice as long and all the better for it because the listener – at least in our case – connects with the vibe here and sinks into the song’s warm sonic blanket.

The following track, “Seven Swords,” cuts through the atmosphere with a morbid, banging bassline, moments of dreary chaos and glimpses of anger, perhaps even rage.

This dark vibe continues with the next song, “Approaching Shadow.” It sounds like the two songs were meant to merge and then break apart.

Pollard’s haunting vocals turn more aggressive, repeating “she’s seen God” on the layer of buzzing guitars and wavy bass lines.

The album closes with the mysterious and spacious track, “Shimmer Distant.” It sounds very much like a dream-pop song that got spooked by a ghost. There’s even a cult-like chanting going on. Have witches cooked up a fine brew here?

But wait. Just when it seems that the song was finished it re-emerges again with Pollard’s vocals drifting away into a black hole of distortion and ringing guitars.

It’s apparent here that the band really wanted to end the album with a display of experimental indie rock – spooky voices filtered with haunting effects, sound effects, pieces of other recordings and so on.

The decision to end on this note is interesting, to say the least. At the same time, it is fitting, in some respects, to end the album on a slightly different note than much of the rest of the album.

In that case, the whole ‘haunting effect’ that the band was going for has been aptly achieved.

Kudos do not come easy. These three musicians are a tight unit and it’s apparent that they worked diligently and intently on this perhaps their best album so far.

And that’s saying a lot.

We first came across Sun Blood Stories back in 2015 and published a post highlighting their awesome debut album, Twilight Midnight Morning.

The follow up album, 2017’s It Runs Around the Room With Us is also a solid release.

According to Kirby: “Haunt Yourself falls right in line with our previous albums by picking up exactly where our previous album left off. It’s a search and encouragement for and of hope.”

But then he flips it, stating: “Hope that is quickly admonished, reminding the listener that in the end we all die.”

Geez, lighten up dude. If you dig the tracks presented in this post, we encourage you to listen to the entire album from start to finish.

Sun Blood Stories has opened for bands like Low, Acid Mothers Temple, Wooden Indian Burial Ground, Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, and Like A Villian, among many others.

The Women of the Night is an edgy, New York rock band that cleverly mixes punk, garage, blues, psych, dream pop, and alt. rock. It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what genre WOTN should fall under, and that’s part of their appeal. They have their own sound.

WOTN’s new debut LP, the 13-track, Pastel Colors, opens with the gritty retro track, “I Am Well And Missing You,” sporting a buzzsaw, chugging guitar, booming bass, furious drumming, and crashing cymbals. This track might remind some of 70’s Detriot punk rock bands like The Stooges.

The song, according to vocalist and guitarist Jordan D’Arsie, is “a take on voyeurism…watching someone from across the street…or from inside one’s head constructing a story.”

The second track, and title track of the album, slows things down with its lazy, bluesy psychedelic-like brew, while the pace picks up nicely on the post-Velvet Underground-like track, “White Lighter.”

But it’s the bluesy groove and melodic gravity of “Moscow Mansions” that really perks up the listener’s ears with impressive vocal work from D’Arisie together with his shifting guitar signatures accompanied by wavy synths (one of the few times synths are used on the album), together with bumbling bass lines from Grey Watson and the sweet beats of percussionist Kyubae Lee.

The track is one of the definite hands-down highlight songs on the album thanks to its trippy 60s pop vibe.

The woozy, psych-tinged “Leather Glove” is another one of the tracks on the album that struts and sways along on heavy bass runs and lumbering percussions. At the song’s midpoint, it picks up suddenly in rhythm with the snarly vocals of D’Arisie, only to slow down again through to the ending.

Among the other highlight tracks is the bad boy, “Be Careful What You Wish For,” which has plenty of attitude and yet is also one of the more melodic pop moments on the album that break away from the predominantly punky post-Velvet-Underground influenced style. It also contains the memorable refrain, “I’ve got you on speed dial,” and one of the few choruses on the album as well.

Following that number is the retro, bluesy, “I Couldn’t Fool Them,” donning a catchy swagger and a lazy rhythm that is matched by an intriguing, if not rarely-heard, tinny sound to the lead guitar.

Then there is one of the best tracks on the album, “Quiet Nights.” This is a different kind of ‘dream-pop’ song (that is hard to pigeon-hole) awash in lazy, hushed guitars and heavy bass lines with light cymbals to create a very laid back vibe.

And just in time along comes the surprise, “Used Car Salesman,” track No. 11 on the album. It’s an electrifying song that sounds so much like the Detriot rock of the 1970s. And yet there is also a bit of familiarity with the style and personality of Mac DeMarco.

This is further evidenced by the slow-mo lo-fi garage rocker, “Bad Tee Vee,” that promises via the repetitious line to “give you fucking nightmares.” It didn’t, so that’s good.

The album closes with the appropriately melodic and psych rock-oriented, “Like People Whilst,” which is definitely one of the more dream-pop tracks on the album and reminds us a bit of M83. The bubbly burn of the guitar feedback flickers and fades away for the final seconds of Pastel Colors.

As albums go, this is a fine debut. Perhaps a few of the tracks could have been left off to make it a bit shorter and even stronger, but the entire trip is worth the time.

Interestingly, three of the most solid tracks on the LP derive from their 2016 debut EP: “Quiet Nights”; “I Couldn’t Fool Them” and “I Am Well And Missing You.” The band says the LP is broken into two sides, essentially, A as morning through to afternoon and side B as afternoon through the night.

As some of the more upbeat, hooky songs demonstrate, the band is also accomplished at producing songs that are more melodic and rhythmic than the slower and more sluggish tracks.

The band has opened for Los Santoros, Revel in Dimes, Liza Colby Sound, Birds, and The Slashes. Their main influences, according to D’Arisie, are The Velvet Underground and Rowland S Howard.

Listen to the full album on Bandcamp.

Sidebar: Defining Dream Pop

As evident from our review of Pastel Colors, and past support, we’ve been fans of Women of the Night since the get-go.

That’s one of the reasons we’d like to recommend, with all respect, that they change their own classification of their music as dream pop.

WOTN is simply not a dream-pop band.

Rather, they are a sure-fire mixed-genre rock outfit that incorporates many genres and sub-genres, which is what makes classifying them all of the more difficult. That is also the case with many, many indie and alt. rock DIY/small label bands.

WOTN’s signature sound and style rely heavily on a mixture of slow-burning, laid-back lo-fi garage rock with servings of punk, blues, psych, pop all swirled together, marked by strong veins of rock and roll swagger and street-level stride.

The classification of dream pop is off-centered and not reflective of the band’s brand. While there are definitely some dream-pop elements and moments on the album, most music folks think of dream-pop as bands like Beach House, My Bloody Valentine, DIIV, Mac Demarco, The Flaming Lips, among others.

According to the AllMusic Guide, dream pop “relies on sonic textures as much as melody…breathy vocals and processed, echo-laden guitars and synthesizers.”

That’s not what WOTN is doing. Instead, they have essentially their own mixed-genre sound. That’s the best ‘in a nutshell’ way to describe it.

While WOTN’s sound sometimes and sort of “encompasses the post-Velvet Underground guitar rock of Galaxie 500,” as the AllMusic Guide references, they do not produce, as their signature sound, “the loud, shimmering feedback of My Bloody Valentine” and a “reliance on sonic textures” in terms of “both instruments and vocals.”

You will not find expansive, shimmering and layered guitars, soaring and sheeny synths, indiscernible lyrics, nor languid soundscapes – all of which are long-standing characteristics of dream-pop, which also has overlap with shoegaze.

Furthermore, with some minor exceptions, the band’s sound is not synthy or atmospheric – as in ascending, soaring and “floating ‘up there'” – nor is it necessarily textured or ethereal.

Rather, WOTN’s sound much closer to the street, even right on the street; their songs are bluesy, gritty, unrefined, loose, raw and even somewhat wild, maybe even downright primal in some spots.

They are, more specifically, a New York/Detriot 70s punk retro blues-rock trio. Pinning the band’s sound down to one genre – especially dream-pop – would be precarious and insufficient. People like that they can’t be pinned down. That’s part of what indie is all about.

Hailing from the Canadian cities of Regina and Saskatoon, new-wave rapper Jeah and dark R&B and soul vocalist Merv xx Gotti, aka Samurai Champs, have been raking in the acclaim of critics and music lovers since dropping their debut R&B single, “Crayons.”

On the heels of strong appearances at SXSW, The Great Escape, and new U.S. and U.K. tours spun off a wave of fresh singles like “Bae” and “Poseidon,” the duo has finally released their debut album, Cabernet Sauvignon.

The array of sounds, styles, moods, and beats – done with near-perfection – not only demonstrate the duo’s progression and diversity musically but also lyrically.

The opening track on Cabernet Sauvignon is the R&B/hip-hop love song, “Let Me Be Sad,” with some fine writing and vocal work followed by the synthy, anthemic single, “Dripping,” that booms with heavy bass lines, creative beats, tight raps and soulful choruses. Released as a single last year, this was one of the tracks that started things moving for Samurai Champs.

The track and much of the album were mixed by Toronto-based producer Michael Lantz, the recipient of two-time Polaris Music Prize-nominated and Juno Award-winning hip-hop artist, Jazz Cartier.

Modeling after the somber and passionate sounds of artists like Frank Ocean, Jeah and Gotti keep their vibes strong within a softened and groove-laden aesthetic that marks their signature sound.

For example, tracks like “Still Mine” and “Feeling That” really hit the good-vibe buttons; setting a relaxed, and passionate, late-night mood.

“Poseidon” is another good vibes track, but with more energy and brightness in the guitar and percussion parts. “Bae” is a smooth hip-hop number that takes its roots from 90’s R&B while still doing its own thing in 2019.

The mood of the album takes a hard, cold turn as Samurai Champs lay down more complex, dark tapestries that are more rap-oriented. Aggressive numbers “Midnight” and “Level” demonstrate this sea-change, with heavy, droning bass lines, sinister sound effects, trippy beats, and menacing raps.

The wordplay of “Midnight” explores how the mood shifts at parties as the night goes on and egos and jealousies emerge, wiping away the evening’s previous positive vibes.

The mood of those tracks stands in stark comparison to the more melodic, party-inspired, and R&B flow of the album. Comparisons have been made with artists like Majid Jordan, Bryson Tiller, and Smino.

The duo believes that mixing dark, cold hip-hop sounds with the sunny, soulful tones of Los Angeles will allow them to create ‘The New Sound Of The Prairies.’

While that may be the case, it is still Samurai Champs mix of contemporary hip-hop beats and R&B sounds, Jeah’s versatile rapping styles, and Gotti’s emotionally-charged lyrics and vocals that stand out the most about this rich album of impressive tracks. (Further evidence of such includes songs like “Loner” and the title track.)

From start to finish, the production quality is top-notch. Engineer and mixing pro Walt Jeworski (Usher, Paul Simon) worked intently with the pair to understand their different styles and backgrounds and what they were looking to achieve.

The heavy-hitter contributions to Cabernet Sauvignon also include the work of Grammy-Award winning mastering engineer Chris Athens (Kendrick Lamar, Nada Surf) who also mastered Drake’s debut album.

With such high-profile and experienced professionals – Lantz, Jeworski and Athens – involved in any project, the results are almost bound to be exceptional. Such is the case on this booming debut.

Cabernet Sauvignon is a diverse, rich and eclectic album that seeks, the duo wrote, to “blend and heighten the worlds of poetic R&B and vibrant hip-hop.”

“Like wine, all things get better with time,” they continue. “But time itself waits for no one. It’s our responsibility to shape the present in preparation for the future and it is also our responsibility to enjoy it while it lasts.”

Since 2009, Toronto musician, producer, and engineer, Michael O’Connell, has been at the helm of the exciting Canadian indie outfit Culture Reject.

After three releases in the span of a decade, O’Connell returns with an absolutely brilliant new 10-track LP, Breaking With The World.

From the LP’s first tracks to the final songs, O’Connell treats the listener to an amazing collection of indie pop-folk songs that span a spectrum of genres and sub-genres that include bedroom pop, lo-fi soul, slacker rock, post-punk and indie folk.

The album’s opening track, “Bail,” is a lazy, cool stroll featuring retro indie folk pop-inspired instrumentation, including horns, and choruses altogether with whimsical lyrics and sound effects.

The LP’s title track feels a lot like a Vampire Weekend track (in a good way) with its airy, upbeat tropical-leaning guitars and beats; academic-like lyrics (and the repeating of ‘breaking with the world’); thumping bass notes; voice-overs and dubbing vocals and keys.

The more melodic pop-oriented track, “Control,” feels like a lazy summer melody while the song “Aisles” is a more sinister, throw-back slacker track that sounds like it could be a lost Built to Spill track from the 1990s.

Next, the artful and beautifully melodic “Animal” may remind some listeners a bit of Matt Pond PA (and that’s a compliment). And unlike the title, the song is nicely controlled and upbeat; it’d be fitting on a soundtrack for a film or TV series. In fact, we can’t also help but to notice the similarities with other artists like L.A.’s Opus Orange.

The one-minute and thirteen seconds of “Reverse Flow” are given to a relaxing guitar instrumental right in the middle of the album. It’s placement there seems intended as a light intermission before the rest of the album.

On the soft and calming, “Same Change,” with its heavy bass lines, light guitar riff and Fleet Foxes-like vocals and choruses, the band shines through once again. This is one of the album’s better standout songs.

The track, “I’m Your Freak,” would be perfect for a Halloween playlist. It sounds like it even has some Moog synth sound effects mixed with horns and acoustics in a swirl of choruses perfectly followed by the piano-leaning, Beatlesque, “You’re Free To Love By Accident.” The latter track really tugs at the heartstrings – from the overall composition to the lyrical content.

O’Connell closes this terrific album with a killer, yet mellow, track, “If I Can’t Turn You On,” that is full of heartache, yearning, and emotion. A brilliant end to a fine indie album.

In addition to songwriting and vocals, O’Connell plays guitars and programs loops. The band’s bass player and beats maestro is Carlie Howell while Karri North contributes vocals. A large number of part-time and revolving band members on drums and brass have circulated in and out of the band over the years.

The band has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe and appeared at festivals like POP Montreal, Iceland Airwaves and New Yorks CMW.

But for a decade now, the core of the band has been O’Connell.

He manages to connect various genres, styles, moods, and feelings together almost effortlessly; the album is a collection, he writes, of “prose-induced, 60′s soul-inspired, lo-fi pop songs.”

There is much to appreciate and enjoy about Breaking With The World; it plays and feels like the ‘good ole days of indie’ when artists blended genres and styles freely; experimented with instruments, time signatures and sounds; wrote stories and poetry and intelligent lyrics to music; did not over-produce their recordings, and were not trying to shape themselves to fit into a box, but rather to make their own box.

O’Connell was helped by producer Andy Magoffin (Great Lake Swimmers, The Weekend) who mastered the album while Justin Nace (Alvvays, Andy Shauf) co-mixed with O’Connell.

Culture Reject’s roots go back to the heyday of indie in 2008 when O’Connell started the outfit as a solo bedroom project. The single that launched the band into the spotlight that year was the solid indie track, “Inside The Cinema,” with its early Modest Mouse and Afro-Cuban ensemble influences.

We originally featured that song in our second year of publication, way back in 2008.

Now that we’ve rediscovered CR’s music once again, we’re neck-deep into O’Connell’s must-hear-for-any-true-indie-fan’s discography. The album was released on Specific Recordings.