When it comes to something like raising money to purchase essentials for the homeless, we are all ears.
When awareness of the homeless is elevated in song, that is even more special.
These two important aspects of society and culture have merged into a unique – and good – band called Nikki and the Human Element.
The New York indie band was founded in 2017 by New York City songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist Dr. Niki Neretin.
She is the director of Homeless Services for the Institute for Family Health aiding clients in soup kitchens, shelters, and on the street.
It may seem naive or sound like a cliche, to say that there should be no homeless persons in the richest country in the history of the world. Dr. Neretin and the band that she recruited regularly play packed live shows in the city.
Armed with her band’s compelling new debut album, Elemental, Dr. Neretin rips into themes around motherhood, medicine, marriage, and menopause backed by raw blues and catchy rock-pop musical landscapes.
Our fans will be home to relieve their babysitters and get good nights’ sleep or be ready to go out and party all night long.
“We do a fundraiser at each gig,” Dr. Neretin says, “and have collected over 1,000 pairs of socks for the homeless,” adding; “a portion of the proceeds [from album sales] will go into a fund to help my clients when they are housed in order to buy essentials to create a home.”
There are some notable songs on the Human Element’s album, including “Pictures” which she says was inspired by a visit to a Nazi propaganda camp.
“They staged benign pictures of the Jewish inmates in order to confuse the world into believing that life wasn’t as brutal as it truly was. Social Media also has a way of confusing us into believing things that are not real.”
It is not the most uplifting album – in fact, much of it is dark. Dr. Neretin touches on many sensitive and horrifying subjects, including sexual assault.
The organization she works for, Health Save, is a grass-roots movement with the ultimate goal of educating others on the benefits of a vegan diet within schools, jails, hospitals and
In the past, Dr. Neretin has fronted a number of bands including the popular Pretenders tribute band Nikki and the Tattooed Love Boys and an original rock band called Dysorderlies.
That is – the automation of music. With the backlash lately against automation, algorithms and artificial intelligence, it would be understandable if music enthusiasts were skeptical of computer-generated music.
In fairness, for many people, computer-generated music is that which they have heard on cheap apps, games and other tacky mediums.
That’s until you hear Simon Mark Smith‘s near-fully automated music album, Dangerous Things. History may have been made just by the release of this album; but it’s the music that really matters.
The 17-track album is over-flowing with moody, compelling, thoughtful and enjoyable songs. This by itself is a rare accomplishment in our experience. Often times, albums with more than nine or 10 tracks contain somewhere between three to five or more ‘filler’ tracks.
In this case, Smith was obviously deliberate about the placement – not just the creation (which is a whole other amazing story you won’t come across again) – of each song.
At first, one might say: “Oh man 17 tracks?! There’s going to be fat on this baby and we have to figure where to cut.”
But surprise, surprise. Without exaggeration, track after track on Dangerous Things measures up to the very best on the album – as if this was Smith’s greatest hits collection after a decade or more of hits.
But even more inspirational when one thinks of such an accomplishment, Smith was born without arms, a condition called Holt-Oram syndrome. He does not consider himself ‘disabled’ and addressed that subject, h says, in his first album.
That said, Smith completely understands that some people, especially other musicians, are amazed when they learn that his highly inventive, yet also familiar, album was done so largely through automation.
Perhaps most surprising is when one stops to consider that to make just one song, Smith had to first imagine each track first. Then, he had to figure out which instruments he was going to use in a song.
Next, he went about a process of individually programming – one by one – every note for each instrument. After that, he had to mix the tracking of each instrument and listen to them over and over again, making tweaks along the way, in order to get the right sound.
This is incalculably more difficult than a one-man band in his basement who can record each instrument and then (and here’s the key) play along with that recording with a new instrument in order to get the timing right in real-time. Smith had to do all of this the very long way round.
Without the assistance of computers and increasingly automated software programs, Smith may not have been able to achieve the final sound he wanted.
He claims it is “one of the first albums to feature mainly virtual musicians,” asking the question: “Do you think you can tell that a computer played – not just recorded – the music?”
Smith actually created virtual band members, with full identities, in order to delegate their roles more easily. The amount of organization and coordination with himself and his cast of computer-generated band members is impressive.
“What’s strange is that using computers is very similar to working with real musicians,” he remarks; “I tell the computer what keys, chords, tempo and style I want and it comes up with loads of ideas which I then edit to create a song. The difference between now and a few years ago is just how human the music sounds.”
“Driving Me Wild” opens up the album with a classic rock vibe veiled in a bit of theatrical rock complete with a chorus and rapid chord changes.
That smoking opener is followed by the slower, funkier track, “Protected,” that the listener can detect is helped by computers. Smith calls this track, compared to the others on the album, “off the wall.” A heavy bluesy organ, female backing vocals, sexy jazzy sax trills – all packed into one robust track that doesn’t miss a beat.
There is a definite Beck-like vibe to parts of the song as Smith changes it up genre-wise, and overall musically, a few times throughout with stunning effects. Speaking of Beck, another track that sounds like the indie/alt god is the funky, jazzy swing of “Your Name.”
By the middle of the album, the listener is treated to some of the juiciest parts with spectacular, mood-shifting songs like the atmospheric “Break It”, the disco-infused and amazing “Words of Prey” and the funky pop jams of “I Feel You in My Life.”
It’s not hard to see disco-inspired songs like “A Story of Love” being played as dance mixes at a nightclub party.
As Smith rolls out the carpet, he continues to surprise with genre and mood-shifting tracks, introducing songs from an era many decades ago like on the swing/jazz-infused retro hybrid track, “Dreams.”
The more one sinks into the comfortable, dazzling and cinematic album, it becomes more and more apparent to some that the production is more like a movie in which we have the visuals and sounds provided by the music itself.
Categorizing a splendid, and stylistically revolutionary, song like “Dreams” is almost a futile effort. It stands by itself. Perhaps it was intentional and strategic because at this point in the album it is becoming more apparent that Smith is a musical genius.
A little bit like “A Story of Love,” the energetic “Not Enough” is a pumped-up, disco-fueled song on the album that is about all of the things in the world that are “not enough”, he says, with the focus on love. Not enough love: a powerful message at a confusing and tumultuous time.
The title track, “Dangerous Things,” is one of the standout songs on a standout album. It is one of the most emotional tracks on the album with Smith showing off his heart-string-pulling skills.
Smith says about the title track: “This is mainly a song about temptation, but I wanted to focus on the issue that whilst we may feel we are tempted by something, it is the possibility of self-destruction that makes the temptation so powerful.”
Lines like: “This desire/ that guides me/ It’s a long way from home/ But I, I got it here/ it’s in my heart/ It wants to leave me alone” leave the listener intrigued.
“Sometimes I would have dreams about the sea’s waves crashing against my house,” growing up in the U.K.
“When I thought about this I wondered if the sea was my own emotions and desires wanting to smash my own ‘internal’ home down. You might think that would be illogical, but if we have a self-destructive part of us, then that might make sense,” he says.
“Dangerous Things” is one of the strongest compositions on the album. It’s slow-burning, melancholy story, Smith’s heart-wrenching vocals, and the remarkably arranged instrumentations make it impossible to turn away from.
It’d be a killer song in a film or TV sequence. The comparisons that come to mind goes like this: “Think Bowie mixed with Pink Floyd and some Clapton for good measure.” And again, folks, this is all done on a computer – no real instruments. Can you tell?
And that’s where Smith has something truly unique that sets him apart from the vast majority of musicians – it’s automated music.
Take a trip to the 70s with the Gordon Lightfoot-like acoustic track, “Losing Me,” with its touch of Roy Orbison and tinges of country-rock.
The vocals effects and techniques employed here stand out from the music itself, which is by no means a negative (just the opposite) commentary on the music itself, but rather to say that Smith has a mastery of moods and sounds that are largely inspired, it seems, by his vocal intuitions.
He sways from style to style, emotion to emotion, on tracks like the bluesy groove of “Dream Girl” and the somber, heart-wrenching love song, “Fallen Angel,” complete with a cello droning in the background.
The last one-third portion of the album explores more the stories and emotions of love with touching songs like “Our Love Lives Forever” and “Forever Today” – both tracks are obviously thematically aligned.
The acoustic-driven “Just A Friend” marries nicely with the Tom Waits-like closing track, “Neon Sun,” complete with its smooth tropical jazz vibe, a nice end to a wild and amazing sonic ride of sounds, vocals, genres, styles and yes, automation.
Put simply: this exceptionally unique album is something that you’ll need to definitely hear yourself from front to back. If you’re like us, you’ll need to listen to the album a number of times – not just because it is so different, or has 17 tracks, but also because it’s just simply stunning.
Smith’s musical influences are many, including Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Chris Isaak, Mark Knopfler, Dire Straits, JJ Cale, The The, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, INXS, and Roxy Music.
Albania Away, the latest six-track E.P. from the indie rock/alt/pop trio The Spiritual Leaders is a wild, colorful and vibrant musical ride perfect for our depressing and isolated times.
We are thrilled to have been introduced to this young, relatively new band from the town of Cavan, Ireland, a heavily Catholic region that aligns the southern border of Northern Ireland.
Overflowing with bright energy-driven guitars, bass, keys, and drums, Albania Away puts out so much sound that it’s understandable if people think they are a full-fledged collective rather than a trio.
Together with vocalist and guitarist David Reilly, multi-instrumentalist Fergus Brady (guitar, bass, keys) and his brother Cathal Brady on drums are a force to reckon with within Ireland’s always evolving indie scene.
The album starts off with the terrific “Picture on the Wall,” a track that catches the listener’s attention and keeps her captive through the entire three-minute indie gem. The band also shot a music video for the track featured above. The single was featured on BBC Radio One in March, giving the band a nice little boost.
RIght on the heels of the hit-friendly opener, the song “Fatten The Calf” is another fantastic romp. It’s new-wave leaning, hip-hugging bass-heavy vibe grabs the listener from start to end.
The bassline carries the song and according to the band it was the seed for the rest of the song that followed. That makes perfect sense.
“We wanted the drums and bass to lock in to create the groove so that it becomes almost danceable,” Brady remarks. “We wanted the keyboards to create an ambient vibe” he adds referencing Blondie’s song, “Atomic” as a strong influence.
“We had a spiky guitar over the verses that we discarded as we felt it interfered with the bassline, and went for a dreamy delay sound on a Boss multi-effects pedal.”
“Lyrically the song is a warning against the excesses of capitalism. It’s quite a left-wing song I suppose! ‘Fatten the Calf’ is a metaphor for excess.”
Things change up again with the high-tempo, Krautrock-driven punk-pop track, “You Know Me,” which has a dystopian vibe together with Sex Pistols-styled vocals and discord.
The instrumental, jam-heavy “Bell Jar” is an upbeat, jangling guitar pop number with a melody that is impossible to turn away from. After a minute in, the listener is expecting the vocals to come up, but they don’t for a minute and a half into the five-minute track. Reilly’s vocals are understated and yet perfectly fit for this sunny day indie pop track.
It’s fitting that there is less than one-minute of vocal work here allowing the thick bassline and the happily flowering guitars that make “Bell Jar” a standout track.
Right now, we all need some upbeat, optimistic songs to make us feel better about the troubled world outside.
Next, the melancholic ballad “Temporary” is the most sublime track on the E.P. stripped down to just an acoustic guitar and Reilly’s pained vocals.
“This one took us a long time to get right,” Brady said. “Dave had created a home demo with Barra McGuirk with just acoustic guitar, some electric lead guitar, subtle bass, and some synthetic strings.”
With the demo in hand, the band went into the studio to record the full band version of the song but “then realised that the original home demo was better. That’s the version you hear on the E.P.”
Following “Temporary” is the ambling, rolling guitar picking track, “Underwater With You,” featuring booming bass and percussion as a backdrop for the wonderful guitar playing from Brady that seals the greatness of the E.P.
Finally, the moody electronic of “Underwater With You” is nicely placed as the last track of the E.P.
“The circular guitar riff underpins the song,” Brady comments. “We wanted the song to have a dreamlike glistening feel and so spent a lot of time getting the right delay effect.”
Producer Rob Newman (Therapy?, Pet Crow) added the electronic drumbeat in the studio. “Initially, the plan was to just have these electronic beats in the outro, but when we heard them throughout the song we knew that that was the right arrangement. Our singer Dave wanted to sing a vocal that was clear and fragile and tender at the same time… I think he did a great job.”
Lyrically the song is about growing up and settling down Brady adds. “There is a crazy world outside the door of your home,” Brady said, “but when you come inside this is the place where you can be in your little ‘underwater world’.”
This is the second release from the band following a self-titled 2012 debut album. A product of the vibrant Origins music scene in their native area, the original four-piece line up came together in 2010 through “a shared love of indie and alternative rock.” The band’s influences include Neil Young, Bob Dylan, the Pixies, Radiohead, The Smiths, Joy Division, and Radiohead.
Memphis DIY alt. rock duo Magnum Dopus recently dropped the sizzling, 11-track album, Hizumi (which means either rice plant or flower or princess in Japanese depending on a number of factors).
Hizumi was recorded by guitarist, George Cole, and vocalist, Andrew McCarty, under the duo’s moniker, Magnum Dopus.
The album opens with the rolling and rocking of “Control Me,” starting and stopping melodic riffs, the deep vocals of McCarty and a fine guitar solo from Cole.
“Live Love Lose” has a kicking guitar rhythm similar to the opener, but McCarty’s vocals are more forceful. LLL sounds a lot like the post-punk era of the early 1980s for the 80s enthusiasts among you. As the album rolls on, it becomes clear that the duo is influenced by the post-punk genre and that era in rock history between the decline of punk and the emergence of new wave.
The lead single, “Black Boxx,” on Hizumi is a strutting, strapping number with jangling guitars and a heavy bass line. McCarty’s vocals meld nicely with the various tempo changes.
“Like many of the other songs on the record,” says McCarty, “it’s about heartbreak and reflecting on a previous relationship; musically, it’s a bit like Interpol meets Talking Heads.”
Things slow down on the next track, “Crashing Down,” but it’s a bit too demo-sounding. However, the second half of the song improves as it takes on a true chugging vibe. Still the song suffers a bit from an identity crisis. Following that, the duo turned to a punk-pop sound on “Departure,” which portends a type of dark foreboding.
One of the album’s most powerful numbers is “Get Over It,” a dreamy, lo-fi pop track with a smooth vibe and discotheque beat.
The track is also one of the most memorable songs on the L.P. McCarty’s vocals (for the most part) seem much better suited for a song like this. That may be because the other instruments are not drowning out his vocals as with other songs. It also seems better mixed and mastered as well.
“‘Get Over It’ is our ode to disco,” McCarty remarks. “While there was a bit of Daft Punk influence musically, the song quickly became it’s own thing and a little rougher around the edges and rockier. The original idea was to write a song that would make people dance at our shows.”
This would have been the single we picked for the album, not only because it’s a decent track, but perhaps the most accessible to a wider audience.
Another standout track on the album – which also nicely highlights McCarty’s writing/singing and Cole’s guitar playing – is “Headlights.” It is the duo’s stripped-down, more basic songs that often work the best.
“Headlights” is a straight-up pop song that ponders what could’ve been in a relationship. Sturgis Nikides (Low Society) played banjo and slide guitar and Lisa Mac sang backup.
Some folks might also dig the retro-flavor of “80s Girl” but it feels a bit unfinished. The album closes with the roaring post-punk-influenced track, “Hai,” featuring a ‘hey-hey’ chorus and what sounds like people talking on the radio. Cole digs in at the ending of the track with one of his finest guitar jams.
The duo got together a few years ago after leaving their previous bands. “Once our previous band fell apart,” McCarty says, “we re-constructed the music and lyrics and it became the first Magnum Dopus album.”
For some, the duo’s range of styles and sounds through the 11 tracks may be a bit irregular and disorienting, but overall, it’s a strong lo-fi rock album.
“To flesh out the sound, Andrew also recorded bass and drum parts. Since the band didn’t exist at the time of recording, we didn’t have a particular sound we were going for, so the album is a bit of a hodgepodge of sound.”
An experienced rock producer who knows how to bring out the best in their truest sounds (together with some fine mastering) could really help boosts many of the tracks.
There are a number of songs that miss the mark (“One Sunday Too Far”; “Crashing Down”) and could have been left off to make the album stronger, but in the end, that doesn’t overshadow a solid rock album.
Not long after returning to his North Carolina roots from a number of years drumming with bands out west, native Wilmington singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Gregory Phillips resurfaces with his debut E.P. using the moniker Kaleidoscope Dream.
Upon his return to his hometown, Phillips went right to work diligently recording the five terrific tracks that ended up on the E.P., Arrive. We are always excited to hear from a talented artist that we’ve not heard of before. And in this case, that was especially true.
“The E.P. is a group of songs that are guitar riff-based, but also have heavy keyboard-oriented elements that create a musical atmosphere around them,” he says. “This combination reveals influences of rock, indie, pop and a touch psychedelic flavor.”
Kaleidoscope Dream’s style is clearly alternative rock as evidenced on the opening track, “Headlines,” which may remind listeners of The Cure or even Joy Division. The album flows from one track through the next with a mix of styles ranging from indie rock, psych, pop, and some blues.
On “Headlines,” Phillips says he knew he had a good bass riff to start with which makes sense since the track is driven by a gut-punching bass line piped through a Fender jazz bass and Opto compressor with a gritty aspect.
“The rest of it came together pretty quickly by stacking a few guitar parts on top of each other using two different PRS guitars, a CE24, and a McCarty Hollowbody II,” Phillips says.
“Unfortunately,” he adds, “shortly after I had the instrumentation done we had another instance of gun violence break out in El Paso and I couldn’t stay silent on the issue.”
For the standout track, “Charlotte,” Phillips says, that he was ‘noodling around’ and came upon the song’s riveting main guitar riff.
“The hardest part about writing this song was that it was for someone very close to me who lost both of her fathers. I love to bounce my ideas of my friends but this one I had to write in private. When it was finally done and I played it for her we both cried our eyes out.”
Phillips captured the feeling that he set out to with a meaningful song that also has a sweet lick. Together with tight melodic chord progressions, the song “Where” creates an ambiance that is easy to fall into.
“Treadwell” was the first song Phillips says he wrote front to back without collaborating with anyone else.
Part of the reason for that, he adds, is the lack of a big pool of musicians in his area that a musician otherwise finds in major cities like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
“It’s really hard in my area to find good musicians that you can count on. I had wasted a year trying to make something work with another group.”
He says that he had gone on vacation in the mountains and came upon a Korg Minilogue synth for sale in a pawn shop. “I was eager to implement it into a song and this happened to be the one it was recorded with.”
“I wanted this song to be kinda my own personal ‘come back anthem’ after being kicked in the shins, and I think it served its purpose.”
The Korg element of the track is almost irresistible and really conveys the authentic sound he was shooting for.
With the bluesy, “Broken Tree,” Phillips’s use of keys and synths did not end with “Treadwell.” In fact, for this track, he added a Korg Kross for the main piano parts along with the Minilogue synth. Phillips also employed a PRS CD24 for the guitar parts.
“I bought the CE24 when I made the decision to break away from drums as my main instrument and return to my original roots as a guitar player. I really like the CE24 for parts that need a bit more edge and bite.”
This effect, it seems, was influenced by the lyrical content of the song which Phillips says has to do with watching a friend “suffer from an atrocious family life.” The track also uses chord progressions to help create the feeling he wanted.
“These songs are very special to me…the inspiration for many of them come from people very close to me that had some very unfortunate times in their lives. I wrote to them hoping they could find resolution and reasons to look at their lives in a new way.”
I think we all have had obstacles in our lives and often we let these things get in the way from enjoying life the way we should. Even though the songs were written about a certain person or person experiences, the stories are unfortunately universal. I hope that many others can take something from them in a positive way.”
The five-track E.P. Your Eyes Are Colored Fierce is a 15 and some minute-trip through chugging, raw garage/alt. rock-leaning lo-fi tracks.
Billy Conquer is essentially bassist Samuel Edmonson (bass) and vocalist and guitarist Stefan Scott. The two met in high school and played in various bands around their home city before launching Billy Conquer in late 2018.
The opening track, “Fight,” is a beautifully-melodic with fuzzed-out guitar jams. You cannot miss how the entire vibe of the song jumps higher in key with the vocals. This is done so effectively in a way that is not commonly done successfully by bands.
“Fight” is about losing your cool or “taking an argument further than it needed to go,” Scott says. “When you play that memory back in your head, revise it in a way that would have resolved the conflict or even brought you closer to whoever it was you were fighting with. Makes you feel warm inside doesn’t it? This song is about that.”
This is a guitar and bass-driven track with chord, pedal, and vocal staggering plus grungy/90s alt. rock burnout at the end. Edmonson’s bass playing exudes a hypnotic rhythm coupled with Scott’s technique-driven, melodic guitar playing to more adventurous, heavily sustained guitar riffs.
Next, the duo launches right into another heavily melodic, stoner-like alt. rock masterpiece, “Wasted State.” The underlying slacker-like vibe, interesting guitar sound effects, the fuzzed-out jams and the droning effect of the bass backed by simple format drums all come together so wonderfully with a Sonic Youth-like natural flow.
In listening to this infectious song, it’s obvious, and as the E.P. evolves, even more clear that these guys are having a good time. You can actually feel that listening to this E.P. and that’s a rare thing.
“There was definitely a lot of good energy in the room,” remarks about having a good time while laying down splendid DIY stoner rock tracks.
“Everything was recorded live in one session lasting about five hours,” he adds. “We wanted it to feel and sound like any other band rehearsal or live show. We have been playing music together for a long time and what we have found is that we perform and write better when we are having fun.”
“Wasted State,” Edmonson says, “was inspired by the college keg parties at Western Colorado University,” which he says is also known as ‘Wasted State’ by some students. The band heads up there every spring break to perform a house show at Sam’s brother’s house. The audio at the end of the song is taken from a phone recording of the show.”
This ode to guitar-heavy alt. rock within the ‘indie rock’ realm, or packaging if you will, is continued on the rambunctious “Backyard Song,” with its strong lo-fi bumbling bass lines.
The song is perfectly set for a nice summer day, which Edmonson says was the aim. “The song is about the times spent in the backyard of a suburban San Antonio home where the band would frequently practice and hang poolside on sunny days.”
The E.P.’s title track, “Your Eyes Are Colored Fierce,” keeps things at a chill alt. rock signature but with much more freeform style of playing by the band members creating a bit of a woozy, swirling feeling that is perhaps just what they were going for.
Edmonson says it’s a song about bar-hopping in Colorado. “The structure and parts of the song are exactly the same as when the band first jammed it together. During recording, Stefan accidentally hit his loop pedal at 2:16.”
For an E.P. flowing with kick-ass songs, the band didn’t include any marginal tracks. We love how the closing track, “Getting Away With It,” picks things up and adds a bit more cheer to wrap up an exciting, time-machine enabling, heavy and non-conformist E.P. that gives us just a little more hope that talented young musicians out there will appreciate rock and pop/rock.
We can also hope that bands like Billy Conquer keep reinventing and creating spectacular alt. rock in their own way while staying true to the ethos of DIY and musical freedom.
As a band unit, they have put in their dues over the years, attracted a following and remain true to themselves and their music the whole way through. San Antonio’s rock scene and culture are all the better having Billy Conquer among its ranks.
Last spring the band dropped its debut E.P., A Perverted Life in the South. The E.P. was recorded, mixed and mastered at Matador recording studios in San Antonio by Tommy Munter who has also worked with Rami Jaffee (Foo Fighters), Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters), and Daniel Mendez (Lit, Heart, Dashboard Confessional).
All of the songs were co-written by Scott and Edmonson with lyrics by Scott. The E.P. was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Tommy Munter at Matador Recording Studios in San Antonio, Texas. The duo is most influenced by artists like Yo La Tengo, Pavement, and Neil Young.
With years of musical experience, two veteran songwriters/musicians, John Rigg and Edmond Bruneau, aka Robot Raven, have just dropped a compilation of some of their most popular tracks from albums released over the years. The compilation is simply called Rockers.
Straddling the lines between classic rock elements, rockabilly, lo-fi, and newer rock styles, Rockers is a collection of 18 tracks from the band’s releases over a string of many years.
The collection, available via Souncloud, kicks of with the theatrical rock vibe of “Password” followed by the noodling single, “Turn Me On.” The latter track sports a mid 70s glam rock sheen that is also a bit ironic at the same time. The intensity of the vocal deliveries is not to be overlooked.
“Crank It Out” feels like the 70s post-punk underground movement where the punk elements had not yet transitioned into keyboards and soaring guitars. Rather, here we have angst and badass rock attitude on a track that reminds this listener of the Kinks’ and Ray Davies-like growls.
There is a spaghetti-western rolling, rocking, and ball-grabbing, “A Girl Like You,” complete with slide guitars and vintage guitar riffs, not to mention the ever-present scruffy vocals.
“John wanted to do a swinging/surfin’ number that would be an upbeat version of early guitar instrumentals he used to learn from The Ventures or The Pyramids,” Bruneau says.
“He sent me a demo singing scat where the lyrics would fit, but he originally used ‘a girl like you’ in the refrain and I liked it. So, I just filled in the rest of the blanks. He told me back then it was easier to do a key change than write a Mid-8 break.”
The Elvis-inspired “Earworms” reminds us a lot of “Viva Las Vegas,” with its hurried vocals and hip-swinging rhythms, backed by horns and a riveting, ringing guitar solo. There is also a Jerry Lee Lewis feel to the track, which is an interesting accomplishment: that is, to miss those slightly different styles into one track.
One of the collections’ big tracks is the semi-viral “Me 2” which is not surprisingly an ode to the MeToo movement that sprang up a few years back and which is relevant again today with the conviction this past week of Harvey Weinstein.
Rigg and Bruneau take on a sensitive subject as middle-aged guys growing up in America who have seen their share, we’re sure, of abuse and mistreatment at the hands of a male-dominated society. It also proves the fact that the majority of men are *not* pigs. The lyrics are in fact profound and deep.
“Survivors of sexual assault and harassment have for too long been in the shadows,” Bruenau writes. The song and movement “gives victims a way to speak up and seek accountability. The movement has grown to include both women and men of all races and ages,” he adds.
Another standout song is the relationship storytelling of “The Little Things” – that we all are guilty of taking advantage of at times until something profound happens to realize that the ‘little things’ are what matter most. The song has an arching melody and rattling guitars.
As songwriters and musicians, the duo has a tongue-in-cheek allure, without being irreverent; their music is multi-facted (while sticking to a decidedly classic rock vein), powerful, and clever. It’s not hard to imagine having a good time at one of their shows.
Fans of avante-garde, quirky, off-beat tracks and bands will likely dig the frenetic and unusual mix of styles on “DNA,” with its down-on-the-corner chugging vibes and the repetition of the line: “DNA/Stay away from my DNA.”
It’s enjoyable as are many of the tracks on this compilation. Robot Raven has definitely made their contributions to off-beat indie/classic rock music with this collection of tracks from their previous four album releases.
The compilation ends with the compelling “Children of the Universe.” The song has a brimming nostalgia to it. “It came from a simple thought: what if we could remember how we all lived our lives together before we were born?” Bruneau remarks. ” And just maybe, instead of creating terror, war and violence, we could use our energy for peace, understanding, and goodwill. We all once were stardust. Definitely the hippy song on the album.”
Rigg has four releases to his credit, including early work with the stadium rock group Abiqua and solo drops. He is also a world-renown robot builder and inventor and owns what may be the world’s largest and most complete museum dedicated to toy and replica robots, the Robot Hut Museum, located in Northeastern Washington state.
Bruneau gained attention in the early 1970’s as the drummer of the infamous Seattle garage band, SKy Dog Band and has written numerous commercial jingles with Bruce Innes. He is a poet.
Rigg/Bruneau have written over sixty original songs together and are considered some of the most proficient song gurus around. Their penchant for the “classic rock sound” shapes Robot Raven’s unique and interesting arrangements, although the group never fears to divert to other musical genres occasionally for the sheer fun of it.
An album cover with a budda on it is something that definitely gets my attention. But look a little closer and Budda is not in a good place.
So, the first goal of the artist – to get people’s attention and interest – worked. Compelling art can do that. But what about what’s inside? What does it sound like?
Well, the folks in the cafe agree – Steve Katsikas‘ debut solo effort, Hidden Village, is well worth 40-45 minutes of your time. This is especially true if you like indie rock songs with plenty of melancholy, creativity, and experimentation, featuring lyrics of love and loss and of political and societal consciousness.
Katsikas has cut his teeth as the vocalist and frontman of the Louisville, Kentucky prog-rock band Little Atlas.
Now, his 11-track is building organic support online, including on his Bandcamp page.
The album opens with the dreamy guitar strings and piano keys of “America” which grows in intensity, energy, and sound. Thematically, the song is “an extended observation of our political bickering, failure to listen to each other, and tendency to disregard the experiences of others,” Katsikas says.
“It’s a slow grower and becomes more and more intense as it progresses,” he says, adding: “I’ve created an accompanying video to go with it that I think sums up the main points.”
The emotional aspects of the gloomy “Life is a Movie” are intricately arranged. The sonic effect is achieved with an elaborate rhythm and melody, together with an expressive vocal, and soft guitar tones.
The song addresses, with some irony and cynicism, the concept that the human race has been blindly allowing the world to destruct by disassociating itself from the difficult reality.
“The song deals with the way that we manage the incomprehensible as if it were a movie,” he remarks. “Climate change? Endless War? Racial strife? It is so hard to think about these devastating occurrences that we watch and think about them as if they were happening to ‘some character, far away’, and that we are simply observers.”
“Psychologists call that ‘psychological distancing,'” he adds, “but that would have been a terrible lyric.” He has a really good point there about the disassociation and distancing. It’s perhaps how many people – who understandably feel helpless other than what they can do in their daily lives – react to these overwhelmingly pressing and dire global issues.
A tribal-like drum beat opens up the intricate, nearly eight-minute track “Solitary.” The beat snakes and interplays with dark guitar melodies and rhythmic bass lines.
As the song evolves, violin strings and Katsikas’ unique vocals build into complex instrumentations that add the overall allure of a hauntingly gorgeous song.
The poetic and dreamy acoustic number, “Authors and Architects,” is the shortest song on the album, and one of the best too. In fact, the listener wanted it to last longer. Together with the vocals, violin, and piano, a pleasant atmosphere is created. Katsikas is already showing his diverse musical interests and sensitivities.
Next, violin strings and keys meld and produce a sleepy atmospheric on “Sleep for Longer Days.” As the song ebbs and flows, the mood changes and becomes darker, floating on complex bass lines and choral-like vocals.
By this point in the album, Katsikas really lets his experimental instincts go. The jazz-influenced song, “Fall,” sounds like a track sort of from another era, emitting jamming piano keys and melodies with wavering vocal registers and strong bass beats.
“Fall” seems to flow into “Shoulders,” yet another song with an airy, jazzy vibe; a stripped down, folk-pop guitar song that creates an ethereal vibe.
This compelling album closes with soulful styled “The Clock Restarts.” The beat made out of a clock ticking sound is a cool effect. Katsikas also does decent covers of the Beatles’ “Across The Universe” and Pink Floyd’s “Gunner’s Dream.”
Hidden Village is an album that was nearly a decade in the making. The title, Katsikas adds, is a reference to the huge group, or ‘village’, of friends and musicians who contributed to the recording; a “journey that has taken me from city to city, genre to genre, band to band, and life event to life event.”
The making of the album was difficult to complete, he says, because of the tragic loss of his friend and ‘musical brother’, guitarist Roy Strattman “whose amazing guitar work flows across this album,” Katsikas adds.
“It remains a hard thing to hear his passion-infused tracks frame and support the songs, but it also is a way to spend time with him and honor his musical gifts. Grief is mixed with love and gratitude.” The album, Katsikas makes sure to say, is dedicated in loving memory of Strattman, his music and his life.
My Little Atlas family, Rik Bigai, Mark Whobrey, and Diego Pocovi are also interwoven throughout many of the songs presented in this album. There are many other professional musicians who contributed to the album – too many to list.
Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Thomas Charlie Pedersen of the Danish indie/alt. rock band Vinyl Floor, recently dropped his second solo album, Daylight Savings Hour.
Based in the Nørrebro area of Copenhagen, Pedersen recorded the album totally DIY-style in his apartment together with his brother drummer Daniel Pedersen. Daniel is also Vinyl Floor’s drummer.
On his latest effort, Pendersen continues the acoustic and minimalistic stylings of his debut album solo effort, Second Hand War, that dropped in 2016.
“Unlike the first album – which was quite introvert and personal – the new album sees me writing mostly about other people,” Pedersen says.
Not surprisingly, his songs focus mostly “on the lyrics and melody and a few lyrical wordplays thrown in for good measure.” He writes and sings about the commitments of love, relationships and growing older, and about “illusionists, otherworldly interference, melancholia, and women in trouble.”
“We utilized strings, vocal harmonies, and alternate guitar tunings,” says Pedersen. “We experimented with noise and reversed sounds during the recording sessions.”
Such is the case, however, the themes and moods of the two recordings differ in noticeable ways.
Gripping melodies and bittersweet melancholia color many of Pedersen’s songs, including tracks such as the emotional “Moveables,” and the acoustic tenderness of the opening track, “To A First Love” and the provocative “Blood World.”
One of the standout love songs on the 14-track album is “Stay True.” The song features Pedersen’s songwriting and vocal skills alongside bright acoustic strings and synth keys.
His vocal abilities include matching harmonies with his acoustic guitar-playing, especially on tracks like the heartbreaking “Faithful Mistress.” This is true as well on the lovely standout track, “Must Be The World.” The folk-rock instrumentation is set as the backdrop for Pedersen’s vocal harmonies and story-telling.
The title song is a reference to the tradition of daylight savings time and a metaphor for desiring light in an increasingly dark world.
On the track, “The Merriweather Pull” – which follows the touching opening track – feels vibrant and yet melancholy, where the sweet harmonies of his vocals overshadow a theme that includes calling out for help from Superman/Clark Kent himself.
The irony of “The World is Not Your Oyster” should not be lost on the listener because the 70’s A.M. soft rock feel and finger-picking (similar with “Moveables”) can disguise the true message of the song, which is about being respectful and grateful for the world because it is the oyster of future generations – on loan (and boy did we fu*k it up).
Then there’s the fun and interesting instrumental, “The Witty Moniker,” which is just like a shot of guitar adrenalin.
During the recording sessions for his debut solo album, Pedersen purposefully left out songs that were, he says, “more extroverted.” His plan was to create something of an artistic statement that was easy to grasp: first album, many of the songs are more “personal and introverted.”
Because human nature, and relationships, and finding our place in the world can be difficult and painful, songwriters do often end up – sometimes without fully realizing it – writing and creating words and compositions that express, in various ways, the human condition wherein the ying and yang of isolating, or opposingly, of socializing, are perpetual struggles.
Therefore, it is a simple, and concise and relatable, concept. By dividing up a bunch of songs into those two themes gives the pair of Pedersen’s solo albums worthy of listening to, not just for indie lo-fi DIY acoustic fans, but for other songwriters as well. (It’s always smart to study solid songwriters if you are an aspiring songwriter).
Pedersen played all of the instruments himself while his brother Daniel contributed some guitar overdubs, arranged strings and added vocal harmonies.
The genre-shifting, 90’s Seattle rock-tinged third album by New York City duo The Soft Underground is a trip of swirling and oozing electric synths, keys, guitars, flutes, and violins, backed by booming, exotic percussions.
Altogether the sounds on Anemoia dive, soar, twist and turn with rollercoaster-like tension, emotions, and energy. It almost sounds like Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters and some Coldplay mixed up in a sonic blender spiked with mushrooms.
The duo is headed by drummer Andrew McCarty and multi-instrumentalist Charlie Hickey, who plays guitar, bow, bass, flute, and keys. Contributing vocalists include Sam Reed and Lisa Mac.
The founding duo is primarily a studio band with two previous albums that are decidedly more rock and guitars-oriented albums. Apparently, the album was recorded in less than a month at McCarty’s home studio in Memphis.
Right from the start, Anemoia gets full-throttle treatment with the opening track, “New York City Venue,” featuring pulsating and grinding beats surrounded by shape-shifting, colorful textures.
The illustrious opening track is followed by “Victoria Age,” another song that is bursting with sonic hues and textures grounded by Mac’s beautiful, soft vocals.
The earth shifts once again with the jangling guitars of the lo-fi, grungy pop title track. “Voicoder,” the first official lead single from the album, has a pulsating pace rolled up in rich and intimate strings.
The mood changes once again on the near-angelic “The Bullet Train.” At this point, the interested listener is thinking, “wow, what’s coming next?”
Thankfully that question is answered right away with the flute-driven tropical jazz vibe and alt-rock melodies of “Petals,” (again Mac’s dreamy, velvety vocals are on display) and the sexy and funky groove of “Charlie and the Congo.”
“Thematically, it’s a happy album,” McCarty said. “We tried to capture that state of euphoria where you can appreciate all facets of life, including the lows.”
After listening to this album a number of times, it is clear that The Soft Underground has been perhaps one of NYC’s under-the-radar indie/alt. rock bands of the last decade.
While Anemoia sets itself apart from their first two albums, which are celebrated in their own right, it is also understandable that it may not be everyone’s cup of music tea. However, if you celebrate (and miss) rock, it’s worth the listen.
From start to finish, Anemoia is free form wildness – an enthralling, trippy, exhilarating ride – kind of like life, but you are much safer.
For music aficionados who dig alt. rock mixed with various genres, and who seek and appreciate recordings featuring kaleidoscope canvases of sounds and textures where musicians can paint whatever they wish, Anemoia is a good bet.
It is not prog rock; progressive is much more glitzy, formatted and theatric. These guys are more artists than performers.
Other contributors include Alice Hasen; Bryan George; Mandy Lemons; Brandon Bachrach and Will Danger. The duo recorded the album at McCarthy’s home, located in Memphis.
Hailing from Los Angeles, and now based in Paris, the five-piece psych indie rock band We Are MILK‘s latest E.P., Monochrome, features the riveting single, “Parallels.”
“It pushes audiences to the stage and creates a vibe that pulsates through a crowd,” says keyboardist Maeva . “It starts with a little eery/spooky sound wave which came from my keyboard.”
The song is off of the band’s second E.P. and the follow-up to an impressive debut that created a buzz around Paris and landed the band a nod in the coveted Rolling Stone magazine (France) and a run of shows.
WAM also brought back recording engineer and producer Fran Ashcroft (Blur, Dandy Warhols, Gorillaz) to work on the new E.P. Impressive resume there and it shows in his work with WAM.
But that doesn’t mean that the band members have had an easy go at it. “Nowadays, bands like ours are doing everything: writing; recording; promotion; booking; gigging,” Robinson exclaims. “That’s on top of day jobs to finance all it.”
The band’s sound is a swirling mix of Brian Jonestown Massacre’s delicateness with a mellowed-out Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and Sky Cries Mary-like grooves accented by ‘trip-pop’ and ‘alternative psychedelia’ elements.
“Our goal is to mix neo-alternative rock and psychedelic music with a grunge attitude,” says vocalist and guitarist Eric Marx.
“In Paris, our drummer Dylan Strazar broke his ankle and turned into percussionist for a couple of months,” adding that the band had to adapt the song for acoustic gigs. The lead outro vocals were recorded “during a live acoustic rendition” recorded at a summer festival in Paris.
Another song, “So Far,” came about after a long jam session during rehearsals. “It came as a healing song while I was going through very intense and difficult times, both artistic and personal,” he says reflectively.
“I wrote the instrumental bridge later on in Paris – from a Pink Floyd perspective. It proved to be challenging to record because we had so many moods to choose from.”
And then there is “Down The Machine”:
We can certainly vouch for some of those proclamations as well as the band’s almost innate ability to drift in and out of each style and signature effortlessly with guidance from Ashcroft.
In addition to Robinson and Strazar, the other band members are guitarist Steve Elmy and bassist Allanis.
The band moved to Paris from Los Angeles in 2018 to experience the ‘European music scene,’ Robinson says adding, “Even though, I would hardly call Paris an actual rock town like Los Angeles.”
The band is playing gigs and working on new material.
(Unfortunately, it is hard to find more songs to stream online for the band. Having a band name with ‘milk’ in it doesn’t help, considering as well that there are some popular artists with ‘milk’ names.)
Every time that we’ve listened to a new drop from Indiana experimental artist Evan Mix, it feels like a mushroom trip. It’s always surreal, entertaining, intriguing and completely different.
His newest album, a 10-track tour-de-strange, is titled Described with Adjectives, and it doesn’t stray from Mix’s well-establish brand of music: Mix music. That’s because it is unlike anything you’ll hear anywhere else.
Mix’s tag-line for his fifth album, he says, is “homemade pop music that represents the heart of southern Indiana.” Well, with all due respect, that is an over-simplification of a multi-layered, multi-dimensional work of obscure sonic and poetic art.
The album opens with the lazy, minimalistic chorus-sung track, “Greeting Quayvon.” How compelling it is; some might even think of it as a children’s’-leaning song – complete with a magical electric piano; an enchanting xylophone riff, and what sounds like drumsticks on cans, along with other unidentified instruments and sound effects.
On the album’s title track, Mix and producer/long-time collaborator, Kaiser, create a haunting – and yet somehow unintimidating – wave of sounds with organ whirls that transform into piano riffs as Mix sings theatrically – like an actor in a stage performance – in his strangely seductive way.
It’s no stretch to observe that Mix’s musical and lyrical influences and sentiments are of another age; but never in a boring or old-hat way.
On “Nobody Flees,” Mix and Kaiser collected the beats per minute ratio from several songs – including Justin Timberlake’s ‘SexyBack’ and Elton John’s ‘Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting’ – to come up with “an average beats-per-minute,” he says.
“The song ended up having a BPM of 157. To make the bass sound seem faster than the drums, the bass sound was filtered through an arpeggiator plugin. There are a few short tempo increases in the middle of the song as well.”
The track is completely odd-ball, but again, it’s engaging, fun and appealing. At first, some listeners may be turned away by Mix’s totally unconventional approach and sound.
But listen more, and with some different glasses on (if that makes any sense), it becomes quite an entertaining and enlightening experience.
Many of Mix’s tracks do just that: and yet, somehow, in all of their weirdness and free-form styling, they draw you in to listen more. And we’re not even going to dive into examining his lyrics in-depth because that would take many hours to examine competently.
Therefore, you’ll want to absorb the lyrics yourself. That is not hard: Mix’s sonic storytelling, if you will, is clear and well-spoken – but still quirky – on track after track.
In fact, there seems to be a deliberate effort to ensure the words are forefront in the recordings and the music and sound effects secondary so that there is never any chance of the words being drowned out (which is a common issue with many DIY recordings).
The genre-labeling of Mix’s musical escapades is hard to nail down, but essentially it’s avant garde/experimental/obscure and many of his tracks would play well on the famous and long-running Dr. Demento Show. I dare to say that even for Dr. Demento, many of Mix’s tracks are too different, too original and perhaps too trippy.
He reminds me of a cross between CAKE, Brian Eno, The Nails and any number of artists you’ll hear on the Dr. D show. Mix’s music is definitely not for everyone, but for those who do follow, or are open to ‘very different,’ experimental music, Mix is likely to become a nice new find.
Then there’s the trippy, exceptionally wordy, “In Heavy, Smoking Coats,” that comes off more like a slam poetry session in the Fifth Element than a song one would find on an album in 2020. A tepid, understated beat serves as the backdrop of his reading.
The anti-folk pop track, “Sure, I’ll Spot You,” is propelled by Mix’s signature talk-singing style, and Casio and piano keys within a swirl of sound effects and homemade percussions.
Oddly, this track stands out; perhaps one reason is that it’s as close to a ‘song’ than most of Mix’s pieces.
For what it’s worth, it’s perhaps one of the more structured songs, with its funky beat, a vein of melody that underlies the track, and a tropical electric piano riff that is unmistakably joyous.
Then there is the freakshow number, “Years and Hours of Infertility,” which is like many of Mix’s works; it’s not a song in the conventional sense, but rather a conglomeration of words, instrumentations and experimentation.
A lyric from the bumbling track mentions ‘Hurstbourne,’ a reference to Hurstbourne Pkwy in Louisville, Kentucky.
It was there that Mix had a meeting canceled after having driven a half-hour from his home in Floyds Knobs, Indiana.
The lyric: ‘Scattered five dollars worth along Hurstbourne’ refers to how much money he spent on gas to get to and from Louisville.
“The melody was always planned to be in a major key so it would sound appropriate for several voices to sing together,” he adds. “It tells a tale of someone who sounds young but doesn’t think they’re young.”
“Deteriorating Spirit” is so strange and anti-pop that many may not even want to listen to all of it. It could be that to some it feels that at times Mix is intentionally pushing the boundaries of obsurdity to provoke an emotion or a reponse from the listener.
If that is true, I feel it’s innocently nefarious – like a devious child who plays tricks but is forgiven because he is so cute.
The fact is that in the final analysis Mix’s arrangements don’t necessarily come off as annoying or petty – at least to this listener – is another testiment to his child-like, theatrical and quirky talents.
The anti-pop number, “The Nights Between Travel,” features strangely tweaked reverb effects, a skipping drum machine beat and keys and xylophone riffs.
The closer, “Does Anyone Like January,” is one of producer Kaiser and Mix’s best collaborations on the album. Even though Kaiser produced the entire L.P., Mix also believes that “Does Anyone Like January” is his highlight work.
“In the original demo for the song, both the piano and vibraphone played straight through from beginning to end. Kaiser was able to listen to the arrangement and decide when to mute either part so it wouldn’t clash with the other sounds. He also made helpful recommendations on the phrasing of the vocals in this song.”
Some would say – without really examining his music closely – that Mix’s works are so offbeat; unscripted; demoey; chaotic, and unconventional that they are essentially unlistenable.
But, I disagree, but not without merit. That sentiment – that Mix’s work is ‘unlistenable’ – was my own at first. Soon, however, a transformation happened.
After some time of adjustment and settling into Mix’s weirdo world, and really listening, my mind was changed. Mix is an underground quirky 21st century beat poet who creates instrumental riffs, sounds and effects that are not music, but more like acts in a play or perhaps even adult child’s play. Whichever one prefers.
The genre-shifting, 90’s Seattle rock-tinged third album by New York City duo The Soft Underground is a trip of swirling and oozing electric synths, keys, guitars, flutes, and violins, backed by booming, exotic percussions.
Hailing from Los Angeles, and now based in Paris, the five-piece psych indie rock band We Are MILK‘s latest E.P., Monochrome, features the riveting single, “Parallels.”
Every time that we’ve listened to a new drop from Indiana experimental artist Evan Mix, it feels like a mushroom trip. It’s always surreal, entertaining, intriguing and completely different.