New Music – Olympia’s Vixens
The gravitation toward punk music was always something that struck a personal chord. It captured the isolation and anguish, while maintaining an energetic and productive sound behind the rampaging string mixes and the percussive crashes that would rattle the foundation of music. Stiff Love is one of those bands that can capture the essences of the abrasive qualities that makes punk rock the movement inducing style, but also rely on a familiar sound that takes their newest record, Trouble into a soaring animal of ability.
Perhaps it can be labeled on the rough cut instrumental functionality that Stiff Love adapts to, or maybe the charismatic lovability of four Washington state natives that have punk rock roots in previous bands, The Vitamens or Lowest Priority to name just two. It could also be the reason that the all female group shines through their frontwoman Xtine who delivers on the guitar and vocal performances. Or it could possibly be that Stiff Love rejuvenates a love for the quick and reckless days of music where the rules were arbitrary and unnecessary. “Walk In The Dark” opens in a systematic clash of overwhelming sound as Claudia on the percussion stamps the backing rhythm while Elysa and Dahlia on the strings move into position for the frantic wall that is about to come stomping into frame.
It is the glimmering example of rapid tempo changes on the title-track, “Trouble” that illustrates this rising tension and grindhouse influenced rock n’ roll that flows over Trouble in a friendly gloss. And this is present through most of Trouble as Stiff Love moves in a sweeping formation to cover a large range of sound. Through the concentrated movement, Stiff Love can quickly become the driving force through a steady, almost forceful shove which then leads Stiff Love to a break down in “Trouble” where the desert lick of the guitar can stand out. Even through the abrupt ending, Stiff Love then proceeds into “Up In Your Room” which is the marker for the third act of Trouble.
“I know where you hide your gun,” is what Xtine seems to be shouting as the rest of Stiff Love strums and crashes along in a fury of sound that becomes the theme for Stiff Love’s Trouble. Especially throughout the tracklisting that barely reaches under the ten-minute mark, giving Stiff Love a get-in-and-get-out approach. The band is fantastic in the way their sound coincides within the rough outer limits of punk rock that borders on surf styled rock.
Stiff Love continues to please through Trouble and the band makes interesting turns that make for a successful overall trip that never overstays its welcome and always plans on the unexpected. Stiff Love works well within the four-member limit and tries to manipulate the sound just enough to be original and outstanding in a sea of many fish.
Listen To Trouble Here!!! – BandCamp
STREAMING // (Track) $UICIDEBOY$ – “FUCKALLOFYOU2K18”
Lil Remains Hoe // Listen Here – Soundcloud
STREAMING // (Video) Antwon – “Cowboy”
Throwing Doo Doo where your name is… // Listen/Watch Here – Youtube
Prod. By: DJ Lucas
Directed + Edited by Weird Dane
Director of Photography: Roger JC Lee
Special Thanks to Cowboy Attic
STREAMING // (Album) Drew The Architect – “lapidary°”
Duskhunter Returns // Listen Here – BandCamp/Soundcloud
Classic Day – Speaking Internally
Sixteen-recorded albums later, Stevie Wonder was a gold miner for his musical talents and knew nothing but strength and emotional attachment for describing just how beautiful the world can be inside his mind. His critically acclaimed masterpiece, Innervisions speaks directly to the listener as a tale of abuse, personality, and eventually triumph through a smooth, satin film.
Innervisions is one of those records that lives forever through the relatable moments in the themes behind the outstanding instrumentation. From the synth keys that shine through on the first cut, “Too High” or to the very elegant and emotionally driven piano on “All In Love Is Fair,” there is always a substantial use of ability behind Wonder’s sense of direction. The beauty is present throughout and always manages to co-exist within this magnificent sense of consistently shifting styles of tempo and chord progressions.
The way that Stevie Wonder moves on into “Visions” with the incredibly subtle acoustic guitar and beautiful arrangement of poetic vocals provides different looks into his artistic tone. Wonder describes, “I’m not one who make believes, I know that leaves are green. They only change to brown, when autumn comes around. I know just what I say, today’s not yesterday and all things have an ending.” Through the slower, but steady increase of movement which then leads into “Living For The City” where the entire emotional setting is drastically changed as well.
It is a vibrant tone of intrigue that leads into the frantic vitality of the city life, telling the story of a young American that moves into the bright and shining lights of New York City. It describes “Her brother’s smart, he’s got more sense than many. His patience’s long but soon he won’t have any. To find a job is like a haystack needle, because where he lives they don’t use colored people.” The story then finds the young man living just enough for the city and finding out soon that New York is not what he first envisioned. Through the spoken word detailing at the midpoint of “Living For The City,” then involves the main character being arrested and sentenced to ten years. Wonder then describes his own sorrow for the main character and just how unfair and rough the city can be for people of color.
Wonder then thankfully changes topics and becomes more focused on a more upbeat sense of story where he describes a “Golden Lady” that is heaven on Earth. He shouts over the dance heavy piano, “And golden lady, golden lady, I’d like to go there.” It is filled with clasping hi-hats and bongo styled drums that reflect well on the variation behind Innervisions. Especially as Wonder then moves into “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing,” a Central America styled instrumental with heavily clasping and maracas that have Wonder yelling “Everybody needs a change, a chance to check out the new. But you’re only one to see, the changes you take yourself through.”
Innervisions is a powerful movement that follows Wonder’s view on the world. The immaculately talented artist can open the listeners mind and still be a relevant release even forty-five-years later.
Listen To Innervisions Here!!! – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
STREAMING // (Track) Secret Circle – “Ounce Of It”
Three Kings Return // Listen Here – BandCamp
Misc. Day – Breaking Up The Magic
David Bowie once said, “breaking up is hard, but keeping dark is hateful,” La Sera combines both the darkness and the breaking up into one, pop fused lullaby. It is a subtle crawl to the ocean breeze, then to the fast lanes of highways where La Sera molds their world of sound into eloquence.
There is so much to be said about a band that can combine emotional drama into their music without become weighed down, La Sera on Sees the Light is just that perfect balance of despair and connectivity that blurs the lines of genre. They can be emotionally draining like on their first opening track, “Love That’s Gone”. But then are able to shift the tides with the following of “Please Be My Third Eye”, a rocket blast when compared to the sullen, but sea sick styling of “Love That’s Gone”.
There is a grace behind La Sera that is still present even when blasting through the ripping chords and vibrant instrumentation. Through the “soundtrack to a lost drive-in movie classic.” La Sera describes themselves and Sees the Light as a “an album not for the half-hearted partakers in the heartache scene.” It relies heavily on the vocal performance and writing of Katy Goodman that reflects these golden moments of La Sera and that continue to produce a new soundscape with each progressing track.
While daunting in some instances of lyrical content, Sees the Light never becomes a stance of depressive instrumentation as the at times psychedelic, and others heavily influenced by pop punk music; La Sera is graceful at its best. In other styles, they adapt to a more cutting edge style with these rushes of guitar and percussion that overtakes the listener in a soundscape of abrasiveness. When Sees the Light reaches a midpoint with “It’s Over Now”, La Sera is delightful in their sadness and can almost reflect the emotional stress through their music.
It is easy on the ears and allows the listener to get right into the groove with the dance-esque movements. Effortless at times, but relentless with others, La Sera is a delightful treat that always manages to compile the best efforts of heartbroken influenced love, with acoustic flurries and the clap along percussion that slides in with “I’m Alone”. Sees the Light becomes illumination behind the darkened corners of the ugliness of despair and does wonders with vivid, adventurous instrumentation.
The cowbell claps that lead “Real Boy” into the near fifties-doo-wop influenced instrumentation and vocal performance is enthralling. It is similar in style to the easy-going and graceful steps as Goodman describes “Real boy, I’ve got something to give away. And that’s my heart. My heart is yours, wont you take my hand? I’m yours”. The track then segues into a highly tuned guitar solo of surf heavy flows that cascade over the instrumentation to then flood into one of the final tracks of Sees the Light.
“How Far We’ve Come Now” is the most electric that La Sera gets with Sees The Light and their performance is incredibly heavy and almost crushing with the sound. It is the re-birth that leads La Sera into the vivid, orange painted sunsets and back into the listener’s heart for one last piece of beauty.
Listen To Sees The Light Here!!! – BandCamp/Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
New Music – Everything The Keys Touch
DJ HARRISON is a moving multi-instrumentalist that captures soundscapes of time through his music. The raw flow that he taps into and displays through his newest release, LightPower is immaculate. It is a constant shift of artistic vision that propels his music into unknown and unexpected territory.
On the various cuts through LightPower, there is a focus on the sounds of yesteryear as “Battery” has these sampled dialogue cuts and African influenced drums with offbeat smacks and rapid bass lines that give a jazz tone behind an overly noisy instrumental. The production that DJ HARRISON uses throughout the record is clean, and even while distorted at times; There is always a focus on how perfectly organized the layering is. The depth to LightPower is inviting and has an easy-to-follow adaptation behind it.
Through the fifteen total tracks, there is always an anticipation to how the next track will segue in after the last. The motions that DJ HARRISON decides to run with is at moments abrupt as he switches from “Capacitor” to “Conductor” in a way that cuts the beat out from one, quickly replacing it with another. The sense of continuing flow is disrupted through the instruments after being replaced so quickly, but keeps the momentum at a fast pace for the pianos and sliding instruments that cascade in a glorious motion. “Recorded at Jellowstone rooms 1 and 2, as well as aboard on of those fast European trains,” explains DJ HARRISON on his BandCamp page that houses LightPower. The recording style of the fast trains sounds like it is directly linked into how LightPower sounds as it reflects through these quick, but often steady tempos which resemble a train on passage.
Especially present on “CircuitBreaker”, a movement heavy track that bounces along with these hi-hat clasps and piano that is muddled behind the level of distortion and reverberation. Then as the one of the following tracks, “Diode” springs into action, the saxophone-esque synth transports DJ HARRISON to a simple beat selection on the forty-two-second space. LightPower works at its best when DJ HARRISON is commanding the percussion and other instrumentation in a full format of sound which is demonstrated well on “Filament”. The Stone Throw Veteran uses a wide resource list, but the stomping keys that move “Filament” down the path with samples that describe, “A Ghetto Prophet”, is what makes it stand out.
DJ HARRISON’s LightPower is best experienced as a long single session where the instrumentation can flow over the listener in a wonderland of new landscapes. The illustration of quick, but soulful instrumentation is a treat from DJ HARRISON in the shifting tides of ability.
Listen To LightPower Here!!! – BandCamp
STREAMING // (Video) Kali Uchis – “After The Storm” (Feat. Tyler, The Creator, and Bootsy Collins)
Video Director – Nadia Lee Cohen
Creative Director – Kali Uchis
Produced by – Bad Bad Not Good
// Listen/Watch Here – Youtube
STREAMING // (Track) A$AP ROCKY – “☆☆☆☆☆ 5IVE $TAR$” (Feat. DRAM)
TESTING… UPLOADING… JIGGY… // Listen Here – Soundcloud
STREAMING // (Interview) Brad Hall – “Vince Staples Talks About Vince Staples’ Converse Sneaker”
Big Shoe Theory // Listen/Watch Here – Youtube
STREAMING // (Album) The Alchemist – “Paris X La X Bruxelles Instrumentals”
They brought me out to Paris for a week
paid for my records
and let me craft beats in their studio
Listen Here – BandCamp
Classic Day – While They Are Hot
Frank Zappa is a man of many sounds and iterations of musical talent; on one hand, he is able to construct these other worlds through music and create near full-motion films through just sound. On the other, Zappa is a creative mind that is able to adapt storytelling devices and while at times entirely satirical, he makes a social statement through his platform. In the process of a primarily instrumental album; Zappa delivers through the reliance on his instrumental performance, instead of a description through vocals.
Hot Rats is the eighth album released by Frank Zappa, but the second of his solo ventures that would feature only one other artist from his previous band, The Mothers of Invention. It would be a technological advancement in Zappa’s career as well, as this was his first album recording on a sixteen-track-recorder. An icon in music, but also in the very challenge of the limitations on sound, Zappa would feature himself on three instruments, and have Ian Underwood, a previous member of The Mothers play five instruments at the time while recording Hot Rats. Zappa would also feature Captain Beefheart, Shuggie Otis, Max Bennett, Paul Humphrey, John Guerin, Don Harris, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Ron Selico in an effort to capture a wide variety of instrumentalists onto one single platform. Underwood and Zappa were the primary masterminds behind the tone of Hot Rats, funneling into the first opening track that would become recognizable through the ages for its twisted and warped sense of instrumentation.
“Peaches En Regalia” is a grand opening that features a huge assortment of pianos, percussion, guitars, and keys that create this overbearing load of noise. It is arranged so well that the sense of depth is almost easy to be overlooked as the flutes become almost backing material to the wide array of cascading and vibrant horns. Every instrument possible seems to be in use on “Peaches En Regalia”, leaving the listener with this feeling of wonder as Frank Zappa and his band behind him work like an incredibly intricate machine to collect and display the work together.
The style is then changed immediately on the following, “Willie The Pimp”, where Captain Beefheart makes this the only vocal track on Hot Rats. There is also the homage to the blues style and the ability to find a more tightly wound rhythm behind the madness. Don “Sugarcane” Harris makes up the violin being played on “Willie The Pimp” and does an excellent job of making the main rhythm through his strings. It forms well into the style of Frank Zappa, but even better to create a break in the heavy instrumentation. Zappa includes tracks like “Willie The Pimp” to take away from the very complicated style of “Peaches En Regalia” to instead let the listener catch a breath before being thrown back into the walls of sound with, “Son Of Mr. Green Genes”
Similar in the sound of “Peaches En Regalia”, “Son Of Mr. Green Genes” instead adapts to become heavy with lead guitar solos and this glorious sense of abrasiveness through the horns and capturing percussion. Hot Rats is a truly expressive piece and feels like a constant flow of consciousness from Frank Zappa himself. The wild and twisted rhythms and the always changing ability mimics Frank Zappa as a musician and allows him to be expressive entirely through his own instrumental merit. It is interesting to hear how the sequencing is handled and how each solo can flood right back into the track without even a moment of buffering. The instrumentation is handled so perfectly and feels genuine down to the core.
Through Hot Rats, Zappa adapts and creates immense feeling through his music. It is the proper rhythms and tone that Zappa takes to create this whirlwind of sound that allows the listener to continually find small details that were overshadowed by other moments. It is strange, but finds that middle ground between the vibrant and immaculately enjoyable.
Listen To Hot Rats Here!!! – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
LIVE PHOTOGRAPHY – HARDO LIVE AT SPIRIT HALL, JANUARY 19TH, 2018
YOU KNOW HOW IT GO…
THIS IS A LIST OF THE MOST RECENT STREAMS...
The complete list of all past streams can be accessed here as well
(Click Here)
MATT'S MUSIC MINE - MERCH FOR SALE
VIDEO REEL 2
LIVE PHOTOGRAPHY – JESUS PIECE AT BABY’S ALL RIGHT, DECEMBER 6TH, 2022
SUNDAY SAMPLER // (Playlist) “12/04/2022″
(Track) Jake Mason Trio – “Rib Eye”
(Video) Lightning Bolt – “Dead Cowboy @ TAICOCLUB 2014”
(Video) The Velvet Underground – “After Hours”
(Video) Mac Miller – “10 Years Of You”
(Video) A$AP Rocky – “Same Problems”
The complete list of all past streams can be accessed here as well
(Click Here)