Heavy America - ...Now (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://www.heavyamerica.us
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/heavyamerica/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/heavyamerica

Written by Lance Wright, posted by blog admin

Beyond the heyday of grunge, there’s been a whole revolution of modern bands adopting 60s/70s songwriting tactics and production techniques.  Some bands can’t quite catch the vibe and end up as parody while others sound like the real article.  After repeat listens, Boston three-piece Heavy America prove that they can nail the feel with authenticity and integrity.  Straddling the fence with hip-shaking rockers, layered minimalism and songs combining the two worlds, these cats offer up plenty of variety on their latest recording …Now.

Although not quite a concept album but more of a collection of likeminded tunes, …Now is still best enjoyed as an uninterrupted whole.  There’s a flow from track to track that starts with lead-in belter “Proud Shame.”  Half indie styled alt-country and half bellowing blues rock damage, “Proud Shame” shimmers in the verses and wails with abandon in the choruses.  Vibrant lead vocals courtesy of Mike Seguin range from growly Tom Waits’ whiskey chants to arid, dustbowl crooning.  Clean guitars and wandering rhythms quickly turn to smash n’ crash, rocked-out mantras, a similar tactic that follows true on “Bleed Mary’s” simultaneously sweet and surly guitar work, pulsating bass damage and fluid drumming.  There’s not really a lead instrument here with each player (guitarist Mike Seguin, bassist/keyboardist Bud Lapham, drummer Dan Fried) all painting individual brushstrokes onto the canvas that congeal into a crystal clear portrait.  Shorter, sharper and more straightforward “Pray for Me” does away with ambient build-ups and song structure swapping for a heavy, weighted rocker that sounds like Helmet’s syncopated surgical strikes gone full-on blues rock. 

After the opening trilogy establishes the band’s forward reaching arc, the rest of the album delivers on the promise.  Bud’s swinging bass licks cement a presence straying from outside of Seguin’s stark, noisy guitar melodies on the bustling swagger of “Sweet Kisses.”  Jazzy cymbal splashes and near off-time beats make what could be a simple rock song something more dissonant and oblique as a second half melody break brings the mood down appropriately.  Smoky, searing riffs swirl amidst the sound of a phone ringing on the bipolar shuffling contained within “Casting Stones,” an easy album standout.  A hymnal keyboard hum drenches the softer parts in blue-collar sweat which explodes in a fury fever during well-fortified bouts of knockout moonshine riffing befitting of a more experimental version of Clutch.  “Goliath” is sheer southern-rock might; the kind they don’t make anymore, again reckoning of Clutch with monster 4/4 blues churns lit up like a Roman candle by scattershot lead work via Seguin’s fireball frets. 

Just as the album began with a killer triplet of vastly unique tunes, it ends the same way; “I Can Take It” rings with trippy ambience befitting of Pink Floyd jamming with Queens of the Stone Age (circa Self-Titled and Rated R) with phased-effected guitars and space-rock riffing, “Heavy Eyes” touches on relaxing electric folk and “Achilles Fail” utilizes the gruffest vocals on the record and apocalyptic doom-y hard rock n’ roll. 

With no two songs sounding exactly alike yet a uniform theme running throughout the record, Heavy America crafts …Now into an underground winner that is probably too smart for mainstream radio but of serious value to real music fans.  Advanced songwriting is prevalent from the first note to the last and dedicated rock fans that are looking for some music with meat on the bones will be truly satiated by what they find. 

Dru Cutler - Hometown (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://www.drucutler.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/DruCutlerMusic/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/drucutler

Written by Lance Wright, posted by blog admin

The release of Dru Cutler’s two song Hometown surprisingly, despite its brevity, solidifies his standing as one of the most promising singer/songwriter musicians working on the indie scene today. He, moreover, shows off the potential to be an important crossover artist – this duo of songs, particularly the title cut, sport a level of melodic excellence and accessibility accentuating his talent for communicating with a broad based audience without ever sacrificing his individuality in an effort to appeal to listeners. The production on both songs is first class and never skimps on detail in favor of sonic muscle. Cutler’s presentation is perfectly balanced and stresses his appealing vocals, but never at the expense of the players. Instead, audiences are treated to two fully realized pieces breathing with color and naturalness certain to attract a lot of attention.

The title track is, easily, the most fully realized and mainstream effort of the two.  The lyrically minded piano playing and Cutler’s vocals are the melodic key to the song, but there’s a generous amount of acoustic guitar and forceful percussion aiding the setting of a tone. There’s some light harmony vocals coming in on the chorus, but the musical elements of the song are strengthened by the merits of the song’s lyrical content. Cutler’s depiction of the sights, sounds, and effects of growing up. There is a slightly melancholy edge permeating his look back, but there’s an equal amount of affection coming through in his voice. He never goes in for cheap pandering – the song’s phrasing maintains a steady vision of how to convey the song’s narrative without ever allowing things to become too theatrical. The chorus has understated power, as well, that Cutler pushes in just the right way.

“Infinite Moons” comes from a much different place. There’s certainly a more overtly artsy edge on the song, but there’s the same ample attention to melody here we heard in the first track. The song never runs on long, but Cutler’s writing incorporates a number of different sections seamlessly interlocking into a greater whole. It begins with acoustic guitar, but the electric guitar plays an important role here as well. There’s a nicely dissonant edge to some of the guitar lines that contrasts nicely with the song’s overall ambiance and the same clarity defining his earlier vocal makes its presence felt here as well. The lyrical content is a little more repetitive than the title song, but the repetition matches up nicely with the arrangement. Hometown is an impressive effort despite its shortness and Dru Cutler’s effortless diverse musicality comes through on every second of each song. His future work promises to be immensely powerful based on these songs.  

Grade: A-

Samantha Leon - s/t (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://www.samanthaleonmusic.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/samanthaleonmusic/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/samleon_music

Video Teaser: https://youtu.be/v5I3R_SURcg

Written by Shannon Cowden, posted by blog admin

Samantha Leon’s debut is a memorable debut from a genre, singer/songwriter, which has sometimes seemed to exhaust its initial purpose. Since the halcyon days of performers who Leon cites as pivotal influences, i.e. Cat Stevens, tropes and clichés about the form have come to increasingly dominate the musical landscape. Leon, however, is different. The seven songs on her debut EP touch on some elements we will find familiar from past performers, but she transforms them through the sheer dint of her personal experiences. What emerges from this collection is a performer with potential to revitalize this sort of approach to songwriting. Samantha Leon doesn’t merely seek to entertain her audiences. Instead, she seeks to bare her heart to her listeners and share experiences with lyrical language that never cheapens the sweet and bitter in life on this self-titled Kickstarter funded debut.

We get our first look at her lyrical skills with the opener “Bright Yellow Shoes”. Her talent for a telling image is reflected in the title alone, but it’s extended throughout the song and her lean writing immediately leaps out at listeners. The arrangement is woven together with great care and the attention paid to bringing all these elements together complements her vocal and writing perfectly. She takes a different bent on things with the second song “High (You Only Love Me When You’re Fuc*ed Up)”, but the attention grabbing title shouldn’t mislead listeners into thinking it’s a shallow excursion. She delves deeply into this fractured romance without any self-indulgence and simply lays out a stellar vocal. “Run Away” gives both Leon’s songwriting and the musical arrangement an opportunity to stretch out with a track clocking in at over the six minute mark. There’s many of the same musical elements working here that made the earlier songs successful, but the track’s deliberate pace allows them to create expanded textures not heard during the earlier songs.

The acoustic-based track “Perfect” has a relaxed air, but it shifts into a higher gear at the half way point and features the surprisingly successful inclusion of hip hop with a guest appearance from rapper Danny Matos. It’s an interesting and highly successful experiment that comes off because things are so well balanced and the difference in voice and tone between these two performers will impress any doubter. The second version of “Bright Yellow Shoes” is a full band version and varies greatly from the opener without even being unrecognizable. It’s truly the end of the EP, despite the inclusion of another track, and dovetails neatly into the first track as a bookend. The clarity of her musical and songwriting vision is quite impressive and meshes nicely with the personal qualities she brings to bear. Few debut efforts, whether they are full length or in EP form, succeed so well.

Jim Hagen - Jazzical (2017)

OFFICIAL:  http://www.jimhagenmusic.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/HagenJazz/

ITUNES: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1229838302?ls=1&app=itunes

Artwork by John Lind Whitby

Written by Michael Saulman, posted by blog admin

Jim Hagen’s 2012 debut introduced the talents of this exceptional jazz guitarist to a national audience and his newest release, Jazzical, reinforces the promise and skill illustrated by the debut while showing considerable evolution in the same breath. The nine song collection doesn’t strictly confine itself to a jazz mode musically and shows how Hagen is capable of bringing a variety of musical elements into his wheelhouse without ever veering too far off course of its jazz roots. It also serves as a tribute, of sorts, to Hagen’s former bandmate and musical collaborator Rod Bennett, a vibes player extraordinaire whose tragic death as the result of a traffic accident fortunately didn’t curtail his valued inclusion on this inclusion on this collection. The real highlight of the release is Hagen’s exemplary guitar work, but he benefits from the inclusion of top notch vibes work, often from Bennett, as well as stellar keyboard and bass playing. The percussion on Jazzical, as well, takes the same top notch spot and complements the playing with welcome articulation.

“Pismo Beach” opens the album on a lovely note and shows off the band’s instrumental skills while lacking even a whiff of self indulgence. It’s cut to an ideal length as well and each of the song’s disparate sections never feel over-extended or overwrought. It’s incredibly stylized without ever striking a false note. “D-Tuna” takes a decidedly different approach thanks to its concentration on invoking atmosphere, but Hagen and his musical partners never forget to stress melody. It is, however, one of the album’s real moments of genuine experimentation and a testament to the talents of the players involved that it lines up very nicely with the remaining eight tracks. “Alexandra” bears some similarities to that track, but it shares more common with the other seven songs in the sense that it adheres tp a well defined sense of structure while still bearing a number of unmistakably individual marks.

“All Blues”, a Miles Davis cover, has a strong structure as well while still showing the flexibility to diverge from it and return without a fumble. The expected changes come at all the right points, but Hagen and his band mates are able to diverge from that structure and carve out specific notches in the piece that they stamp with their own signature style. “Jazzical”, the album’s title cut, might be the most illuminating moment on the release. Hagen’s classical background comes to the fore here thanks to his flawless guitar work, but he’s equally capable of weaving it with jazz influences into a seamless package. “Lazy Sunday” finishes off the release on a relaxed and lyrical note thanks to his guitar playing, but there’s a lot of factors contributing to the success of this closing curtain. Jazzical is more than just important genre release; there’s ample merit here to draw in casual fans as well thanks to Hagen’s melodic excellence.

Toy Trucks

He filled his closets with toy trucks

and snored like a flooded motor

when he dreamed of driving one off.

He raced his replicas through sleep,

past fence lines tied with leather belts

and down dirt roads knuckled with rocks

looking for his father to say:

I bought the toys you never did

and paid with the sweat of my brow.

He built walls from the white boxes

holding semi-trailers and trucks

like cardboard backbones to buttress

the walls crumbling around him.

Despite the barriers he raised,

I know now he was never here

and loved sleeping more than waking

where his trucks plowed through every wall

to shame a blind and dead father

who he never saw or forgave.

Natalie Estes - 20/20 Vision (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://natalieestes.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/natalieestesmusic/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/natalieestes94

Written by Ed Price, posted by blog admin

Natalie Estes’ four song EP collection 20/20 Vision heralds the emergence of a truly diverse talent capable of staking out a claim as one of the most promising vocalists working today. Young performers, singers or musicians, often arrive with rough edges still intact and those are only chipped away over time. There are much rarer cases, however, where a new performer comes out seemingly a fully finished product and ready for the biggest of stages. Estes falls in the second category. The four songs on her EP aspire to a surprising amount of stylistic diversity that’s shocking for a relatively brief collection. Estes is a Nashville native who didn’t immediately gravitate towards music, her first love being dance, but hearing Adele’s cover of Dylan’s “To Make You Feel My Love” during her high school years sparked a fire in her that seems to be glowing now with enormous heat and intensity.

The build for the opener, “Until I Do”, is nothing short of magnificent. The lyrical content has a hint of titillation and equates the experience of longing with addiction. It isn’t particularly new lyrical ground to turn over, but the actual writing snaps with such a lean, economical bite that it redeems any overly familiar aspects of the songwriting’s themes. It seems a little too cliché to deem her vocal performance sultry, but this quality is in increasingly short supply in our modern era and her evocative tone really embodies the song’s narrative in a dramatic way. The intimacy of this performance will excite many listeners. As great as that opener is, however, “Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire” is even better. This is the sort of big show stopping, cinematic number that most singers and pop performers aspire to latching onto for their entire careers and it makes a tremendous impact from the first. The backing vocals here make Estes’ strong belt even more memorable and the muscular recording is one of the best production moments on 20/20 Vision. Like the rest of the material, the songwriting and Estes’ vocal performance makes great use of sympathetic dynamics that make the song take on an even grander air than it might otherwise possess.

“Reminds Me of You”, the EP’s penultimate track, is much more in the mode of traditional balladry, but Estes excels here as well. There’s a gentleness that mixes with her customary intimacy to nice effect and it’s equally complemented well by the artfully turned piano work. The final number “Bad Game” has, perhaps, more attitude than the previous three numbers combined and Estes tears into the lyrics with all the zest they deserve. It’s an exclamation point ending on a fantastic EP that few young performers today can hope to equal. 20/20 Vision may be brief, but the four songs included on this release pack more of a punch than many full length efforts ever harbor.

Grade: A