Astronomique - Sharp Divide (2018)

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Written by Pamela Bellmore, posted by blog admin

“Forefathers” opens Astronomique’s Sharp Divide with the sort of confidence you don’t often hear from new bands. This Minneapolis based four piece has threaded together an irresistible sound coupling the best elements of electronica, eighties flavored Euro pop, and a deceptively strong singer/songwriter sensibility dominating the album as a whole. “Side of Your Mind” has a bright bounce from the first and singer/keyboard player Logan Andra Fongemie’s vocal shares the same upward, optimistic tilt, a mood in short supply on Sharp Divide. Drummer Mitch Billings and bassist Preston Saari distinguished themselves on the album’s opener, but they demonstrate their versatility here as they don’t play such a prominent role in the mix, yet provide a center for “Side of Your Mind” immeasurably enhancing the song.

The tracks “Losing Our Control” and the title song are likely the album’s pinnacle. There are extraordinarily good songs following this tandem, but the duo of songs near the album’s midway point stand a cut above thanks to the unified effort you can hear in both performances. Fongemie’s synthesizer playing is an integral part of the band’s sound, rather than pure ornamentation like it might be for lesser acts, and the delicate, nearly crystalline qualities of her voice are equally fitting for the material. The title song seems to be the more impressive of the two thanks to the extra dollop of passion Fongemie brings to her singing. “Smoke”, however, takes a slightly different and welcome shift on the band’s template this far and succeeds in focusing more on atmospherics without losing the musical plot.

“Unspoken”, however, returns us to the more familiar terrain of the album’s first four songs and rivals the aforementioned tandem of “Losing Our Control” and the title song without ever repeating itself. Hogan’s guitar work here is especially strong and one can feel his inspiration working with such a talented rhythm section team. “Bleed Me” is another of the album’s marquee numbers and effectively juxtaposes its intense lyrical content with another slightly melancholy, but entertaining musical arrangement. “Hardly Deliberate” maintains the same approach to Fongemie’s vocals defining the album on the whole while it brings a tense, rolling arrangement to bear anchored by the potent interplay between Saari’s rib rattling bass and Billings’ drums.

“Heading Nowhere” seems to bring Sharp Divide to a dispirited conclusion, but it is reminiscent of the earlier “Bleed Me” in its willingness to bring a relatively dire lyrical mood together with a freer, slightly more upbeat musical identity. Few albums are as clearly conceived and laid out as Sharp Divide and it’s a testament to the band’s innate chemistry, particularly between Fongemie and her songwriting partner guitarist Sean Hogan, but bassist Preston Saari and drummer Mitch Billings make a big impact on the album’s final form.

The Lime Pit (1980) by Jonathan Valin

Written by Jason Hillenburg, posted by blog admin


Jonathan Valin's The Lime Pit, his first novel and Cincinnati private eye Harry Stoner’s debut, has strong points, but isn’t wholly successful. The book’s publication came during a period when the style’s resident titan, Ross Macdonald, fell silent and the thriving paperback market made room for potential successors like Valin, Stephen Greenleaf, Robert B. Parker, and Loren D. Estleman, among others. Valin never reached the same level of sales and visibility enjoyed by Parker, but his Stoner series has largely weathered posterity’s judgment and deserves revisiting.

Key components are, admittedly, dated. The idea of underage sexually explicit materials circulated via Polaroids is as quaint to 2018 experience as phone booths and recording weddings with a camcorder. Valin engages questions of morality and conscience in a manner reminiscent of Macdonald, but still groping for its voice. These questions are, ultimately, more important to Valin than the novel’s plot mechanics. The character of Cindy Ann, her disappearance functioning as a sort of inciting incident for Valin’s story, is a MacGuffian. The Lime Pit is much more about Stoner’s reactions to and challenges with the situation.

We learn a little about him. Stoner played football in college, served in Vietnam. He isn’t practically monastic like Marlowe and beds the occasional lady painfully aware of modern love’s vagaries. Macdonald’s Lew Archer is a profound influence, but never in an overly imitative way and Stoner never comes off mired in the same cloudbank of dispirited melancholy emanating from Macdonald’s legendary character,  Stoner, however, isn’t fully fleshed out.

Some of his crucial motivations are glossed over or outright tossed aside to keep the plot moving. Valin tries to pick his spots with underwhelming effect. Authors never need to belabor the underlying history and thought processes informing every decision, but laying a bit of breezy social commentary and two cents worth of psychology on readers is perfunctory at best. Promising opportunities for bringing added depths to Stoner’s character are passed over to serve formula and form. We get some, but Valin could have given so much more.

The book reflects its time period. Stoner’s 1979/1980 Cincinnati is a microcosm of an America on its heels stumbling into a new decade still punchy from the punishing one-two of Vietnam and Watergate. The national concussion makes Valin’s characters come off slightly woozy and bearing the claw marks of marginalized people hanging on for dear life.

Sometimes the dialogue falls flat or else reads like it’s cribbed from movies and past masters. Too many, but not all, of The Lime Pit’s secondary characters are cardboard. In the end, however, you will likely forgive Valin’s failings in favor of his presence. He orchestrates the form’s conventions with a steady hand and Stoner’s first person narration is consistently engaging thanks to Valin’s vivid flashes of prose punctuating his lines. The Lime Pit is a solid opening to a great series.

Man Called Noon - Everybody Move (2017)

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Written by William Elgin, posted by blog admin

There’s a level of concision and surety of purpose guiding Man Called Noon’s Everybody Move that you rarely hear from any musical project. The three song EP embodies the sound of a band that knows exactly where it wants these performances to go and how to accomplish that. The eight member Chicago based unit does a remarkable job of never allowing too many cooks in the kitchen at once, so to speak, while providing each of the players and singers some opportunity to shine. Everybody Move stresses songs capable of establishing an immediate and dynamic connection with listeners while still allowing the compositions a chance to highlight their talents as instrumentalists. The two guitar attack of lead player James Marino and rhythm guitarist/lead singer Anthony Giamichael complement each other so well that their playing partnership sounds seamless – it is difficult, sometimes, to tell where one ends and the other begins. This sort of unity between musicians is indicative of the EP as a whole.

The first song is the title track. It’s a minor, but sure, indication of their confidence when they put the nominal statement song for their release in the front runner position. The confidence is justified as “Everybody Move” manages to entertain while making an intensely personal statement and the weaving of patiently developed rhythm section playing alongside the guitars sparkles brighter thanks to Nathan Crone’s sensitive and unstintingly melodic keyboard playing. Man Called Noon keeps their songwriting instincts sharpened to a fine edge and none of the tunes on Everybody Move exceed their mandate, but the title song is arguably the best realized track. “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” has a totally different, more dangerous tenor and the band convincingly pulls it off while still retaining their melodic indie rock sound. The song’s raw physicality engages listeners from the first and Giamichael unleashes a fun, rambunctious vocal every bit the equal of its instrumental performance.

Probably the most traditional moment of the EP comes with the concluding track “One Last Ride” but a flair for the personal helps this song rise above any inklings of formula and there are some individual performances, especially James Marino, that leap out from the song. Marino’s skills for tough-minded rock guitar are unquestionable, but he brings something extra to his attack thanks to the natural talents he has for capturing melodic content. It’s a strong exclamation point for Man Called Noon’s third release and Everybody Move marks a true new beginning for an abundantly talented band just now hitting their stride. Interested listeners will likely one day look back to the release of this EP as a transformative moment for Man Called Noon’s creative journey and where they go from here will surely be a rewarding adventure.

Slow Burning Car - Defection (2017)

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Written by Pamela Bellmore, posted by blog admin

No one can accuse Slow Burning Car of predictability. Their avowed influences like Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters promise guitar histrionics galore, but they also embrace psych pop pioneers Love and German art rockers Can and you discern those strains running through Slow Burning Car’s lyrical and musical approach. They bring these seemingly disparate elements together with a coherence and seamlessness that’s bracing to listen to. The ten songs included on their fourth studio release, Defection, never opt for well traveled roads – even traditionally slanted passages are, invariably, spiked with some sense of surprise that sends them off into new trajectories. It’s deeply gratifying to hear a band working with such a level of inspiration four albums into their career – Slow Burning Car are still growing, still searching, and each new release clearly brings them ever closer to the peak of their expanding powers.

It gets off to a great start with the mid tempo riffer “Alpha Duplicor” and the rhythm section of bassist/vocalist Troy Spiropoulos and drummer Adam Idell lay down a monumental foundation for the band’s two guitar attack to fire salvos over. The band’s musical and lyrical approach, alike, never panders to the lowest common denominators and provides entertaining, yet intelligent, artistic experiences for listeners. The second song “Soul Crimes” will justifiably garner a lot of notice as one of the album’s most energetic rockers and it definitely works as an example of the band’s sound at its most unified and outright aggressive. Spiropoulos really excels here with a varied singing performance. The punky stomp driving “Devil in the Room” doesn’t mince much musically and, despite its jagged attitude, has a remarkably clean and commercial sound sacrificing zero credibility along the way. Spiropoulos gives listeners an appropriately cawing, defiant vocal that fits the song to a T.

The palpable swagger and swing Spiropoulos and Idell whip up in the opening moments of “The Sunday Derby” is enough alone to sustain the song, but Slow Burning Car soon takes things a step further and their creative spin on this song is enough to dizzy even experienced music fans. “You Can’t Stay Here” is another definite nod to the band’s punk inspirations with its lean, clinched fist guitar attack and the take no prisoners feel personifying the song. “Bedtime” and “Chrysanthemum” alike are very different tunes than the preceding tracks and the band’s unabashed fluency with acoustic sounds makes them every bit as colorful, in their own respect, as the electric guitar fueled attack in the earlier tracks. They are even bold enough to toss an instrumental into the mix as the album’s nominal centerpiece tune – “Polar Warden” is both intensely musical and theatrical, yet the absence of vocals is never felt as the arrangement proves so commanding. The conclusion “Clouds” brings everything to a graceful rest while still embodying the same attitude we heard on earlier numbers. Slow Burning Car’s fourth release is definitely their most fully realized yet and we get a sense from this album that the band may be reaching another peak in their development.

J.Briozo - Deep in the Waves (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://www.jbriozo.com/

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Written by Pamela Bellmore, posted by blog admin

J.Briozo’s debut release, Deep in the Waves, is the first solo album from Swallows’ vocalist Jeff Crandall and glitters with an accessible and deceptively sophisticated sound quite unlike anything else you’ll hear in recent memory. It’s indicative of Crandall’s prodigious creativity that, in the midst of writing and recording a third studio release with Swallows, Crandall still found the time and creative energy to write and record an entire album concurrently with a distinctly different melodic and sonic signature than his work with Swallows. It’s doubly impressive that he pulls this off while still working with some of his band mates and demonstrates a substantive musical ventriloquism few of his contemporaries or peers readily share. Deep in the Waves is an immensely rewarding and gratifying musical experience capable of resonating with listeners far after the final songs has ended.  

The lyrical mood dominating Deep in the Waves is poetic without ever risking pretension and remains accessible throughout. One of the best efforts in this regard and a truly distinguished opener, “Blind” is largely pushed forward by tasteful keyboard work and drumming while the guitar work takes on a compositional role. Crandall’s phrasing further enhances his already fine lyrics. The guitar takes on much more of a front and center role with the second song “Deep in the Waves” and the title song sets a tone that sustains much of the album – singer/songwriter themed work built around artful vocals and acoustic guitar. There are some exceptions to this formula, however, scattered throughout the release. “Spinning Out”, “Las Cruces”, and the album’s final track “Sun Sun True” employ guitar heroics to spectacular ends with a warm, deeply emotive sound and lead flourishes that are never thrown into the mix just for the sake of giving the guitarist a moment in the spotlight. The first and last song of the aforementioned trio are the best efforts in this vein; “Spinning Out” is memorable for its muscular yet appealingly ragged six string explosiveness while “Sun Sun True” has a kind of wide open, even joyful jamming quality quite unique among the album’s thirteen tunes.

“Rain Song” is another key track illustrating the album’s diversity thanks to the inclusion of strings, but the added instrumentation never imposes itself on the arrangement. “Catalonia”, on the other hand, mixes Crandall’s folky inclinations with his rockier edge to great effect and even has a cinematic touch that’s lacking in the other tunes. “Camera Obscura” is another fine example of his ever growing songwriting acumen and the seeming mystery surrounding the track, along with its restrained sense of melancholy, never prevents listeners from connecting with its sound and message. J.Briozo opens up a lot of new doors for Jeff Crandall and never pretends to be a substitute or improvement of some sort on his work with Swallows, but it certainly demands that the audience recognize we were just hearing a fraction of his potential until now. Let’s hope he continues to pursue further releases in this vein while continuing to help grow Swallows’ reputation and creative power.