Listen: Bronson BLVD – “Certainly, I’ll Grow”

Local writer/musician/producer Tim Tapper has been hard at work in Kalamazoo, producing a new body of work almost bi-annually for the past few years. His primary project The Number Eight has released several excellent albums, blending elements of expansive shoegaze, pastoral folk, and brooding slowcore with precise and powerful lyrics. The band appears to be on haitus; it seems Tapper is focusing on releasing more folk-oriented material under his birth name. In the meantime, electropop/chillwave side project Bronson BLVD has flourished quietly in the background.

“Certainly, I’ll Grow” features a lush, full landscape where ethereal vocals and hazy guitars float like smoke over electronic drumbeats and thick buzzsaw basslines. This is music for swimming in cold water. The melody here is dreamy and simple, lingering in the room long after each listen (and believe you me, if you download this one, there will be many listens). Keep your ears peeled for forthcoming singles and performances.

Amidst studying for midterms and being swamped with work from 4 classes, 2 jobs, and various other projects, there hasn’t been much time for me to take time out to review new music. However, it was brought to my attention by our esteemed Saxsquatch here at DITK that I should take some time out to listen to and review alt-folk indie extraordinaire Paleface. Naturally, I couldn’t turn down an offer to review good folk music, so here you go.

Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, Paleface mixes gritty vocals and guitar with his drummer (and girlfriend) Monica Samalot’s delicate tones to create a unique and entertaining take on a genre that is highly saturated with mediocre singer-songwriters.  His lyrics are raw, yet light-hearted and are, as he puts it, usually inspired by real life experiences. While his lyrics tend to err on the heavier side, such as with the title track “One Big Party” about “seeking a party every night,” which is inspired by a conversation with an alcoholic woman, they are well balanced by his ability to create cheerful music with a blues vibe. The music is well suited as a soundtrack for a night on the town bar-hopping with your buddies. “One Big Party” is just that- one hell of a rip-roaring good time.  If you’re a fan of Daniel Johnston (who just so happens to be Paleface’s mentor), Beck, or (former tour mates) the Avett Brothers- I encourage you to check this duo out.

Paleface will grace Kalamazoo with an appearance at the Strutt on October 25th. Check out The Strutt’s Website for more information.

Kalamazoo math rock duo Good News performed a while back at the No Fun where I happened to pick up their self-titled EP.

They look like this:

Good News is a very talented duo, with Ryan Pate on Drums and Brett Jacobsen on guitar. When you first pop their EP in your walkman the first thing you’re going to notice is a smooth, gliding, sweeping guitar supported by precise and driving drums. You’re going to find that this is one of the reasons that Good News is so aesthetically pleasing; they stick to a solid, consistent sound, and do it well.

Their influences, which you can find on their myspace, illuminate the origins of their sound. When I saw them live The Mars Volta jumped out at me immediately as something similar (albeit without vocals); However, on their first track specifically, I felt a little more of The Mercury Program going on.

That being said, and without further genre-fication or comparisons to previous acts, this EP was terrific. Track two has this frenzied feel that loops around and finds itself, varying slightly in short and precise riffs. Track three continues on this kind of organic, just intensely groovy feel wherein the drum goes nuts, and the guitar (he does this with a loop pedal live) plays and then plays over itself…these different quick and precise riffs. This then degrades itself and you end up on the fourth track, which is this more cinematic and emotional jam.

Good News then, with the fifth track, busts out their longest song, a 5 minute epic with lots of effects, blowin’ yer mind. Track six is a driving, upbeat, mad song that ends abruptly into reverse guitars and then…an uptempo and feverish seventh, that has a finale befitting the end of an album, or ep, or whatever.

I would say that this has re-playability. As in, I would listen to it again. I’m pretty sure all of the tracks I detailed here that were on the CD are also on their myspace. Or you could just catch them around sometime cuz they’ll probably be doing shows at the No Fun House or the Strutt or just around Kalamazoo and then you can get their CD…it’s pretty awesome.

“I know not what they mean – tears from the depth of some divine despair – rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes – in looking on, and thinking of the days that are no more”

This slightly abbreviated quote from “The Princess” by the United Kingdom 1800s Poet Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson graces the back cover of Inhalant’s “Bondage”, and seems to serve as the general theme of the record: the pull of love and the pain of the loss, obsession and control, and the fear of abandonment, or the feeling thereafter.

Recorded in Fall 2008 by C.A. Odom out of Vernon, Texas, “Bondage” was released earlier this year on Kalamazoo-based label SNSE and is the first vinyl release from the artist after years of cassette releases and compilation appearances. While the album begins abrasively, aside from a brief ethereal intro, gradually, with each track, the feeling shifts from an angry, domineering tone into what sounds reflective and thirsting as the pieces take on a more ambient, hypnotic, even rhythmic quality.  An airy piece called “Love Song” includes the lyrics “flesh, I love you so”, and was the first moment on the record that my roommate, who is no noise fan, exclaimed “that wasn’t bad”.

The record concludes with “Ghosts of Liberation,” the highlight of the record for me, as at this point the sound has evolved into a full-on pulsing, dark, destroyed electronics groove that could be the soundtrack to an alien metropolis in a sci-fi flick.  For those interested in exploring harsh noise but often find the full-on white noise attack a bit too grating to sustain time and time again, this record could be a gateway into hearing sound differently.

On July 5, the Strutt was full of warmth. A handful of inspiring and calming musicians played some music that made the thick humidity of the evening seem almost magical.

Gitis Baggs and friends plucked and puckered a few alt country and rock n roll numbers with gusto and wit, nailing those harmonies too.

Paleo has been a touring musician for the past five years nonstop. My friend John Van Hattum summed up the sound this way: “bedtime stories for older children.” It was great and I accidentally bought a whole bunch of music.

Cold Mountain Child brought home their blankets of soft guitars and pastoral vocals. We’ve missed you guys here in Kalamazoo. Thanks for being such a centering expression of peace for me.

Produced by Andy Catlin of Strutt Studios and released on the Strutt Records label, The Universe and Dr. Kaiser is a highly decorated affair featuring a wide cast of Kalamazoo musicians contributing a vast array of instrumentation to the focused and concisely written songs of Grant Littler (whether he is Dr. Kaiser or the Universe or something else altogether is unclear), making this record both catchy and trippy, never muddled by the high quantity of sounds surrounding the tunes.

The record opens with the titular track, fading in with a thick but gentle sheet of breezy sonic wash which comes and goes in various shapes and sizes throughout the entire record.  This smoothly transitions into a mellow song with a pleading melody and metaphysical, perhaps even cosmic, lyrics.  The following number, “Whirrings,” follows in similar fashion to the opener, but a big curve ball is thrown with the distorted country rock riffs and down home, done wrong lyrics of “Tight as a Can”, with a scorching electric “geetar” solo to boot!

“Sales Convention ’88” goes further into unpredictability with a creepy, manipulated spoken word intro, only to shift into a pretty song with lyrics that, while cryptic, are sang very personally and passionately, injected with a genuine sense of loss and longing.

Julia Toro steps up to the mic on “When You Hold Me” with a pop melody for the ages.  Prominent pedal steel pushes things further into the country western leanings that are present throughout the record.  The next piece, “Georgia Honey Roll”, is the most stripped down and subdued moment, staying almost entirely in acoustic guitar territory with cello and synth occasionally joining. It is here that Littler finds a simple but slightly haunting melodic vocal hook that feels as though it’s been waiting to be discovered for a long time.

The album ends with “Chain”, a piece which fully blossoms into the highly drawn out, spacious ambience that the entire record has threatened to do all along yet was always reined back in by Littler staying song-focused.  At this point, it’s a welcome trip-out to conclude a strongly crafted and executed batch of ditties brought to us by some of Kalamazoo’s finest.

Musicians appearing on The Universe and Dr. Kaiser:

Grant Littler – guitar, voice

Andy Catlin – keyboards, clarinet, voice, drums

Graham Parsons – voice, lap steel

Julia Toro – voice

Adam Danis – voice

Tod Klosterman – bass

Bill Winks – pedal steel

MW – moog, BirdWind tape

Fiona Dickinson – cello

Matt Maier – electric guitar

Mike Savina – tambourine

Infirmary’s “Necropenetrator,”  recently released on the Kalamazoo-based label SNSE, was placed in my hands described as “harsh noise,” which prepared me for an unmelodic, non-traditional listening experience. However, I hadn’t the foggiest notion just how extreme and unrelenting Infirmary’s sound would be, so much so that upon initially dropping the needle, I was convinced the grooves of the record had been damaged.

Out of nothing, an avalanche of crackling cacophony burst from the speakers as though the needle were dragging through gravel. The sound had nowhere to rest, continually pouring out, unsettled and unbridled.

After a few minutes of enduring the havoc, I skipped around on the record in search of a moment of relief, only to find the same mess catapulting forth from every “song”. Convinced this couldn’t be right and that my copy was damaged (the vinyl had been slightly warped), I went to SNSE’s website to sample clips of the record. I was relieved to find that the record was not damaged as the clips sounded identical to my vinyl copy.

Wait. WHAT!?! My relief did a complete 180 to utter horror. How could I possibly review this uncompromising onslaught of chopped up sludge? I had heard some edgy albums in my time, but this one unquestionably pushed the inaccessibility of noise far beyond anything I had previously experienced, this coming from someone who loves the second half of Can’s “Tago Mago” and is familiar with Merzbow! Every piece was completely drenched in a near-identical-sounding destructo clutter with only slight hints of sonic variation coming up from underneath for air. Occasionally very distorted vocals entered the mix but they were merely another instrument of chaos within the madness.

Speaking of instruments, I didn’t even know how Infirmary were achieving these sounds. The liner notes listed the equipment employed as “junk, electronics, analog 8-track”. I could definitely detect the junk.

Regardless of my trepidations with taking on such a beast, I put on my most open mind and dove in headfirst, and at the behest of my housemates. “How can you honestly review this bullshit?” I explained that I had written A+ papers in high school where I had understood about as much on the topic as I did this record.

After several spins, sitting in the thin darkness of my home, it began to dawn on me that listening to this caterwauling sonance was not unlike watching snow on a television set when I was but a wee lad. When I stared into the static-soaked screen long enough, I would begin to see shapes, patterns, objects, all dancing and swimming about, a drug-free hallucination. The same was the case with “Necropenetrator.” The more I stayed as a tourist in this menacing land of sonic turbulence, the more individual sounds and rhythms became present in the mix. One piece had a catchy little groove, in Infirmary’s own unique way, and was aptly titled “Fuck Dancing”.

Surely this was a result of my starved and bored mind feeding me those ornaments, textures, and pulses of noise to thwart Infirmary’s attempt to drive me completely out of society. Yet, upon next listen, those same creatures were still frolicking in the mire, along with some new friends. With each spin, it became clear to me that this was not an impenetrable wall of opaque pretense, this was a prime example of beneficial repeated listens as there were the oddest textural hooks buried under layers of intense madness.

Either these guys are masters of this art or just got lucky; either way, lovers of challenging but rewarding listening experiences will find “Necropenetrator” a worthwhile journey.

I’d like to present to you an album of mysterious origin that’s been tickling the eardrums of many ’round these parts. Dig this review by local legend Jo))).

“Starts out with a lazy guitar and a man talking about shampoo or something, which really catches you off guard when the guys go into an all out freak session. Nonsense lyrics with really good slide guitar and minimal drums. Its a border line hootenanny mixed with depressing lyrics from your challenged Aunt Rosie. If you are in the right mood (i.e. Taco Bell drive through, Prom after party drugged out, ect.) then you will definitely appreciate this. Dusted this one off from a pile in my dads garage. Picture of a dog on the front and only titles of tracks with the year at the bottom giving SB vocals and GB guitar and drums credit. Super effing weird. Pretty sure he picked this up in the U.P. of Michigan / was friends with one of the guys. Have to ask the Pops if he knows anymore…”

-jo))) rakowski

download link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?gazmmjjtwm5

In a music scene filled with dispassionate musicians who want nothing more than to get big, get rich, or go home, there are few bands that continue to be genuinely passionate about their music without letting the prospect of fame or fortune get to their heads. It seems that as time goes on, musicians are getting generally more lazy. Instead of pushing the boundaries with their art, they would rather rip off what’s most popular in the music scene in the moment and hope that it will get them somewhere. I’ve heard of more than one scenester who has completely stopped going to local shows because of this, and frankly I don’t blame them for doing so. There have been times when I’ve been greatly discouraged by a scene that seems to only care about money. There are times when I want to stop going to shows because I’m tired of listening to the same thing over again.

However, there is hope to be had in this world of uniformity and money-grubbing and one of its forms comes in that of The Skies Revolt of Grand Rapids, MI.

When I first heard them at the now-defunct Skelletones back in 2008, they quickly became one of my favorite local bands because of their catchy dance beats mixed with a whole lot of synthesizers and punk rock attitude. I liked the fact that they took cues from what seems like nearly every different kind of genre and were able to mix it together to create something unique. It’s interesting because at the time, I was heavily into a lot of old school hardcore and punk (still am) and I was surprised that I was drawn to the type of music this band plays. Not to mention that TSR uses brightly colored graphics and comic book albums usually seen by bubblegum pop bands and the like. This was all the makings of a band I would normally shy away from. However, as I listened to the music more often, and as I have had the privilege of talking to their lead singer/mastermind Dave a little more, I have come to realize that there’s far more substance to these guys than their music and aesthetic initially suggests. When reading their lyrics, it’s almost as if they’re using their catchy dance music as a vehicle to surreptitiously criticize the vapid bands some of their fans might already follow and support, and the types of bands that I refuse to listen to. It’s a cause I can definitely get behind.

Their new album, Plastic Revolution is no exception to this rule. Musically, this might be their most creative and ambitious album to date. From the electrifying beats of “False Glory and Praise” to the stirring, goosebumps-inspiring piano ballad of “The Transitive Deficiency…Again,” TSR shows once again the amount of variety they can put into an album.  Lyrically, Dave is spot on with his criticisms of the scene, and his honesty about spirituality and love read like a page in a secret diary. In “False Glory and Praise,” Dave writes: “Give them all your money give it all to them, I don’t want to be in a bubblegum pop protest band.” He is telling his listeners that they’re more than welcome to support those types of bands, but he refuses to participate in what everyone else is doing. It is a refreshing sentiment, and one I fully support and echo. I’m sure the kids who were here at the height of the Grand Rapids scene would appreciate it as well.

One of my favorite songs on Plastic Revolution, is “On the Road.” It’s a brutally honest picture of what touring is really like for the thousands of bands who don’t initially get signed within the first few months of playing shows or, ahem, putting up their recordings on myspace and getting signed immediately. It reflects on how easily bands are at the mercy of those who listen to them: “They pour their hearts out to empty rooms or people that just pretend.” Dave also takes a sharp jab at the “fair-weather” fans who only care about a band if they make it big: “they’ll lift you up really high, praise you for the work you’ve done and claim to have been there all along.”

This is not to say that TSR hates any of their fans. In fact, it’s quite the opposite for these guys. They LOVE their fans, which is why they tour relentlessly and are willing to put up their albums for free. They don’t care about the money, they care that lives are being affected by the music they play. Any band of this caliber who had less passion for their art would have quit a long time ago if they had suffered through the amount of member changes, van break-downs and poorly-attended shows that TSR has.

While I continue to be somewhat cynical of the emerging scene, it’s bands like The Skies Revolt that continue to give me hope that all is not lost and that there are those who still truly do care about their art. Some may say I’m fighting a losing battle, but they aren’t giving up hope for a revolution and neither am I.

Plastic Revolution is up now at bandcamp.com for free along with their other 3 albums (just click here), but The Skies Revolt is accepting donations of any amount for their music. If you like the album and download it, I would strongly suggest donating a few dollars to these well-deserving guys. Think of it as supporting a very worthy cause: one that supports substance and quality over uninspired quantity.