Crimson Calamity "All In The Cards"

[http://www.crimsoncalamitymusic.com/] 

Back when it was all the rage to sing songs about the President of the United States, there was a group called the Dixie Chicks who seemed to be rather outspoken and I do believe- though I'm not entirely sure why- I actually even watched their documentary "Shut Up and Sing".   Unlike those who took political sides with the Dixie Chicks, I chose not to like them because of their actual music because it just wasn't for me.    There was something that it seemed to lack and Crimson Calamity seems to find it on "All In The Cards".

The vocal patterns can remind of me Delta Dart, though this is more of a country feel overall.   It has some elements of pop mixed in as well because these songs both get stuck in my head and are fun to sing along with as they blast out of my speakers.  

These songs may or may not have a country comparison that I am simply unaware of due to my lack of country knowledge, but I don't like to think of it as sounding like anyone imparticular anyway.   These are songs that are delivered in enough harmony that they are easy on the ears.  Combine that with the fact that these ladies are singing about guns, playing cards and booze and you've got yourself a combination that I want to be a part of for sure.

You just have to imagine a time in the old west when a group of women would have walked into the saloon and asked to play cards.   The men would all have a good laugh, but when they flashed the cash they'd say deal 'em in.   When the men realized they'd been taken it'd be too late because the women are just quicker to draw their guns.   So then they all buy a beer and have a laugh together about it.  

That's one of the songs is about and maybe even the plot of that one movie about all the cowgirls (Was it called "Bad Girls"?)  Either way, even the most jaded of country fans would certainly find something to enjoy about this because it isn't as much country to me as it is a story being told in the old west.     If you can't appreciate that I don't know what to tell you because really it's just history.

Giant Claw "Soft Channel No. 1" [single] (Heligator Records)

[$1 to Download // https://heligatorrecords.bandcamp.com/album/soft-channel-no-1]

If you are not a fan of Giant Claw already then I feel rather badly for you because you must be missing out on some rather great music.   Most times, I like to put artists in genres that are general for any number of them.   Giant Claw, as proven on "Soft Channel No. 1", is just a genre within itself.    It's not "vaporwave" or "electronic" or "chillwave" or any of those things.    Giant Claw is its own genre.

Interestingly enough, the proceeds from this song will be donated to maintaining a library at the Malindza Refugee Camp in Swaziland, Africa.    You don't have to know anything else about that other than the fact that libraries are good and this music is good so show your support.   Most people within the United States have public libraries they can access for free so any way you can support a library- in my opinion- is a good cause.

      I would probably say you should put your money down for this even if the song was by a most horrible artist or at least someone I didn't enjoy.  But now you can hear great music while feeling like you're doing something good for humanity.    There is really no reason for you not to do this.

SBSR: Tape Runs Out "Friends / Flowers" (Ear to Ear Records)

[http://www.taperunsout.co.uk/ // http://www.eartoearrecords.com/]

<1> "Friends" -  We begin with quiet whirrs that seem to be building to something big.   Guitar notes like FNL now and we're going into full on dreampop/bliss mode.   There is a certain rhythm to this, as it is rock and post-punk and other sounds all combined.   The vocals are somewhat monotone and bass-filled.   They are complemented rather nicely by the backing of the female vocals, adding more of just sounds than words.    There is certainly a nice rhythm to this and I can't quite place what it sounds like in terms of other bands but that's okay.   It goes into this verse that ends with the line "I was not your friend" and the song just ends right there as well.   To say that it cuts off somewhat abruptly would be an understatement but I can pull out any number of cliches about leaving them wanting more and how less is more sometimes, etc. so I don't mind that it does that because then I usually just hit play again if I don't have it on repeat already.    I'm stuck between thinking of something from the 1980's or early 1990's to compare this with and then something more modern, like you would have heard on the radio within the past five or so years.    It's got me thinking Men Without Hats and The Killers, but neither of those seem fitting.   Perhaps the best compromise vocally at least is Interpol but even then you need to hear this song still.

<2> "Flowers" - Our second f-song begins with something like an audio clip and piano notes.  I can't tell if it's birds or people talking only sped up.    It's an interesting effect that Blue October might have used.   The drums come in next with the rest of the band but the drums still stick out the most here.    The words are a cross between singing and speaking, which brings my mind of musical influences back to Blue October again.    It's very solemn, very serious feeling.   When it kicks in I hear something between post-punk and shoegaze.   Is there a comparison point for this with another direct band?   Probably not.    The guitar note pattern cuts at me as the vocals hypnotize.   The background female vocals seem to be luring you to sleep, or at least furthering the hypnotic state this puts me in.    The music reminds me a bit of Thursday in that post-punk way but the vocals don't match it so it does create a rather unique sound.    It's slowing down, back to where we started and it has a definite FNL sound to it now.    I can't peg it down still, but these are two most excellent songs which will certainly lead to more awesomeness from Tape Runs Out.   I also feel like they might have been living up to their name at the end of this song here.

Pillow Talk "What We Should Have Said" (Animal Style Records)

[$4 to Download // https://pillowtalktn.bandcamp.com/album/what-we-should-have-said] 

"What We Should Have Said" begins with an instrumental song which is full of dreamy instrumental bliss and thundering bass.    The next four songs all have vocals and seem like traditional songs in that sense.    They at first reminded me of a cross between Blink 182 and The Beautiful Mistake, as I saw them as being somewhat post-rock, but I still couldn't quite put my finger on what this sounded like exactly.

I just knew that there was something in here that I was missing, that Pillow Talk had the sound of a band I had heard before but was simply overlooking for whatever reason.    And then as I played the name game it dawned on me.   I was drawn to The Early November for some reason, but this doesn't really sound like them but rather a band I saw play with them once-- Park.   Yeah, these songs pretty much sound like Park.   Is that good or bad?  I don't know, Park isn't making new music as far as I know and they could sound like something worse (like The Early November)

I enjoy how the song "Room" is about his bed being big enough for two, as it plays into that idea of the band name being Pillow Talk, but I'm not sure they're doing themselves any favors with the line "Everyone is the same and I am no exception".    While I agree with that on the whole of humanity too many other lazy writers will take it in reference to this music sounding like other music and they'll attribute it to a lack of originality. 

These aren't the worst five songs I've ever heard by a long shot and no matter how much I can hear Park coming through they're still not a complete clone of one of my all-time favorite bands.    Should Pillow Talk release a full length album one day (and I don't see why they wouldn't) I'd definitely be willing to listen to it as I feel that could be the push they need to really find their own sound and appear to me as something more than influences.

I overall just feel like Pillow Talk is a victim of circumstance.   Imagine you have a pet fish or something and when it's first born it's in a small fish bowl.   But as it grows, it needs a bigger fish bowl to accomedate it.   Well, I just feel like Pillow Talk has such a big and vast sound that five songs cannot do it justice and it needs to be spread out over maybe thirteen or fourteen songs to truly be appreciated.     Still, this isn't the worst EP I've ever heard and those maybe who don't share the same love/knowledge of Park as me will likely be blown away by it.  

Big Shug "Triple OGzus" (Brick Records)

[http://brickrecords.com/]

I grew up listening to hip hop on cassette.   This was back when 2Pac was still alive.   I loved Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" like no other album at the time and it remains one of my all-time favorites.    When I got into my later teens though- maybe 18 years old or so- I took the switch to punk rock.   I found Fabolous and Nas in the late 1990's/early 2000's but otherwise I've had an on and off relationship with hip hop because I feel like, on a mainstream level at least, it just doesn't have what it once did.    And I think it would be fair to say that Big Shug agrees with me, though he is the rapper and I am the writer so perhaps I should say that I agree with him.

These songs have a great flow to the rhymes and they take me back to that time of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, 2Pac and even Biz Markie.    It can be hard, like gangsta, or as he likes to say at one point "soul music with a hip hop twist".    As it pays homage to the hip hop of my youth, back when rap music was just all around excellent, there is a little something modern in here, even if it comes out by way of Nas.

The guest spots are right on and Big Shug brings something to this that only he can deliver.    On the song "All In" he says "You original but you sound like him" and I think a lot of that is true in hip hop nowadays, where you think of how good one of these mainstream rappers is and yet it's only because they sound so much like somebody else.    Big Shug makes it clear on "Triple OGzus" that he is pulling no punches and like Frank Sinatra said, he is going to do it his way.

If you are a fan of hip hop- and I mean real hip hop- or you've always just been curious as to what the appeal of it might be, then I suggest you listen to "Triple OGzus" as it is quite possibly the finest hip hop album of 2015 if not all time.    They just do not make 'em like this anymore and it is a damn shame.

Danny Darko ft. Julien Kelland "Say Goodbye" (Original Mix) [single]

[https://soundcloud.com/dannydarko1/danny-darko-ft-julien-kelland-saygoodbye]

It's hard for me to describe the music going on within this song.   It's not full on "pop" in the way that you would think of something being on the radio and thus becoming obnoxious to me because the vibe is a lot more chill.   It's also not really rock, as there are beats and tones of bliss, but yet somehow I want to call this "pop rock" in the way that Blue October would make one of their songs (see: "Approaching Normal") rather than the more traditional route.    The vocals remind me a bit of Polly Scattergood but they do stand out as something unique and for that I do want to listen to anything with Julien Kelland in it now.

There are guitars but not in the sense that you might think of as being upbeat and annoying.   They're strummed along to the synth bass and this is just all around chill.   I'd call it chillwave but it might not be quite that but rather a combination of that, pop, rock and something else I cannot quite place.    Still, this song is a lot of fun and I'd put it on my mixed tape for sure so you should be listening to it as well.    Volume up, windows down.

Pikara "This Hollow" (Åiö Soundings)

[Name Your Price Download // http://store.aiorecords.com/album/this-hollow]

While this can begin with the style and grace of a circus show ala Gatsbys American Dream-- that sort of spectacle-- it can find itself jus as easily turning into something like an orchestra.    It has piano melodies that can first remind me of a bar in an old western movie but then eventually does turn into the piano as well of something such as Adele because I'm pretty sure I keep hearing the singer sing "set fire to the rain" in the song "Every Glass is the Last".

So this is the third album from Pikara and it makes me sad that I haven't heard of them before now.    These songs are so delicate yet strong at the same time that you don't feel so much like they're going to shatter like glass but rather shatter the glass themselves.    At times it can appear as just a voice (though there are backing instruments, they just sort of take a backseat if you will) and at others it can be an orchestra.

If you are like me and are one of the people who had never heard of Pikara before this album then do yourself the favor of giving this one a listen.   Now I am going to go back and listen to their previous albums as well because I just do enjoy this one that much.

Milo's Planes "Aural Palate Cleaning Exercises"

[€5 for CD or Download // https://milosplanes.bandcamp.com/album/aural-palate-cleaning-exercises]

When I first started listening to this- and I mean the very first time, within the first song or two- I could hear some Cheap Trick but that actually ended up changing as the album went on and the more that I listened to it the more I could only hear this as a sort of punk rock n roll or punk n roll even.

Somewhere between Local H by way of their first album and Refused this has a definite quality of loud rock that also reminds me of just the first time that I heard Trail of Dead and that in and of itself should be enough for this to be in your top rotation not just this year but forever.

You know, even if Milo's Planes are my age or around it anyway there is no guarantee that they listened to and are influenced by the same things as me so when I hear what I hear some other people might hear something more recent in a sense.   And that's what you have to love about this heavy, sing it till you lose your voice rock because there is so much of it out there you can pick and choose the good bits of it to create an amazing album such as "Aural Palate Cleansing Exercises".

Portia Winters "epicotyl" (Exotic Pylon)

[€10 for CD or Download // https://portia.bandcamp.com/album/epicotyl]

This is my first time hearing Portia Winters but for once I don't feel badly about that because this is said to be her debut album.     What you have to understand about "epicotyl" is that it's a pop album at its heart but the pop qualities of it are then chopped up and screwed.     It's that beauty of Polly Scattergood mixed with something that Bjork only wishes she could create.

Through strings, beeps, electro blips and a twisted water dripping sound comes some of the most delicate and wonderful vocals you will ever hear.    You're going to need to listen to this one multiple times to truly experience it because it is just that complex.     Though there is quite a bit of audio manipulation, especially with the vocals, a song such as "There My Rest" seems to go untouched and is more reserved, almost as if a lullaby.

A song like "Revolution" though can come out much louder, closer to something electronic and mechanical-- an anthem if there was one on this album.     Phil Collins drums and vocal loops do come into play though maybe not literally.    It's funny because on a song like "I Won't Be There" it seems as if there are no instruments until steel sounding drums kick in, yet on "Now Go Down" it feels like it will be strictly instrumental with something that sounds like spoons.    That is until the vocals kick in and overpower everything else in the world.

This is one of those albums that you're going to listen to and think about afterwards because you knew that these things were possible with music because they've been done before but they've never been done this way.    Certain elements might not be touched upon as much as others previously but this is a pure work of genius and one of the best albums I have heard in a very long time.

The Boy I Used to Be "Grip" EP

[£4.99 for Cassette or Download // https://pieandvinylrecords.bandcamp.com/album/grip-ep]

Video for "Try": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XglvILdz6gY&feature=youtu.be

I spent quite a while trying to think of the name of the band that sings "All the little kids with the pumped up kicks" because it's been quite a while since I listened to that band, but luckily for The Boy I Used to Be their name is still fresh in my mind and so they shouldn't suffer a similar fate of being that one hit wonder (Though it could be more a case of them having one EP I review and then they go unnoticed and forgotten after that)

In fact, this EP, "Grip", should solidify them as some sort of great rock band and since they have a habit of selling out of cassettes you're going to want to get your hands on this one early.    It's somewhere between Wheatus and Local H, Soul Coughing and Replacements.    There is a bit more shoegaze on here than I remember previously but then again the song "Rust" also has hints of Marilyn Manson's "Lunchbox" so it kind of balances itself out, no?

With other bands such as Silversun Pickups present the one thing you need to know is that for all of their rock influences none of them are bad and this mix of them makes for a stellar EP at that.   I'm not really laughing at the song title "Pissy Elliott" (probably created before the Super Bowl) but then again they also have "Maucauly Sulkin'" so who cares about song titles anyway, right?