Stars of Track and Field

So I’m slow, it took me weeks to figure out why I was so instantly taken with Stars of  Track and Field’s dreamy atmospheric guitar based sound.

Yep it’s their dreamy atmospheric guitar based sound. Like I said “slow”

The band consists of

Jason Bell – Guitar/Vocals
Kevin Calaba – Vocals/Guitar/Keyboards
Daniel Orvik – Drums/Samples/Programming

Now some of you will have spotted that there isn’t a bassist there.

Well done.

The story goes, when Stars of Track and Field found themselves without a bassist a couple of years ago, the  didn’t follow the typical steps to find a replacement. No want-ads were placed; no attempts were made to recruit from other bands and nobody within the group switched instruments. Instead, the band opted for the path less travelled: they went digital.

AT this point Stars of Track and Field becomes a totally different band, they now try and merge the old school  analog and the digital today.

Do they succeed?  I think so.

One listen to “Centuries” blend of vinyl-sampled kick drum, digital handclaps, reverse cymbals and keyboard arpeggio which builds to the song’s crescendo of electric guitar feedback, layered vocals and live drums.

Want more? Have a listen to “Movies of Antarctica” as it swings between a clinical digital minimalism and awesome guitar and drums wall of sound.

Yum

This is the video of  “Movies of Antartica”

Highly Recommended

Websites at www.myspace.com/starsoftrackandfield and www.starsoftrackandfield.com

Yves Klein Blue

It’s been a long while since a band from Queensland impressed as much as Yves Klein Blues (named after French Dada artist Yves Klein and his wonderful piece from the 50′s “Blue – but I digress). Smart arse name aside this is band that knows how to play hard, have a listen to “Silence Is Distance” over at www.myspace.com/yveskleinbluemusic. They certainly impress.

But the real find was “Getting Wise”, this puppy is seriously slick. I am in awe of the clever lyrics and the phrasing. It sounds so casually thrown away as a performance, but damn it’s slick. And then there is the rest of the production, polished?  This is so shiny bright that you will need shades to listen to it. The organ provides just the perfect counterpoint to the understated guitars.

Am I gushing? You bet but they are worth it. They have a great rep as a live act and the release of the new CD will confirm them as a great recording act.

Here is “Getting Wise”

Recommended (and make sure you don’t miss “Silence Is Distance” over at Myspace – it’s a gem)
Websites at www.myspace.com/yveskleinbluemusic and www.yveskleinblue.com

The Calculus Affair

The Calculus Affair appeared on my MP3 player some weeks back as part of the NPR Second Stage podcast (which I can highly recommend as a great source of surprises), and yes they have lots and lots of really interesting guitar sounds.

There are two tracks over at www.myspace.com/thecalculusaffair. The first track is “The Bridge” which is a delight of overdubbed everything. I really like this one. Paul Mariz layers up voices and guitars like they were a mile high wedding cake.

The other is “Man Who Used To Hunt Cougars”, this one is more successful. The production is a lot tighter and the other band members contribute (Mark Cooper: Bass & Voice, Rebecca Gutterman: Drums) a lot of energy to the track. They seem to allow Paul a lot more space to work in.

The NPR story offers up “Pipe Dream” from their entry in the RPM Challenge there is a bunch of music there.

All of which (even the rough around the edges bits) is Highly Recommended

Websites at www.thecalculusaffair.com/ and www.myspace.com/thecalculusaffair

Autopilot For Lovers

Time for some of my favourite category – hard listening. Autopilot is for Lovers are awesome. Now I will be first to admit that you are unlikely to see the charms of this outfit on the first listen. BUT you really need to persevere.

Adrienne Hatkin,(the lead vocalist) has a voice that will stop you in your tracks. Her performance is so direct and intense. It takes some getting used to.

It’s not just the voice though it’s the range of styles that the band wander through.  These guys obviously have a low threshhold of boredom,  “Whale Belly” is dramatic and darkly romantic,  full of accordion and really interesting lyrics,. “Come Now”  (this is my fave) has more classical and melodic instrumentation,  with a gorgeous piano middle eight, “Pine Box Town” is heading out in to the territory you usually find grunge, and the intro to “Bones” sounds like it could be a Pete Seeger  folk song.

Hatkin describes her music to co-workers as “indie-rock blues with some Balkan folk inspiration”

So, a bit of work required but Recommended

Websites at www.myspace.com/autopilotisforlovers and www.autopilotisforlovers.com/

Paper People

Paper People, don’t know what to make of them. A bunch of guys from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland who began by jamming on an old mandolin.

The tracks are raw, lacking in polish and badly mixed. The vocals at best are impassioned, the level of musicianship leaves a lot to be desired but and I can’t stress this enough, they have a spark that cries out loud and proud “perfection is over rated”.

Yes, despite their shortcomings they have got something that makes you sit up and listen to their songs. Take for instance Mood Indigo which can be heard on their MySpace site. This is a schizophrenic little number the has a really pretty mellow groove building up to a raunchy electric guitar solo.

From their website:

The Paper People have evolved, from a few mates jamming with their granddads antique out-of-tune mandolin, to battle of the band competitions, gigs, promotions and album recordings. The thing’s that inspire the band’s songs are girls, life experience, and life experience with girls. But the generality of the bands songs come from the world as they see it from a musician’s point of view, which of course, may seem a little obscure. Not everything in life is about making money, it’s about what you experience and how you express it, it may be in the form of an art work, or a poem, but in The Paper People’s case, it’s all out, in-depth expressive alternative rock music.

Sweet Nothings is another standout track that really shows their potential. I’m unable to verify if they are still gigging but I hope they are.

Freak Kitchen

Freak Kitchen is a heavy metal/hard rock band from Sweden, they fired up in the early Nineties and kept the same line up until 2000 when the rhythm section was replaced.  Their music is melodic, rich, harmonically complex and full of interesting approaches to time.

Lyrically they mine the usual targets – capitalist society, conformity, racism and the attitude of huge record companies.

Freak Kitchen’s style of music is influenced by many genres besides the traditional heavy metal, ranging from jazz to pop. The band described their third album as “A corny little heavy-pop-rock-Latin-world-jazz-avant-garde-metal-blues-record”.

Now before you press play on “Chest Pain Waltz” over at www.myspace.com/freakkitchenmusic I suppose I should give you a language warning, I would suggest the headphones on for this one if you are listening at work. I truly love the guitar work on this track, there are bits of Zappa and the solo wouldn’t be to out of place on fusion jazz album.  The rhythm section just stand up and drive this song. But the really spiffy bit is that you can hear every word (and don’t forget this  Swedish band) and understand what the song. The production reminds me of the kind of attention to detail that you find on a Stelly Dan album.

Freak Kitchen – Hatefull Little People (Live)

There is a lot of interesting material available from these guys. Dont miss it becasue of the “metal” label. They are having a ball.

Highly Recommended

Websites at www.myspace.com/freakkitchenmusic and  www.freakkitchen.com/

Dead Hoodlums

Friday night and here is a Duggup to brighten the gloomy skies over Melbourne, bring a sparkle to your eye and a tapping to your feet.

By way of Oslo in Norway come the band called Dead Hoolums. Very much alive I fear and from what I can suss out about them, admittedly not much is out there, they are a dress-up and makeup kind of band.

If that’s not enough to pique your curiosity then how about the fact that that they play a sort of outlaw country meets circus. The band apparently defines their sound as “psychotic country” and yes, I think it fits – sorta.

To give you an idea of what I mean check out the video that wound up in my inbox. It is an animated video by Ritxi Ostariz, illustrated by Maria Picasso. The song is called No Cowboy from their 2008 album release Blood Moon.

Dead Hoodlum website.
and Dead Hoodlums MySpace for more high energy tracks like it, try London Town. Good stuff. Enjoy!

Andy James

Have you ever woken up one morning and thought to yourself “Enough of the pop thing already, find something louad, really really loud”? I’m calling it Thursday. And did I find the perfect player… Andy James is an awesomely talented guitarist from the U.K. He is also the best guitarist you have never heard of, he’s virtually unknown.

Unsuprisingly he started playing as a kid and got into playing Guns n Roses, Extreme, Queen, Van Halen and Joe Satriani. He got better, trust me.

“In The Wake Of Chaos” is the title track from his album of the same name. This is serious shredding folks, full on, heavy-duty and an intensity level that starts at 11.

Andy said in an interview…

My guitars for this were a John Petrucci 7 string Musicman and a Musicman Axis for rhythm. A Line 6 Pod for rhythm, a Boss BR1600 digital recorder, BFD for the drums and a Roland Cube 30 for all the lead tones. That’s it!. The Roland Cube was in a small cupboard surrounded by 2 pillows and a duvet mic’d with an SM57 cranked to about half volume.

What makes him stick in my ears as opposed to a lot of the other guitar heroes in training out there is his strong sense of melody. He writes music that displays his technical abilities but never lets it just turn into excess riffage, the melody seems to always be at the front.

He is also gigging with “Kaos 7 ” who I am looking forward to hearing

Recommended

www.myspace.com/andyjamesf1

Awesome New Republic

Awesome New Republic have been playing around Miami since 2004., hopping between art galleries, warehouses, clubs, movie theatres, and the like. Over the years, they developed a dedicated fan-base in South Florida and picked up an international following as well.

They released the obligatory full length CD,  followed that up with a  twelve inch single and then proceeded to break up.

Not going well is it?

Needless to say this made a bunch of people very unhappy, especially the band. Time passes and Michael John Hancock and Brian Robertson (the drivinf members) pick up a killer new rhythm section, and then head back to what they do best. Playing in front of an audience.  Which brings us to their new release “Rational Geogrhaphic Vol 1″ and especially “Birthday”.

I’ll be honest here and tell you I totally fell of my chair when I heard “Birthday the first time. The vocals just broke me up but it grows on you really quick. Live this band must kill. Oh they get bonus points for the drum mix.  Sure the mix is verges on “everything louder that everything else but for this song it works.  Just head over to www.myspace.com/awesomenewrepublic and make up your own mind.

I love the way they play with sounds and just keep pushing, sometimes arguably just past the point where the voices in your head go “Maybe this is far enough? Yes?” and then they keep going… just to be sure.

Highly Recommended

www.myspace.com/awesomenewrepublic

The Good Fight

The Good Fight are a band from Coleraine in Northern Ireland (Jools and I have been there). It’s four dudes that are playing a highly commercial (and radio friendly -if there are still any radio stations left out there playing new music) brand of pop-rock.

The big sell is the vocals,  this band is fairly flush with vocalists but it is Ben Robinson’s that is the stand out, and they have paid attention  to the melody part of their music lessons.  Their songs are catchy as hell (occasionally fashionably flat – but you can’t have everything). There is a download available of their song “Electric Flow“, that will showcase their strengths. It’s hosted at NICHART.COM

The line up is

Ben Robinson – Guitar/Vocals
Steven Gilpin – Guitar/Vocals
Adam Montgomery-Bass/Vocals
William Ritchie – Drums

Here is the video of “Glad You Know”…

They are incredibly slick, passionate and yes they obviously listen to U2 Radiohead and Coldplay, but then? Who doesn’t. I hope they are going to be around for awhile, it will be interesting to see where they go.

Recommended

Website at www.myspace.com/thegoodfightni and they have a presence over at Facebook.