Posts Tagged ‘Pennsylvania’

SHAMIR – ” Shamir “

Posted: January 2, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Shamir is Shamir and remains Shamir through and through, no matter what the universe puts him through. This album is so different than anything Shamir has released in their discography. It’s more pop rock than anything before this. I can see myself jamming to this live at a festival. But we can’t do that, so a festival at home while playing this album will have to do. Stand out tracks include On My Own, Pretty When I’m Sad, Diet & In this Hole.

I’m all about albums that move from genre to genre with ease. Shamir has done that with this record, with a few skits thrown in for good measure. We get some country “Other Side”, indie rock “Pretty When I’m Sad” and “Paranoia”, and pop “Running”. Shamir’s voice is very much the hook here as that high pitch singing sounds like no one else. “On My Own” also swings towards pop and feels like an anthem for feeling comfortable in your own skin. “Diet” has such a great groove to it that I found myself dancing around no matter when I listened to it. “I Wonder” is truly a heart breaking song that sounds like Shamir was going through that moment in a relationship where you look at the other person and go, “is this going to work?.” “In This Hole” ends the record as Shamir reaches deep down inside to deliver the lyrics as strings swirl around eventually taking over and fading out. It’s a gorgeous end to the quick album and it leaves you more than satisfied. 

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Released October 2nd, 2020

Shamir Bailey: Bass, Guitar, Synth
Kyle Pully: Production, Mixing, Bass, Synth
Grant Pavol: Production
Matty Beats: Production
Justin Tailor: Mixing
Zack Hanni: Engineering
Danny Murillo: Drums, Production
Mike Brenner: Lap Steel
Molly Germer: Violin, Viola, String Arrangement

SLAUGHTER BEACH DOG – ” At The Moonbase “

Posted: December 25, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Since the band Modern Baseball announced their indefinite hiatus three years ago, Jake Ewald has committed fully to his Slaughter Beach, Dog project, releasing a handful of albums, including last year’s Safe And Also No Fear, He’s put out a whole new full-length called “At The Moonbase”, whose only advance warning was an advent calendar-style countdown on his social media accounts.

Despite being recorded in a year where it was hard to get together and make music, At The Moonbase is very much a fleshed-out effort, put together at home and at Ewald’s Philadelphia studio the Metal Shop. It’s filled with the sort of down-on-your-luck narratives that Ewald has populated his songs with over the years, twangy and comforting and filled with wry observations that cut to the bone.  it’s always wonderful seeing Jake’s song writing improve and evolve over the years and it shows quite a bit on this record in particular. it’s much subtler of an album, might even be a grower to some, but i think it’s a great way to end the year

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In the time since Modern Baseball went on hiatus, Jake Ewald turned Slaughter Beach, Dog from a solo project into a full-fledged band, and in 2019 SB,D released their best album yet, Safe and Also No Fear. With the pandemic keeping Jake at home more, he returned to Slaughter Beach, Dog’s roots, writing and recording a comparatively stripped-back new album, At The Moonbase, alone at home and at his East Kensington recording studio The Metal Shop. (He did end up getting some accompaniment, though, including sax by Wil Schade and vocals by Lucy Stone.) The album is out now, and it finds Jake’s unmistakable singing and song writing style in fine form.

Released December 24th, 2020

Produced by Jake Ewald at The Metal Shop in Philadelphia, PA and at home June – October 2020

The INNOCENCE MISSION – ” See You Tomorrow ” Best Albums Of 2020

Posted: December 19, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Image may contain: 1 person, text that says 'see you tomorrow the innocence mission mission'

Lancaster, PA’s Innocence Mission have been making delicate dreampop for longer than that descriptor has existed, with Karin Peris’ heartbreaking voice forever the star of the show. Draped in aching melancholy, “See You Tomorrow” is among the group’s finest in a span over a 30 year plus career. Alternative folk act The Innocence Mission first gained recognition in 1989, when they found chart success with their self-titled debut album. By the time the band released their third album, Glow, in 1995, they had earned a zealous cult following that remains loyal to them to this day. Their songs tend to be exquisitely crafted, featuring ethereally beautiful acoustic-based music and hauntingly introspective and thoughtful lyrics, all combining into a sound that is at once delicate yet intense. The band, led by married couple Karen Peris (vocals, guitar, piano, organ) and Don Peris (guitars, drums vocals), originated when they first met in high school. Now, more than thirty years later, they (along with bassist Mike Bitts) are preparing to release their twelfth studio album,

Love. Connection. Community. Understanding. Most of us experience these aspects through the prism of family and friends. But not everybody can turn those feelings into song, especially not with the beauty and sensitivity of Pennsylvania trio the innocence mission, fronted by Karen Peris and husband Don. Following their Bella Union album debut “Sun On The Square”, which won the band some of their best-ever reviews, they have made another exquisite and touching album, “See You Tomorrow“.

This is a record steeped in awe and wonder, intense longing, sadness and joy; a rich sequence of songs that attempt to describe the essence of what makes us human. Sufjan Stevens, who has covered the innocence mission’s classic Lakes Of Canada, once called their music “moving and profound. What is so remarkable about Karen Peris’ lyrics is the economy of words, concrete nouns which come to life with melodies that dance around the scale like sea creatures.” The band recorded See You Tomorrow in the Peris’ basement (and the dining room where the piano sits). Karen wrote and sang ten of the album’s eleven songs, and plays guitars, piano, pump organ, accordion, electric bass, melodica, mellotron, and an old prototype strings sampler keyboard. Don contributes guitars, drums, vocal harmonies, and one lead vocal on his song Mary Margaret In Mid-Air. Fellow founder member Mike Bitts adds upright bass to four songs including On Your Side, the album’s first single.

With wistful strings and distant acoustic guitar, “On Your Side” sounds like the first chill of autumn.

MAXWELL STERN Feat The RATBOYS – ” Tying Aeroplanes To The Ground “

Posted: December 7, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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In the decade-plus I’ve known Maxwell Stern, he’s never been one to stop. And I’ll go out on a limb and say that anyone else who has come to know Max—maybe from one of his several bands (Signals Midwest, Meridian, Timeshares), or perhaps sweating it out in the pit at a show at some point in time, or maybe from a ska message board in the early 2000s—would say the same thing. Max has this undeniable urge to create. It’s like an impulse, really; an uncontrollable desire to try and make sense of the thoughts and emotions and anxieties about the world that swirl around our heads at any given point in time—and funnel it all into a song. Maybe it’s a song that people can relate to. Hopefully it’s one that they can sing along to.

For Max, ​Impossible Sum​—his first proper solo record—is an honest-to-God effort to wrangle heartfelt and sometimes confusing feelings of adjustment, displacement, and settling into song. These songs have the kind of heart-on-the-sleeve vulnerability that fans of his other bands have come to admire, but presented in a completely unfiltered fashion, existing exactly as they need to be. ” Max tells me. “So I really tried hard to throw that kind of thinking out for the sake of making something different.”

Independent venues have given me everything – jobs, friends, inspiration and a means of self-discovery. I don’t know who I’d be without places like The Grog Shop, Johnny Brenda’s, Boot & Saddle, O’Briens, Great Scott, and the Beat Kitchen. I became a better version of myself in these rooms, as have countless others. The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) is an organization working to secure financial support for independent venues across America. These establishments are not just places of employment – they’re tourism destinations, revenue generators and so much more.
 
Independent venues were the first to close as COVID overtook the American ecosystem, and they will be the last to reopen, and when they do they will require help and solutions unique to the live music industry that we all love so dearly. Tying Airplanes to the Ground · Maxwell Stern · Ratboys

VAPOUR THEORIES – ” Celestial Scuzz “

Posted: November 25, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Bardo Pond guitarists, brothers John and Michael Gibbons revive their long-term sonic sparring side project Vapour Theories for a genre-shattering new release ‘Celestial Scuzz’.

Six years after a split LP with Loren Connors, and 15 years after ‘Joint Chiefs’ the duo have assembled a brand new Vapour Theories album that sees their symbiotic union travel deeper, shaping and re-shaping itself as the harmonious power struggle unravels…

Michael: “The balance of power definitely shifts. When the record is put together it is equal parts from me and my brother. The collaboration is complete and represents both sides of our taking the lead on material.”

‘Celestial Scuzz’ is a monumental sound piece created from hours of jam sessions and crafted into a cohesive mind-blowing trip. Featuring their take on Brian Eno’s ‘The Big Ship’ (‘Another Green World’, 1975), the album has a heavy ambience like Eno locked in a dark room with Sunn-O))))) rehearsing next door.

“When we play together there’s a kind of connection to vibrations for us. When it happens, we become vehicles for some unknown forces that work through us to create the music. A kind of spiritual. Most of the time it leaves us stunned; the more stunned we are the better the jam.”

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While Bardo Pond’s trajectory takes them deep into rock music’s ever-imploding sound, the brothers Gibbons surf a more ethereal and eclectic plain; from a heady and consuming space, a “sanctuary; balm for the soul.”
Released on limited edition gold vinyl, ‘Celestial Scuzz’ is available on 26th February on Fire Records. 

Releases February 22nd, 2021

ANOTHER MICHAEL – ” New Music “

Posted: November 3, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Philadelphia-based band Another Michael are recent signees to the label Run For Cover Records. This month, they also released their new single “New Music” and b-side “Boring For The Times.” ” Combined with their eclectic, dreamy sound and formed chemistry together as a band, their debut LP has a promising outlook.

One of the most charming things about music is the shared experience of listening, whether it be from a song that resonates with you and someone else, connecting to the artists’ work or any other way in between. Another Michael’s “New Music,” unpacks this sensation as the band sings about the simple yet exhilarating act of listening to new music, particularly when recommended by someone else. “We were up late online talking about new music / and you sent me a link to a song that I’d never heard before / I need to get my headphones on.” 

The Philly-based group, made up of multi-instrumentalists Michael Doherty, Alenni Davis, and Nick Sebastiano, draws on numerous genres in their new track, from indie-rock to dreamy lo-fi elements. The song’s raw, guitar plucking-led instrumentals leading up to a lively outro of Michael Doherty’s layered vocals create an intimate world with the dark solaces of the night time further enhanced by an escape into headphones. “New Music” is a relatively quiet song, highlighting the calming, subtle yet emotive vocals of Michael Doherty.

The “New Music” single was released on Bandcamp last week with B-side “Boring For The Times” — a more upbeat track with a heavier guitar riff accompanying Doherty’s high-pitched vocals. It sounds like a combination of Philly’s (Sandy) Alex G’s ragged indie rock-meets-lo-fi pop, the eccentric sounds of Zack Villere, and all pulled together with their unique flair. The different styled approaches to each track are together a preview of the three-piece’s upcoming debut LP that “listeners won’t have to wait long to hear more from,” according to the group’s Bandcamp.

“New Music” by Another Michael from the 7″ / 2 song digital single ‘New Music’ out now via Run For Cover Records

TIGERS JAW – ” I Won’t Care How You Remember Me “

Posted: October 31, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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We recorded this album in 2019 in what feels like a different world, but the sentiments remain the same. It’s about confidence at war with doubt, living in the moment, learning from the past, and taking stock of what’s truly important. We are pleased to share our first single Cat’s Cradle, along with a real cool music video directed by Lauren Adams and Drew Horen of Polar Bear Productions now available on YouTube and all streaming platforms. . Play it loud, share it with a friend, or add it to your favourite playlist. The history of the Pennsylvania indie band Tigers Jaw is often divided into two distinct phases: before and after the 2013 departure of three of the band’s five founding members, one of whom, Adam McIlwee (who now records as Wicca Phase Springs Eternal), went on to found the influential emo rap collective Gothboiclique. Ben Walsh and Brianna Collins stuck around, though, and reshaped the band’s sound into something a bit softer and more introspective than the band’s brash emo roots. Its previous album, 2017’s “Spin,” felt a bit transitional, but “Cat’s Cradle,” the first single from the forthcoming “I Won’t Care How You Remember Me” (out early next year) is a confident step out of the shadow of the past and into the band’s future. Driven by chugging guitars and prismatic keys, it’s a refreshing blast of bouncy power-pop, tinged bittersweet by Collins’ lilting lead vocals.

Releases March 5th, 2021

2021, 2021 Hopeless Records, Inc.

SLAUGHTER BEACH DOG – ” Safe And Also No Fear “

Posted: October 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The brain-child of Jake Ewald of Modern Baseball, Slaughter Beach Dog’s “Safe And Also No Fear” marks Ewald’s first venture into full-fledged collaboration. Unlike 2017’s Birdie, where Ewald played every instrument, he spent a full year collaborating with bassist Ian Farmer (Modern Baseball), Nick Harris (All Dogs) and Zach Robbins (Superheaven) to construct the project’s unique sound, a blend of pop music, indie rock and folk unlike anything he’d ever produced before. Safe And Also No Fear is rooted in vague sketches of anxieties and confusion, and Ewald stands at its center questioning everything he knows about himself. “Well, since when can an honest man get high after a day of honest work?” he asks on “Good Ones,” crying out as the good ones “aren’t quite as good as you had recalled.

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Produced and Engineered by J. Ewald, I. Farmer, N. Harris and Z. Robbins at The Metal Shop in Philadelphia, PA, February 2019

TYLER BURKHART – ” Box full Of Stars “

Posted: October 25, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Such a strange time in my life (probably yours too), but all this has lead me to a deeper awareness of every good thing around me. My heart goes out to those who are making such huge sacrifices for their communities and families, those who are suffering from illness or loneliness, and those who have lost jobs or loved ones.
My hope for this year is that I am more appreciative of the good things in my life and more attentive to the suffering of those around me. I want to believe that this season is preparing all of us to stand together in more meaningful ways, starting in the smallness of our daily lives and growing to reach our communities and then the dark and lonely corners of our world.

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Released October 24th, 2020

SHAMIR – ” Other Side “

Posted: October 6, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Shamir called this his “most commercial-sounding” album since his 2015 debut, but whatever mainstream leanings it might have did not compromise how vibrant or creative he could get. The 25-year-old singer-songwriter performs synth-pop, Gun Club country punk, and shoegaze all with the same confidence and charisma, in a voice that can transform any anxious misgivings into reassurance. “I prefer to be alone, but you can join if you like/I’ll stay strong for you ’cause I don’t want to be seen when I cry,” he sings on “Running,” speaking as much to his audience as he is to himself.

Shamir embraces a balance between composure and restless dissatisfaction throughout his self-titled album. He vividly captures a Gen Z-specific angst and stewing inner conflict: “Smoke all the weed so I can cover my anxiety,” he confesses on “Paranoia.” Indeed, some of the best moments on the album explore the contradictions of the self and the paradoxical relationship between thoughts and behaviors. Stylistically, Shamir is a hodgepodge of the different approaches the artist has employed in the past, synthesized into a mostly satisfying pop-rock sound. Still, Shamir’s penchant for melody and introspection have proved adaptable to any genre that he fancies at any given moment, characterizing even his most lo-fi work with a pleading humanity. No matter how roomy or tight the mix is, or whether he’s caught in a moment of self-doubt or soaring confidence, he brings a sweet buoyancy to his music that carries Shamir, while also peeking into the torment of being inside his own head. 

There’s a lot to love leading up to next week’s eponymous effort from Shamir, but nothing quite brings it back home from the indie-pop polymath than when he winks at Nashville in the way he does whenever he puts a butterfly spin on Stetsons and pedal steel. “Other Side” is probably the most fully realized version of Shamir’s country crossover dalliances since kicking up some dust in 2018′s “Room” single. 

Here, he resolves the brooding cow-punk darkness inspired by a true unsolved mystery with an idealized Hallmark Channel movie ending in the listen’s country-pop plucked banjo tumbling throughout its chorus. Where as the love tales heard churning out from the big machine are often sanitized in predictable visions created by a white-washed Americana, Shamir taps into something a little more real in his take on a happy ending: faith in spite of the unknown.

Shamir’s “Shamir” will be self-released October 2nd.

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