Weatherboy

 

Weatherboy 

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/weatherboymusic 

The ten songs on Weatherboy’s first album are a reminder that vibrant work in a pop vein can still emerge and make a substantive artistic statement. There’s no question about the bright commercial sheen surrounding these tracks, but there’s equally little question that this is a duo with ambition to burn. There are recurring lyrical themes running through the songwriting and a definite design to the running order, but Weatherboy’s debut never comes off as forced – their range comes naturally and the music moves with a natural, airy sense of purpose that keeps their melodies, vocal and otherwise, engaging. The production invests everything with a forceful sonic punch and it helps further highlight contributions from the duo’s musical partners like legendary guitarist Phil Keaggy. This unheralded giant, formerly of the band Grass Harp, contributes mightily to this collection without ever once overstating his distinctive presence.

 

There is a deliberate shape to the release. Weatherboy opens with two straight ahead, horn powered pop numbers “Got a Good Thing” and “Great Great Life” and there’s a commonality between the songs suggesting they are designed for their specific track list positions. The brass sound rings out in a very authentic way and makes for an excellent, if unintended, counterpoint with the powerful lead vocals. “Riding on the Wind” shows off another side of the duo as they perform a much more moody, hard-nosed musical ride. The vocals respond in kind with an appropriately darker tone and it results in one of the album’s more memorable moments. Acoustic guitar plays an important role in the songwriting on the album and “Eva”, one of the album’s more than likely underrated numbers, has qualities one might associate more with a folk song than hailing from this project. “Bennett” comes off as something practically confessional in its lyrical content and the musical arrangement is one of the album’s more inventive moments. Rosinkranz, especially, comes out of this album sounding like a true virtuoso capable of doing anything he wants to – the sheer variety of melody and texture that makes this album go will please many.

 

“A Bright Flame” returns the duo to more standard pop territory but the edge of your seat vocal melodies and pyrotechnics will exert an aching effect on listeners. This is reminiscent of “Bennett” in the way that the lyrics come off as very personal, but the song is delivered in such a way that the experience runs no danger of being closed off to listeners. “All Your Fault” has a lot of musical and lyrical bite, but there’s a slight sense of the duo trying to take on too much within the song’s somewhat short running time. “Full Bloom” brings the album to an end with a surprising piano ballad guided by the lyrical keys work and the bone-deep emotion coming through in every line of the vocal. It’s, arguably, one of the album’s better lyrical moments and makes for a conclusive ending to this release. It is easy to discern a progression of sorts through this release and “Full Bloom” brings it to wide-open life. 

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/WeatherBoyMusicOfficial/ 

Raymond Burris 

Sam Baker – Land of Doubt

 

Sam Baker – Land of Doubt 

URL: http://www.sambakermusic.com/land-of-doubt 

Following a European tour behind his new album, Land Of Doubt, Sam Baker is turning his attention to creative projects in 2017: Opening his first-ever exhibition as a visual artist, staging an original play and filming a documentary. As you may know, Sam has limited hearing after being on a bus that exploded during a 1986 terrorist attack in Peru, but he’s from Texas, now living in Austin. The play he’s working on is entitled Broken Fingers, and the art show Dream of the Snow Geese. And the album Land Of Doubt is a meditation album centering around everyday reflection of the uncertainties in life. It’s a home hitter in that area especially, but it’s also folk music with a lot of heart and soul with a general singer/songwriter approach, with some southern jazzy textures. “Summer Wind” starts out with not much but some cool guitar bits to keep it interesting, and interesting the guitar is, appearing nowhere else on the album like that.

“Some Kind Of Blue” is a track for the masses to soak up, should they ever get wind of such a monster war tune. It tells the typical Viet Nam story and you feel him all the way, from his flashes of humor to flashes of sympathy, as well as his blunt portray of it. He takes you through most of the aspects that meet the usual standard in war songs, but you get the feeling it’s more personal whether you know or not. It’s a lot to take in but once you do there’s almost a sigh of relief, and then it’s all over after the marching beat. Nothing left to do but carry onto the next song with another instrumental, this one a haunting little piano solo. It makes its way into the next track without hardly any notice.

“Margaret” is a melancholy little tune about someone who sounds like anyone would want to be around. He displays a certain swagger in this which can’t be found anywhere else on the album, and it’s appropriately placed but doesn’t seem intentional, and some of the effortlessness of that comes off very well on this song which also has some decent piano behind it too. It’s a point where the mention of production by Neilson Hubbard, using the jazz trumpet of Don Mitchell and the sustained guitar textures of Will Kimbrough, producer/guitarist for Rodney Crowell and Todd Snider, to frame the lyrics. So, it’s not all Sam Baker to credit but all his table to sit at.

“The Feast Of Saint Valentines” is cool, and so is “Moses In The Reeds” especially with the latter’s funny parts if you can catch them. And another highlight for me is “Say The Right Words” which gets the heart of matters and comes with some awesome trumpet playing to polish it off nicely. “The Sunken City Rises” is a string pieces with some cello and violin that start to mesmerize as it falls too short, but “Peace Out” extends the mood nicely. The lyrics tend to lose me but it’s the guitar that makes up for it. “When Fallen Angels Dwell” is the second most interesting instrumental and the album closes with a band on “Land Of Doubt” as it walks away with the ultimate effort of the album.  

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/SamBakerVideo

Alan Foster

bd Gottfried releases new LP

bd Gottfried releases new LP 

SPOTIFY: https://play.spotify.com/album/660bZnkhpYtelvrovQiYZL?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open 

In 2017 - bd Gottfried is an edgy, uncompromised writer releasing his 8th solo album entitled: Through The Dog’s Eyes - produced by Juno Winner Siegfried Meier. With airplay in over a dozen countries he continues to work in an unrestricted style with lyrical depth that will always take you on a journey. Having a varied working background as a touring musician and session player. Working in the past with a vast array of artists such as Pino Palladino (Pete Townsend, John Mayer Trio). Breen Laboeuf (Celine Dion, April Wine). Greg Dechert (Bad Company, David Gilmour), to name a few.

The only thing left to say and do is start with “Something You Weren’t” as it does the business in getting right into things on a long-player of an album with some rocking and not so rocking parts. First of-all you can clearly hear where he’s drawing influences from, although it might be newly applied if you know his previous works. But it can’t be denied that he’s been recently inspired by the works of both Iggy Pop and David Bowie. Latter days of both, to be honest, with a few early inflections here and there. But that’s not all I hear, I hear Roxy Music and some others that even creep into the 90s.

The smooth and rough edges continue with “Crosshairs” which is another excellent track, equally as good as the introduction as they both pass with flying colors, but not all do, as there is a low point or two. I won’t mention any of those because it deserves focus on its bright side, as it dominates the production. However, “Blame It On The Money” is not one of them. It rather sits on the top shelf with the best to be found on the CD. If-only every track had the same ingredient power, as this one could be heard on any rock radio station in the world, and not go unnoticed. This is simply a monster track.  

It's not easy to follow such a piece of ear candy, but “Eye Of Time” rivals it for airing time, although this one wouldn’t go over as well on radio, it still competes with anything in the set of burning tracks. This could be the more serious side of the artist, but it’s okay because that is his better side. You have-to get into this but once you do, you’re hooked. It should be seen for what it is, and that is one of the ultimate tracks for sure, at least from where I’m standing, on which it really all depends or why give an opinion. It’s where the cream of the crop can be found, and the beauty along with it.

“Frequencies” is a track that almost deceives with its lower key being its tricky aspect. You can either play along or not, which I did, and that is why I get it. Nothing is over until it’s over, but if you hit the next track you won’t have the chance to get it. I’d give this song a chance and see for yourself. It’s a melancholy treat of you let it do its magic. You almost feel like it’s attached to one of the previous tracks, and that bodes well on the concept, whatever it may be. “Breakaway” also leaves an impression, and so do “Reformation” and “We Have Love.” These are all points worth catching on what is a cutting-edge release for the masses, as well as fans of this intriguing artist.

MP3RED: http://mp3red.me/37514872/b-d-gottfried-crosshairs.html

Terry Smith 

John Elderkin and ¡Moonbeams No Mas!

 

John Elderkin and ¡Moonbeams No Mas! 

BARNES AND NOBLE: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-fall-and-rise-of-john-elderkin-and-moonbeams-no-mas-john-elderkin-and-moonbeams-no-mas/31036683?ean=0888295545990 

In some important ways, The Fall and Rise of John Elderkin and ¡Moonbeams No Mas! is a musical narrative about inspiration. This seventeen song collection takes a lot of its cues from David Bowie’s seminal classic The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and, while it may not share its same commitment to gender bending theatrics, it does share many of the same narrative ambitions and clearly draws from Bowie’s album as a reference point. Elderkin, however, is an immensely talented songwriter who never finds himself bogged down risking imitation. The seventeen songs on this album, instead, represent how adeptly Elderkin has proven to be and taking an initial jumping off point of inspiration and expanding on it with a creative and musical vision all his own.
 

Few songs illustrate that better than the album’s first full length number “We Waited Five Years”. You’ll hear few songs capable of conjuring genuine gravitas with moments of unexpected, playful humor. Elderkin’s voice emerges from the mix with bell-like clarity and clearly has the capability of carrying a tune like this with warmth and personality. The golden oldie jump rockabilly flavor of the song “Messy Down Below” sounds like it was cut in a sweaty basement or garage and it’s certainly a major part of its appeal. Elderkin has the voice for this, as well, and throws himself into the performance with wild-eyed raucous glee. There are human voices creeping into art rock atmosphere surrounding “The Message”, but no lyrics or words per se. It is a brief number and has many of the qualities we’d otherwise associate with a spiritual chant augmented by tastefully deployed keyboard textures. There’s some electric guitar heard low in the mix on “Song for David Bowie”, but much of this tune devotes itself to a sprightly acoustic guitar arrangement punctuated by good drumming with a discernible and appealing swing.  
 

The acoustic guitar dominates “Keep It Down” as well, but there’s a dissonant edge cutting into the song’s second half quite different than anything we heard in the aforementioned song. Elderkin consistently makes keyboards work within the context of this music by using them the right now – they are rarely used in a musical “leadership” role and, instead, ably fill the gaps in Elderkin’s arrangements. The beautifully spartan piano of “You Got Sick” finds an equally simplified match in Elderkin’s lyrics. They are words that say more than they know and trying to uncover the song beneath the song, the story behind the story, is part of the immense fun listening to a song like this. “Fat Levon on Acid” is pure hilarity in comparison. The guttural, fuzzed out bass and primordial drumming jarringly contrast with the off the wall lyrics and imbues the song’s character with a discernible shape and mood. “Sore Afraid” comes late in the album and does such an effective job putting over its vulnerable demeanor that you will be immediately drawn closer to its delicacy. “Give Me Your Hands” is a wonderful finale for the album. It has some of the same zany humor that’s distinguished a number of the cuts, but there’s an equal deference to the album’s serious ambitions and a vital humanity coming through during every minute of this performance. John Elderkin and his band have aimed high with this release and it really can’t be heard as anything else but an unqualified success.  

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Rise-Elderkin-Moonbeams-Explicit/dp/B073ZXKDZL 

Lance Wright

Suntrodden III

 

Suntrodden III

URL: https://suntrodden.bandcamp.com/album/suntrodden-iii

“The ear tends to be lazy, craves the familiar and is shocked by the unexpected,” according to W.H. Auden. “The eye, on the other hand, tends to be impatient, craves the novel and is bored by repetition.” Biologically, this makes perfect sense. The eye can take in more information at a faster pace, and the information it takes in is literally right in front of us, so we feel better prepared to deal with it. The ear, however, gets its information around corners, from behind us, and in stereo. To the human brain, sound is intangible and unpredictable, so it’s more likely to be jarring.

By that measure, then, Suntrodden’s latest offering is perhaps the most appealing EP released in years. And if you parse that statement and think it sounds snarky, I can promise you: no snark intended.

Suntrodden III, the final installment of Erik Stephansson’s Suntrodden trilogy, is certainly familiar and expected. You’ve likely heard each track before, somewhere and somewhen, maybe on an elevator or in a pharmaceutical commercial, and when you heard it you mostly ignored it. It’s five tracks blend together, with each melting into the next and making the parts almost indistinguishable from the whole. I know that seems dismissive, but again, I can promise you it’s not.

Elsewhere on the Internet you might find comparisons to Radiohead and Elliott Smith, but III lacks the angsty immediacy of the former and the tortured-artist sensibilities of the later. It’s safer, easier, and less challenging—not quite a watered-down version of those icons, but certainly with a chaser. With III’s jangly tambourines and breezy melodies, a better comparison might be The Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar” or Simon & Garfunkel’s “April Come She Will,” or some other crowd-pleasing 1960’s folk-pop standard. III is lo-fi, indie bubble-gum.  For a musician, that could be a sentence to purgatory, but for the last time: it’s not meant to be.

Suntrodden III doesn’t break new ground or test any limits. Its melancholy opening track (“There’s a Place”) tempers the potential gloom with a xylophone, while track two (“Pure”) gives us a Summer-of-Love tambourine backbeat and an airy falsetto chorus. “Moonflower” tricks us into thinking it will break the mold, but after the piano prelude it relaxes into III’s expected groove. Then we’re on to “Never Again,” which combines all the prior pieces into a thesis-statement whole. Only the final track (“The End [Haunt Me]”) creates a momentary exception to III’s rules--with its rising orchestral opening and a moody, Ben Folds-esque piano ballad in the middle—but even this outlier eventually settles into the formula. 

So, if it’s so utterly formulaic, why give it a listen? That’s an easy one: you should listen to Suntrodden III precisely because it’s formulaic . . . and the formula works. That’s the good thing about a formula: when it’s mixed right, it does exactly what it’s supposed to do, and III is mixed right. Stephansson knows what he’s doing: the song structures are pleasantly predictable, the instrumentation is soothing, and the themes are comfy like a well-worn pair of slippers. It’s the kind of album you can play a hundred times as you go about your day—it’ll provide a soundtrack for a trip to the beach, it’ll help you decompress after a hard day at the office, and it’ll loop in the background, undistractingly, as you write a review of it. It is unassuming in the best way possible, and if that makes it elevator music, so what? No one wants to ride in a silent elevator. 

Suntrodden III’s strength lies in its safety and anonymity. Rather than blazing trails or shooting the moon, Stephansson gives us five tracks of warm blankets on cold nights. He gives us familiar and expected. He gives us bubble gum. Who doesn’t like bubble gum?

7/10 stars

RELATED ARTICLE: https://newnoisemagazine.com/review-suntrodden-iii/

Kent LeRae

Sam Green and the Time Machine

 

Sam Green and the Time Machine 

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Samgreenandthetimemachine/ 

Making his own way is what Sam Green is doing with The Time Machine, his music project which gives direction to those looking for calm waters in the music world keeps going on the CD - Which Way Is Left? If you like Australia, folk-oriented rock about the wilderness and all things positive, then this collection of tunes about that and more is right up your alley. If you’re looking for razzle-dazzle and period garb, you won’t find it here. But it does pay some respect to the form of music that some of the folk and world music groups of today are getting away with.

These gimmicks are of no need to Sam Green, that is all. It’s not the millennial style folk, so to speak. What it does have is something to behold for the raw, stripped back music seekers. Acoustic-driven all the way, with some moments that smolder on guitar and violin, however it’s all pulled off around his heavily narrative, spoken-word singing style. Something like that will always be on old school thing, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t any modern aspects to it. There is a substance to any style if you keep to the simple strengths Sam Green does. Otherwise it can be easy to get lost in this rootsy genre. But it’s not exactly easy to take this in large doses if you’re not into folk, it’s just a fact of the matter. It’s best to have some sense of it, rather than starting with Sam Green. But beginners can start wherever they want, it’s just that appreciation for such art is tricky. Not being a major fan doesn’t help me any better than anyone else. But knowing and liking are two different things, so, the album works if you have and use that sense. But on the down side, tracks like “Eli” and “Howdido” tend to drag somewhat, even though they also hold some fantastic guitar works and technically stronger parts than other songs.

These are times where it doesn’t come together as much as during more successful efforts but they’re somehow better songs anyway. It’s worth mentioning because it’s hard to find anything lacking in these songs. But as an artist Sam Green doesn’t rely on bells and whistles to get by with. Take it or leave it, but like with most folk it is the downright honesty in the music that matters. Marketing will never come first in this category, but this CD deserves as much coverage as any. I liked “Mist Of The Dersert” but couldn’t understand why it is spelled that way when it isn’t pronounced that way. Maybe it should be “Desert?” But you never know anymore with titles in the internet age. For my attraction to folk, that’s the best song but not the only one featured. There’s several to chew on that keep up with it. “Google Me” gets down deep, and so does “Love For A Moment.” Those two work the same way as more like love songs that can be called music pieces just as much as being storytelling vehicles. Both are soulful, thoughtful and well-written for the times we live in. Of-course there is a lot more to this CD and Sam Green himself, but it would take up too much space to cover every single angle. I will point out another Sam Green song “Angelsea” to get an even better read on the Time Machine, as well as all to be found at the website.

MP3RED: https://mp3red.me/36636593/sam-green-and-the-time-machine-eli.html

Todd Bauer

Paul Kloschinsky

 

Paul Kloschinsky 

URL: http://www.kloschinsky.com/

Paul Kloschinsky was born in Saskatchewan in 1963. He attended the University of British Columbia in the 1980’s and received a BSc in Computer Science and an MD. After living and working across Canada he has returned to his hometown of Delta, BC, Canada. He has played in a few rock bands in the Vancouver area since High School. He is now a Folk-Rock Singer Songwriter. He won the 2007 MusicAid Award for Best Canadian Songwriter for his original song Wearin’ Blue. He released his first album, Woodlands, February 24, 2009 on Prism/Universal in Canada. In addition to being a songwriter, he is also an avid poet and photographer. That is as much background he’s working with besides the mention of several subsequent releases which have culminated into “Crime Of Passion” with mixed results coming from this direction. The songs are good and his voice is strong, but the songwriting and production are what suffer the most for a better than not album. This makes it worth sharing some good and bad thoughts, which are neither here nor there, but might help anyway. It wasn’t easy to even get in the right mood to give proper perspective to this until it hit me and dawned that it’s folk for the most part, when I was expecting a “rock” artist.

Once that was over I was able-to give it a better chance but still don’t find it overly spectacular in the process. As a folk-artist I would still expect more energy to back words of wisdom usually contained within the songwriting formula, but it could just be my own in-familiarity with him. That’s no mark against this release, it just shows my lack of knowledge and leaves me up to describing some of the tracks, hoping to turn the right ears onto it. For the sake of the song it’s never that hard to give an objective opinion no matter how into the genre, as-long as it’s good it’s still worth expressing a thing or two about.

“I’m Still Waiting” doesn’t promise a lot, so you can see hesitation is already temping, but it’s not a total loss as the album opener either. You do get where he’s singing from, which is straight from the heart. It helps him to get these lyrics of his mind, and that is clearly written all over the words. It’s pretty-deep but not so deep that it bores you to tears or anything. There’s just a pedestrian vibe to this, which doesn’t impress right off the bat. “Crime Of Passion” would have been a better opportunity to open with more punch, and that’s only the first thing I noticed. There’s more, much much more.

This follows with an even more melodramatic vocal delivery that actually-works this time. But this all takes a few listens to really absorb the beauty of this album as a-whole and that is why the most inspiring moments make up the best way to get the word out there about it. The product always deserves more description than the artist, so if you want the best of what this has-to offer, look no further than the tracks I’ve described, along with the greatness to be found in that of “Sooth Me” “Not Frightened To Be Free” and last but not least the final sleeper track “Gates Of Heaven” which you’ll have to hear to figure that and the rest out.

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/kloschin1

Mike Tabor