Sep 01 : "Eyes Of Summer" - Catatonic Suns (Allentown)

So here we are on Labor Day Weekend. We're coming to the official end of Summer, and here's a song that talks about summer itself and the season to come. A question might be are we blinded by what's to come in the Fall?

I saw Catatonic Suns on my recent trip to Abyssinia to see Tom Lugo's "Sonik Boom" event. The group is a three-piece shoegaze psych band from Allentown. It was another "first time" for seeing a band; I liked their show.

This song is "Eyes Of Summer", and it's the third track on the band's 2022 album "Saudade" :::

Catatonic Suns doesn't have any trips back to Philly coming up soon, but here is the link to their Facebook page where you can watch for a future date! Catatonic Suns on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

(pic above is from band's Bandcamp page).

Aug 25 : "Unnecessary" - Heliocentric Overdrive

New Music / Freshly Written & Recently Released

Philly Music!

So here's a new track that was just released a few days ago. The song is "Unnecessary" by Philly indiepop band, Heliocentric Overdrive. The track was released on August 20 across all platforms by Philly-based Patetico Recordings, also a project of mastermind Tom Lugo.

Although I do have to admit I got a sneak peak, so to speak, when they played the song at their show at "Sonik Boom" at Abyssinia a few weeks ago. I liked their show; it was the first time I had seen them live.

Here is "Unnecessary", which was released as a single :::

Heliocentric Overdrive is a relatively new band, having been born during covid lockdown just a few years ago. Here is their own description on their Bandcamp page of how they came to be ::: Heliocentric Overdrive was born from the isolation of the Covid 19 pandemic so we found it befitting to write our first song about the feelings of isolation and not losing hope for our futures. The song is titled "By A Thread" and aptly describes some of those feelings we had back then and how we had to hope for better times in the future.

Heliocentric Overdrive doesn't have any other shows coming up in the next couple weeks, but here is the click to their Facebook page where you can keep an eye on what they're doing! Heliocentric Overdrive on Facebook (CLICK HERE)

pic is from band's Facebook page

May 30 : "Boyfriend's Band" - Nevva (Brooklyn)

On a recent trip to Arlene's Grocery one night after work, I saw Brooklyn punk band, "Nevva". One of the song's they sang was "Boyfriend's Band."

We want to see your boyfriend's band.

Where is he from? Where does he play?

Jersey?

Bushwick?

Are we on the "list"? Get in for free?

Find Out the answer to these questions and more when you listen to the track "Boyfriend's Band", which is the second track on Nevva's album "Fer Sher" :::

I enjoyed their show; it was a good night. While the band doesn't have any other shows listed soon, here is the click to their Facebook page where you can follow what they're doing ::: Nevva on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

(pics are from band's Facebook page)

May 18 : "Just Keep On Living in the Moment" - O. Wake (Brooklyn)

New Music / Freshly Written and Recently Released

ADJUSTING ATTITUDES

Brooklyn band "O. Wake" did a great show at Arlene's Grocery last week. The band played a lot of work from their new album, "Unfamiliar State", which was released this past January. Lots of different emotions and styles in the album. They all showcase mastermind Ofer Shouval's versatility in both writing and performing.

One of the recurring elements in the album is a consciousness or awareness about people's emotional well-being.

In fact shortly after the beginning of the album we're already making a trip to the therapists' office(s). A very spirited visit for the first part of the song, but then the visit turns south during the second part of the track. Here is that trip to the therapist. The title is "Riper Than Ripe" and is the second track on the album. Some brilliant lyrics in this album. Listen for an interesting saxophone solo that starts to sneak in between 2:53 and 3:11 on the clock :::

After the lyrics have ended, the saxophone in the last part of the track seems to turn the feeling back to be more positive (are we now again being more spirited?), but it leaves us not being sure how it all turns out. Does "Riper Than Ripe" refer to the work at the office, the relationship with the therapists, or both?

"Unfamiliar State" can mean various things. It can mean some new and unexpected song structures as we listen. It can also mean taking ourselves out of our comfort zone of safe, repetitive and sometimes toxic life habits and finding ourselves confronted with versions for ourselves that have greater potentials.

Some of the characters in the album have relationship complications. Are we breaking up? This won't even be a relationship; not getting off the ground because I'm "Not Your Type".

Many of the story lines in the songs involve a person's deciding how to look at life, what attitude to hold, what feeling to feel. After being confronted with these, some of the outcomes are unclear. In some of the songs there seems to be a pull in both directions, so that the decision is not easy and the process could prove to be tenuous. These feelings are intensified by the song structures which can sometimes be surprising and choppy.

THE FINAL THOUGHT

The way the album is laid out seems to be all building up to the last track, "Just Keep On Living In the Moment". This song is very solid and definite in what it means and what it says. Gone are the tenuous feelings, mixed emotions, or volatile expressions that occurred in some earlier parts of the album. In fact it seems to be an antidote to what some of the characters in the previous stories were experiencing.

So experience it for yourself.... Take a seat. .... Clear you mind. ... And meditate on these words as you listen to the track below. ... This is the final track. "Just Keep On Living in the Moment" :::

Instead of caving in
Instead of feeling left out
Instead of waiting for
A minute more
To walk out the door

Instead of being lost
Instead of counting up the costs
Instead of waking up
Instead of showing off
Instead of breaking up

Instead of saying something you regret
Instead of wanting to forget
Instead of making it
Instead of faking it
Instead of being let down

Keep on living in the moment
Just keep on living in the moment
Just keep on living for the moment

Instead of giving up

O. Wake doesn't have any other shows coming up in the next few weeks, but here's a click to their Facebook page where you can keep an eye on what they're doing ::: O. Wake on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

(pics are from band's Facebook page. quotation of lyrics used with artist's permission)

May 08 : My Night Out May 2

The band stopped between two songs in the middle of the show to make an announcement. They said that they supported the student protests against the war in Gaza.

The audience responded with immediate cheers and applause. I felt buoyed that I was in a room with so many people feeling the same way I do. The band then talked for a couple minutes about the Gaza issue.

But then came the sobering moment as I thought about what will happen between now and November. I don't think Biden realizes the broad and deep level of discontent among those whose support he will need for reelection this Fall.

The band making these comments was Portland, ME, band "Weakened Friends", who were the openers at First Unitarian Church on Thursday night. Double kudos even triple kudos to them for making those statements.

I had gone to the venue to see Slothrust, whom I've seen a few times before and of course wanted to see again. But I started to have a bad night as soon as I arrived at the venue and found the place very crowded and tightly packed. I had gone there after working a day in NY so arrived at the venue late. I was stuck in the back and could see little more than the heads of the people on stage. I always like to be in front but with a little space to move around if I want. I hate being crowded off in the back and freaked out to myself and just felt like I had to get out of there. I wasn't enjoying the show.

But I did stay to hear at least the beginning of Slothrust ... then I quickly left in a huff.

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Slothrust (LA)

I've been listening to Slothrust for a long time. The band came out with an intriguing new album in October. The first track is "Pony". The album is unusual in that it winds up with a few other versions of that same song at its end. I'm having a problem embedding the music into my post, so here is the link to the album where you can listen to the whole thing. Check it out. ::: "I Promise" album (CLICK HERE). Slothrust has just finished off their big tour and doesn't have any other shows in the area soon. (pic above is from Slothrust's Bandcamp page)

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MAIN TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS ::: BRINGING CLARITY ::: I guess some main takeaways from that bad night are (1) I probably should not go to Philly shows on a day when I work in NY; I would be arriving late. (2) Probably cross off First Unitarian Church for future concerts. I had only been there once before; that event was comfortable and not overly-packed. But for future times, I now feel a little cautious about the venue. I wouldn't find out about crowds until I was actually there and then it would be too late. (3) I broke one of my main patterns on this night and that's that I have to like the music of the opener enough as if it were doing a standalone show.

I CAN'T LET GO; I CAN'T LET GO ::: Of course when I think about Slothrust, I always remember the great show they did at Glasslands in Brooklyn back on 5/29/14. I still am in mourning and pissed that Glasslands closed.

BUT WAIT THERE'S HOPE! I was so disappointed and felt so messed up that night, sure I'd have to get some type of therapy. Luckily that's coming in the next post soon!

Apr 26 : "Crooks Like Red (Live)" - Ronald Reagan? The Actor? (Philly)

Philly Music!

A few weeks ago I went to a house show at The Pouch and saw Philly band "Ronald Reagan? The Actor?". They did a good show. As this was my first time seeing them, I wanted to learn a little more about them, so I got in touch with the band and talked with Chris, who plays bass. Other members of the outfit are Ryan who plays guitar and Travis who's on the drums.

So first of all >>> Bob: Of course, I guess everyone would want to know, how did you come up with the name?

Chris / Ronald Reagan: Our name comes from the movie Back to the Future. It’s a line that Christopher Lloyd says to Michael J Fox after he tells him that Ronald Reagan is president in 1985. The way that Christopher Lloyd delivers that line is so funny to us and we just thought it would make a great band name. On the other hand, it’s also satire and meant to make fun of Reagan too so we love that because that guy was the worst.

Bob: When did the band start?

Chris / Ronald Reagan: We officially started playing together back in 2011. We didn’t take ourselves very seriously back then and just liked jamming together and hanging out. We played a good amount of shows in those earlier days but we all feel like we’ve hit our stride in the last 5 years or so and are now kind of in our “prime” as a band.

Bob: How did you meet each other?

Chris / Ronald Reagan: Travis and I( Chris) met through a mutual friend in like 2007 and actually started playing music together around then. Then I met Ryan in 2009 through my girlfriend at the time(now my wife). Fast forward to 2010-2011, Travis and I were roommates and would throw a lot of parties that ended in impromptu jam sessions. Ryan brought his guitar to one of those parties and that led to the formation of Ronald Reagan? The Actor?

Bob: Did you form the band first and then decide on surf and space/rock, or have the interest in the genre first and then make a band out of it?

Chris / Ronald Reagan: We formed the band first and without any particular genre in mind. We knew we wanted to be an instrumental band but didn’t have a set direction. When we started we leaned heavily on the psychedelic and experimental side and we also had a gimmick where we would sample audio clips of pop culture references at our shows. The surf rock always kind of snuck in with some of Ryan’s guitar lines but within the last 5 years we finally figured out that we should be writing more songs with a cohesive sound and then really started to focus on that space surf sound that we like to refer as Interstellar Surf Grooves.

Bob: When was your first show?

Chris / Ronald Reagan: Our first show was 2011 at this place called The Station( shoutout to Dave Kiss for booking us for that)

Bob: How do you write the music? Is it a collaboration or does one person create the songs?

Chris / Ronald Reagan: Our writing process is very collaborative. A song typically starts with an idea for a bass line or guitar part and then we continue to build onto it as a group.

Bob: Any ideas or plans for the next couple years?

Chris / Ronald Reagan: We have a batch of new songs that we are planning to record in the near future. We are still working through some of them and are trying not to rush into anything but we are definitely excited about how they’re sounding and we’ve been playing some of them at shows. Other than that, keep playing shows. We really started to branch out this year and have played some shows outside of Philly so hopefully we’ll continue to do that. We have some “bucket list” venues that we’d like to play in Philly as well so we’ll keep spamming the emails of those venues until we get a yes some day.

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Here is a sample of the band's interstellar space grooves. The song is "Crooks Like Red (Live)", and it's the third track on their album "Live At Hidden Fortress", which was released in December :::

Chris / Ronald Reagan: Thanks so much for taking the time to interview us! We appreciate it. We’ll be playing in Philly on 5/9 at Tin Can Bar and then at West Philly Porchfest on 6/8. Maybe we’ll see you at one of those!

Apr 10 : "It's Not Too Late" - The Silence Kit (Philly / NJ)

New Music / Freshly Written and Recently Released

The Silence Kit is a post-punk band from Philly / NJ. Headed by Pat McCay, the band is known for its explorations of some darker corners of the human psyche, places where other bands dare not go. They take a look at unfulfillment, alienation, and places where all hope is lost. The band came out with a brilliant new album a few months ago, titled "It's Not Too Late".

EQUAL STANDING

The most dramatic innovation of the new album over their previous ones lies with the instrumentals. "It's Not Too Late" boasts fuller-sounding instrumentals with more complex arrangements. And the instrumentals don't shy away from taking center stage with generally longer intros than we saw in earlier albums. Entering lyrics will just have to wait their turn. For example, the intro in "Captured Light" (Track 9) lasts until 1:09 on the clock, and the intro for "Hope Isn't Helping" (Track 4) lasts a full 1:58!

The band's previous release was the 2021 remastering of their album "In Regulated Measure". The band's most recent album of new music was 2018's "Fall Proection". While that remastering showed some interesting new textures and "nuance", and the 2018 album brought in some fuller instrumentals and faster tempos, "It's Not Too Late" goes way beyond nuance to bring us dramatically different stylings, from the smooth "Losing Sight" (Track 3) to the raucous "Vacancy Chain" (Track 11). In all of the songs the strength of the instrumentals is on an equal footing with the vocals. The range of the instrumentals and the complexity of the arrangements themselves largely bolster the album's diversity.

FINDING TRUE SELF

A continuing theme in The Silence Kit's music is the disconnect one has from their true self. The anguish that characters feel stems from living life with a certain emptiness, because living the way they do is too often just going through the motions and not rooted in one's connection to their true self.

Moving away from a little of the optimism in "Fall Protection", "It's Not Too Late" thematically continues where we left off in the seventh track of "In Regulated Measure". In that seventh track, "Trying Not To", the main character sings "You introduced me to myself; I lost him a long long time ago".

In the current album, "Let Me Dream" (Track 1) continues the theme. It references "lost myself", "burying the old me" and "recognize the real me".

And in "Losing Sight", the main character is observing someone else and is asking "Have you lost yourself?", but does it resonate with the other person who says that everything is all right? Here is "Losing Sight", very smooth in vocals, but strong in instrumentals. It's the third track on the album. The instrumentals on this are my favorite of the album:

If only all the noise can be cleared away and we can again recognize the true self, then life will be more fulfilling.

TURNING OUTWARD

Sometimes this disconnect can be a realization we make ourselves, or sometimes it can be something that another points out to us, as in "Trying Not To". A lot of the characters in The Silence Kit's music are deeply introspective and are maybe thinking passively about their own situations. But the second noticeable change in this album over the previous ones is the turning outward with a critical eye. While the character in "Losing Sight", is turning outward in an agreeable way while asking someone else, "Are you losing sight?", the characters in some of the songs after that become more critical and even aggressive.

In "Emphasis Flag" (Track 10) the main character is critical of an (unnamed) person for showing a fraudulent or self-important representation of their true self. We don't know who that person is or if there's a relationship there. In "Nonsense" (Track 6) the character gives a piercing critique to another person "I don’t care what you think.” … “I don’t care about your opinions.” ... “I stay away when you’re around.”

The instrumentals in this album are a change of feel from "In Regulated Measure", which were starker and maybe contributed more to the main character's feeling of isolation and abandonment. The instrumentals in this album (which are brilliant) carry with them some of the signature darkness, but are also strong and confident enough, that, no matter how agitated and alarmed the words are, counter some of that desperation to reassure us that all may not be lost, that "It's Not Too Late".

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To hear the whole album and check out the songs mentioned above, here is the click to the band's Bandcamp page: The Silence Kit on Bandcamp (CLICK HERE). There you can also find links to the band's other albums.

The Silence Kit doesn't have any shows coming up in the next few weeks, but here is the click to their Facebook page where you can keep up with what they're doing ::: The Silence Kit on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

Jan 06 : "I Texted You a Photo of the Sunset and You Never Responded" - Jim E. Brown (Manchester UK)

New Music / Freshly Written and Recently Released

Is this a music act or a comedy act? Maybe some of both. On my trip to Johnny Brenda's a couple weeks ago, Manchester UK artist Jim E. Brown was the opener. I was going there after work so I didn't catch the beginning of his show, but, seeing his act for the first time, I was definitely impressed with what I did see.

Jim E. Brown has lots of troubles on many different levels, and he works those sad stories into comedy songs, such as a bad trip to KFC, sitting in McDonald's writing love letters, or texting his love a photo of a beautiful sunset and receiving no response. If you go to the artist's Bandcamp page, you'll see quite a variety of songs exposing his sad situations, but they can in no way measure up to his live show, where he makes quips and tells little anecdotes about some of the characters and situations that appear in his songs.

I've listened to a lot of his work on line, and one of his songs that stands out as a prime example of his style is "I Texted You a Photo of the Sunset and You Never Responded". It's the fifth track on his album "Torture", which was released less than a month ago on December 8 :::

At the Johnny Brenda's show, he had a band backing him up. And he will be coming back to Philly next month. He's scheduled to do a show at Abyssinia on February 9. In the meantime, here is the click to his Facebook page ::: Jim E. Brown on Facebook (CLICK HERE), and to his Bandcamp page ::: Jim E. Brown on Bandcamp.

(pic is from artist's Facebook page)