New Music / Freshly Written & Recently Released (July 2018)
DAMAGED BUT SAFE
A couple weeks ago I went to Mercury Lounge and saw Brooklyn band "Shower Thoughts" do a show. It was the first time I had seen them.I liked the show a lot.
The music is eclectic with jazz stylings, very smooth when I listened to them on line, but with more sharpness in the mixing when I heard them live. Also the components come together in a very nice cohesive blend on the recorded music on line, but when I heard them live, each of the instruments and the vocals were more assertive on their own and I was more aware of the artists as individuals. On their Bandcamp page, they define themselves as: "Shower Thoughts is a five-piece, Brooklyn-based band that draws influence from hip hop, jazz, and indie music to synthesize fresh sounds for the modern age.".
The song talks about one's room as a place to retreat, a safe place where you can be yourself and not have to prove anything to anybody, a place where you can let your guard down.
While we don't know for sure, it seems that the song's character may be retreating into his room after a rocky road in a relationship. At first he seems aggravated, but the solace in his room helps him to mellow out. Lots of precision in the lyrics. Look at the nuances in the changes of emotions as the song's character reflects on the relationship:
I don’t need you
I don’t think I need you
I don’t wanna need you
I think I’ll be fine
Inside
My room
Here is "My Room" from the 2018 "Shower Thoughts EP" :::
But then the door opens! What happens after the door is opened and peace is disrupted? .. After the show I commented a little jokingly to the band about not knowing the final outcome. They said it was "open to interpretation".
While Shower Thoughts doesn't have any other shows coming up soon, I strongly recommend you check out their Facebook page, where you can keep an eye on what they'll be doing next. ::: Shower Thoughts on Facebook (CLICK HERE).
NEWS! SAM SEEGER RELEASES NEW VIDEO ::: ::: I guess the segue from the previous post to this is that both artists are known for including all their family members in their musical productions. Sam did just that earlier this month in this newly released video. Max and Rosie are in the video itself, with David and Ben doing photography and animation.
The song is "Delay Hey Hey". When I first saw the title I wondered about its meaning, but, in listening to the song, it's about someone telling his lover not to leave so soon, that they're the perfect couple. The lyrics express a passion couched in some good melodic lines. I think anyone would like to have a partner sing them this song and anyone would want to have someone to sing this song to.
Sam Seeger doesn't have any shows coming up in the next few weeks, but here is the click to his Facebook page where you can keep up with what he's doing ::: Sam Seeger on Facebook (CLICK HERE).
eyes
eyes
eyes
But what about those eyes! I would have seen this as a straight-forward very good love song if it were't for the eyes. While the lyrics and melodic lines are smooth, the visual of the eye in the sharp-edged squares creates a strong contrast in feel. Is this out of place in this song or what? The series of tiled eyes in the squares form the "head" of a figure. What does this mean?
I asked Sam about this, but he was uncharacteristically not talkative. So I'm trying to figure out what this could be. Sam uses metaphors and symbols in his work. And he's used plenty of eyes, but when they have been used, it's in connection with something more sinister or threatening. He also uses contradictions between the lyrics and the artwork. In "It's Alright", the lyrics keep saying "It's alright", but the the visuals, i.e., the artwork, show a hand reaching up from a grave. In "Delay Hey Hey" the eyes appear for only a few seconds in the main body of the song, but then show up for a prolonged view at the end. So, in this song, are these serious looking eyes juxtaposed against the laid-back lyrics, saying, "Hey, Hey, please stay, but you were trying to leave me so I'm gonna be watching you every dam minute from now on"?
Am I making too much out of this? Well, maybe, but, considering the rest of Sam's work, it's hard to believe that the eyes weren't in there for a cautionary reason. We may never know for sure!
NEWS! ::: LAURA CHEADLE RELEASES "REVERBERATE" VIDEO. ... I've been on a little bit of a hiatus over the past couple months, with family stuff and a short term work project taking up a lot of my attention. ... So here's a catchup. Earlier this Fall, Laura Cheadle came out with a new video. It's titled "Reverberate", and it features some cool animation.
I've been watching and listening to Laura Cheadle for several years. I first saw Laura perform live back in 2006. It was a Battle of the Bands competition at North Star. Over the years I've seen her perform as a solo act, I've seen her perform with her band (a unique combination of family members), and I've seen her shows at all different types of venues, from small coffee houses to large stages. She has been quite prolific and has released a number of albums over these years.
Stylistically, she's created her own niche or juncture where rock, funk, and blues all come together. Sometimes her songs sound like they're from one genre; other times they could be from that combination!
And one new feature and surprise that has come along this past season is some intriguing animation that appears in the "Reverberate" video. The video features her singing on stage, with two animated characters in the audience who first meet and wind up hooking up.
When I first watched the video, I thought the main character who was singing might represent the character in the animation. But after watching it a few more times, I started thinking they were two separate people. Lots going on here. ... I asked Laura about that, and also about how she came up with the idea to do an animation in the first place. And was this something that we should expect more of in the future!
Here was her response:
Hi bob!
The video is by KBM studios in Philadelphia. I wanted to have the entire video animated except me on stage . The animated woman in the video is not me, it is a separate couple that met at my performance. They are essentially acting out my song ‘Reverberate’ which is about that moment before right before you hook up with someone and you meet them for the first time . It’s a very sexy nightclub feel.
I honestly used animation because I met this company and thought it would be a real cool change. I don’t know if I’ll use more in the future but I loved this experience and hope to get this video seen all over the world! This is off my new album, ‘Chill’ now available!
So here is the new video, "Reverberate" :::
"Reverberate" is the lead track on Laura's new album, "Chill". If you would like to hear the full album, here is the click to her Bandcamp page where you can listen or purchase the album ::: "Chill", album by Laura Cheadle, on Bandcamp. To visit Laura on Facebook, here is the click ::: Laura Cheadle on Facebook (CLICK HERE). And here is the click to her Soundcloud page where she's got not only the newest songs but some of her work from previous years: ::: Laura Cheadle on Soundcloud (CLICK HERE).
New Music / Freshly Written & Recently Released (July 27)
AN ORGANIC EXPERIENCE
A few weeks ago I went to Bowery Electric and saw Rue Snider and his band. That was the first time I saw them do a show. Dressed in what might have been a space suit, he did an exciting show featuring a lot of music from his very recently released new album "City Living".
I've been listening to his album since then, and I can say that it definitely lives up to its name. The songs cover a wide range of city life, not only about our own personal hopes and drama, but also a connection to and a rooting in what's outside our front doors. Listening to all eleven tracks envelop you and grounds you in time and place, covering a panorama of life in the city. The music includes everything from love songs to the political, and very interestingly, contains many references to local aspects of life in Brooklyn and New York (especially in track 10, "Wouldn't Be Summer"). While I lived in Brooklyn for many years and can relate to some of the specific place references, the story lines in the songs could be part of life in many cities and towns. It's truly a whole, organic experience. And one of the reasons that makes it so is also the inclusion of some of the broader macro issues that currently face our society as a whole, regardless of what city you might live in.
Decency Can't Dance Alone
What a horrific couple weeks we've had, with terrorist attacks in the form of attempted mail bombings and actual shootings at, of all places, a house of worship. It's times like these when we can feel overwhelmed. The media accounts leave us with too much of a sense of horror and vulnerability. And too small a sense of true healing.
It's times like these when we need the reassurances that, yes, there still are many good people out there, people who are ready to put themselves on the line to make the world a better place. We need an antidote to the divisiveness we too often hear from our country's current leadership.
And I definitely found inspiration from the last track on "City Living". When I first heard "City Living" a few weeks ago, this was the track that had the greatest impact for me. The right track for the right time. Its title is "Don't Lose Heart". It's beautiful and passionate and has been made into a video. Here is the video version of "Don't Lose Heart", with Rue Snider's background comments appearing further below:
I was very intrigued about how the song came to be and wanted to learn more of its background, so I asked Rue.
He explained that it had actually started out as a different song, but, as events in 2017 unfolded, felt that he had to rewrite the song to address the serious issues we're facing. Here's an excerpt from our email conversation last week.
The Women's March had happened. Trump was trying to ban Muslims. He was actively stripping rights away from minorities. My circle of friends and artists were outraged and beginning to take to the streets to protest. So I rewrote the lyrics with all of that in mind and "Don't Lose Heart" was born.
The single most important issue facing America in my mind is income inequality. I addressed that on my first record in a song called "Snowfall." That's the lens through which I was viewing all the other issues in the song as I was writing it. "The oligarchs smile/they traffic in fear to divide." The idea being that all this other stuff that's going on is a deliberate distraction to get us to take our eyes off the people at the top with the money who are pulling the strings. I was angry and the song addresses a lot of topics. The song is absolutely a Fuck You to the the President and every republican in power who supports his policies. But I wanted to be sure to end on an uplifting note, and I truly believe that many of the stands these powerful men take are designed to keep us fighting among ourselves so we don't pay attention to how they're profiting off of our subsistence and pain. The war machine cranks on because there is money to made from it. Not because of any principles or ideals. Guns remain legal not because of the second amendment, which most people on both sides of the debate understand wasn't designed to protect personal gun ownership but to protect the establishment of militias, but because there is a lot of money to made selling guns.
I mention Lucy Burns and Rosa Parks in the chorus to kind of hammer home the idea of women's rights being central to everything that's going on at the moment. I wanted to lend my voice to support women's equality.
I realize there's more nuance than what I'm describing, but I had to fit all of this into a 3 minute rock ballad. So "Don't Lose Heart." That's the story in a nutshell.
I think the song's title, "Don't Lose Heart" can have two meanings. One meaning can be a reassurance for us not to lose hope. Another can be an admonition not to lose love for others, but to be in solidarity with them ... because decency can't dance alone.
Rue Snider doesn't have any other shows coming up in our area in the near future, but here is the click to his Facebook page, so you can keep up with what he's doing as well as to get links to the new album: Rue Snider on Facebook (CLICK HERE).
p.s. ::: I write about the live shows in the order in which I've seen them. Weird timing when this song came along.
