Song Spotters

This episode I’m shining our lights on New Orleans own, Carsie Blanton Blanton is set to throw a brick through the Man’s corner office with her empowered feminist lyrics. Her new album entitled “So Ferocious” pretty much sums it up. But, don’t let the focus on revolutionizing societal structure make you assume the music has to suffer for the message. Carsie Blanton makes fun music. It make you laugh, it makes you dance. Sure, it makes you say “Screw you, world!” but so do so many of the real greats. Carsie Blanton “Vim and Vigor” So Ferocious Website: Official Facebook: @CarsieBlantonFans Twitter: @CarsieBlanton Alternate Track Link YOUTUBE Also Check Out A Very Cool Demo Version Selected from Listening Post 16.31

I will admit that I am often nervous when a friend or colleague releases music. It’s awkward. Finding ways to tell someone I don’t want to feature their sub-par music is never easy. So it was with great trepidation I received the debut album from Small Planet Radio. They’re a New Jersey band with my friend Bill Lambusta from The Great Albums Podcast on bass. I can’t express how relieved I was to find that…it’s actually damned good. I can spotlight them without a hint of guilt. I was able to sit down with Bill and discuss the album, the band, and what the future may hold for them. Small Planet Radio “Anywhere” Anywhere At All Website: Official Facebook: SmallPlanetRadio Twitter: @SmlPlanetRadio Alternate Track Link Bandcamp Check Out The Great Albums Podcast

Melissa Goodwin Shepherd is a stop motion animator (on such projects as Robot Chicken) She’s a voice over artist (see again Robot Chicken but also films like Zootopia). And only then do we get to the reason I became aware of her…the music. Melissa Goodwin Shepherd “Be Still” Sirens Website: Official Facebook: NONE Twitter: @QAlohaMinty Alternate Track Link SOUNDCLOUD Selected from Listening Post 16.32 I love artists that have their hands in multiple mediums. With so many creative outlets, the creative mind can sort of cross-pollinate to some extent. The mix of puppeteering and music certainly makes me think of TuneYards and Merril Garbus. But…musically they’re worlds apart. So ignore that. Don’t think about Merril Garbus. It’s even totally different types of puppets. Completely unrelated. As a fun little bit of trivia to consider about Melissa Goodwin Shepherd that is equally irrelevant to her music…she’s Snow White’s sister. I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit this but i actually discovered this one on my own. While listening through the Fresh Cuts playlist to pick my favorite new music of the weekI noticed the name Goodwin. I looked at Melissa’s facial features on her album cover and wondered if there was a connection to Ginnifer Goodwin who as EVERYONE knows plays Snow White on ABCs “Once Upon a Time” every..everyone knows that right? Well I DID. And I was right. Snow White’s sister.

Former Song Spotters co-host Adam Gillespie returns to the show to share his love for the new Banks and Steelz album. Recorded in a bustling local brewery, this is a friendly collaboration to spotlight the friendly collaboration between RZA (Steelz) and his chess partner, Interpol’s Paul Banks (Banks). Banks and Steelz “Anything But Words” Anything But Words Website: Official Facebook: @BanksAndSteelz Twitter: @BanksAndSteelz Alternate Track Link Youtube Selected from Listening Post 16.34

The freshly graduated college friends from Fordham University that form the band Future Generations make cleanly produced indie pop in the vein of MGMT. It’s that same catchy high pitched synth hooks blended with smooth laid back vocals. The guys first met in the practice room of their college, recording a spontaneous song on the spot the same day they me and continued bond over what they call a “ a nerd-like, academic appreciation of all forms of pop music.” Future Generations “Thunder in the City” Future Generations Website: Official Facebook: @FutureGenerationsMusic Twitter: @FutureGenBand Alternate Track Link SOUNDCLOUD Selected from Listening Post 16.30 Through their time at college they kept crafting their nerdy pop music so that by the time they graduated, they had an album’s worth of music which Frenchkiss Records was more than happy to release. I’m not spotlighting these guys because they’ve broken some mold or are charting unknown paths through the musical landscape. No… The music follows recognizable pop patterns. And the lyrics are exactly what you’d expect from young men about to enter the…grown up world. The lyrics “ reflect the struggle with finding individual meaning in an infinitely large world and sharing those anxieties with loved ones.” This is stuff that’s been done, and will be done again. But, there’s a place for craftsmanship in my heart. They’re working for a formula that for me hasn’t gotten stale yet and they are doing it exceedingly well. Yeah, it sounds like music made by East coast college kids. Because they’re east Coast college kids. And this is really good East Coast college kid music, made with enough skill, attention to detail, and honest emotion that I’m VERY interested in where this band goes.

Typically, I pick the songs I spotlight from the Fresh Cuts new music playlist I help curate at AudioBonsai.com. So that means I don’t even start weighing my favorites until the full album has been released. I like it that way for a variety of reasons. I do get quite a bit of email from small record labels and marketing type folks. I usually ignore them..for a variety of reasons. I make exceptions though. When Jamie Halliday emails me a new artist…I pay attention. Jamie runs the very best bedroom based music label in the known universe: Audio AntiHero whose tagline is “Specialists in Commercial Suicide. My Band Is a Computer by CHUCK Alternate Link BANDCAMP CHUCK “Oceans” My Band is a Computer Website: Official Facebook: @OldMoneyRecords Twitter: @aCharlesGGibson Lable Audio Anithero From his spare bedroom in London, he hand selects quirky, lo-fi artists with not a single thought to whether or not the albums will sell. He just wants to help music he loves see the light of day. It’s a passion project and that’s exactly what makes ME love it too. For his newest project, Jamie is spinning off a new imprint for the AudioAntihero label. That imprint Old Money Records will be, if anything…an even greater charge toward commercial suicide in that it focuses on releasing music that has already existed in the public sphere but never in a fully released sort of way. For instance, the inaugural release under this imprint will be New York based singer/songwriter Charles Griffin Gibson who records under the moniker…CHUCK . Just CHUCK. The songs on the new album “My Band is a Computer” are a sort of greatest hits from CHUCK’s Bandcamp page. He wasn’t even looking for a record deal, Jamie Halliday found his music and decided it needed a proper release. And I agree. It fits Audio Antihero’s lo-fi crooner motif. Jamie himself refers to the music as “divisive” and CHUCK calls his music “Eclectic weird kid alt. pop from Brooklyn”. All that stacks up to collection of music that wouldn’t exists in it’s current form without the passion and drive of Jamie Halliday. And I’m thrilled that it DOES exist. The album is simple, honest, vulnerable and beautiful. It’s not for everyone, but it’s the kind of project that makes me single out Jamie Halliday’s emails for deeper exploration. I was fortunate enough to sit down and chat with CHUCK via Skype recently.

Society is a big name for Jamie Girdler and producer Brendan Lynch..but they make big sounds with the big picture of the culture in which we live in mind. In 2012 the band released their first single…which was (at the time) the only song they’d written. Well..they’ve made a few more songs now and that very first song called “All That We’ve Become” is now the title track to their debut album. You should listen to that song…hell, you should listen to the whole album. But I’m spotlighting the song “The Fear The Hate” Society “The Fear The Hate” All That We’ve Become Website: Official Facebook: @SocietyMusicOfficial Twitter: @society_music_ Alternate Track Link YOUTUBE Selected from Listening Post 16.30

There are times when words just no longer mean what they used to..leaving us with a linguistic void when we need to a word to mean what an overused word USED to mean. For instance “prolific”. It means releasing a lot of content. But we talk about an artist being “prolific” when they release an album a year. And that IS a fast pace. But, What then to do when it’s time to talk about San Fransisco’s Psych-Folk composer William Ryan Fritch? He’s averaging 3 albums a year. 3 full albums a year. Hell, the track I’m talking about on this episode is from an album released on May 20…and he’s already released that album’s follow-up. It is seriously head spinning amounts of music. And that’s one thing if the music is disposable, or simple, or just not very good in some way. But Fritch’s music is…well..none of those things. It’s weighty, significant and complex. “Entirety” from his new “New Words for Old Wounds” album was featured on Audio Bonsai’s Listening Post 16.29. Be sure to check out all the other tracks that are featured there that we just didn’t have time to make podcasts for. Alternate Link BANDCAMP William Ryan Fritch “Entirety” New Words for Old Wounds Website: Official Facebook: @WilliamRyanFritch Twitter: @WillyRyFry

This episode, I’m shining our lights on the Denver-based duo of Alright Alright. They are China and Seth Kent, a husband and wife duo that have been making music together on and off for over 12 years…with some interruptions in the creative flow for child raising. Jesse and I both fell in love with their single “Black Sheep” from their new EP entitled “Far Away”. I was able to sit down with China and Seth via Skype recently to discuss their music, their studio converted from a shipping container and the impact a good brewery scene has on the musical culture. Here is my conversation with the band, Alright Alright. Alright Alright “Black Sheep” Far Away Website: Official Facebook: @ChinaKentMusic Twitter: @FineChinaKent Alternate Track Link YOUTUBE Selected from Listening Post 16.31

Long time listeners know that I have, for the past few years, been grappling with the heavier end of the music spectrum. Black Metal, Sludge Metal, Doom Metal, Post-Metal, Meta-Metal. Ok..I made the last one up but mark my words it’ll be a genre soon. The point is that I’m fascinated by the complexity and raw emotions of these heavy genres, but I’ve yet to really internalize the art form to a degree that lets me tell you that i really GET it. I mean..I’m at the point that where I can periodically find a band that I can tell is really nailing it, even if a lot of the subtlety is lost on me. I bring that up as a way to say, metal heads, feel free to school me on this. I am actively learning and welcome your input. That said, when I DO find a band that jumps up and slaps me about with their awesomeness…I’m not going to let my lack of intimate knowledge stop me from spotlighting what i fell in love with. I say that to you guys every episode…so I’m living by my own rules. I say all this not to get long winded about me and my personal relationship with black metal…but rather cuz i know this kind of music is a difficult one for lots of music fans and I want to preface this episode by saying, I get that…I’m with ya…but here’s an album that managed to impress me. Case in point, Numenorean’s debut album “Home” Alternate Link BANDCAMP Numenorean “Thirst” Home Website: Bandcamp Facebook: @NumenoreanOfficial Depending on what critic you find, this band from Calgary is either post-black metal or maybe a blend of shoe-gaze, black metal and post-metal. I have no idea. But they jumped out at me first and foremost for their similarities to Deafheaven, one of the first black metal bands i was able to say i truly LOVED. Now, some black metal fans will say I’ve just insulted Numenorean by comparing them to what my former co-host Adam referred to as the “Coldplay of Black Metal.” Maybe. But what Deafheaven and now Numenorean do well for me is to create a sonic structure that truly surrounds you. It’s brilliantly chaotic in a way that envelopes you. It alternates between brutal and delicate. The vocals are guttural…but never comically so. If you occasionally giggle when some metal vocalist turns on their monster voice….I’m right there with you. This isn’t that. This is anguish and raw emotion so strong it is actively shedding a dude’s vocal chords. Numenorean’s “Home” album deals with the search for comfort in a cruel and nihilistic world. It’s a typical black metal nearly suicidal theme. But…god the execution here is just fantastic. Let’s start with the album cover. I know I know..I always wanna talk about album covers…but this time it’s kinda important. There are two album covers. The one made so media outlets can show a cover (ie the one I used for this episode’s cover art) and then there is the real album cover. The real one…is a picture of a dead child. She’s maybe 5 with just the hint of a peaceful smile on her lips. It’s haunting. And at first glance it’s just shock value graphics, but after spending some time with the album…the cover…changes. It’s not the shock of death their going for here. It’s the peace..the home she’s found by never having to face the cold world that singers Byron and Brandon Lemley shout out against. She is forever in a state of childlike innocence that the rest of us have lost and instinctively seek. It’s still not an uplifting message…but it’s far more thought-provoking than i had assumed. And far deeper than what i expected from a band that took its name from a Silmarillion reference. The album is just five tracks. The middle is a 3 minute instrumental interlude and the rest of the album is 4 tracks that average about 10 minutes a piece. We’re spotlighting the second movement called “Thirst” “Thirst” from their new “Home” album was featured on Audio Bonsai’s Listening Post 16.29. Be sure to check out all the other tracks that are featured there that we just didn’t have time to make podcasts for.