Category: Music Reviews

Lael Summer Uses Soul to Fight the Good Fight

Lael Summer’s debut album, titled Burden to Bear is to be released on 21st January, 2014 through True Groove Records. Apart from Lael’s cover of Hall & Oates’ Do What You Want, Be What You Are, all the tracks are written by Lael Summer and Tomas Doncker (album produced by Tomas Doncker and James Dellatacoma, with executive producer, Marla Mase).

Old school soul and funk meets modern-day themes and a contemporary sensibility in the lyrics, all wrapped up in a polished pop production. This New York City performer has had her battles and explores some of her demons in these songs. She has a soulful voice, which she uses well on both the up-tempo songs and the ballads.

Wringing every nuance from a melody, she has soul and r&b in her DNA.  The line-up of accomplished musicians on the album, which includes Tomas Doncker, complements the vocals so well.

I’m a sucker for that fat horn section sound, which used to regularly fill a dance floor, and opener, I Need a Man struts its stuff beautifully. Apparently, the man referred to here is coming online slots up short in the bedroom! Hard-hitting lyrics also appear on You’re So Small; again, she’s telling the guy just what she thinks of him! Lael shows her sensitive side on the emotionally moving Make You Whole. I’m also a sucker for fat, funky keyboards, which appear on It’s About Soul, a song about body image and how women try to live up to what they see in the magazines and “some ideal”. This is a feisty Lael Summer, again telling it how it is without compromise.

A slow and sensual Latin beat with sultry vocals on In Time puts the listener in a mellow mood once more, and there’s more sensual lyrics on Kiss and Tell, a piece of soulful pop. As for the cover here, Lael does justice to the Daryl Hall and John Oates song, Do What You Want, Be What You Are with a soulful rendition and the musicians in great form. What Do I Know (about love) is a pop / r&b track, once more with a great arrangement. Look Around Me has those funky horns again. The Good Fight has a plaintive piano intro leading to an uplifting, rousing finale with Lael in defiant mood. Other tracks are titled Too Much and Unconditionally.

Burden to Bear takes you through different moods and emotions and shows that soul and r&b can be about whatever a songwriter wants it to be about. There are songs here to dance to, to be romantic to and to set the world straight to – a musical and personal achievement.

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/laelsummer/sets/burden-to-bear

 

 

 

Amelia Scalies – Blossoming with a Message

 

If someone is 14 years old and promoting herself as a singer songwriter, she needs to have the maturity to back it up. Fortunately, Amelia Scalies does and her melodies and lyrics are impressive. It’s always hard to describe a younger creative person without sounding patronizing, which is something she doesn’t deserve.

Amelia, who hails from Philadelphia, released her debut album, titled I Should’ve Known on July 18th, 2013. It contains twelve tracks, eleven of which are her original compositions. The remaining track is her cover version of Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance. This is pop music with a harder edge lyrically and ventures into musical influences that channel her individual style well. Her themes include the sting of love going wrong and the sometimes painful ebb and flow of friendships, so important during adolescence. However, it would be unfair to dismiss these lyrics as mere teenage angst; they’re more truthful than that. Given that her compositions carry a lot of emotional weight, it’s not surprising, then, that the one cover she has chosen is My Chemical Romance’s classic.

Oh, she does like writing songs when she’s pissed off! Opening track, Bottom of the Ocean is an angry slice of thrash pop verging on pop punk. Small Talk Friends, my favourite track, is in similar vein. In this song, she threatens to hit back at the bitchiness aimed at her in the school hall and hit back hard. I wouldn’t like to cross her when she’s roused! More Than Words is another thrash pop blast of anger and she’s not in a forgiving mood. The title track, I Should’ve Known, reminds me of Ladykillers, the Britpop hit from Lush.

There is country tinged pop here too, with sweet country guitar, a genre that really suits her voice and her song writing too, on tracks, Phoenix, Rose Blossom, Macey Brown (Green-Eyed Girl) and What I Should’ve Said. Rose Blossom shows that she is capable of writing about the joy of falling in love and not just about being hurt and angry. What I Should’ve Said contains heart-breaking lyrics about a loved one slipping away and regret over not telling her she was loved.

Don’t Let Them Win addresses the topic of bullying, urging victims to stay strong and not to let themselves be overwhelmed. Amelia wrote this when just 10 years old.

Amelia’s voice isn’t outstanding in any way, but she uses it well and it will mature, no doubt, as she grows older and as she continues to perform live. Perhaps more importantly, she is a good role model for young girls going through problems, sending out a message that in preserving strength and dignity, you can win in the end.

https://soundcloud.com/tony-scalies/sets/i-shouldve-known

 

 

 

 

 

The Lockhearts Unlock the Power

 

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How to make the ‘performing to camera’ video more interesting? Day-glo colours! Mashing up  60’s psychedelic  colours  with 80’s style rock,  The Lockhearts present their Freakshow track (released 25th October 2013)  in an entertaining debut video with lots of tricksy fluorescent lighting effects popping out of the darkness. Bikini-clad babes also make an appearance, but it’s done quite tastefully for once. Feature film director, Tanzeal Rahim has brought fresh thinking  to the classic performing band, promotional video. With a catchy chorus, stonking good guitar solo and lots of energy driving the whole thing along, Freakshow is a radio-friendly and car stereo-friendly song, which can only be helped casino online by more people being aware of it through this  video. This kind of sing-along rock will never go away.

Hailing from Sydney, the quartet has been likened to Cheap Trick and the Foo Fighters. They are Tim Meaco on lead vocals and guitar, Jameel Majam on bass guitar, Age Vella on lead guitar and Brenton James on drums. They’re a hit on MTV, with Freakshow having peaked at Number 2 on the MTV Hits Chart.

The future looks busy for The Lockhearts, with plans for more recording and for extensive tours. Long hair. Tight trousers. Powerhouse rock. Arenas get ready. They may just blow your roofs off.

View Video at http://goo.gl/flNJdJ

 

 

 

The Plum Magnetic Cooks up a Musical Gumbo

 

What do you get when you put an electric 6-string banjo, a tabla, guitar, bass and drums together? The Plum Magnetic! And don’t you just love that name? Terms such as ‘world music’ and ‘fusion’ are bandied around a lot, but this group of musicians has embraced these musical areas with a passion on their album, Terra Animata (released 23rd February 2013).

They are a quartet from New Orleans and with a cooking pot full of different ingredients, just like New Orleans itself, this musical stew bubbles away, spitting out jazz, reggae, classical Indian music, country, Latin and more; each time you listen to a track, you get a different flavour. Only the most accomplished musicians could carry this off. In the hands of the less able, it could have been a mish-mash. Other instruments used include saxophone, trumpet, steel pan and cello.

The cover art for the album is infused with the spirit of William Blake and promises something epic and dramatic, but what we get is something far more gentle and subtle.

Comparisons to Bela Fleck, Talking Heads, The Grateful Dead and the Mahavishnu Orchestra will only take you a little way in knowing what to expect from these eight tracks. This music doesn’t hit you over the head; it kinda seeps into your brain like a raga, and the high level of musicianship keeps your interest. Four of the eight tracks are over nine minutes long, but they aren’t self-indulgent; it just takes that long for the complexities to develop. Every note on this album was probably carefully rehearsed, but sometimes it sounds like an impromptu jam.

Spring is the opening track, softly lapping the airwaves with echoing a-cappella, harmonic vocals. At just 25 seconds long, it’s a gentle introduction and unlike anything else heard on the album. Apart from Spring, I prefer the tracks without vocals, which I don’t think are of the same quality as the instrumentation and for the layers of sounds to carry me along undisturbed. Standout tracks for me are The Electric Jungle, with melodic banjo and cello (it’s not often you see those two instruments in the same sentence), Shesh Besh, one of the more straightforward rock tracks, led by melodic guitar and The Delicious, a gentle jazz, country and rock track  with banjo and guitar weaving in and out. As for the closing title track, Terra Animata, it’s the most complicated, with some pleasing Latin rhythms and Tijuana horns, but overall, I think the vocals definitely detract from it.

Terra Animata is an ambitious project, and it’s good for fresh things to drip into your ears. Certainly, jazz on the banjo is a new and welcome sensation for me! The juxtaposition of different instruments is intriguing, and it’s interesting to try to deconstruct it. But for all the complexity going on, my favourite tracks are the ones where less is more.

 

https://theplummagnetic.bandcamp.com/album/terra-animata

 

 

 

The Power of Kicking Down Borders

Jason Garriotte is a beard and checked shirt type of guy, as seen on the video for The Power To Be Alive remix.  Give him an acoustic guitar and he’s the quintessential folkie.  His voice is rich, sounding quite powerful, and his guitar style is crisp.

The original version of The Power To Be Alive appeared on his debut EP, Reflections of Reality, which came out in January 2012.This folk acoustic  set of songs has been given a ‘folktronica’ remix as a result of Garriotte’s love of collaborating. The Chords of Truth project, as it became known, saw numerous versions of the EP’s tracks, with different producers and performers bringing their take from the world of electronic music.

Reflections of Reality (The Chameleon Acidfolk Remix) was released on 3rd December 2013.   Electronic producer, The Chameleon, has enabled Garriotte to take his songs into another realm on these remixed versions. For The Power To Be Alive track, the folkie singer songwriter teamed up with the rapper, Man-u-iLL, resulting in what has been described as acidfolk/hip hop.

This song urges us to achieve our goals, giving out a positive message – “the world is yours”, with Man-u-iLL underlining the message in rap. It’s well produced with vocals upfront and clear. For me, some raps detract from the enjoyment of existing songs when they’ve been parachuted in, but Man-u-iLL’s contribution adds to this song. When comparing this to the original, the ‘fills’ are welcome and the rap part is a bonus. It’s two worlds colliding and it shouldn’t work but it does. Equally a blend of disparate worlds, the video is entertaining and intriguing. Both cityscapes and rustic scenes are the setting, whilst the two performers do their thing. However, they are joined by a strange presence – a man in a mask playing keyboards and wandering around kinda menacingly.

All in all, then, both song and video throw out surprises. Uplifting messages cross all boundaries, and I hope this helps to dispel any genre prejudices people may have.

Official Music Video (released 10-22-13):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ73WSXTlEA


Streaming Links:
http://soundcloud.com/chordsoftruthremixed/sets/reflections-of-reality-thechameleon-acidfolk-remix/

 

Sound Strider Goes Further

 

Sound Strider (real name, Sam Waks) is an exponent of ‘intelligent dance music’. His music on this 5-track Intrepid Travels EP (released 5th November 2013) has been couched in descriptions I struggle to understand, electronic music not being something I listen to a lot. I really should listen to more, as some of it appeals to me, whilst other stuff leaves me cold. So, versed only in The Chemical Brothers and some electronica from the 1970s, I approached with interest, the cover art having instantly intrigued me.

What appealed to me, even before listening, are the ideas behind the concept. Electronic ambient sounds fused with psychedelia promises to bring the past and the future together in some sort of mind-expanding hybrid out in space. As for intelligence, Waks has explored worlds beyond reaching oblivion on the dance floor. Spoken word samples and voice effects add another dimension to keep our interest; some discordant notes actually add interest, too.

Going for rhythm rather than melody, I won’t pretend to know how a lot of these sounds are achieved. Loops that don’t get bogged down in endless repetition, synths and samples make up the EP, along with inventive percussion, particularly inventive on Betoniere. With beats driving the tracks along, I could easily run or work out to them.

Waks says he was inspired to make this EP after reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. This is an account by Tom Wolfe of the exploits of Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters in the 1960s. This merry band went across America in a gaily painted school bus dubbed ‘Further’, as seen on the cover of the EP, stopping to party with the aid of hallucinogenic drugs and light effects. On the cover, however, the bus is speeding past Saturn. Waks makes the point that Kesey’s movement was a forerunner for the dance parties of today. The tracks have got some psychedelic elements, but it doesn’t invite us to tune in and drop out, so prevalent in the hippie era. It’s more of a stimulant to the senses than an invitation to dream.

Another link to Ken Kesey is the use of one of the track’s titles, namely Menlo Park. It’s surely not a coincidence that Kesey worked as an aide at Menlo Park Veteran’s Hospital, where he also volunteered to participate in studies into certain drugs. Kesey’s experiences as a hospital worker and medical volunteer inspired him to write One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Opening track, The Stakes, is chock full of ideas. These include  a rocket launch countdown and the speech from President Lyndon Johnson’s infamous 1964 advertising campaign, called Daisy, when he implores the American people to protect their children and vote for him rather than Barry Goldwater, who was gung-ho about using nuclear weapons.

This music is sometimes very complex, as in Childhood’s End (is this title taken from Arthur C. Clarke’s novel?), a complex array of disparate sounds that somehow manage to dovetail together.

Sam Waks has brought fresh ideas to the electronic genre and been disciplined enough to make each track about the right length. He has lived in many places, been involved as a producer and as a DJ and explored many genres before discovering electronic music as a means to express himself. Like a Merry Prankster, he’s on a journey; his destination is ‘further’.

 Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/soundstrider/sets/intrepid-travels-ep).