Check out a special new track from Not Blood, Paint‘s upcoming CD in our jukebox! The boys over at NB,P were kind enough to share a sneak peek from La Normalidad. Check it out and then hit up their CD release party Saturday, February 25th, for a chance to own all the tracks.
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Check out our “Goings On Around Town” calendar (to the right) for our personal highlights this February. Multiple CD releases, zombies, demonic possession and quasi-intelligent robots abound. It may be the springtime of our souls but it’s the long dark teatime of our obsessions. Our pick of the month is Not Blood, Paint’s (pictured right) CD release party at Collapsable Hole on the 25th. These guys put on one hell of a show on a regular basis (catch them tonight, Feb 10, at the Bushwick Empire 1st Annual Prohibition Party for an example), but they’ll be going all out for their release show.
On to the jukebox!
The “influences” Ken Beasley lists on his MySpace page include some questionable entries. Alongside what you might expect to find, he inserts the likes of Arrested Development, Stevie Wonder and Zeppelin. He also includes an impressive list of collaborators including the phenomenal Rob Jost. Besides a slight hint of jam band sounds, however, you’ll have to listen a little deeper to hear these influences. Nested firmly in country and blues, virtuoso Beasley’s recent release “Greenhorn” is punctuated with his signature understated flamenco nuances. We recently had the pleasure of gate crashing a sound check before one of his solo performances at Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg. That was all we needed to know this was no ordinary singer-songwriter.
A similar tale of good fortune and coincidence led me to Ann Arbor’s traveling band (and vaguely Waits-ishly named) The Ragbirds. The Ragbirds may call the road their home, as the title of their latest release Travelling Machine suggests, but you’d need an airplane (or at least a dugout canoe) to visit all the lands their music hails from. For me it was the MTA taking me to work at Webster Hall; for them it was their new Ford E-350 converted to run on waste vegetable oil. Led by multi-instrumentalist Erin Zindle, their music is a vast roots exploration ranging from good old Americana and gospel to West African healing chants to South American tarantellas, Indian ragas, etc, you get the point, and so forth. While you see them on the road quite a bit you won’t see them back in New York anytime soon.
Local duo KNTRLR is wonderfully schizophrenic. Their songs are like a road trip from your acid dreams, winding and curving through an eerie suburbia that soon gives way to a hushed, melodic forest, its trees swaying their long limbs as if they’re waving at you. It’s pleasant and strange and just when you’ve been lulled, their trunks suddenly open up and engulf your car, swallow it down then spit it out on a grungy, graffitied city street with misunderstood children singing on the sidewalks.
KNTRLR’s live show feels more like a long, sonic whole than individual numbers; singer/guitarist Mike Henry creates a theme, chews on it for awhile then scatters its pieces throughout a set so that they hearken one another in the least expected moments. Despite how unusual this can sound, it actually flows in its own, natural way. Drummer Chuck Emerson keeps everything rooted with his hard-hitting, rock-and-roll style that grows and fades along with Henry’s wanderings. KNTRLR is unique, surprising and completely engaging.
The latest album by The Bicycle Boys, Brooklyn-based David Schneider’s one man band, is also wonderfully mental but in a totally different way. The Little Guy Doesn’t Stand a Chance is packed with tight, energetic songs that explode from the get-go with tune “Atheist in a Foxhole.” In comparison to KNTRLR’s road trip, The Bicycle Boys is more like a futuristic space tour on a surreal rocket ship. First up is the little planet filled with happy-go-lucky surfers, then onto the scary planet with self-deprecating mutants, then a loop around the glowing, vibrant star with comets flying in the background. While the individual songs have their own vibes, there’s still a consistently upbeat and airy yet dark, honest feel to all of them. The term “prog” can be misleading but The Bicycle Boys does incorporate tempo changes, unusual song structures and interesting time signatures in a way that will appeal to fellow musicians without being too odd for the average listener. In fact, the smooth transitions and addictive melodies are solid examples of how to make a brilliant pop/rock song without losing musicianship. What’s even more impressive is that Schneider wrote every song and played every instrument on the recording, as a birthday present to himself.
Enjoy new tunes from both groups on our Jukebox (open in a new tab for uninterrupted play). A couple other local tunes snuck their way onto the playlist, too; if you’d like to submit your own music for consideration, please email readinnrhythm@gmail.com. For more info on KNTRLR and other great NYC/Boston bands, check out local label Goodnight Records.
