Round Up

Here’s a round up of what’s come across my desk recently but still haven’t had a chance to write full reviews about yet:

Just heard an interesting jazzy vocal/piano collaboration with touches of the blues by Gregory Generet & Richard Johnson on their 2 Of A Kind collection. The Get Up Kids/Kicker teaser EP of new material from these infectious pop/punkers. From NYC The Hungry March Band/Running Through With The Sadness pitch some funky instrumental marching band sounds mashed up with R&B/Soul sensibilities. Fascinator/Water Sign is a dance floor ready one-man show who fiddles around with electro-psych ideas. Got me some diverse romps with ska, punk, and reggae sounds on Haters Dozen by the Hub City Stompers. River Whyless/Kindness, A Rebel is what you get when thisAshville, NC quartet mixes high-energy indie rock with neo-folk sensibility. If you like bands like Sonic Youth or A Place To Bury Strangers then you’ll really like the engaging explorations in the art rock/post-punk realm from Nikola Tesla’s Missing Weapon from Astral.

What Makes E4T Run

The hard part of doing music for a living, is learning to move through the transitions of being an artist. Every artists’ story is somewhat the same. At an early age some sort of epiphany is experienced where consciousness meets Pop Culture and desire. Then the fuse gets lit for the artists to start experimenting with the basics of music. Joining a music class at school, having older siblings or cousins that have records you have not heard of.

Along the way many artists are shaped by emotional adversity of some kind. Whether it be the Father son conflicts that drove an artist like Prince, or maybe the tragic early deaths of the Mother figure, as in the case of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It often serves as a catalyst for the artist to engage in intellectual curiosity, create and strive for success. The intellectual curiosity soon turns into amateur attempts to create and emulate the artists that the kids hear and that gets their neurons firing on all cylinders. There is no recorded evidence of any artist with a track record of note, avoiding this paradigm. E4T is no exception to this rule. 

Formed in the Borough of Brooklyn and backed by the up and coming Pretty Money Record label, we have an engaging new artist here.  E4T stands for “Everything for Teddy”. Teddy was the cousin of E4T rapper Milly H. and Teddy apparently was one of their earliest fans and supporters who was so excited by what his Cuz was doing, that he kept on asking them to write a song for him.  After his tragic death Milly H. and his E4T band mate, Sleepy Hoolie, decided to keep Teddy around and alive with the name of their musical union. 

Out of this mission comes the track How Do I Lose. It is a good question! Does one lose by going through the creative process to the end point of having a record to sell?  I do not think so in this case. There is a lot here to make the case that if this act stays together and keeps focused on creativity, they soon could be experiencing success.  Only time will tell if this act will fulfill the promise shown in this release. We are going to be keeping an eye on E4T, as should you!

Round Up

Here’s a round up of what’s come across my desk recently but still haven’t had a chance to write full reviews about yet:

Endearing slacker rock that comes across as sweet and slightly funky is what you get with Yung Heazy/Whenever You’re Around I Hate Everything Less. Body Salt/Sex Tape – Electro/soul duo blending R&B flavor with heavy synths. Tas Cru/Memphis Song – Easygoing originals reflecting the spirit of the blues. Cyrille Aimee/Live – Multi-lingual jazz vocalist shares vibrant and diverse live recordings. Oneohtrix Point Never/Age Of – A sonic swirl of broad influence and electronic genre subversion. If you like Tame Impala then you’ll really like Melody’s Echo Chamber Bon Voyage and their psychedelic beach pop wanderings characterized by lilting vocals and odd interludes. Pink Sky/Forms is a mix of minimal, atmospheric electro duo akin to Jon Hopkins. Coco O’Connor/This Ol’ War – Poignant storytelling with a broad vision. Want some mostly instrumental ska with a hearty mix great vocal additions? Then you’ll want The Georgetown Orbits Solar Flares. Femdot/Delacreme Vol. 2 – a versatile Chicago-based hip hop artist tackles a plethora of issues in seamless fashion.

Hram Vybez - Prince Amine

Perfectly timed to ride the wild wave of Summer, this amalgamation of world influences adds up to one fun listen.  Speaking to the youth of the world is one talented youth himself. Prince Amine, is not yet in his twenties, but yet he achieves something not easy to do. Being a young artist who manages to speak to his generation about the things they care about. We all know that the younger generation always cares about getting busy in the back seat of cars. Prince Amine addresses that in the smooth and funky first track, Princess of my Nation.  The sweetest sound is the unclicking of a seatbelt, while being parked in a secluded spot for a couple of hours. 

You can feel yourself transported away to Spain, in the yearning Por my Vida.  A slight flamenco feel and moody bubbling drums conjures up the beating heart and desires of our souls. Prince Amine, follows in the R&B/Rap traditions of such artists like Rick James, and Plan B who explores the darker desires of the global youth movements with its free sexual attitudes and practices.  This theme rides on through all of the tracks on this hot album.  Fuego is where the songs start to venture into the Too-Hot-To-Handle category.  One has to wonder if the continental influence will be helpful or a hindrance to this artist’s career in the long run.  Traipsing around the world has clearly helped this young artist marshal his influences to make impactful creative music.

As a young person, who was born in Morocco, you can hear that he has absorbed all the African rhythms and funk, before he was whisked to Spain, where he learned the traditions of Iberian music as well as incorporating Flamenco rap into a single minded world artist mélange.  He is now settled in Canada and is working on becoming a vibrant player in the commercial Rap /Hip Hop game.  Hram Vybez is not going to win him standing accolades from the “me too” movement, but that is not what this playa’s game is all about. He is standing for keeping it real, in a day and age when reality gets more and more distorted daily. He tells all the ladies who he is and sometimes he even tells the ladies who they are too.

Prince Amine, is a going to be a name in the game for a long while if he can keep this kind of pace going. Being a one track mind kind of artist, will keep both his fans happy and Prince Amine on the sexy artistic path he is clearly blazing.  He is a good looking performer who is out there doing it for real. Hitting the clubs for appearances will only help this artist take the next steps on his path, towards being valid in the international Hip Hop R&B Rap stew that is bubbling up all over the world.

Album Review: Seven by Beach House

Seven, the new triumph from Beach House, opens sounding like Glasgow-flavored The Fugs on Viagra, drawing influences from Gram Parsons and The Birthday Party, with a knowing nod to (the criminally underrated) DJ Spooky.

Seven is the garage-emo-ers' attempt at pitch-perfect, fashionable, flawless soloing rock.

Seven resorts to sentimentality—for good reason: Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally were writing this music in a Ph.D. program. Thus, Seven marks a musical turning point, á la the Beatles' White Album (except if Ringo wrote every song).

"Dark Spring" echoes strains of a The Stooges-esque dirge, with a penchant for minimalist guitar sheen and esoteric vocal orchestration, while the more carefully orchestrated "Pay No Mind" slows it down, reminiscent of Sun Ra on heroin. However, Beach House provides a perfect counter-point with "Lemon Glow". But such lack of design has its own charm. The result? explosive, cosmic, dreamlike freak-tronica. Perfect for a road trip during a blizzard at the beach.

www.beachhousebaltimore.com