Nevermind The Posers

See ya in the pit.

2009 PacTour Review December 17, 2009

Filed under: Concert Reviews — NVMP @ 5:05 AM
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     Tuesday, November 24 @ The Gramercy Theatre NYC  

     I have to admit that I was quite biased against Saosin, my only experience with them being an irritating ringtone clipped from the chorus of what could be the one-thousandth ‘please don’t kill yourself’ type of song called “You’re Not Alone”.  Aside from this one over-clichéd travesty of a song, I had no prior musical knowledge of either Saosin or the other featured acts on the 2009 PacTour.  I tend to ignore anything that even slightly sounds of emo or progressive rock; if I wanted to be bored to death by that repetitive/cookie-cutter/interchangeable shit, I would go work in Hot Topic.  I fully expected to spend the evening clawing at my ears as I drowned in a sea of posers.  The night did start off on a promising note: as I arrived early to get a good spot in the photo pit, I was greeted with a mysteriously closed Irving Plaza.  Lucky for me, the sign on the window announced a change in venue to the Gramercy Theatre, which is an even more cramped venue a few blocks away.  Thanks for the last-minute heads up.  

Eye Alaska:     

     I wouldn’t know what to say about this band, as I didn’t have the chance to see them; the show was listed on Irving Plaza’s website AND the ticket as starting at 8’o clock.  Even though I had to spend an extra 10 minutes walking to the alternate venue, I still arrived a few minutes before show time, and was greeted with the sound of what I thought to be an early starting Eye Alaska on stage.  Nope, as I learned later, they had finished several minutes beforehand.  Terrific.  On a side note, I did listen to some of their tracks on YouTube later on that night… No thanks.
Rating: Shrug  

Innerpartysystem:  

     What I thought was the first song in Eye Alaska’s set turned out to be the electro-rock stylings of Innerpartysystem, which I only discovered as the set ended.  I wasn’t very receptive to these fellows during their first song, but found myself mildly digging them as the set jogged on.  The set was equivalent to being at an alternative rock rave, as trance and rock duke it out in a room of people who had no idea what to make of the spectacle.  Stand out tracks for a first timer included the frenetic swaying of “Last Nite in Brooklyn”, the She Want’s Revenge-esque “This Town, Your Grave”, “Die Tonite, Live Forever”, and my personal favorite of the night, “Don’t Stop”, which was firmly lodged in my brain thanks to the catchy “This is Entertainment” chorus.  As much as I hate to admit it, they were a good band with good stage presence, complete with nite-club strobes and live vocal tweaking that drew me in and caused me to groove out.  Thanks a lot Innerpartysystem; I won’t ever be running out to purchase your albums, but I liked your set.  And please give me your tweak box/vocoder contraptions.
Rating: Pass  

P.O.S.:

     I did dub P.O.S. the obvious joke, Piece Of Shit, after listening to some of what I felt were promising but still less than desirable tunes on YouTube.  His set could be summed up in an early comment he made to the crowd, “Some people are hell-bent on not liking Hip-hop, so I want to see all of the peeps not having fun, as I rap at them for the next hour”.  And he did just that, tearing up his set with a mish-mash flow of controlled chaos; layered over commanding beats reminiscent of sped up jazz grooves, being trampled over by tribal beats (in a good way).  Judging by the crowd’s response by the end of the set, the MC and his trusty DJ succeeded in winning a good portion of the scenesters over.  Standout tracks included the punk intensity of “Drum Roll” and “Optimist”, which features a rigid beat equivalent to the sound of tap dancing on acid during an earthquake.  The only problem to be had with his set was actually the fault of the sound man, who laid the base on so heavy that it made most of the random music samples damn near inaudible.  All around pretty good.
Rating: Sold  

Saosin:   

     When it comes to emo bands, I get more of a thrill listening to the drums being tuned before the start of the set, and this situation was no different.  Sadly, headliner Saosin proved to be the weakest act of the evening, lacking the attention grabbing presence of the earlier acts, instead relying on the usual emo charm towards the pseudo-loyal crowd.  This was not a shared sentiment, as the crowd of young-ins finally awoke from their hip-hop enduced coma, as Saosin took the stage around 9pm in a swirl of smoke and lights, railing out a two song free-for-all that the crowd seem to eagerly devour.  All I could wonder at that point was where these people were when the other acts were on the stage.  They played a 75 minute set, which seemed to be continuous, as I couldn’t tell one song from the other.  I also had no clue what songs were being played (thanks in part to the band not announcing many of the songs that they were playing).  But thanks to the audience having a karaoke simulcast with the band, I was at least able to somewhat follow along and guess the song titles.  In all honesty, there was a song or two that I did find to be mildly listenable, but just as with earlier bands, the dreaded sound man peaked all levels and successfully drowned most of the audibility, which is completely unnecessary for such a small venue.  I guess it makes the music better.  By the time “You’re Not Alone” was played, an hour in, I was thankful I had earplugs to prevent total deafness.  They ended their set with an eight minute jam following “They Perched”, which I chose to watch comfortably from the TV’s downstairs.  They ended the show by 10:15, so all the ‘tough as nails’ youngsters could get to bed in time.  Hooray.
Rating: Not for me  


Set list:  

Secrets
Sleepers
Voices
Changing
Collapse
Deep Down
Far Better to Learn
The Alarming Sound
On My Own
You’re Not Alone
Seven Years
Fireflies
They Perched (Extended into a jam)

     All in all, the 2009 PacTour turned out to be a decent show.  Although their style of music makes me queasy, Saosin really has to be given credit for putting together an eclectic roster of acts.  Not a lot of bands would be ballsy enough to select the counter genres of electro/rock and rap to fill out a show bill; this goes double for a progressive/emo band.   

Review written by Mark Bonczek

 

All photos taken by Mark B. and Lauren B.  

 

Modern Election Process December 14, 2009

Filed under: Too Cool for a Category — NVMP @ 11:48 PM
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By: Sean M. Davis    

‘Modern Election Process’ is a representation of the rhetoric and manipulation that takes place during U.S. presidential elections.  The piece is ordered like a fugue, each distinct political sample enters as a voice and then is edited to act as counterpoint against subsequent entrances.  For those of you who are not familiar with what a fugue is, it is a musical form where multiple voices, or parts, enter the piece in succession and then act as complimentary to the new entries.  To put it more plainly, one voice enters, makes a musical statement, then another voice enters while the first plays a secondary role to the new part and this relationship continues with each new entry. 

     Part of my goal here was to show how much is hidden from the public during the election process, so I took segments from President (then Senator) Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” speech and broke them down to their base frequencies and layered the fugal sections on top.  The idea being that the “truth” is unrecognizable underneath the facade that most Americans see during the time leading up to a Presidential election.  The aesthetic is meant to be strange and disconcerting to the listener, much like if one were to really listen to, and examine, the insults and ridiculous assumptions that candidates profess about each other during their campaigns. 

     This is not meant to be easy on the ears, it is not meant to be something that one would sit down and listen to time and time again.  This piece stands for nothing besides what I layed out in the preceding paragraph, its sole purpose is to stimulate genuine thought and criticism of our Modern Election Process.  

To listen to ‘Modern Election Process’ please visit Sean M. Davis’s fan page. 
The song will be on the music player to the left.   

 

Rebels For A Cause: NYC Hosts Harley-Davidson’s Army of Artist Rebels November 18, 2009

Filed under: Too Cool for a Category — NVMP @ 10:18 PM
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by Dave Maresca 

    

     October saw more come to New York City than just the cold weather.  After a successful showing in Santa Monica in February, Harley-Davidson brought its “Art of Rebellion” art show to the Big Apple at la.venue in Chelsea; featuring prominent rock-n-roll artists displaying their craft, talent, and rebellious nature with a portion of the proceeds going to support the CUE Art Foundation (http://www.cueartfoundation.org/).  This was the second installment in what Harley-Davidson expects to be an ongoing series of shows aimed at both reaching out to a new generation of Harley riders as well as supporting artists and the art community at large.

     Bringing together an array of talents, both emerging and legendary, the event dripped rock-n-roll.  Complete with a live DJ, refreshments, and all the art and music anecdotes an MP3 memo recorder can handle, the event was truly remarkable, bridging the world of traditional art and the world of music.  Your friends at NVMP were there to bring you the stone skinny.   

     In attendance were the likes of Brian Ewing, who’s work would be recognized most by any who attended Van’s Warped Tour within the last 5 years, (most notably the 15th Anniversary poster featuring his signature skulls), and living legends John Van Hamersveld (his “grinning Johnny” image worn on a t-shirt given to Mick Jagger evolved into the Rolling Stones “tongue logo” and also responsible for the Grateful Dead’s “skull tongue”graphic), and Frank Kozik (known throughout the art community for reviving the “lost” art of rock-n-roll concert posters).  They were joined by 7 of their contemporaries to display the custom painted Harley Iron 833 fuel tanks they painted specifically for this event.

     Each artist painted one Harley-Davidson Iron 883TM fuel tank, and displayed two of their signature posters for the show.  The Iron 883 is part of the Harley-Davidson’s Dark Custom family, which revives a vintage feel through a more minimalist design, harkening back to the days of World War II motorcycles and those that followed in the 50s and 60s.  Arguably, this was the time when the American rebel was born, riding a motorcycle, rocking to Jimi Hendrix, and sticking it to the man simply by tearing up the open road.  We can’t think of a better way to celebrate it. 

     NVMP had a chance to sit down with several of the artists at the event, who were cool enough to let the gloves come off and give us the real stories behind their work.  We will be releasing portions of these interviews in an upcoming series of articles, each one highlighting a different artist and their stories of rock-n-roll legendre.  So be on the lookout for these upcoming stories, photos, and more, and as always, keep it poser-free.

 

“We want to be free to ride our machines without being hassled by the man.” – Harpoon, quote from Heavenly Blues, The Wild Angels

 

Hypernova signs to Narnack Records! November 5, 2009

Filed under: Too Cool for a Category — NVMP @ 7:00 PM
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***coming soon CMJ reviews and Art of Rebellion interviews and thoughts***

Was the month of October on steroids, or was it just me?  There’s so much to catch up on, but something that I just couldn’t wait to post is Hypernova’s video for “Sinners”.  Congratulations to the band for getting signed to Narnack Records last week.  Their full length debut Through the Chaos, produced by Herwig Maurer and mixed by Sean Beavan (NIN, No Doubt, Marilyn Manson) will be release March 2010 but their song “Fairy Tales” will be released as a single late January/early February 2010.  I simply love Raam’s (vocalist) baritone vocals and the passion that the entire band puts into their music.  Not only is the song amazing, but this video is sick!  Be sure to check them out live! 
See for yourselves! 

For more information about Hypernova, please visit:

www.myspace.com/hypernova
www.hypernova.com
www.narnackrecords.com

– TNT

 

Morningwood- Diamonds & Studs October 26, 2009

Filed under: CD Reviews,Too Cool for a Category — NVMP @ 9:17 PM
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morningwood_intro

Review by Daniel Petrino

     Morningwood’s sophomore album is more than just some kick-ass chick rock, it’s some kick-ass-punk-pop-new-wavey-rock that overflows with seductive sass and salacious personality. From Chantal Claret’s gently whispered, ‘I’ll fuck you up’ on “Bipolar Bear” to the “Hollaback Girl” drumbeat on “That’s My Tune”, Diamonds & Studs is a kickass album that won’t disappoint Morningwood fans or fans of rock in general. 

     “Best of Me” sets the mood for the album with its aggressive vocals matched by equally aggressive guitar hooks. Most of the songs stand on their own two feet while still maintaining the distinctive Morningwood sound of bouncing bass beats, heavy guitars and some well-used synth. I say ‘most of’ because some tracks sound like slight variations on each other, though all are heavily beat-driven rock songs at their core. “Three’s A Crowd”‘s soft, innocent chanting of “We’ll be getting it on, getting it on,” throughout the song is insistent and sweet, evoking memories of high school make-out sessions in front of the television.

     The taunting, teasing undertone in Claret’s voice makes each and every song uniquely hers, while at the same time being cute and seductive. The album tackles everything from being a teenager to lamenting an addiction to an ex-lover to rocking out with your girlfriends to your favorite song. Diamonds & Studs is a party from start to finish, and anyone who loves fast guitar beats and catchy hooks will find a lot to love in this album.

 Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Yay!: Best of Me, Killer Life, Three’s A Crowd, That’s My Tune, Bipolar Bear

Nay!: Hot Tonight, How You Know It’s Love, Teenage  

 

A.F.I. Comes to Life & of Age on the Road with Crash Love October 19, 2009

Filed under: Concert Reviews — NVMP @ 3:13 AM
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Review by The Atheist Angel

     On October 10th, 2009, A.F.I. returned to Sayreville’s own  “>Starland Ballroom with openers The Gallows as part of the Crash Love tour.  Considered by singer Havok to be, “their first truly timeless record” and critics citing it as their most focused and ambitious effort to date, the live performance held a lot of promise and expectation.  Naturally, in true A.F.I. fashion, not only was the crowd given an unforgettable performance complete with surprise guest appearances, but a sound so crisp and clean one can’t help but give respect in a time when so many artists depend on machines to give them their sound.

     As soon as the house lights dimmed on this chilly Saturday night, the crowd instantly burst into a unified cheer.  This was it- in one more moment each audiences members ears and eyes would be indulged in A.F.I. glory.  In what seemed like less than a minute, Adam, Hunter, Jade, and finally Davey Havok himself, stepped on stage and tore into their first song of the night, “Torch Song”.  Setting the precedent for the rest of the show, their high energy presence slipped seamlessly into a fan favorite, “Girl’s Not Grey”.  It wasn’t until after their third song Davey chose to address the crowd expressing in true sincerity, how great it was to be back in Jersey (and Jersey was beyond happy to have them back).  The band’s energy was matched by the crowd, as each song had hundreds of hands and fists in the air, all moving as one entity with each pound of the bass drum.  Even on slower numbers the audience lent their voices and lighters, or in this case cell phones, to create a show experience that neither the band nor the fans would soon forget.  But some of the highlights of the show came as complete surprises.  During “Kill Caustic”, Davey Havok announced his pleasure in bringing good friend Lou Koller of the band Sick of It All to join him on vocals.  The crowd instantly cheered while Havok and Koller tore the vocals apart, giving the song a new life appreciated by all.  The next jaw dropping moment, at least for this fan, came when A.F.I. decided to play the vinyl only release “Love Is A Many Splendored Thing”- proving that despite the years of evolution and change, this band absolutely is still true to their roots and does so with just as much punk rock enthusiasm now as they did then.

     At the end of “Love Like Winter”, the band graciously thanked the audience and departed off stage.  Now pitched in darkness, the walls of Starland Ballroom began to resonate with the familiar chant, “through our bleeding, we are one” over and over, slowly gaining voices and speed bringing the darkness to life as we all demanded more music.  Minutes later, the direct approach of “one more song!” saw the four veteran musicians return to the stage and tear into a brilliant cover of the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”.  Two more songs followed suit for this encore and when it came time for the band to say goodbye for real, every member of that audience was left in complete musical satisfaction. 

     No matter what your opinion of A.F.I.’s music might be, this is one band that stands and delivers with their live performance every time they grace a stage both visually and in sound quality.  If ever given the opportunity, this is a band I completely recommend seeing whenever they find themselves in your area.

Complete Set List
Torch Song
Girl’s Not Grey
The Leaving Song Pt. II
Veronica Sawyer Smokes
Ever And A Day
Kill Caustic
End Transmission
Love is a Many Splendored Thing
Beautiful Thieves
Dancing Through Sunday
The Leaving Song
On The Arrow
Death of Seasons
Medicate
Love Like Winter

****Encore****
Just Like Heaven (The Cure cover)
Miss Murder
Silver and Cold

 

Charlotte Martin Interview at World Café Live October 16, 2009

Filed under: Interviews — NVMP @ 3:47 PM
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If watching the latest MTV Music awards has illustrated anything (and not just Kanye West’s “outburst”), it’s that today’s music scene is a world full of jaded, over-pampered, attention seeking, product hawking, uptight musicians, or as everyone else calls them, dicks.  Thankfully, we have someone like Charlotte Martin, who has proven to be a sonic savior, an artist who has delivered fresh and inventive music into the gag-inducing music scene for 10 years running. Her compositions float seamlessly between pop, electro, dance, and singer/songwriter, with her powerful opera-trained vocal chords leading the charge, paired with a piano playing dexterity that has the fury of a monsoon delivered with the delicateness of a soft caress. She is a music industry veteran who has clocked a decade in the field; from her humble beginnings in local Los Angeles clubs, to going through the trials and tribulations of a major label record contract and living to tell about it, to the present challenges of motherhood and gaining the freedom to guide her own career. And rather than enjoying the fruits of her labors, she chose to tough it out by launching the “Mad Fast Acoustic Tour” in the middle of recording a new album, with family in tow. 

     Mark from Nevermind the Posers had the chance to sit down with Charlotte at World Café Live in Philadelphia, PA on the first night of her 4 date tour (September 30, 2009) to discuss the fans, family life, music, the horrors of post-nasal drip, and her new instrumental release Piano Trees. 

 

 

M (Mark):  You’re a working mother who’s charting the course of her career, in the midst of recording a new album, and you have just completed a side project. With so much going on, why choose to launch a mini-tour in the midst of all of this?

CM (Charlotte Martin):  I don’t know… because I’m insane. Honestly, I just want people to know that I am still able to tour; it’s really hard to tour with a baby, but actually mine is really easy [being that] he’s a good kid. The only thing that’s difficult is the extra gear [pointing to all of the baby gear]. I can’t do as much anymore, not all at the same time.  I’m multi-tasking as a mom, and trying to run a house, so much that I can’t work on a record and tour at the same time.  And the reason that this side project came out is because I have awesome people that helped me put it together. I wouldn’t have been able to do that by myself; I fully give props. As far as the writing goes, I’m still a bit slow. I mean we’ve recorded about 6 songs; most of it is written, but I am kind of at the mercy of Ken’s [Ken Andrews, Charlotte’s husband and producer] schedule, because I want to work with him.  When we get back from these dates he’s going to work pretty much for a solid 3 weeks, so I am hoping to finish it by the end of the year… [by] early January, because my team wants to try to put it out next year.

M: On this tour you are releasing a side-project called Piano Trees and I read that you wrote it specifically to inspire other artists.

CM: I did. It didn’t seem like I was. I was actually going to write a book called ‘Word Trees’, because I write a lot of my songs from these lists that I have been brainstorming, broken thoughts and words, I call Word Trees. And I have 20-30 something books now; I was going to make a coffee table sort of art book, and the Piano Trees CD was going to go with the book, but it’s ridiculously expensive to make a book. So, when I figured out my record probably wasn’t going to be done this year, I figured [that] I have got to give everybody something, so why not? And fast forward from 2005 ’til now, lots of dancers dance to my stuff on all of these shows, which is amazing. 

M: Like ‘So You Think You Can Dance’?

CM: Yeah! Tons of dancers, painters, photographers, actors and other musicians, and I thought “this would be really good for people”. Then the point became very clear that it might be cool for people if they are in the process of writing something. Honestly, you can’t write music to it, but if you’re a musician… I write lyrics while listening to my favorite bands all of the time, which is probably why the song “The Kick Inside” by Kate Bush is in the song “Up All Night”.

M:  I know a lot of people ask you about your influences. You’ve name checked artists like New Order, The Cure, Kate Bush; I was wondering who are some of the other artists that you listened to that inspired you while you were making Piano Trees?

CM: A band called Stars of the Lid, a band called Explosions in the Sky; I’m really, really into M83, Radio Department, this piano player named Dustin O’Halloran; his music is pretty similar to Piano Trees except that it’s way sweeter, almost more proper classical. It’s all of my Shoe-Gazer stuff that I don’t sound like but that I want to be [laughing]. I really love it all, I just never do that… ever.

M: Along with past tour releases Darkest Hours, Veins, and the Rarities series, Piano Trees is also being released on tour, why release such a steady amount of material during tours?

CM:  I feel like it gives me an excuse to tour because I have something coming out, otherwise I don’t know if I would tour just to tour. It’s for fun; I feel like it’s my obligation to give you good new music if you’re going to buy a ticket to come see me play.

M: A lot of other artists milk the same thing for years.

CM: No, I have never done a record cycle for longer than a year, because the records weren’t quite that huge. You know, on my level you have to release a lot of material to make a living… and I am blessed that people buy it, but I have got to release a lot. I’m just really lucky; I mean they are the reason that I have a job. 

M: One of the things that is noticeable about the shows, in addition to the growing crowds, are the familiar faces that I see. What effect has having such a dedicated fan base had on your writing and career? 

CM: Everything. I write thinking, “Is this going to bore people? Are people going to be into this”? I mean, I write for myself too, but I’m very conscientious. I know that there is a lot of my fan base that wants me to do a solo record, and honestly I feel like saying, “You think that you want that for a whole record, but I don’t think you want it that… stark”. Even On Your Shore was in a lot of ways as dense as Stromata, it was just orchestra, but there were lots of layers. People think they want [another] On Your Shore because it’s sparse, but it really isn’t, it just has sparser moments.

M: Around the time of On Your Shore, you started collaborating with a lot of dance acts; you did a song with the Crystal Method (“Glass Breaker”), with DJ Tiesto (“Sweet Things”), and most recently, I was ecstatic to see that you collaborated with BT on his next album. how did that come about? How was the recording process? Was it any different than what you are used to?

CM: Well, he sent me a track, and I recorded over it and sent it back to him.  

M: So that’s pretty much it with BT then? 

CM: Yeah.  I really don’t know what he’s doing right now. He’s been working on it for a while, because we did that song 2 years ago. It’s called “Feed the Monster”, it’s slammin’…  it’s Garbage, meets Shiny Toy Guns, meets BT.

M: Each of your records seem to have its own distinct sound and atmosphere, how do you determine which sonic direction that you want to take during the recording process?

CM: Well, with Stromata we decided pretty quickly. With this new record, the writing, or the actual song itself tells Ken and I where it should go. I mean we do get stumped; there is this one [song] now that is called “Everything is Tied to Little Strings” that we just can’t crack. We actually asked Greg [Greg Edwards of Autolux and Failure] to work on it because it’s super weird. It’s a really tough nut to crack, but I have had songs that were tough to crack before. I mean “Every Time It Rains” is a simple pop song, and this [new track] is way more complex than that… like this is arty art. And that took us years to finish the album version of “Every Time It Rains”, I mean I have 5 versions of that song. We wrote it in the studio while cutting it,  it was always evolving.

M: Being that you’re an independent artist with a still flourishing career, how important would you say that word of mouth has been in the development of your career? 

CM:  It’s all. It could be a lot more too, because what I have is all people… it doesn’t get any more grassroots than this. I’ve never had a break, I just slugged it out and toured… and I’ve had some good tours; Liz Phair’s “Chicks with Attitude” tour and Howie Day. 

M: I was surprised to read about in your newsletter is that you allow your shows to be taped. Why do you allow it?

CM: I have a lot of international fans. I have been doing this for 10 years and it’s been tragic that I haven’t made it over to tour, especially in Japan, where On Your Shore did okay on import. I don’t know how to do that yet, so I’m just like “tape it all”.  And if they can remain a fan and connect to me that way, then go for it. 

M: Something like that ties into the fact that a lot of the praise coming from your fans is your personal interaction with them. During shows, I know that you make faces at people, you’ve made faces at me; and on this tour you took another step [with fan interaction] and you invited your fans to post song requests on your websites message boards. 

CM: I’m going to do my best… I rehearsed a lot of them, and there were A LOT of requests. It’s finding that balance, because I am going to play a couple of new ones, and I want to play a couple that I know people want to hear, and then there’s the fans that want to hear everything obscure, and I don’t think that would make for a good show, personally.  

M: My last question could be directed at both of you [Charlotte and Ken]. There was a project a while back that both of you were supposed to be involved in called Digital Noise Academy. I know that it involved a lot of your collaborators and friends, and I was just wondering whatever became of it?

[Ken Andrews joins the interview] 

KA: Well, it exists…

CM: A whole record. 

KA: No one’s heard it except the band, because we haven’t had the time to organize a release. I know that that sounds ridiculous, but it’s actually true. With everyone’s projects, and the baby, and one of the other members also having a baby… that this project even happened at all was amazing. And now the fact that it is sitting there waiting to be released is kind of a bummer, but we’re pursuing it. We’re just looking for the right way to release it, because it’s not a real band in the sense that we don’t play shows all of the time, and it’s not like we’re going to tour on top of the release. 

CM: And we’re not going out for a big record deal. We’re all doing our personal artist careers, production careers… we all have our own things. But it’s a very artistically fulfilling project. 

KA: It’s going to come out 

CM: It’ll come out. It makes me sad to think of it not coming out.

Photos and interview by Mark B.

mbcm2

 

 

Octahedron October 8, 2009

Filed under: CD Reviews — NVMP @ 5:41 AM
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marsh-volta-octahedron-cover-art    

 

I was at my house recently, smoking a joint, and I thought that I would give Octahedron, the new Mars Volta, a listen.  I was a little iffy, given the fact that I did not enjoy their last record The Bedlam in Goliath too much; it didn’t really sound like the good ol’ Mars Volta to me.  They did not seem to put as much energy into the record like they have done with De Loused and Frances the Mute.

     So I downloaded the record (legally of course)  and to my surprise, I loved every single track.  ” Since We’ve Been Wrong” is one of the greatest tracks that the band has produced in a very long time.  During the course of the record, you kind of have the sense that it was a one shot recording because the tracks seem to cross fade into one another so perfectly.  Octahedron is like Voltas earlier work, you either immerse yourself into it hard or you let the frantic crazy guitar riffs and chaos surround you.

     It’s hard to tell what the underlining meaning of this record is.  With every Mars Volta album, what the lyrics are about and what interpretation the songs may have are always up for discussion.  I would definitely tell any Mars Volta fan to pick this up or download; just give it a listen and prepare to get your mind blown away!

– Duffy

 

Could The Kings of Leon be the new Rock Royalty? September 17, 2009

Filed under: Too Cool for a Category — NVMP @ 5:44 PM
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By: Greg Swindasz

With three Grammy nominations and one award, a world tour, and a new album coming next year will the Nashville band-of-brothers be the next legendary rock band?

The Kings of Leon are by no means a new or upcoming band.  Their follow up to Only by the Night, which was the number one album in the UK in 2008, will be their fifth major studio album.  They have a huge international fan base; Kings of Leon also headlined the Glastonbury, which is the UK’s oldest music festival.  With all of this love and their constant playlist on the radio, it is hard not see to a very bright future.  However, they were not winners this weekend in New York.

Their majesties were nominated for Best Rock Video with “Sex on Fire” at MTV’s 2009 Video Music Awards.  “We lost dammit, maybe next year.  At least we got to see the worst haircut since 1984 try to steal the spotlight from lovely Taylor Swift,” Kings of Leon’s Nathan Followill joked to Digital Spy after Kanye West’s actions on stage.

Their next album is expected in the late fall of 2010.  Guitarist Matthew Followill told BBC earlier this year that the next album could be “a little bit grungier.”  Caleb Followill also said about their new album, “We pretty much now can do what we want.  America has to sit back.”  This could be the start of a new sound for the band.  Who knows, their first four albums could be referred to as “the early years” on Wikipedia one day.  If they stay on their current course, rockers in 2050 might just have sex on fire and put it in their heart shaped box.

 

Black Gold at All Points West 2009 September 12, 2009

Filed under: Concert Reviews,Interviews — NVMP @ 3:03 PM
Tags: , , , , ,
Than Luu and Eric Ronick - Black Gold

Than Luu and Eric Ronick - Black Gold

“Dark eyes make you snap up straight – Red hands wash the sleep away” – as the up and coming band Black Gold says in Detroit, their successful iTunes single of the week. And that they did when opening on the first day of sunshine at All Points West this year. The band who’s music feels much like their name, a contrast of light and dark, gave an illustrious performance with a full band to back up Eric Ronick and Than Luu. While this duo from Brooklyn played, golden ladies threw golden beach balls into the crowd, who in return, began bouncing and tossing them all around to the beat. By the time they performed hit songs like “Detroit” and “Plans and Reveries”, many festival goers had already formed a crowd and stuck around until the last note finished resonating. Nevermind the Posers had the chance to ask Black Gold a few questions about their writing styles, musical backgrounds and what’s next for them.

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Nevermind the Posers (NVMP)- How did you two come together as a duo?

Eric Ronick (ER)- We were sort of music master-made by our friend Jacob who said ‘yo you gotta check out Than’ and ‘yo you gotta check out Eric’.  So we just put it together as folk based first on a tour and then we became friends and started making music well after that.
Than Luu (TL)- Yeah, it was like a match maker style.

NVMP- Were you two on tour together in different bands?

TL- Eric was on tour as the keyboard player for Ambulance LTD and I was like the merch guy, wrangler of the cute girls.

NVMP- How is your debut album Rush doing?

ER- It’s doing well, I think it’s just starting, but you can tell with everyday that goes by.  I think more and more people know who we are and are waiting for us.  Like today, it was really great to be opening the festival.  Not many people were here at the start, but it was great to see people just rushing in on both sides and run right to the stage and they stuck around to check us out, it felt good.

 
NVMP- What was your favorite part about writing/recording Rush?
 
ER- To be honest, for me, it was just about hanging out, it was about sitting in the studio all night until the wee small hours of the morning.  Than and I just hanging out, chilling, and making music, that was really what it was, it was about a friendship.
 
TL- Yeah, that’s what our record is about.bg3
 
ER- It’s like if you guys are just hanging out and you happen to be creating something in the process and it happens to work and be something you really like.  
 
NVMP- What was your creative process or what did you do to stay inspired?
 
TL- Yeah we get wasted. Haha, well not wasted, but you know, I’ll be drinking a little something, and then sit down at the piano and guitar and write some tunes.
 
NVMP- Have you seen any big changes “Detroit” was ‘Single of the Week’ on iTunes?  Did it have a big impact on your fan-base?
 
ER- At that point, nobody knew who we were.  We hadn’t really released anything.  When that got released, within a week around 400,000 people had heard our song and it was just like out of the blue and nobody expected that, but iTunes just decided to do us a favor and it’s been good for us.
 
NVMP- Would you consider yourselves part of the digital revolution?
 
Black Gold- We’re such analog guys, so I would say no.  We consider ourselves to be part of the digital de-evolution.
 
NVMP- Why the name Black Gold?  Is there a meaning behind it?
 
TL- Sure.  Our music is kind of contrasting between the dark side of things and the shimmering bright side of things.  Lyrics are dark, but they can be uplifting as well.  And the music can be quarterly dark as well as shiny and bright, we like the contrast.
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NVMP- Is there a message are you trying to get across with your music?
 
ER- It think it’s less about a message and more about a story, about telling a story.  It’s real life what we’re talking about.  We’re not inventing ideas and stories to talk about, these are the things that have happened to us and have happened to our friends.  And it’s about turning that story into music. 
 
NVMP-  What’s your favorite kind of venue to perform at, big festivals, small intimate shows, or somewhere in the middle?
 
TL- I like theatres, especially the ones in Europe, or the ones here that are like really really old and have a lot of flavor to them, that have been around for 100 years or more, that hold anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 people.  You really feel the audience when you play places like that and then you look out and there’s so much history in the building, there’s probably some ghosts, I love that.  Festivals and all that stuff are cool, clubs are cool, but theatres are my favorite. 
 
NVMP- and how about you Eric, the same?
 
ER- Yeah, there’s a sweet spot right in the middle of the venue size, anywhere between like 1,000 to 5,000 people, where the audience is still really a part of the show, they’re not thirty feet back from the stage, and the sound is still good, because club shows, it’s just hard, they never really sound right.
NVMP- You two are from Brooklyn, do you have a favorite venue in the NY area?
 
ER- Our first show every was at a venue called South Paw in Park Slope and I love that place, I have warm memories,
a lot of great shows I’ve seen there and playing there was great, they treated us really well.
 
NVMP- What albums or CDs defined your childhood?
 
TL-  For me, it was a mixture of The Beatles, that my mom played, French Pop music, and really cheesy, weird Vietnamese Pop music.  Specifically, Francoise Hardy on the French tip.  I don’t think my mom got into the psychedelic Beatles, I don’t think she understood it very much.  I think she was into more early Beatles, and Vietnamese stuff, it’s pretty cheesy, probably like torture for some.
 
ER- I would say that I pretty much grew up on Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Off The Wall.  That was kind of like a staple in my diet growing up.
 
NVMP- What’s next for Black Gold, what can your fans look forward to?
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TL- We have the Black Gold sex tape coming out, and we’re working on it tonight.  Haha.  No, you know just some more recording, working on our second album already, we’re three songs into it and we’re really excited.  We’re going to tour Europe and the US more, so look out for us.  And making more videos.
 
NVMP- Can you give us your definition of a Poser?
 
TL- Man, you know, we’re surrounded by them.  Posers are everywhere.  Anyone who’s not fucking real.  The reason why I moved to NY; they have the least amount of posers than anywhere in the world that I’ve ever been to, so fuck you if you’re a poser.  
 
Right on Than, right on.
To hear more from Black Gold, please visit:
www.blackgoldmusic.com
www.myspace.com/blackgold