College Radio Refugee @collegeradiorefugee - Tumblr Blog

And for 3 1/2 minutes things got a little better. Great to have JAMC back in my life!

(collegeradiorefugee) We're doing something different this month. A few days ago a friend of mine passed along a chain Facebook post to fill the internet up with good music. I added my two cents and passed it along. I got some really good stuff so I took a few and put it together in this month's podcast. Thanks to all my friends who played along. In these trying times a little good music is a welcome distraction from all the other hot air being blown around. Feel free to leave comments here and make sure to post some good music to your own social feeds!

#SoundCloud #music #collegeradiorefugee

DJ Shadow (@djshadow) -- The Mountain Will Fall

It’s hard to quantify the impact DJ Shadow has had on my musical tastes. When I was fresh out of college I got an internship working at London/FFRR records right about the time Shadow’s debut record was released. Growing up in Southern California meant that I had a healthy appreciation for Hip Hop but Shadow was a whole other bag. All of sudden someone had stitched together a composite of Hip Hop, Dance, Electronic and Rock sounds to create something new. I wore the record out and began a deep dive on the whole world of DJ Culture.

Apparently I wasn’t alone in my appreciation for Shadow’s first record. Every review I have read of his new album, “The Mountain Will Fall” mentions his debut in the first sentence. When an artist makes a masterpiece as their introduction, it is natural that the rest of their output will be unfairly compared. So here we are, twenty years, four albums, countless side projects and remixes later, with a new DJ Shadow record that will be dissected and found, more often than not, lesser than “Endtroducing...”. I think we should have seen it all along. His first album was the end of his first incarnation and the birth of his new quest to redefine both himself and the DJ subculture that he helped spawn.

“The Mountain Will Fall” has been billed as a mixture of the old and the new. Shadow has said that this album is the culmination of his seeking out new ways to integrate his sounds with live instrumentation. That restlessness is evident throughout the album. Just when you think we are getting a classic Shadow breakbeat banger, he pulls the rug out with a keyboard or piano solo. The fact is this is a tough record to digest at first. Even the songs that stick to one idea, like the crescendo building tension in the title track, the straight up rap of ‘Nobody Speak’or the Euro Techno of ‘Bergschrund’, are packed with smaller ideas lining the fringe of the songs. ‘Three Ralphs’ changes persons about every 45 seconds creating the aural equivalent of ADD. ‘The Sideshow’ is the scratchy old school beat construction we expect but that gives way to the sirens and rock guitar of ‘Depth Charge’ and the Aphex Twin electronics of ‘Mambo’. ‘Ghost Town’ works it’s way through the staccato beats using a haunting piano line reminiscent of his soundtrack work. He ends the record with ‘Suicide Pact’, which is almost beat less, which is a statement in and of itself. Sure Shadow could continue to create the same sound, but why would he do that? Shadow has always been about the new and next, even though he finds it in the crates upon crates of old records that he has.

There’s a part of me that thinks that this album would be getting better press if this had been his debut record. It was be seen as a harbinger of our musical tastes now, where boundaries are nonexistent and pop, rap and rock live in one big playlist. TMWF required time and patience. If you put the work in you will be rewarded with something off kilter and beautiful. A record both of it’s time and ahead of it. Hopefully we will get around the appreciating it before Shadow moves on the next one.

#dj shadow

Let’s Eat Grandma ((@thelegofgrandma) -- I Gemini

I’m always fascinated by the narrative built around a group. As you research a new act there become a series of talking points that are common in every story. Even bands that are trying to do something truly unique usually get boiled down to one or two salient thoughts along with a determination of their larger place in the culture. I say this knowing full well I am as guilty of this method of criticism as the next. It’s just easier to say “Band A” is like “Band B” minus the shredding guitars. This is why reading about music will never replace the actual listening to itself for yourself. And it is certainly not a practice I will be stopping anytime soon. Having said that, LETS EAT GRANDMA is such a wonderfully weird and strange listening experience that I was immediately struck with how many disparate comparisons I was conjuring up in my head at once.

First, the basics. LET’S EAT GRANDMA is a two piece English band mad cup of two teenage girls. They have been friends forever. They write pop songs run through a blender and spit out onto a plate like gazpacho. The musical comps range from Fiona Apple to the Cocteau Twins to Kate Bush to Lily Allen. But that doesn’t really do the story justice. The tracking of my listening experience to “I Gemini” is really about letting go of those comparisons and just listening. I’ll admit the office is the not the ideal place to absorb this album. It really needs the love and care of outdoor spaces. From the opening drum beats of ‘Deep Six Textbook” it’s apparent that what we are dealing with is something born out of a childlike approach to sound. What interests these ladies is the exploration of noise rather than traditional pop song structure. Which is fine but then you are presented with the wondrous ‘Eating Shiitake Mushrooms”. Here the duo’s songwriting manifests itself in bits of harmony that are as catchy as anything on the radio. Even the attempts to rap are done with equal parts wonder for the form and suspicion of being too polished. Elsewhere they rely on vocal interplay (’Chimpanzees in Canopies’) or an offbeat instrumental selection (The recorder is the jump off point for ‘Chocolate Sludge Cake’ before it takes on its macabre centerpoint).

This could all be dismissed as teenage girls being obtuse to show how “arty” and “experimental” they can be if it weren’t for the knowing glimpses of confectioner sugar-like melodies they pepper each song. It’s as if they started out to write purposefully strange stuff but their sheer joy of working together took hold and made the whole enterprise more structured then they intended. When they call back the first song at the end in the form of ‘Uke 6 Textbook’ which is merely a reworking on the ukulele instead of the original’s drum and bass, you begin to see the band clearly. Unintentionally intentional in every choice...yet not contrived. Childlike and full of wonder but with the understanding of how being grown up doesn’t mean losing your sense of enchantment with what is possible. An oddball record for those who still miss playing in the backyard, waging war against imaginary dragons and not caring whether we looked silly doing it or not.

#Lets eat grandma #indie-pop

Welcome to our first summer podcast. This month we have fantastic new music from AUGUSTINES off their latest record. We have a new song from THE HOTELIER off of their album "Goodness". MERCURY GIRLS give us a taste of their sound and UK Supercollective MINOR VICTORIES deliver a track with just enough melancholy to darken your otherwise sunny day.

As always I love comments and recommendations. You can leave comments on the podbean page, our soundcloud page or on ITUNES or follow me on twitter at jonlyons24. You can also read my other musical musings at collegeradiorefugee.tumblr.com and check out some of my other off the cuff song recommendations on cymbal. Just download the cymbal app and search for collegeradiorfugee. ENJOY!

#Podcast #Augustines #mercury girls #minor victories #the hotelier

Few Bits (@fewbitstheband) -- Big Sparks

Another entry in the bands that write songs that should only be played during summer catalogue comes from Belgian pop group FEW BITS. The band, which is ostensibly singer/songwriter Karolien Van Ransbeeck with a host of session musicians, has released it’s second full length record, “Big Sparks”, just in time for the heat to take us all over.

Few Bits occupy the space between Mazzy Star’s dreamier songs and lost B sides of The Smiths (if Morrissey were a pixie headed blonde). The lead single, ‘Summer Sun’ is the perfect companion for that return trip from the beach when your head is a little woozy from all the sun exposure and you’re body just wants to melt into the seat cushion. Elsewhere, like on the bouncy ‘Anyone Else’ and the slinky ‘Big Sparks’ there are echoes of BEST COAST in the vocals and guitar sounds. Johnny Marr is clearly a hero, as heard on the interplay between acoustic and electric guitar on ‘Sweet Warrior’. The light upbeat nature of the album is tempered a bit by the solemn ‘Days’ and it’s clock ticking drum machine beats and feedback lead guitar underpinning Van Ransbeeck’s hushed vocals. I imagine ‘Days’ may be the transition song between the original incarnation of the band and what lies in the future. It has a darkness at the beginning before it dissipates fora brief moment in the chorus. When paired with the album closing ‘Souvenir’s’ wash of noise, you get a sense of foreboding that juxtaposes well with the sheer optimism of the start of the record. Few Bits may be a pop confection right now, but darker times are on the horizon. That is probably the most summer-esque feeling one could have. The sun only stays out for so long after all.

#Few Bits #Belgium #Mazzy Star #Best Coast

Still Parade (@stillparade) -- Concrete Visions

We return from our hiatus (sorry work stuff...) with a breezy collection of songs from Berlin based one man group STILL PARADE. Niklas Kramer has assembled a collection of bedroom pop that just screams summer. From the drop of the virtual needle, you can almost feel the sunshine radiating off his guitar as it glides over every effervescent bass line and lilting harmony. After the slow moving ‘Seasons’, the record takes off with the whimsical ‘Walk in the Park’ which is literally a song built for a lazy stroll amongst the trees. The title track evokes a classic 70′s AM radio sound with it’s doubled vocals pacing the song’s chorus. ‘Let Go’ is a bubblegum confection to a lover that is now gone. Kramer’s voice is paper thin but here it’s used as an advantage to expose the core emotion of the music. So much of the album has a classic pop rock feel to it that it would be easy to dismiss it as retrograde cool, but similar to TAME IMPALA, Kramer nods to the past rather than outright aping it.

The highlight track of the album comes toward the end with ‘Chamber’. By using a clear hip hop drum beat over a highly effected guitar, Kramer achieves a more modern sound that ties the whole album together. The closing number, the softer ‘True Love’ takes full advantage of the exchange of guitar for synths and keyboards to create a pastoral wash of evening summer sounds.

Still Parade have created a record that pairs well with a summer sunset and a glass of white wine. It’s an album that mixes well into the ambiance of the late afternoon and allows the listener to fall into it’s warm arms and be comforted by its embrace.

#Still Parade #Indie

Modern Baseball (@modernbaseball) -- Holy Ghost

What a record to come back to. Modern Baseball make unabashed, big, hooky, rock songs designed to be played loud and fast. Kindred spirits in many ways to BEACH SLANG and HOTELIER, Modern Baseball specialize in bottling teen angst and re-positioning it as a badge of honor.

On this their third proper album, the members of the band have refined their approach to an even cleaner sheen then before. In some hands this would be a bad thing but for this foursome, it means that there is a depth to there songs that wasn’t visible in sloppiness of their earlier work. I liken it to the transition JIMMY EAT WORLD made when the moved into the pantheon of great guitar bands. Modern Baseball hits the ground running (after a short acoustic title track) with the double shot of espresso that is ‘Wedding Singer’ and ‘Note to Self’. On the latter, the narrator laments, “Counting numbered days, From the wheel we cried to clutch, Looking for some inspired land, But all I found were empty cans and cigarette butts, Lining dirty parking lots in Ottawa.” The band is channeling the great american rock songbook of lonely souls and unrealized dreams. By the midpoint of the album. the slowly building mid tempo number ‘Hiding”, I can’t imagine a more sublime feeling then living in this space with this band forever. There’s a time capsule quality to this record. It’s almost too precious to exist. Not in the twee sense, but that the sound and song ideas are so specific to a time in a person’s life that I couldn’t help but let a little melancholy seep into my listening experience. I have no doubt I would have worn out this cassette in my youth, made about 15 illegal copies to pass out to people, all the while breathlessly speaking about it’s utter gloriousness.

The closing third of the record aims for even higher goals. ‘Apple Cider, I Don't Mind’ has an epic guitar riff and the closer, ‘Just Another Face’ uses distortion and a dirty bass line to soak up what little beer is left on the floor of the club they just laid waste to. The off kilter nature of the closer leaves me wanting more. Which is easy, just hit repeat and enjoy the journey all over again.

#modern baseball #indie rock #beach slang

Lush (@lushbandtweets) -- Blind Spot

I simply adored LUSH during my college years. It didn’t hurt that I had a severe crush on lead singer Miki Berenyi as the pantheon of cool, hip guitar/singers. The band produced moody, ethereal yet melodic pop songs that were in heavy rotation on my radio show. When the band disappeared I imagined I would never hear from them again. Lush is a band that exists in time capsule for me so new music from them was welcomed with restless anticipation.

I am very happy to report that if you were a fan of their work, the new “Blind Spot” ep will not disappoint. The four tracks here serve as both an introduction to their sound and a reminder that they can still generate emotional power out relatively simple song structures. There is also a maturity on the ep that was absent from their older work. Berenyi and Emma Anderson still are adept at wrapping their vocals around each other to create harmony and melody at the same time. ‘Out of Control” churns along as the guitars dip and dive around the drum and bass line straight out of 1993. The song would not be lost at all on their first album. ‘Lost Boy’ is a Gothic acoustic number about reconnecting with a long lost friend/lover. Or it could all be a dream. The soft strumming guitar gives the song an otherworldly quality and I am sure the song is at least in part about former drummer Chris Acland’s suicide that brought the band to it’s premature end back in 1996. ‘Burnham Beeches’ is much sunnier and the closest thing to an outright pop song on the collection. ‘Rosebud’ dips us back into the darkness and adds a new touch with the addition of strings to the mix.

The band has expressed a bit of trepidation about returning to the active world of music. Berenyi has admitted she wasn’t super comfortable being back in a studio after over two decades. As a fan, I’m elated that they overcame those fears and began making music again. Lush is like a warm blanket that was buried in a chest in the attic. I’m glad it got dug out and I can wrap myself in ti all over again.

#Lush #Shoegaze

Wildlife Control (@wildlifectrl) -- Particles

The marriage between music and visual can be immensely powerful. The right song to soundtrack a moment can change your whole perception of that instant. This is why music videos revolutionized the medium. The songs became vehicles to enhance emotion. But this came at a cost. Inevitably if you heard a song on the radio you conjured up specific images. Then you saw the video and that image was altered. Was it the artist’s intent to manipulate you? Maybe. These days bands will often release songs via video first as a way of pre-loading the imagery for us. The songs become secondary to the story being told on screen. Lyric videos ensure that we know all the words to a song at the first listen to ensure that there is no ambiguity. So how are we to judge a song and video companion piece? Can we separate the two or are we only able to experience the music in the context of the package it is presented in?

This is the conundrum I feel when listening to the new ep by WILDLIFE CONTROL, entitled “Particles”. The three songs here are part of a visual experiment conducted by the band to see if they could soundtrack hyperlapse videos they found on Instagram. I first heard the songs apart from the film and found myself lost in the dreamy sheen of the bands songs. ‘Illusion’ glides along it’s guitar line with all the classic trappings of dream pop. I imagined stars and constellations as I was wrapped in the slow build of the song. ‘Subtract’ ping pongs through a series of computer bleeps before exploding into a driving pop song. ‘Creature’ has little more menace to it as the tapping of the cymbal is the only discernible beat to be found. The guitars fade in and what like the late tide at dusk. AS a 12 minute piece of music it has moments of joy and release and moments of quiet nuance.

But the band did not intend for the songs to be listened to absent of the film. My own images are replaced by the sped up hustle of city life and the mundane daily routines of housewives. My moon tides are now images of little girls jumping on sofas and trips down gondolas in Lake Tahoe. (To be fair, the moon tide image does show up at one point so maybe I got the images in my mind right for once.) I don’t write this to be critical. Far from it. The record is gorgeous and the film is haunting. It is well worth both seeing and hearing. I just wonder if the point of music is to soundtrack our own lives and experiences rather than some hive mind process by which out impressions are given to us. Either way, the band has left us with a thought provoking piece or art, which might have been the point all along.

#wildlife control #dream pop

We are back with Episode 7 of the College Radio Refugee Podcast. This month features music from upcoming albums. We have a new single from THE DANDY WARHOLS from their 10th record. Also new songs from LA band BLEACHED, Virginia outfit TURNOVER and the latest song from MODERN BASEBALL. Feel free to leave comments and other bands we should check out!

PETER BUCK -- WARZONE EARTH

What happens when a band walks away? There are a slew of options. Solo projects, acting, supergroups, the inevitable reunion tour/cash grab. But REM never played by the rules. The band was THE AMERICAN ROCK AND ROLL BAND in the 1980′s and 90′s. They left a remarkable discography and then disappeared. They broke up and the three remaining members faded out of the light. Michael Stipe is now making movies and sporting a long gray beard. Mike Mills plays in a bunch of different bands. Peter Buck has moved on to produce other artists. Then I stumbled across his solo work.

If you asked me who would have struck out on their own my money would not have been on Buck. The guitarist was the most surly of the band and often eschewed the limelight whenever he could. The epitome of cool on stage, Buck had a look of vague disinterest in most interview settings. I guess that’s why his solo records are so interesting. ‘Warzone Earth’ is his third solo record and the first i have really heard anything from. They are available exclusively on vinyl from a tiny label and can be hard to even find a trace of promo about. They just kind of exist. Most of what I have hears is fuzzy guitar rock with a hammond organ here or there for texture. Buck is not a singer so he mostly growls his lyrics letting the guitar do the emoting for him.

But then you get a song like “World Spins Around You” and there it is. That guitar strum so eerily reminiscent of classic REM. One imagines an alternate world where this is a song at the end of a REM album. Buck can’t match Stipe for lyricism or emotion but it’s apparent he’s trying sing this time out. There are touches of Wilco in the percussion to make it just weird enough. It’s a fascinating artifact of an artist who cares only about his art. Buck has stated that he has no intention of resurfacing for the big band grind anytime soon and that is supported by his current music. But who cares, the guy gave us the guitar lines to “Radio Free Europe” and “Turn You Inside Out”. If he wants to noodle around a studio and create off kilter basement tapes of his own he can. I’m just glad he still makes music at all. If you close your eyes and listen you can hear the ghosts of songs past echo beyond the surface. And for that he is still a favorite of mine.

#Peter Buck #REM

Ded Rabbit (@Ded_Rabbit) -- Wake Up In a Dream

There are just times in our lives when we need something that moves us. Not in the spiritual sense, but in the late night gotta dance sort of way. Now, given that I am no longer a youngster, dancing in my capacity is more like spastically moving to an approximation of a beat. I imagine it is a cross between a headless chicken and mild epileptic fit (no disrespect to seizure victims...but you get the idea). With that in mind, it is with great pleasure that I give you my current toe tapping obsession, Edinburgh’s DED RABBIT.

Not to be confused with the other rabbits out there (Frightened, White, Eddie), Ded Rabbit are a four piece collection of brothers (actual real life brothers) who create indie rock that you can dance to. The most obvious comparison is the ARCTIC MONKEYS but the Rabbits seem to have a more classic influence. There are elements of 50′s and 60′s rock sprinkled in the mix. The band has released several ep’s and are about to put out a split A side. The new stuff is brilliant, you should go pre-order it right now.

I’ll Wait...

Got it? good, you won’t be disappointed.

Of the two new songs, “Only Dating” settles into a nice mid tempo beat as the band mines the groove for maximum dancing experience before exploding into a sing along chorus. “Never Gonna Learn” plays more with classic British mod sound complete with the oohs and aahhs background vocals and the Hey Hey chorus shouts. “Never Gonna Learn” reminds me a ton of what I loved so much about 90′s indie rock out of Britain. It may not be the most technically sound thing in the world, but damn if it isn’t fun.

While you wait for the new stuff to find it’s way into your inbox definitely go back and partake of their earlier work. The ‘Moving in Slow Motion’ ep sees lead singer Eugene Gaine pining for his lost love’s favorite sweater and seemingly mundane occurrences in life. I prefer the snap on the ‘Wake Up In A Dream’ ep that simply propels you forward with every kick drum beat. There is a sinister edge to “Never Forget That Sound” which recalls vintage ELVIS COSTELLO (it has a reggae beat that could be mashed up with “Watching the Detectives” really easily). Eugene has a carefree vocal delivery that borders on drunken indifference (especially on the slurred chorus of “New York, Arizona & This) but grabs you to keep listening to see what he will describe next.

I am positively giddy at the thought of what these brothers might do next. If they can harness the energy of the new single with the varied styles of the other eps, the full length album would be a major statement about a fresh new band to fall in love with.

#ded rabbit #indie #Scottish rock

Hello all! This month we have a College Radio Refugee first. Mike Shirley-Donnelly from the band Curious Quail sat down for an interview. Feel free to stop by their website at curious quail.com to pick up their latest record. As always comments are welcome!

Sunflower Bean (@Sunflower_Bean) - Human Ceremony

We are always searching for something new. Something exciting. When reach a certain point in time you kind of feel you have heard it all. This is usually a feeling I get at the beginning of each year. While waiting for the name acts to release their records for the year, the beginning of the year usually yields smaller finds that may of may not last the year. Usually, records that are released early in a year tend to get lost in the best of lists due to their need for a longer shelf life. This means that often the new sounds of a given year get shoved off to the side in our celebration of the usual.

It would be a crime if that happens to SUNFLOWER BEAN. The Brooklyn three piece has released something that is both striking in it’s amalgamation of old sounds into something new and for the promise of that may be to come. Their debut record, “Human Ceremony” is a cascading pop gem sprinkled with touches of darkness on the edges. This creates a mix of pastel melodies with a winteresque melancholy. Co-Lead Singer Julia Cumming’s voice is so pristine and textured that it’s hard to reconcile her talent with her age (she was a teenager when most of the record was recored). Lead single ‘Wall Watcher’ is a 2 1/2 minute blast of adrenaline that echoes vintage Blondie. Cumming wraps her voice around the bass line which is then punctured by Guitarist Nick Kivlen’s shredded guitar. ‘Come On’ sound samosa like vintage REM before its disintegrates in punk fuzz. There are shades of X in the vocal interplay found on ‘2013′ and ‘Creation Myth’. SMASHING PUMPINS and LUSH are other obvious touchstones sonically but not in a cover band sort of way. There is even a short acoustic number toward the end of the record (’Oh, I Just Don’t Know’) that has a bluesy feel to it. The closing ‘Space Exploration Disaster’ takes a PAVEMENT trick of distorting guitars for effect and applies it to what by the end of the album feels like their signature sound.

There is no doubt Sunflower Bean wears it’s influences like clothing, chasing them from day to day like identities. But what is achieved is something new and interesting that has potential to be remembered long after the end of the year lists come out. I am confident it will be on mine.

#Sunflower Bean #indie rock

Bloc Party (@BlocParty) -- Hymns

I have had something of a tortured relationship with Bloc Party over the years. They burst onto the scene in 2005 with the excellent “Silent Alarm” and from there it seems they have been chasing their sound ever since. The rest of their discography is full of records that have some undeniably great songs, but always seemed to come up just a bit short of the epic, classic record we all thought they had in them. The reports are that the band has always been in a constant state of disarray. At the core of the debate is how much of the band’s sound should be organic, slightly weird rock and how much should be more dance pop. Frontman Kele Okereke has all the charisma of a rock star but the depth of a classic soul singer. Which is what Bloc Party has always sort of promised. The alluring mix of rock, soul, dance and R and B, in one tidy package. Alas, by their last record, the sludge filled “Four”, the band as we knew it was dead.

Bloc Party has been resurrected with two new members and a sound that suggests the Okereke has won the war of sound. The new record, “Hymns”, is the most dance heavy album the band has made. From the opening synth chords of ‘The Love Within’ it is apparent that the edges of the band have been smoothed clean. ‘Only He Can Heal Me’ thumps with a CURE style guitar line but after that the pickings get a bit slim. ‘The Good News’ and ‘Into The Earth’ take a stab at American Blues but miss the sense of urgency that comes with that sort of musical expression. ‘Virtue’ apes some sort of early 00′s club banger but forgot the beat. The less said about the saccharine “Fortress” the better.

The redeemer here is the tension filled ‘Different Drugs’ which uses the constriction both lyrically and sonically to it’s advantage and revels in the darkness of the tale of a destructive relationship at it’s nadir. ‘Different Drugs’ could have been the sound of the entire record and would have signaled a way forward for the band. The comparison here isn’t anything in the band’s back catalogue but Okereke’s solo album, which was an out and out dance record. Okereke comes right out and states his intentions on ‘Into The Earth’ when he claims “Rock and roll has gotten so old.” One wonders why Okereke didn’t just put this out a solo album or call the band something else. In this form, Bloc Party is only half of what it used to be.

#bloc party #Indie Rock

Hearts Like Lions (@HLL_official) -- These Hands ep

Here’s the beautiful thing about social media. I recently wrote a piece about a band (Kid Wave) for another website (thisnewband.com). This is not an uncommon practice, I write a lot of things each day. Usually when something of mine gets posted it gets a retweet or two. I usually check to see if these are real or robots. In the case of this article one of the likes came from the bass player from a Long Beach band called HEARTS LIKE LIONS. With nothing in particular to do on a Monday evening I looked up their work to see what they were like.

And this is why I appreciate the way a connection can be made. I had never heard of these guys and probably wouldn’t have given them a second thought but the fact that they engaged with something I wrote piqued my interest. Now, is that self-serving on the part of the band? Probably. Was there act of liking my writing genuine or an attempt to separate themselves from the growing pack of bands looking for attention? I would like to think they were honest in their appreciation but either way I got to listen to a band that i really enjoyed so in the end who really cares how we got here?

What I now have is a band whose debut ep, “These Hands”, finds that sweet spot between classic alternative rock and the indie of the late 90′s, early 00′s that I love. The songs drip with an earnest nature that is met with the engine of a classic power pop trio. Singer Steven Ramos aches through each note and word to find a release for his emotion about growing up, growing old and the trials that a person goes through on a day to day basis. The thumping bass of “I’m Not Running Away From This” gives way to a soft side before reestablishing itself as the core of the song. On “Stranger” the band brings a anthemic stance to the song that reminds me of ANGELS AND AIRWAVES or the little known Athens band FIVE EIGHT, who I loved in college. The title track swings with a tight rhythm then explodes into catharsis at the chorus. Each song thrives on a shared building of tension before a sweet release at each sing along chorus.

So, I found a band I liked who found me through a post about a band we both like. Isn’t that the way discovering music is supposed to work. Through all the junk email, memes and gif’s you can still find a nugget of art in the vast wasteland of internet flotsam. Sometimes the art has to promote itself to get noticed. In this case, I certainly don't mind.

#hearts like lions #indie rock

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