#raj sablok

[bandcampsnoop]

4/6/20.

I can’t tell you how many times I feel like I “missed something”.  I’m usually on any new releases from Fire Talk (Brooklyn, New York), but somehow I slept on Dark Tea.  I’ll just chalk it up to the normal crush of new releases that is the reality in the age of internet-based music.

Dark Tea is the work of Gary Canino who has worked with several bands - most notable and eye-catching to me is Andrea Schiavelli (and his project Eyes of Love who have an excellent release on Wharf Cat Records).  His sound definitely tends to Eyes of Love, but also to Raj Sablok and Lachlan Denton.  “Rolling Back the Dial” has a great Thin Lizzy feel (especially the solo, courtesy Meg Duffy from Hand Habits).  Finally, this was mastered by Mikey Young. 

Again, this is released by Fire Talk Records.  Dark Tea just shared a new video for “Down For the Law” from their upcoming LP.

[bandcampsnoop]

12/14/19.

I’m not sure how I ran across Raj Sablok, but I’ve been listening to his music non-stop for the past couple of days.  He is from San Francisco, California.  John Vanderslice says, “A one in a million songwriter! He’s written and recorded hundreds of excellent songs in the past few years.“

I would emphasize the “hundreds of excellent songs”.  Each offering on Bandcamp contains at least 88 songs (most contain 100...thus the “100s”).  Volume 3 is the only offering with a reasonably priced physical copy.  Volume 4 is outstanding, but only 4 physical copies exist at $1000 each.  Yikes.

Raj Sablok’s music is most definitely indie/rock based.  But as you could imagine, with 100 songs (and none of them too short) there are a variety of sounds.  I hear Sonny Smith, Dick Stusso, and Lawrence Arabia.  Sometimes there’s a piano that reminds me of my parents Roger Williams collection.  Raj’s sheer volume of work also reminds me of Momus (Nick Currie) and Ireland’s Laurie Shaw.  And his guitar virtuosity heads into the Ben Sereten/Neil Young realm of sound. 

Volume 3 is released by Cosmic Dreamer Records (Los Angeles).