Artist Feature: Youth Warrant

We are back. And we have something to share. This time it is a brand new artist feature.

We aren't new to indie rock, we love indie rock. It excites me when I find a band with the potential to make it in the indie rock scene. Today I bring you Youth Warrant, a Baltimore, Maryland duo consisting of two members, Alex and Brian.

I first heard them when browsing SoundCloud back in April, I immediately loved their sound. Not only was it a sound that was unique, it was a sound with character.

Their EP, Strange Paradise, has since amassed over 2,500 plays on SoundCloud. Each song on the EP has a different tone that adds to the overall emotion of the album. Along with a consistent 2 part male and female harmony, each tracks has alternating pace, slowing down and speeding up on a dime. Making it one unique EP.



I had the pleasure of interviewing the duo about their work and goals. So here it is.

Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?

Alex (A): Working full-time on the music. Writing new tunes, playing around the world, recording, producing... I'd love to see my music touch people the way that music has touched me through the years.

Brian (B): Hopefully -- on stage, somewhere in the world, playing to people who know the words to all of our songs. With at least one full-length album under our belts.

As a band, what is your largest influence when making music?

B: Together -- we just want to write great songs that mean to people (including ourselves) what songs and music have meant to us. For every stage in our loves, there was music to pair with it, to comfort us, excite us, commiserate, etc...

A: I agree with Stew. There has been so much music over the years. Songs that have helped me carry on, and to know that we aren't alone in our struggles. I don't think that we've ever gone into our studio and said "let's sound like such-and-such a band". We just love music, and try to make the best that we can. For every bass line, guitar part, drum beat, and melody, there are a dozen that didn't make the cut.

What are your favorite genres of music?

A: Anything emotional and heartfelt, with melodies that make me feel as much as the lyrics. The songs that always meant the most to me were the songs I grew up on. After a hard break-up, I listened to an album by This Providence in the car all night. It was like having someone there who understood exactly what I was feeling. Music does that.

B: I get into most things that are tagged as indie/alt. I'll cover the whole spectrum from indie/alt/folk, to rock, to pop, to some hip hop as well. those genres tend to draw the attachment and emotion from me, ad lean towards the art of the song, and that is important to me.

What are your plans for future releases?

B: We're back to writing again. We just decided that we had a set of songs we were ready to release to get the ball tolling on this project. It just felt right, so we followed our guts. We left a few songs half-written at that time, and as soon as we released the EP, got right back to it. We'll be releasing more relatively soon.

A: I had my ACL replaced shortly after the release, so I've been banging away at my guitar every day. I'm excited to get into the studio and allow these new tunes to develop.

What is your favorite track on the EP and why?

B: Criminal. It's about a situation that is simultaneously beautiful and agonizing, and all at once in its death throws. It has a lot of personal meaning o me, but I also think the emotion of the lyrics paired perfectly with the songwriting, as it sways from epically big to introspectively subdued.

A: The Fall. I think we're all searching for love, and this song sort of asks those questions. We've all felt those highs and lows, and that uncertainty about ourselves and our relationships. I also love the middle of the song, when the music fades away to that pretty and haunting melody. And the song just quietly asks "is it worth the fall?", and the answer is really for each listener to find for themselves.

Hopefully we will be hearing more from Youth Warrant. We will be sure to update you guys on their latest work as it comes out. I would like to thank Alex and Brian for their time and their work. I hope you will check them out.

Tis' the Season

Okay friends, the time has come...

With the passing of the first weekend of Coachella, and the defrosting of every state above the Mason Dixon line, the time for the festival season is upon us. No, not the festive season; the festival season. This week marks the first of many weeks with music festivals out the wazoo. For every genre, jazz to reggae, rock to EDM, it is a great time of the year to see your favorite acts.

Just recently, I was on a college visit with my dad to James Madison University in Virginia. I was laying in our hotel room and he was reading off some of the activities going on that weekend on campus. It turns out James Madison was having a in house music festival the very day I was touring. Even better yet, after reading the lineup my jaw was floored that Magic Man was playing.

So I went to the music festival, got front row standing room seats to Magic Man, had a blast and recorded some of it for Sam. The best part, it was completely free to enter. You can see them preform Waves  live down bellow (sorry for the bad audio, it was live).



But all of this is besides the point, the point I'm trying to make is that the festival season is upon us in all shapes and sizes. It doesn't have to be a huge 2 weekend festival in the California desert to be good. Just a simple college festival was enough for me to have a good time, why not you?

There is a festival for everyone, its up to you to find it. It doesn't have to be a huge event, festivals range in all shapes and sizes.

Featured Artist: SPDNA

So, as some of you may know, there is an area on this site that artists and the general public can submit music for review. Well, one of the artists that sent in his music was SPDNA, also known as Isaac Baronikian from our neighbor to the north, Canada.

This electronica artist released an EP back in september simply titled Confessions. He released the six track album on the first day of his senior year. As you will see in this short, three question, email based interview with Isaac of SPDNA, he is very focused on connecting with people on an emotional level with this EP. His chilling atmospheric beats really do accomplish creating an emotional connection via the music.

Interview:

Where do you draw your musical influence from?

"I don't know if I have any specific influences...  I grew up in a family with a very wide listening scope when it came to music, so I've absorbed a lot. Really I just try and blend natural instruments with electronic music as best as I can - I think electronic music can gain a significant amount of emotion from real instruments. I also I think there's something to be said for how the smoothness of jazz can be applied fairly universally - regardless of which genre you find yourself working in. This is an exciting time for our music world, and every day I find myself taking cues from a different artist. If I'm naming names, I was really into Chrome Sparks and a guy named fthrnsn a while ago, and I've been listening to a lot of Ta-Ku and Kaytranada lately."

Favorite track on your album and why?

"Favourite track on the album goes to Dusk. I find that Dusk affects me on a very emotional level - and what's magical about it is that you can listen to it as an uplifting track just as well as you can listen to it as a mellow, somber one. Most of the instruments in Dusk are real, recorded ones - I doubt the track would have the same effect if it was done with software sounds."

Give a breif history about your music project.

"I started this project back in February this year, which seems like a century ago. The original plan was to release an EP at the end of the school year, but I found myself continually making it a larger project. I decided I wanted this release to be more than just music - it had to be an experience. It became something of a photography portfolio, which took form in the digital liner notes. Seven months later, on the first day of grade twelve, in September, the album was out. I made it pay what you want, because the goal of this project wasn't to make money - it was to connect emotionally with whoever took the time to listen to my album."

This album starts with the track Dusk (Blackout Session), which happens to be SPDNA's favorite track as previously stated in the interview. In my opinion this track makes for a great intro track. Despite the fact that it's winter, when I listen to this song I imagine a relaxing rainy summer day. You really get lost in the smooth reverberated drum beats and twinkling guitars. SPDNA does a good job of creating an atmosphere with the rain sounds and swelling piano sounds. His main goal of this track was to emotionally connect with the listener and I think this goal accomplished simply because every song is throughly engaging and the real instruments make it sound quite authentic like it's being played just for the listener.

From Dusk all the way to the last dreamy song, Asleep, the album has the listener drifting off into space. The atmospheres take the listener to a whole other universe, a universe of beautiful music. 

Sam's Favorite Album of All Time

There are many factors that make an album someone's favorite. Whether it be a memory linked to the album, an overall appreciation of the musical talents involved in it, or just because someone loves the band in general. I have a handful of albums that I really like in the vast world of music, but one tops them all.

Era Extrana, the 2011 Neon Indian LP, is my favorite album of all time. There are many reasons why this album is my favorite and may possibly remain my favorite.

I came across the Denton, Texas Neon Indian brain child, Alan Palomo in early 2011. He had only released his notorious 2009 lo-fi/chillwave LP, Psychic Chasms that received high praise on blogs like Pitchfork and Hype Machine. I really liked the style of his music and the album itself, but for some reason I lost track of Neon Indian for a while. Then came summer of 2011, and July brought the release of the single Fallout and August brought the most well known Neon Indian single, Polish Girl. Immediately I downloaded these singles as Neon Indian had once again popped onto my radar. These two songs were on repeat for days. I can not tell you how many times I heard that Polish Girl synth melody within the first day of downloading it. Something about this song gave it re-playabillity and I listened to it continuously to the release of the glorious Era Extrana album.

Era Extrana began in Helsinki, Finland in 2010 following the release of Psychic Chasms. The cold winter inspired Palomo's album yet, ironically this album really reminds me of spring/summer. It was finally released on September 13th, 2011 under the Static Tongues record label. Now, I had to download the entire thing because of how much I loved the singles. I would never regret this choice.

This album is fantastic because every song is different and fresh. Every synth filled, modulation filled song is a master piece elegantly composed and formatted into one great sonic beauty. Between the three part instrumental interludes, showcasing Palomo's brilliant synth talents, following the process of the heart (Heart: Attack, Heart: Decay, and Heart: Release) and the upbeat songs such as Hex Girlfriend and Halogen this album shines bright. There is not one song that I dislike on this album. However, most of the ratings it received seem to be either 3's or 4's out of 5 or 7 out of 10's. The reviews are mediocre and don't reflect the brilliance of this album and I highly disagree with a majority of them. Palomo did a beautiful job on this album. I would review every song if I could but, it would probably turn into a novel, so I'll cut you some reading.

Not only do I love this album for its musical composition, but this album holds a great deal of nostalgia and has plenty of memories behind it. In my freshman year, I started to show my friends Polish Girl after it had been released over the summer. At first, like many songs I attempt to show them, they just kind of shrugged it off as "eh, just another boring indie song Sam is trying to brainwash us with." But, after a while it became more and more popular between the four of us and we all had it blasting on our iPods. It's also funny because originally one of my friends thought Polish Girl was pronounced polish as in nail polish and I'll always seem to remember that when listening to the song. Polish Girl essentially became the "anthem" between my friends and I will always remember listening to this song with them in freshman year. Beyond school, summer 2012 was the absolute best summer of my life. Almost every day I listened to Era Extrana in its entirety. I'll always remember those hazy summer afternoons just hanging out longboarding with the beating sunset in the background having Era Extrana playing in my ears. There are so many great memories linked with this album that it always puts a smile on my face when I listen to it and it always seems to pick me up when I'm feeling down.

Eventually, Neon Indian, and Polish Girl especially, began increasing in popularity and I soon found out that kids in our school were listening to Neon Indian. That information took away a little bit of the feeling that it was my "little secret" but no matter how many people began to listen to Neon Indian it still held and still holds a special place in my heart (as wishy washy and cliche as that sounds).

Era Extrana is and will probably always be my favorite album of all time. I'm still hungrily awaiting a new Neon Indian LP to hopefully match the greatness that is Era Extrana. But, until then if you haven't heard Era Extrana, seriously what are you waiting for, listen to it RIGHT NOW!

Here is a stream of the entire album:

 

-∆Sam

Featured Artist: New Zephland

∆ Featured Artist: New Zephland

Before I review this Zeph's track, let me first give a little back story on how we came across this artist. Well, when we thought it would be a bright idea to start this blog, I posted on twitter that we were "officially starting a music blog". Now I got a reply from a dude by the name of @NewZephland  simply saying "what type of music". I replied and he replied back, "I'll be on the look out. Be sure to send me the link when it's up so I can retweet it." Well, I proceeded to check out this guys twitter to see what he was all about, which led me to his soundcloud page.

The first song I decided to click on was Feel It (Prod. Dream Koala). Immediately I was stunned by this song. I continued to click on the play button of various other songs such as Van Damned, Growing Wings (Prod. Kirvy), and well...every other track on the page. So, I've decided to dedicate this post to supporting the man that supported us off the bat.

Now for the review of Feel It (Dream Koala):

When I first looked at the genre tag and saw indie, I expected some sort of indie rock, grungy kind of tune. However, the song starts out with these swelling guitar chords and at first it was the opposite of what I expected. I continued to listen and the track only got smoother and progressively chiller. Then this loose kick drum mixed with these beautifully grooving hats and claps hits with the Pittsburg rapper spitting some trill lyrics on top. (I later found out that the beat was "We Can't Be Friends" By Dream Koala). I fell in love with the song because it wasn't the common popular rap/hip hop beat you would normally hear with the crazy amount of hats and snares with a humungous sub bass. It was different which really sets this song and artist apart. The lyrics flow so perfectly, the articulation and the rhythm really make the song relaxing and dreamy. Dream Koala's beat and his vocals just work so well together.  "I can feel it, I can feel, I swear," seems to be the main line in the song and it really actually captures the vibe because I can really feel this song.


Take a look at the rest of Zeph's music on his soundcloud.
Also, check out the featured song below:

5 Day Forecast: W3V2

Tuesday ∆ J Metro - Frosty

Truth is, I actually love R&B Christmas songs such as TLC - Sleigh Ride, Boys II Men - Let It Snow, and a handful of others. I think because these songs are different from the Christmas classics that you always tend to hear on the radio or in movies. This song was posted almost 21 hours ago from the time I'm writing this and I instantly fell in love.

The R&B beat is really grooving. The whole song actually hold this kind of 90's R&B feel which makes this song stand out. There's this arpeggiated bell sample playing in the background that makes this tune really "frosty". The bells have this sharp sound that sounds as if someone took some xylophone mallets and started hitting some icicles. The drums are very 90's feeling, a short 808 style kick with a 909 style clap and some intermixed hi hats, snares, and woodblock hits add to this upbeat grooving effect. J Metro's vocals are chilling to say the least but, when he hits these falsettos it's bliss. Not to mention when the back up vocals accompany him you're engulfed in a utopia of R&B vocal harmony.

Now don't get confused, this is not a cover of Frosty the Snowman. J Metro mixes his own lyrics with some iconic Frosty the Snowman lines like "thumpity, thump thump, over the hills, etc." He does an excellent job of combining the two. It's hard to listen to new Christmas songs that you may not be familiar with but, the fact that he throws in those notorious lines really makes it easy to listen to.

Check out the track here:



-Sam

5 Day Forecast: W3V1

Monday ∆ My Morning Jacket - I'll Be Home For Christmas (feat. The Head and the Heart) 

I for one am a big fan of My Morning Jacket, and Christmas songs. The fact that the two of these came together is absolute bliss. Granted this was released two years ago, I just had to post it because I just really love this version of I'll Be Home For Christmas.

This remake of Bing Crosby's 1945 Top 10 Hit is really soothing. Singer of My Morning Jacket, Jim James really holds true to the jazzy vocals like the original tune. He sings this song so smooth and slow that it has you reaching for a glass of hot chocolate, curling up next to a decorated Christmas tree, and watching the snow fall in a state of pure relaxation. Now, My Morning Jacket, most certainly isn't a jazz band, but the way in which they execute this jazzy cover is excellent. The acoustic guitar, the jazzy piano, the brushed snare drums, the calmly picked upright bass, everything comes together so well.

Eventually, some organ playing emerges from the background and Jim is accompanied by some backup vocals that compliment so chillingly. What, I don't understand however, is why there are only two comments. One of the users stating "This sounds terrible!". Well, that user clearly doesn't the true beauty behind this cover. Everything with this track is just so warming I can't see how it could be terrible. The other comment I can agree with however, it states "idk why, this track is so soothing lol". Now that I can agree with!

But, anyway here is the My Morning Jacket twist of a holiday classic:



-Sam