GRAVES is Greg Olin from Portland, Oregon. His latest record “Summr Bummr” from St. Ives is a fifteen track journey through a lofty jazz-folk universe unlike anything we’ve heard all year. Continue reading “Graves – Summr Bummr”
Tag: jazz
Levek – Look on the Bright Side 7″
Here we go – it’s the next installment to the already flourishing artist line-up at Father/ Daughter Records! They’ve had the pleasure of putting out debut releases from some of 2010’s favorite acts, such as tooth ache. and Family Trees. This time they’re back with the debut 7″ from David Levesque, otherwise known as LEVEK. His splendid new 7″ definitely broadens the artist horizon over at Father/ Daughter, complete with a spacey, seductive atmosphere and a provocatively groovy mood – forcing me to say the word ‘sexy’ could definitely be used to describe this one man band’s sounds.
When it came to putting a tag on this stuff, I had quite a difficult time coming up with anything. Part of me doesn’t want to bother trying to come up with anything – the other part wants to say it’s just a huge mash up of many different types of music, including elements of jazz and funk. While there’s really no way of ‘correctly’ answering that question, it’s probably best to just have you guys listen for yourself and come up with your own answers. “Mickey Mouse tribal sounds” works to some degree, but I don’t think a lot of people are even going to understand what that means. The Last.fm description is probably the most fitting for an artist bio, followed by the more mysterious “About” section on the Levek Myspace.
If there is anything I should make sure I say, it’s that this stuff is beyond unique – possibly being some of the most creative and thought-provoking music I’ve heard all year. “Look on the Bright Side” forces you to paint a vast, luscious landscape in yr mind, bringing you to a peaceful, faraway space-land where all your worries literally melt away. Put on your headphones, turn up the volume, and let the bliss take you away as you float up towards the heavens, never to come back down.
Grab this gem at the Father/ Daughter store before it’s too late – it’s limited to 400 on red vinyl, including a download card with three bonus tracks, and a free button set! A free button set?! Yeah, in case you weren’t aware, Father/ Daughter Records is indeed that cool. Please people, don’t sleep on this stuff, you WILL be sorry. See ya tomorrow.
Look on the Bright Side –
My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Jazz, Funk, whathaveyou
Look on the Bright Side 7″: Tracklist:
1.) Look on the Bright Side
2.) Slow
Levek on Myspace
PRE-ORDER the 7″ right now from Father/ Daughter Records – 400 pressed on red vinyl !
Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro – Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro
My Rating: 9/10
Genre/ Tags: Funk, Japanese, Jazz, Instrumental
Hello friends. How is everyone doing today? It would seem as if my post yesterday about joining our Last.fm group actually paid off, because we got ONE new member! Awesome! Thanks Mike! One is better than none right?
Today I have something that’s a bit different than usual. It was a bit difficult to find out any specific information on this band, but that doesn’t really matter. The name of the band is Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro, and they come from the wonderful land of Japan. Don’t quote me on this, but I believe it’s a group of 6 guys, all from Japan, who all bring their own special contributions to the music. The band features a trumpet, a tenor sax, guitar, bass, drums, and an organ/keyboards player, but none of the guys do the singing. The record is completely instrumental without any vocals, but the hard and heavy instrumentation makes up for it. Normally, in my experiences, people are turned off by a band when it doesn’t feature any type of singing or vocals, but I think Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro would be an exception for a lot of people. With their funky grooves and relentless approach, it’s kind of hard to deny this sound. I think many people would find themselves moving along with the music somehow only after hearing it for a short time. It has that ability to just sort of bring you along for the funky ride, but you can never be too sure where the funk is going to lead you. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself playing a track over for a second and third time, and by the time that’s over you probably still wouldn’t have had enough. To give it a try for yourself, I have uploaded a few tracks from the album to share with you guys, but I warn you, these tunes are tough to get out of your head once they’re in there. So good luck with that.
The Bunch
Don’t Touch, Just Watch Me!
Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro: Tracklist
1.) Time Has Come
2.) Yellow Soul Force
3.) The Changes
4.) The Bunch
5.) Interlude
6.) Baggy Pants
7.) Don’t Touch, Just Watch Me!
8.) DFT
9.) Interlude
10.) Big Pig Affair
11.) Blues of the Kilimanjaro
12.) Black Dog, Black Cat, Black Bird
13.) Eastwood Magic City
14.) Why Am I Standing Here?
Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro – Official Website!
Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro on Myspace!
Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro group on Facebook
Soul Coughing – Ruby Vroom
My Rating: 7/10
Genre/ Tags: Alternative, Jazz, Rock
Soul Coughing formed in New York City back in 1992, and they remained active until 2000 when they broke up over disputes about songwriting credits and things of that matter. It’s a shame when a band dies off due to arguments, but hey, that’s how the cookie crumbles. Before breaking up in 2000, the band released three different studio albums, and they managed to gain moderate mainstream success. Their first album “Ruby Vroom” was released back in 1994, and it is the album I have here with me today. A lot of the songs found on the album are dominated by heavy, jazzy bass lines and lead singer Mike Doughtys crazy “stream-of-consciousness” poetry, which many times leaves you thinking, “What did he just say?” If you’re listening carefully enough, you will also notice that he is constantly making references to things in his lyrics. The song that first comes to mind would be the opening track “Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago”. It’s almost like it’s his goal to name as many places as he can while he sings, because he mentions Chicago, Saskatoon, Palmyra, New York, Washington, Pyongyang, and Cairo. There is probably even a few I missed, or possibly some I’m not even aware of. Either way, you should make an effort to check out the funky goodness that is Soul Coughing. Be sure to check out songs like “Sugar Free Jazz” with it’s beachy sound effects, “Casiotone Nation” which is chock-full of more references, “Blueeyed Devil”, “Supra Genious” and “Screenwriter’s Blues”. Enjoy!
Ruby Vroom: Tracklist
1.) Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago
2.) Sugar Free Jazz
3.) Casiotone Nation
4.) Blueeyed Devil
5.) Bus to Beelzebub
6.) True Dreams of Wichita
7.) Screenwriter’s Blues
8.) Moonsammy
9.) Supra Genius
10.) City of Motors
11.) Uh, Zoom Zip
12.) Down to This
13.) Mr. Bitterness
14.) Janine
Unofficial Website – Soul Coughing
Ruby Vroom: BUY
Clutchy Hopkins – The Life of Clutchy Hopkins
“Clutchy Hopkins” is the name of a multi-instrumentalist musician who supposedly hails from California. Not much is known about Clutchy Hopkins, and his existence has yet to be verified. The name is widely believed to be a pseudonym for one of many popular DJs, although no true identity of the person behind the music has been publicly announced. There could be just one person behind the music, or it could be multiple people, but either way, it’s still worth hearing even though some songs sound like they’re from the inside of an elevators music playlist. Basically what that means is that some songs sound like elevator music. The name of the album I have for you today is simply titled “The Life of Clutchy Hopkins” and it has 12 unnamed tracks, thus making the moniker “Clutchy Hopkins” that much more mysterious. Check out the first track from the album right here on Youtube.
Styrofoam Drone 