"Song of the Week"

The IndepenDisc "Song of the Week" for 06-30-10 is: On* by: Frank Critelli. off the CD: Waltzing Through Quicksand

Featured on IndepenDisc in Feb. of '08

and here's what I (G.Gone) had to say about it then...

-snip-...The amazing part of all this is that Frank accomplishes it with a poetic flare of writing which connects each listener to the song/song cycle/album in intangible ways. For as Frank Critelli waltzes through the quicksand of the ever saddening state of the music industry, he intelligently binds the experiences of everyday real life (his, ours, and everybody else’s) to each story and relates how we are all trapped in our own quicksand. Listening to the progression of the album, the way Frank has created a flow, we slowly understand Frank’s message: Don’t fight, nor give up in the quicksand of life, but waltz through it, with as much dignity, grace, and class as you can – for that is when we can derive the joyfulness that life offers, that is how we can have a good time...-snip-

Read the entire review HERE.

*Link is a direct .mp3 stream of the song.

Dog Days of Summer

It looks like the Dog Days of Summer have arrived a little early this year. Not to blame the heat, but it has helped to delay a few posts to this here Blog. So to fill the time before I can get caught up, I figured I'd share some of my favorite "Summer" Albums with you. Now this doesn't mean these are "about" summer, just that I find that I always play them in the summer...

In no particular order:

Retreat From The Sun - That Dog
Live At Leeds - The Who
On The Third Day - Electric Light Orchestra
Van Halen - Van Halen
Van Halen II - Van Halen

Candy-O - The Cars
Sunshine Girl - The Naomi Star

I Robot - The Alan Parsons Project
Born To Quit - The Smoking Popes
ArgyBargy - Squeeze
Gish - Smashing Pumpkins

Rocket To Russia - The Ramones

That's sort of my Top 10 "Summer" albums (I know, I listed 12, that's why I said "sort of").

Now it's your turn, tell me some of your "Summer" albums.

"Song of the Week"

Another "& Beyond" post.

From Chicago, IL.

The IndepenDisc "Song of the Week" for 06-23-10 is: Glistening* by: the Bon Mots. off the CD: le main drag.

Featured on IndepenDisc in Jan. of '04

and here's what I (G.Gone) had to say about it then...


-snip- tells the tale of a guy on the beach admiring the beautiful site of a woman. She is way out of his reach, and while his desires for her will go unmet, the Bon Mots also tell of the desires of the woman, which also will go unmet. She suffers just the same as him, but at a different level, which he is unable to comprehend. It offers the common ground of rejection crumbling the soul as the path to love, which is the perfect solution laid out by a person who can generally feel for another’s feelings. The song unfolds this in a variety of different scenarios -snip-

Read the entire review HERE.

*Link is a direct .mp3 stream of the song.

CD Review: Shark

Sat. June 26th - February Records showcase at The Ideat Village Fest. - Pitkin Plaza (141 Orange St New Haven, CT 06511) - 5 p.m. The Wee Bees 5:40 ish Ghost of Chance 6:15 ish The Tyler Trudeau Attempt. I can't be there :-( But I want to Thank Dan Goodwin and (Formerly Tweefort Records) February Records for turning me on to SHARK ~

On the cover, the image is distorted, dark, muted, and eerie. There is something there, just beneath the surface; it makes you feel uneasy, but you are intrigued.

Shark [band] has captured its essence.

The self-titled debut CD by Joe Mordecai (vocals, guitars and more), John Mordecai (vocals, bass, keyboards and more), and Josh Bleeks (drums) begins with Intro; it’s a parade, a circus parade, a freak show parade, a distorted, dark, muted, eerie parade.

As the cacophony fades, Harmonix lies just below the surface until it is upon you. Shark attacks in a stunningly clever assault until you are unknowingly caught up in the subdued frenzy that has been unleashed in a dark, edgy PopMetal the likes of Brian Jonestown Massacre, Sonic Youth, and Radiohead re-imagined. It’s SludgePop via Ultravox and The Doors. This is a mind-expanding extraordinaire of insane pedal and board effects that have been mastered live. Turducken carries on with a meandering stroll in Gary Numan territory, which suddenly pulls Metallica out of the sea of sound and dives into Classic Metal a lá Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, and Iron Maiden. Shredding, screamo guitar brings impressive use of blistering keyboards as a 2nd lead guitar. But, it’s Joe’s use of the Wah Wah pedal in Feel The Fear… that brings Shark to the surface. A rolling, swelling mass that intrigues you until suddenly it is tearing you apart. Using reverb and voice modulation, the lyrics become secondary to the epic scope of the music. As the piano swims this monster off, you are left floating in wonder and astonishment as to what Shark has done to your senses.

Distorted, dark, muted, and eerie, now that Shark has sunk their teeth in, they proceed to ravage you. (-) is mesmerizing feedback that creates a landscape of beauty in what is usually wince-inducing noise. Musk is a lumbering beast of whirlpool synths that doesn’t let you up for air. Finally the grand, epic, sweeping ARP allows the piano/keyboards to take you into the deep waters and accept that there is something there, just beneath the surface; it makes you feel uneasy, but you are intrigued.

Now you have captured the essence of Shark.

Dee Monte meet Alyse Lamb

What is it about the local New Haven music scene that attracts so many talented musicians over the years? Why is it that this scene still survives even after decades of relative obscurity? Hard to say, but if you were following this blog and happened to catch the pair of shows this weekend that I had previewed, then maybe you’re a little bit more in the know.

2 shows, 4 bands, all great in their own right. Fri. 6-11-10 @ Huntington Street Café in Shelton, CT. it was The Big Fat Combo opening for DELVIS (a reunion) and Sat. 6-12-10 @ Café 9 in New Haven, CT. it was Eula opening for Titles (their CD release). I’ve written about The Big Fat Combo before, the release of their 1st CD (in their 10 year career), the highly anticipated Chicks Dig It, brought accolades from many, as well as myself, who already considers it one of the best CDs of 2010. Their live shows are always a blast and Friday was no exception. Playing a fun and rollicking set that saw guest artist such as Dave Schnieder (The Zambonis) joining in on “The Helmet Song” and Forrest Harlow with his autoharp playing the Bee Gee's “Words,” it was everything a Big Fat Combo show has come to stand for. I’ll leave it at that and say almost the same for Titles a band with whom I’m familiar, yet haven’t been exposed to enough. Loved by many, their live shows are few and far between, so Saturday’s show supporting their 3rd release, Dirt Bell, was a must see for the throng that turned out. Add in that Eric Danton of the Hartford Current has called Dirt Bell the best Local release ever (I have the disc, but have not had the time to devote to it yet – and it will be on the IndepenDisc web site shortly), and you can understand why Titles have been getting a lot of well deserved buzz.

But this Blog entry isn’t about The Big Fat Combo, nor Titles. Both deserving in their own right, both worth boning up on, and both must listens, so hit the links if you are so inclined, in the meantime I’m going to tell you about the other two.

I missed DELVIS back in the day (’87 – ’92) and had to do a bit of research to find out what kind of stir they had created. Fronted by Dee Monte (a local legend in her own right) they received a lot of attention, played a lot of shows and made a lot of great music. I walked into the show not knowing what to expect and was promptly blown away. It had been 18 years since DELVIS last performed and they left no doubt as to why they are still talked about. Dee’s presence commanded the stage as the trio behind her commanded the music, drawing heavy on Surf-Punk and good old Rock-n-Roll they did New Haven’s local independent music scene proud. I was thrilled to be able to experience a bit of local history that I had missed the 1st time around, and it made me smile. Here’s a video I took of DELVIS playing one of their singles, Tiger In My Tank. Dee’s voice may sound a little worse-for-the-wear (it was near the end of the set & she hadn’t sung this much in ages), but it only goes to prove how good DELVIS was/is within the context of the music.

DELVIS ~ Tiger In My Tank
06-11-10 Live @ The Huntington Street Cafe
Shelton, CT

I’ve been a fan and friend of Eula since they started in ’06 and while I had never seen Dee Monte with DELVIS when they were performing, after their show Fri. night, I realized that Alyse Lamb, who fronts Eula is most likely this era’s incarnation of Dee. Saturday’s blistering set at Café 9 proved to me that not only does Alyse embody the spirit and the music of Dee, but Eula embodies the spirit and music of DELVIS to a degree. That degree is the flat out rocking of the music. Each band fit and is comfortable upon the stage and within the scene they were born into, decades apart, yet bonded like siblings to make their parents (New Haven) proud. This video of Eula performing Fight Riff suffers a bit in sound quality, but shows the raw energy that is the essential part of the New Haven scene whether past, present or future.

Eula ~ Fight Riff
06-12-10 Live @ Cafe 9
New Haven, CT

I want to thank all 4 bands for making this weekend a remarkable convergence of New Haven music and history.

Weekend Preview

OK, I'm still getting the hang of this Blog thing, even though everybody tells me that I've been doing it all along anyway...
Lots of music to get out and experience this weekend. I'm just going to touch on the shows I'll be attending...
Friday night 06-11-10 @ The Huntington Street Cafe (Shelton, CT) is the return of DELVIS (Dee Monte for those in the know) with The Big Fat Combo opening 8:00 - 10:00.
Saturday night 06-12-10 there are 2 great show happening almost simultaneously,
The band Titles is having it's CD release party for their 3rd release "Dirt Bell" @ Cafe 9 (New Haven, CT) with Eula opening 10:00 - closing, and down the street @ Rudy's it's The Peacock Flounders & The Mold Monkies.
If you're really good, you could bounce between both places enough to catch all 4 bands - maybe(?).
Now, if you want to hear some music from some of these bands before hand, I played sets by The Big Fat Combo, Titles and Eula on the Radio IndepenDisc show this week...

The podcast & stream for the 06-09-10 Radio IndepenDisc show is up. Hit This Link to listen 24/7. Featuring sets by: Age Of Reason, Moss Browne, The Big Fat Combo, Titles, Shark, Eula, Sky Picnic, and Mix-Tape Wednesday Vol. "Chain" (each song title must contain a word from the previous song title).

Mix-Tape Wed. Vol. "Chain" set list below. this is the direct stream link ~ http://www.independisc.com/podcasts/radioindependisc060910hr3.m3u

Mix-Tape Wed. Vol. "Chain"
Side: A
Chain Of Rock - Ian Charles
Mama's Little Babies Love Rock and Roll - The Big Fat Combo
Baby Walk - The Mocking Birds
Walk On By - Mill Valley Taters
Home By The Sea - Frank Critelli
Sea Hands (Live) - Jellyshirts
In Other Hands - The Differents
The Other Side - Kriss Santala

Side: B
The Cool Side - Eric D.
So Cool - The Naomi Star
Just So You Know - Annabella
I Know You - WOW
On Fire For You - The Runes
House On Fire - Dar Williams
On Chains - Vesper Sparrow

Review: Age Of Reason CD - Acoustic and Live at Studio 23

"Song of the Week" ~ Tick Tock

“Here we are /”

In my preparation to write this review I reread the review I wrote about Age Of Reason’s first release, Vox Humana (Sept. 09). I realized I was sitting down to write basically the same review, except with a little different slant. So you should read that review http://www.independisc.com/ageofreason.htm#124 before continuing.

“There we go /”

If you’ve chosen to saunter on without reading the first review, I will say that Edward Leonard and Dave Divino’s collaboration with percussionist John Santarsiero as a trio has paid dividends. Their 2nd release in less than a year, Acoustic and Live at Studio 23 is performed as one piece, this time fleshing out the saga of Edward Leonard’s belief in humanity over the years/ages, by redeveloping songs culled from current Age Of Reason’s first release, Deep City Elm, earlier Age Of Reason (?), and few newer compositions (?) to create an amazing tale. Edward once again sits us down around the campfire and wields the timeless message that has been told and handed down through the ages, using Dave & John’s percussion to push us along the heightened aspects of humanity and ask us to choose the right path.

“Catch a star /”

Shaman like Edward, Dave, and John have always been around to tell the tale of humanity and of the universal aspects involved in the individual choices we make. Every tribe of every culture of all time has had their historians who have passed the tale in their means of interpretation. We all have benefited from this, if we so chose, although the best is being able to hear and appreciate Age Of Reason’s musical interpretation.

“Let it go.”

Age Of Reason - Tick Tock
05-22-10 @ CD Release Party
Cafe 9 - New Haven, CT

Radio IndepenDisc

For the past 5 years, every Wednesday night I host a Live internet Radio show from 9:00-Midnight (ET) on Cygnus Radio. I record "Radio IndepenDisc" and create a podcast and stream that can be accessed and listened to 24/7. On the first Wed. of each month the playlist is composed of all the past Features (since 1998) from that month. Last night (Wed.) was 11 years of June Features! ~ The podcast & stream for the 06-02-10 Radio IndepenDisc show is up - HERE listen 24/7. With sets by: Shark ('10), Age Of Reason ('10), The OutSkirts ('99), The Cucumbers ('99), The Differents ('00), James Velvet ('01), The Mocking Birds ('02), The Dent ('03), Jellyshirts ('04), Fredalba ('05), The Badge ('05), RockDownBaby ('06), Kriss Santala ('07), The Manchurians ('08), Eula ('09) and Saint Bernadette ('09).
Enjoy!

Beatnik 2000 commentary - The Furors

On Monday, Memorial Day, May 31st, Edward Leonards long running Beatnik 2000 series held it's 524th show at Cafe 9. For the first hour the audience was treated to poetry and the acoustic stylings of Peter Lachmann and Dan Racaniello. Then Sliver Bitch took the stage (Disclaimer: I am in the band Sliver Bitch) and blew it up. We exited the stage quite pleased with the power and force with which we delivered our set. This is, until The Furors played their set. It may have seemed like we (Sliver Bitch) had thrown down the gauntlet, but The Furors, local New Haven legends of 30+ years, just went on and gave one of the best performances I have ever seen by them. They schooled us young pups on how it is done. In fact, I'll let their final song of the night show you exactly what I mean...

The Furors - A Thing For Blondes
05-31-10 Live @ Beatnik 2000 #524
Cafe 9 - New Haven, CT