This past summer I had the pleasure of learning about the immensely talented young British singer-songwriter Callum Pitt when he reached out to me about his single “Fault Lines” (you can read my review here). A beautiful song with biting lyrics decrying governmental and media efforts to divide and polarize society, “Fault Lines” has enjoyed a 10-week run on my Weekly Top 30. The prolific artist has been releasing singles every two months in 2020, beginning in May with “Out of the Trees”, followed by “Fault Lines”, “Ghost” and now his latest, “Sea of Noise“, which I’ve chosen as my New Song of the Week.
Based in Newcastle Upon Tyne in northeast England, Callum writes folk-inspired alternative and dream rock songs influenced by such great acts as The War on Drugs, Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes. With his soft, pleasing vocals, rich harmonies, captivating melodies and meaningful lyrics, he’s captured industry attention and built a growing fan base since the release in 2017 of his gorgeous first single “You’d Better Sell It While You Can.” His equally beautiful second single “Least He’s Happy” has been streamed nearly two million times on Spotify, an astonishing feat for an indie artist.
About his latest single, released on October 6th by label Humble Angel Records, Callum explains “‘Sea of Noise’ alludes to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness while feeling surrounded by quite a lot of negative things. Despite this, it mainly discusses the importance of having a person (or activity) which takes your mind away from that mindset, keeps it away and gives a feeling of having a form of control in life.”
With “Sea of Noise” Callum delivers yet another outstanding track for our listening enjoyment. The song is beautiful, with a sweeping back and forth melody driven by a powerful stomping percussive beat, and accompanied by a lush mix of shimmery synths and moody strings. But the highlights for me are his gorgeous intricately-strummed chiming and jangly guitars and enchanting falsetto vocals. His voice nicely transitions with ease from a gentle tenderness to soaring passion as he sings of finding solace from the surrounding din through another’s support: “The colours were running from all this distortion in my head / The speakers were humming, circling feedback in our ears / Swept by the currents further until the choruses blurred and your shout was a murmur / Felt your tug away from the crowds ‘cause, everything always seems so loud / While we’re drifting in this sea of noise flooding in our ears and our eyes.”
Predictions that rock is a dying genre have been made for years, and despite the fact that not much of it seems to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 chart anymore, there’s still a lot of really great rock music being produced by musicians in America and around the world. One act doing their part to keep rock alive and well is Nashville, Tennessee band The Ivins. Consisting of brothers Jim and Jack Ivins (with Jim on guitars & vocals and Jack on drums), Hatton Taylor on lead guitar, and Regan Akers on bass & vocals, they make a hard-hitting, guitar-heavy style of rock they refer to as “Loud Alternative”. I’ve featured them twice on this blog, first in June 2017 when I reviewed their phenomenal debut album The Code Duello, then again in April 2019 with the review of their single “Certain”. (You can read those reviews by clicking on the links under “Related” at the end of this post.)
Earlier this year, they released a beautiful cover of Halsey’s song “Graveyard”, then followed in July with “Composure”, a song addressing personal serenity and overcoming anxiety that was written and recorded remotely during the COVID-19 quarantine. Now they’re back with “Bloom“, the second in a series of singles they plan to release every two months for the foreseeable future, and which will be featured on their forthcoming second album Conditions. 2020 also saw The Ivins earn a nomination for Best Alt Rock band at this year’s Nashville Industry Music Awards, and Jim Ivins spearheaded a Nashville-centric collaborative album called Quarantunes, which featured more than 50 Nashville musicians, including members of Florida Georgia Line, 3 Doors Down, Daughtry, Tonic, Relient K, CKY, Accept and The Dear Hunter.
“Bloom” is another rousing banger, with an onslaught of jangly and reverb-soaked gnarly riffs delivered by Jim and Hatton’s dual intertwining guitars. Regan drives the powerful rhythm forward with his pummeling bass line while Jack smashes his drum kit with his signature brute force. The blistering guitar solo in the bridge is terrific, as are Jim’s fervent vocals as he sings of his love and devotion to someone who makes him a better person: “That you are with me is just all I need to know. You are the water that makes all my dead leaves grow and cleansed them from poison to thrive in bloom.” He told me that the song was inspired “from personal experience in being a very lost person kind of floating through life, and how it really only takes one person and one connection to turn everything around.
Four Thousand Miles is a unique rock band with an international pedigree, in that each of its four members are from a different country, hence their name ‘Four Thousand Miles’. They started out as a collaboration over the internet, and grew to become a music project after finding that each of their own unique styles blended well together. The four band members are Alex Fearn from Liverpool, England on vocals and rhythm guitar, Lionel Pacreau from Bordeaux, France on lead guitar, Alex May from Atlanta, Georgia, USA on drums, and Liam Sibbald from Prestatyn, Wales on bass.
They’ve gathered together on a number of occasions in Liverpool to record music and film videos, and released their excellent debut single “Lonely” this past Valentine’s Day. The followed up in April with “Reflections”, which I reviewed, and are back with their third single “Demon on the Run” which dropped on Halloween. Like their previous singles, the song was mixed and mastered by Simon Jackman at Outhouse Studios in Reading, Berkshire, and delivers more of their outstanding hard-hitting melodic rock.
The guys are all terrific musicians, and really up their game with “Demon on the Run”. It’s a beautiful rock song, with stellar dual guitar work by Pacreau and Fearn, highlighted by gorgeous chiming guitars in the verses alternating with bone-crushing riffs in the choruses. Sibbald drives the powerful rhythm forward with a deep, pulsating bass line while May smashes his drum kit with impressive force.
The heartfelt lyrics are a plea for help from someone experiencing an emotional breakdown, feeling isolated and alone in their struggle to try and overcome their demons. Fearn’s powerful vocals rise to the occasion as he passionately wails “Do you know, do you know at all, what it feels like to lose control? Do you know, do you know at all, what it was like when I needed a miracle, to help myself. There was nobody, nobody else. I was lost and scared, but never running away. A miracle. Nobody else was saving me from myself.“
After more than five years of blogging about music – which enables me to learn about a least a few new artists or bands literally every day – I’m still surprised when I discover an artist who’s been putting out superb music for several years that I knew nothing about. Just goes to show how many talented artists and bands exist out there, making some really great music. One such artist is British singer-songwriter and guitarist Jono McCleery, who’s latest single “Call Me” – which dropped October 23rd – has captured my attention. He also released a beautiful accompanying video for the track on October 29th.
Based in London, McCleery was deaf until the age of four, unable to perceive any acoustic stimuli. But when he turned 11, he picked up a guitar for the first time and took to it immediately. He eventually became part of the lively London “underground” and a member of One Taste Collective (OTC), a project founded in 2004 to support musicians and poets of all styles. Some of the artists who emerged through the collective include Little Dragon, Jamie Woon, Kate Tempest and the Portico Quartet, all of whom McCleery has worked with.
As I do with all artists and bands I write about for the first time, I checked out McCleery’s back catalog of music – which is pretty extensive – to get a feel for his sound and style. After listening to quite a few of his songs, I can unequivocally state that I love his music. He plays an incredibly pleasing style of what I’d loosely call contemporary folk, though many songs feature elements of electronica, world music, shoegaze, dreampop, soul and jazz. His music is characterized by captivating melodies, lush but understated instrumentation and his warm, soothing vocals in a style that to my ears is reminiscent of such artists as Sufjan Stevens and James Blake.
His first release, in 2008, was his self-produced debut album Darkest Light, a collection of eight lovely acoustic folk tracks. He followed in 2011 with There Is, a stunning, more experimental work with a greater emphasis on world, electronic and jazzy elements, and featuring collaborations with renowned artists Fink and Vashti Bunyon. One of the album’s tracks, a mesmerizing cover of Black’s 1986 hit “Wonderful Life”, has been streamed more than 3.6 million times on Spotify.
2015 saw the release of his third album Pagodes, another beautiful work that received widespread acclaim. Deutschland Funk called it “a stroke of genius”, while Rolling Stone described it as a “flawless album”. And in 2018, he released Seeds of a Dandelion, a marvelous album of covers in which McCleery re-interpreted songs like Roy Davis Jr.’s dance classic “Gabriel”, the Cocteau Twins’ “Know Who You Are at Every Age”, Atoms For Peace’s “Ingenue” and Beyonce’s “Halo”, an enchanting track which has been streamed over 8.8 million times on Spotify. Webzine Line of Best Fit called the album “a strong collection of songs, made with the upmost respect for its inspirations.”
Now he returns with “Call Me”, the second single from his forthcoming fifth album Here I Am and There You Are, set for release on November 20th via the Ninety Days Records label. The album, which McCleery recorded in just four days with the help of a few musician friends, is an homage to the Afro-American jazz musician Terry Callier, who died in 2012. I’ve had an advance listen of the album, and it’s every bit as stunning as his previous works. “Call Me” was written and sung by McCleery, who also played guitar. Supporting musicians include Steve Pringle on keyboards, Milo Fitzpatrick on bass and Dan See on drums. Production and mixing was done by Brett Cox, and mastering by Emil Van Steenswijk.
The song touches on the struggles of separation and finding inner strength. McCleery explained his inspiration for the song: “When I revisited the song before recording the album, I decided to dedicate a verse to Terry Callier’s song ‘Dancing Girl’, and these are his lyrics: ‘I saw a dream last night, bright like a falling star, and the sources of light seemed so near, yet so far. I thought I was in flight out where the planets are, moving between day and night. Here I am, and there you are.’ And then more recently whilst listening to the album recordings as quietly as possible, that line ‘here I am and there you are’ stood out. And I decided to use it for the album title.“
The song has an enchanting, almost jazzy vibe that’s at once melancholy and beautiful. McCleery’s gently strummed guitar, accompanied by subtle bass and the softest of toe-tapping beats, immediately draws us in, and once he begins singing the poetic lyrics in his soothing vocals, we’re more than eager to follow along. The instrumentals become more lively and his vocals more earnest in the choruses, and I love the haunting little piano chords that enter halfway into the track.
The gorgeous video was produced by France-based screenwriter and videographer Giovanni Di Legami, and features clips from his movie Idem, starring actors Roxane Colson and Jean Yann Verton.
Los Angeles-based alternative rock band Disciples of Babylon were one of the very first acts to follow me on Twitter back in the fall of 2015 when I was just starting out as a new blogger. The four band members – Eric Knight on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Ramón Blanco on lead guitar, Gui Bodi on bass and backing vocals, and Chris Toeller on drums – all of whom are gracious and kind, subsequently followed me too. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them perform live three times at various venues throughout the L.A. region, so needless to say I have a special fondness for them.
I first featured them on this blog in January 2016 when I reviewed their debut EP Welcome to Babylon, and wrote about them several more times in 2017 and 2018. (You can read some of those reviews by clicking on the links under “Related” at the end of this post.) Now, three years after the release of their fantastic debut album The Rise and Fall of Babylon, which they premiered in October 2017 at the legendary Viper Room on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, Disciples of Babylon returns with their politically-charged new single “Liberty“, which I’ve chosen as my New Song of the Week.
Eric and the band feel quite strongly about the subject of social justice, and The Rise and Fall of Babylon forewarned us about the beginnings of civil unrest stemming from the growing toxic political divisiveness in America. In a previous interview, Eric explained the impetus behind the album: “These are precarious times we live in. The Rise and Fall of Babylon signifies something that I feel has been a long time coming. Babylon, meaning the USA, is slowly spinning out of control and entering into vast turmoil. I feel we are at the beginnings of a revolution. one of which the likes we’ve never seen before. As a nation, we are no longer viewed in the regard we once were. The title reflects this shift and quite possibly a prelude of what’s to come.”
Now, three years later, he explains the band’s inspiration behind their new single “Liberty”: “We have now entered the perfect storm. The great divide that this country is currently facing is deeper than ever before. We have a government that is corrupt and has run amuck with impunity, with a global pandemic that has just exacerbated and accelerated everything tenfold. Our mission as a band has always been to be a mirror and write about our observations on what the world is showing us, but at the same time being a beacon of hope, strength and unity.”
The lyrics were written by Eric, who wrote the music along with band guitarist Ramón Blanco. The track was produced and mixed by drummer Chris Toeller, engineered by bassist Gui Bodi along with Alan Sosa and Rup Chattopadhyay, and mastered by Joe Bozzi (U2, Van Halen, Imagine Dragons). The dramatic lyric video was conceived by Eric and created by Shane Richardson.
“Liberty” is a powerful anthemic battle cry from the band, urging us to stand up to injustice and divisiveness, and to resist those in power who continually work to tear us apart. To drive home their message, the guys unleash their arsenal of sonic weaponry to create a crushing monumental soundscape befitting the seriousness of the subject. Each band members’ strong musicianship is on full display here: Ramón rips through the airwaves with an onslaught of snarling grungy riffs while Chris smashes his drums with greater force than I’ve ever heard on their previous songs. And ever the master bassist, Gui drives the song’s explosive rhythm forward with a fearsome pummeling bass line that cuts straight to our cores.
Eric’s an outstanding vocalist, with the ability to stir our emotions with his powerful unbridled passion, and he’s in fine form here. He sings the verses with a heartfelt fervency that beautifully conveys his anguish over the current situation, then launches into soaring impassioned wails in the choruses that, combined with the thunderous instrumentals, cover me with chills. I also love his and Gui’s soaring vocal harmonies.
I’m so happy Disciples of Babylon are back, and “Liberty” is one of their best songs yet!
This war has come into our doorstep The price for love of country There is no retreat Our chains are forged here The brave the bold is our decree
They’ll say, this is our destiny We’ll raise our hands for amnesty
We all want liberty We all want liberty I will fight for liberty Or give me death
Divide us and conquer Was that your goal You’ve got your wish How does it feel
They’ll say, this is our legacy United in arms till victory I will fight for liberty
We all want liberty I will fight for liberty Or give me death
We all want liberty We all want liberty I will fight for liberty Or give me death Oh I will fight for
If you can’t save me Heaven help us now The battle cries out
I’ve been following Canadian singer-songwriter and rapper Krosst Out since early 2017, when he reached out to me about his debut EP Life of the Party, an outstanding work that examined the darker aspects of party life, along with the sex, drugs and alcohol abuse that often go hand in hand. (You can read my review here.) Since then, the hard-working artist has released a number of singles and collaborations with other artists, and just dropped his debut album Phone Calls With Ghosts, which was a labor of love for him.
Born and raised in the small town of Campbellford, Ontario, he first studied piano as a child, then took up the bass guitar in his teens. He moved to Toronto, where he started his music career, but earlier this year he relocated to Montreal with his girlfriend and fellow music artist Melotika (who I’ve also featured on this blog several times). Influenced by the music of artists such as Manafest, Eminem, Underoath, Rage Against The Machine, System Of A Down, Nas, and Marilyn Manson, he fuses hip hop with grunge, alt-rock and punk to create his own unique contemporary sound. And like a lot of hip hop artists, his songs draw heavily from his own life experiences, with brutally honest, introspective and raw lyrics.
Phone Calls With Ghosts is a decidedly bleak work addressing youthful mistakes, broken relationships, and the reality that nothing will ever again be what it once was. Krosst Out elaborates: “Ghosts aren’t just your run of the mill spooks, they’re the thoughts and actions of your past that torture you, the baggage you never seem to shrug off. I’ve spent so much of my life trying to hide my demons from myself and the rest of the world, that I thought it was time I faced everything head on. It was like these ghosts were trying to call [me] my whole life and I never picked up. Writing this [album] was my therapy, it helped me come out of this dark place I’d been in, and made me realize more about myself. Ghosts are real, they are the thoughts that torture you, the people you leave behind, the moments you never get back.“
The album was recorded mostly at Pink Distortion Music in Toronto, under the guidance of producer and mixer Adam Van Ameringen aka Rain, although “Intro (Preface)”, “Reckless” and “Black & White” were produced by another frequent collaborator Jor’Del Downz. The entire album was mastered by Sean Savage.
Opening track “Intro (Preface)” does just what it implies, laying out for us what the album’s about and setting the overall dark mood. Against a backdrop of throbbing, reverb-heavy bass accompanied by enchanting synths, Krosst Out tearfully pleads “Can you hear me? Can you really hear me out there? Pick up the phone!” A heavy beat then kicks in as he launches into an angry freestyle rapping tirade, recounting his early dreams of making it as a successful hip hop artists, the sacrifices he made and poverty he endured, and decrying those who never had faith in him: “Don’t ask me why I’m angry / Don’t ask my why I’m upset / These likes and these retweets don’t amount to much / Fuck every single person that ever doubted me / Cause I’ve been down and out.” The song ends with a woman’s voice (who I’m guessing is Melotika) saying, as if a telephone operator, “Welcome to phone calls with ghosts. Thank you for calling.“
“Funerals”, the lead single from the album that I reviewed this past April, touches on how Krosst Out has changed and grown since leaving Campbellford. It’s often challenging when leaving home and moving away to make a new life for ourselves, and though we generally maintain a sense of love and fondness toward family and friends we left behind, the distance and passage of time can complicate and/or diminish relationships. He told me the song title “Funerals” is a metaphor for the death of his old self. “I feel like I’ve just grown so much that I’m unrecognizable now, but at the same time, if I wanted to go [back] home I couldn’t. Also, the more you grow, the more you have people that will hate you for that.” The song has a heavy dub step beat, with a dramatic mix of spooky psychedelic synths, deep, throbbing bass and glittery keyboards creating a dark and moody backdrop for his impassioned free style rapping as he laments about the guilt trips foisted upon him by his mother and friends.
Krosst Out taps into his love of grunge on “Drive“, a cynical song about just saying fuck it, ditching your problems and heading out on the road in search of thrills, because nothing really matters anyway. “Cause I’m living for today, put that on my gravestone.” I like the dark vibes and Rain’s badass grungy guitar riffs at the beginning and in the choruses.
The haunting “Edges” speaks of a failing relationship, with the singer pleading to his partner to stop torturing him. Swirling keyboards contrast sharply with ominous harsh industrial synths to create a darkly beautiful backdrop for Krosst Out’s bitter vocals as he bemoans “We push, we pull, we scream, we shout, you say you want me out.” Guest vocalist Kyle Laird of Ontario metal band As the Structure Fails growls the chorus “You’re breaking my heart. So I’m burning these bridges. Stop tearing me apart. Cause I’m only these edges.”
On “Reckless“, he sings about not giving a fuck what others think of him to a guitar-driven melody over a dubstep beat. Rain’s grungy guitars make a return appearance on “Running in Traffic“, a song that continues on the theme of living life recklessly with a fatalistic attitude. With his voice brimming with emotion, Krosst Out raps “Never played it safe. Screaming here I am. Running in that traffic. Please don’t hold my hand. Gotta take my chances, gotta be a man. Now the ghosts are calling.“
“Background” is a bleak yet beautiful song about that seems to be about a person contemplating suicide. Over a sharp knocking beat and pulsating rhythm, Krosst Out and Rain layer haunting piano keys and a lovely strummed guitar. Krosst Out raps about his feelings of depression and futility, with Rain joining him in vocal harmonies on the chorus: “There are days I wish to just not wake up. I won’t be that shoulder that you needed to lean on. I can’t be that person that you need right now. Let me go, let me go into the background.“
The final track “Black & White” has a funereal grunge rock vibe, with a deep, reverb-heavy bass groove, accompanied by an almost haunting chiming guitar riff played by Andrew Falcao. Krosst Out ruefully raps the lyrics that speak of past regrets he has no desire to correct, and the pain he continues to self-medicate: “I never said goodbye to my friend that died at 25 / But these hard pills get easier to swallow. Don’t be alarmed, numbing myself is just part of the process. All of this shit is just hard to process / You can erase me if you like, black & white. It makes no difference, so take me out.” The instrumentals continue for the final two and a half minutes of the song, highlighted by Falcao’s marvelous guitar solo.
Phone Calls With Ghosts is a marvelous little album with a huge, impactful sound. I love Krosst Out’s songwriting and lyricism, and while he doesn’t have a particularly strong voice, he’s a highly emotive vocalist and terrific freestyle rapper. It’s been a distinct pleasure following on his musical journey over the past four years and watching him grow as an artist. I’m so very proud of him.
One of my favorite soundtrack albums is the one for the 1972 film Cabaret. It also happens to be the very first soundtrack album I ever purchased, after seeing the film as a teen. Not only is Cabaret a great film, I also think it’s one of the best film soundtracks ever, and a fun listen from start to finish.
Cabaret was directed by acclaimed dancer and choreographer Bob Fosse (whose first film as director, Sweet Charity, was a flop). It stars Liza Minnelli as American singer/nightclub performer Sally Bowles, Joel Grey as the androgynous and flamboyant emcee of the Kit Kat Klub, and Michael York as a sexually conflicted English writer and teacher. The film is loosely based on the 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret by John Kander and Fred Ebb, which was itself adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s semi-autobiographical novel The Berlin Stories, and the 1951 play I Am a Camera. The story takes place in Berlin during the waning days of the Weimar Republic in 1931, when the Nazi Party was rapidly gaining power. Only a few songs from the original stage musical were used for the film, with Kander and Ebb writing new ones to replace those that were discarded.
Because the film contained – for the time period – a considerable amount of sexual innuendo, profanity, references to both heterosexual and gay casual sex, anti-Semitism and abortion, it was initially given an X rating, but later re-rated “Restricted”. Despite those early roadblocks and controversy, the film went on to win eight Academy Awards – Best Actress (for Liza Minnelli), Best Supporting Actor (for Joel Grey), Best Director (for Bob Fosse), Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Original Song Score and Best Film Editing – and still holds the record for most Oscars earned by a film not honored for Best Picture. (The film had the unfortunate timing of being up against the masterpiece The Godfather.)
Unlike many typical musicals where the characters often break into song in various random settings, Cabaret is really more a drama with musical numbers, all but one of which is performed on stage in the Kit Kat Klub nightclub. As such, the musical numbers are what is known as ‘diegetic’, in that they’re used to tell the story narrative through their lyrics. All of the songs are fantastic and memorable, but I’ll touch on some of the highlights. The delightful opening track “Willkommen”, sung by Joel Grey as emcee, welcomes us to the Kit Kat Klub and sets the tone for the film, which is ‘enjoy your life today, because we never know what tomorrow may bring’: “Leave your troubles outside. So, life is disappointing, forget it. In here, life is beautiful. The girls are beautiful. Even the orchestra is beautiful.”
The rousing “Mein Herr” is our introduction to Sally Bowles, who sings of her sexual independence and desire to play the field and remain uncommitted, getting what she wants from men and then discarding them. She blithely gives her latest paramour the heave ho: “You have to understand the way I am, mein herr. A tiger is a tiger, not a lamb, mein herr. You’ll never turn the vinegar to jam, mein herr. So I do…What I do…When I’m through…Then I’m through…And I’m through…Toodle-oo!”
But then she later changes her tune on the hopeful torch song “Maybe This Time”, where she shares her hopes that perhaps this time she’ll have success at romance with Brian, whom she’s fallen for. The song became one of the signature tracks in Minnelli’s repertoire.
Another favorite is the hilarious “Money, Money”, a song celebrating hedonism and all the joys that having a little money can bring. Minnelli and Grey’s vampy, over the top performance and on stage chemistry is delicious to watch and hear, and I love the numerous little sound effects performed by the band.
The one album cut not sung at the Kit Kat Klub is “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” a song that begins as an uplifting ballad extolling the beauty of the German countryside, then transforms into a Nazi anthem celebrating the German fatherland as it enters a new and greater future.
And of course, there’s the wonderful title track “Cabaret”, which appears toward the end of the film. The song sums up once again what the film is about, as Sally Bowles emphatically urges us to live life to the fullest as everything falls apart around her: “I used to have a girlfriend known as Elsie, with whom I shared four sordid rooms in Chelsea. She wasn’t what you’d call a blushing flower…As a matter of fact she rented by the hour. The day she died the neighbors came to snicker: ‘Well, that’s what comes from too much pills and liquor.’ But when I saw her laid out like a Queen, she was the happiest corpse I’d ever seen. / Start by admitting, from cradle to tomb, it isn’t that a long a stay. Life is a Cabaret, old chum, It’s only a Cabaret, old chum. And I love a Cabaret.”
Everything comes full circle in the final track “Finale”, as Joel Grey asks “Where are your troubles now? Forgotten! I told you so“, accompanied by the same jaunty melody we heard in “Willkommen”. But then the tone turns dark and ominous, signaling that these good times are about to come to an abrupt end.
Thunder Fox is a wickedly funny and intensely creative group of guys hailing from Sydney, Australia who skillfully blend generous helpings of funk, blues rock, soul, hip hop, jazz and pop into their delectable music stew. In their own words, they serve “gooey hot horntastic shreddage, the best sauce for your ears ‘n eyes, causing sonic copulation worldwide“, which pretty much describes their devilishly entertaining sound. While their sometimes bawdy lyrics and playful antics would seem to indicate a juvenile zaniness, their music has a stylish and jazzy sophistication that reveals what skilled songwriters and musicians these guys really are.
They’ve been making music since around 2015, but I first learned about Thunder Fox when they reached out to me exactly one year ago today with their hilarious single “Been Busy”. They released their album Love at First Sniff a week later on Halloween and I loved it so much I wrote a review. The title was certainly apropos, as it was ‘love at first sniff’ for me! Since the release of that album, the band has undergone some changes in lineup, and now consists of Sam Dawes (Lead Vocals/Guitar), Travers Keirle (Smooth Sax/Vocals/Rhymes), Jesse Tachibana (Trumpet/Vocals/Synths), Max Vallentine (Drums), and newest member Casey Allan (Bass).
They followed up this past August with their single “Communicate”, and now return with yet another brilliant single “Smokin’ on Loosies“, which I’ve chosen as my New Song of the Week. The track was self-produced by Thunder Fox, mixed by long time mixing partner Daniel Willington, (Battlesnake, Good Lekker, Florian) and mastered by Steve Smart (Ocean Alley, Midnight Oil, Alex the Astronaut) at Studios 301 in Sydney. With their signature soulful and bluesy funk-infused grooves, the band delivers a powerful condemnation of greed and misinformation.
Lead vocalist Sam Dawes elaborates on the song’s meaning and intent: “‘Smokin’ on Loosies’ represents a shared disgust at western society’s unaddressed flaws that are leading to widening class division, planetary destruction and a failure to address the ongoing systemic persecution of marginalised groups within our communities. Mostly, the song is about being able to see clear as day what is causing these issues – be it the greedy elite, susceptible conspiracists or casual, misinformed hatred – and feeling powerless against it because it just keeps happening, all the time. It’s not exactly a happy song – it’s not supposed to be – but it’s full of honest grit and angry words that help me deal with some of the more fucked up problems that our world faces on a day-to-day basis.”
Over Casey’s deliciously funky bass line, the band layers a colorful mix of grimy guitars, tinkling piano keys, and crisp percussion, highlighted by Jesse’s soulful trumpet blasts that really make this a great song. I love Sam’s silky vocals that go from sultry croon one moment to cheeky falsetto the next as he sings “Money, power, keeping us blind / Everybody steppin’ in line / I think about it all the time / The cash cow that you worship got a shriveled-up teat / Pass the wealth through generations, but forgot to pass the heart.” The song seems to end at around 2:50, then starts back up with a terrific 30-second-long bluesy guitar solo that fades out with distorted reverb. I love it!
When I last featured New Brunswick, Canada-based alternative metal rap group ECHOSEVEN on this blog this past May, it was to review their explosive debut single “Everything”. Both they and I were pleasantly surprised when the review received hundreds of views, especially given they were a relatively new band and this was their first single. They quickly followed in June with a second single “Gunnin”, a melodic and introspective rap-rock ballad. On September 30, they dropped their third single “I Am the Tree“, a more traditional metal rock sounding track.
In the five months since I wrote about them, ECHOSEVEN has undergone a few changes in lineup, with a new second guitarist and bassist. The band now consists of Stefanie Roy on vocals & guitar, Darrell Vautour on rapping vocals, Justin Larracey on guitar, Allon McCall on drums, Dylan Osmond on guitar, and Mike Brooks on bass. About the new single, the band explains: “‘I Am the Tree’ is about not letting your demons win. It’s about realizing your past and present life may not be perfect, but when it comes to persevering, you have the strength of a lion.”
The song storms through the gate with a juggernaut of Metallica-esque shredding that continues unabated, serving as the relentless driving force propelling the song forward. Into this sonic mayhem the band embeds a throbbing bass line, then tops things off with more guitar, furiously pummeling drumbeats and a deluge of crashing cymbals to create an intense wall of sound. Stefanie’s deep, smoky vocals have a rather subdued feel that contrasts sharply with the dynamic instrumentals. At first they seemed almost too low-key for the heavy music, but the more I listened to the song, the more appropriate to the lyrics they felt. No screaming is necessary to convey the strength and perseverance described in the powerful lyrics:
When all the smoke clears, I will show myself in truth Without restraint, I’ll smash the disbelief right out of you No walls can block my way I’ll crush them all in turn Faced with the eyes of hell, I’ll make your evil burn
Caressed by guiding light, I’ll face my pain with dignity and if I fall I will fight I know no misery, I know no secrets to this life For I am strong – I’m the tree.
I charge unto the path and none stand in my way just try and catch me, I’ll reveal my sharpest claws again my roar will echo through the mountains and the sky Crowned like a lion, I will let your blood run dry
I recently learned about Toronto-based singer-songwriter Tafari Anthony when his PR rep reached out to me with his new single “No Good“. After hearing it, as well as listening to his terrific catalog of songs, I’m excited to now introduce this talented Queer artist to my readers. Influenced by some of his favorite artists ranging from Prince and John Legend to Lennon Stella and Charlie Puth, Tafari blends R&B, pop and soul with sultry melodies and deeply heartfelt lyrics to create songs with incredible emotional resonance and depth. His powerful lyrics touch on subjects of love, relationships, life’s hardships and finding self identity and worth in a society where most people feel they need to blend in to be happy. The power of his music reflects the fact that his name ‘Tafari’ means “he who inspires awe”.
Tafari has released a substantial amount of music over the past five years, starting with his debut EP Die For You in 2016. He’s been nominated for a Toronto Independent Music Award and receives regular airplay on CBC Radio, with one of his singles being named one of CBC’s Most Influential Songs of 2016. He has also performed alongside Shangela (RuPaul’s Drag Race) and has performed at Toronto’s Dundas Square and Massey Hall. Within the past year, Tafari was awarded a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto, and was recently selected as one of CBC Searchlight’s top 25 performers in Canada.
This past January, he released his single “Centerfold”, then followed in May with “Live in a Dream’. On October 21, he dropped his latest single “No Good”; all three singles will be included on his upcoming EP The Way You See Me, due for release on November 20. The track was co-produced by Tafari and Alexander “Sandy” Flockhart, engineered by TEFO, mixed by Brandon Unis and mastered by Brad Smith. The beautiful, poignant song is about how some relationships are just no good for us, yet we seem powerless to resist, ending up pursuing them against our better judgement. Tafari confides, “It takes a lot of self-reflection to be able to realize these patterns in ourselves and even more to get out of them once we are aware. Realizing that you crave the unhealthiness of the relationship. Personally, I often let people treat me like shit for way longer than I should – but once I’m done, I’m done.”
He further elaborated on his thoughts to the webzine American Songwriter: “I’m hoping listeners will really connect with this [song]. It is so much easier than you’d think to get trapped in this cycle of a bad relationship. I’ve heard too often from people that when a relationship is going well they feel like it’s missing something and that something is the drama. It gives us this false sense of excitement, when really the constant drama, [analysis,] and need to always be looking for confrontation is not a healthy relationship at all. Hopefully this song helps bring clarity to even one person who is in a situation like this.”
The song has a sensual groove, anchored by a pulsating synth bass beat and accompanied by warm keyboards, finger snaps and some nicely-strummed guitar. Tafari has an impressive vocal range, and here they’re especially lovely and heartfelt as they go from breathy to raw to falsetto, beautifully conveying a sense of sad resignation expressed in the lyrics:
“We put the good shit down for a rest / ‘Cause goddamn, I love when you stress / See the vein pop right through your head / I guess some would call us a mess / So now we’re standing here, feeding obsession with crippling fear / But I love it dear / Do I need to explain anymore / That’s why I had to leave / ‘Cause you’re no good for me.“
ECLECTIC MUSIC LOVER 