Wed, 03/27/2013 - 3:27 pm

I was very impressed with the message and playing abilities found on this second studio album released by the band WhiteWater Ramble. The band’s name specifies the style; beautiful, fluid, flowing music rambled with determination. WhiteWater Ramble consists of the following members: Patrick Sites on mandolin and vocals, Patrick Latella on acoustic guitar and vocals, Howard Montgomery on upright bass and vocals, Zebulon Bowles on fiddle and vocals, and Paul Kemp on drums. Self described as “High-Octane Rocky Mountain Dance Music,” this band is not lying and have a repertoire of live shows and music festivals to prove it. Tim Carbone (from Railroad Earth) produced this album and on the opening track, one can hear reminiscent styles of Railroad Earth. I thought this would be an overtone for the entire album as luminescent views of love and music escape through fiddling and vocalization necessary to the essence of bluegrass. I was mistaken!The mandolin playing can be stylistically compared to the abilities of David Grisman, while incredible piano styling is also incorporated in a few of these great modern compositions. The drum beats are progressive and driving, just like a train, they force the listener to move on or off the tracks. The fiddling is overly unique in style with a direct bluegrass soul explosion. Heavy bass and stellar musicianship bring the listener to peaks without dropping them, but instead carrying them on the backs of eagles. The guitarist has a well versed style of playability that deserves respect. Clap tracks are used as a powerful idea to lead into a knee slapping, foot stomping firmness of an enlightened musical expression.  The sounds of this music are a magical bliss combining flowing rivers of soul, funk, bluegrass, country, gospel, jazz, dance, salsa, disco, Caribbean, hip-hop beats, reggae, and good ole rock ‘n’ rollSoft country ballads flow into “Devil Went Down To Georgia” style bluegrass songs and even into trance-like compositions that make the listener feel like raving all night. These are all original songs that capture the audiences and fans of bands between Old Crow Medicine Show to the Disco Biscuits. The music flows like the ocean’s waves crashing over the eardrums of the band’s members to create a powerful extravaganza that captures a feeling of beauty and organization. Very impressive performances and skills are found upon this album. No matter what, WhiteWater Ramble will make a crowd dance with excellent stories told through vocalization and instrumentation. Real feel-good music with the comfort, security, and familiarity of good old Grateful Dead songs.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 2:11 pm

After listening to the beginning of The 4onthefloor's new album, Spirit of Minneapolis, I had very mixed feelings. I put these feelings aside to listen to and write about this band on a non-biased opinion. I cannot find too much information about the bands’ musicians as much as I can about their concerts, tours and origins. The band members are; Gabriel Douglas, James Gould, Mark Larson and Chris Holm. This band hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota and has a versatile sound that can transcend regions and genres.This music has a swampy, backwoods sound that the guitar and bass dominate. There is a talented use of distortion and even touches of a 1970’s and 1980’s classic rock feel. I hear a musical influence of very eclectic mixtures; such as The Talking Heads, The Doors, The Beatles, The Jefferson Airplane, and even Pearl Jam. The vocals are deep and guttural and they take the show and out-range the other musicians. There are some points where the vocalist is overbearing and seems to try to hard. The first few tracks all sound similar and the vocalist does not demonstrate versatility and soul until about track four on. The vocal area is controlled by the styling of Gabriel Douglas and the mid to later album seems to be his most powerful explosion of talent.The drums are stomping and driving and progress the music forward. The drums can feel very repetitive, but capture the necessary mood for the other performers to follow. The bass is very well versed and incorporate several different styles including funk, jazz, soul, country, pop, rock, and more. The guitar tries to explore many different sounds, but the ones that capture the show are the country and folk styles. The major, musical feelings I seem to get from this band are country, soul, blues, southern rock, swamp music, and a gypsy/voodoo touch. I hear a large amount of Jim Morrison/ The Doors influence in the vocals, lyrics and musicianship. This band has talent when they demonstrate that they have soul. I would enjoy seeing a live show of this band, more than I have enjoyed listening to the new album. I can imagine that The 4onthefloor has a better stage presence and excitement than what their album has tried to capture. I hope to hear more from this band!

Wed, 04/10/2013 - 12:30 pm

I found this album pleasant to listen to and enjoyed the talent expressed within it. Oberhofer is named after Brad Oberhofer, the front man and founder whom is originally from Tacoma, Washington. Brad moved from Washington to New York City to attend New York University to study music composition. The band Obehofer formed in 2008 to perform Brad’s compositions. Brad writes and records his own music and had formed a band to perform with. The current band members, other than Brad Oberhofer, include: Matt Scheiner on guitar and glockenspiel, Pete Sustaric on drums, Dylan Treleven on bass, and Ben Roth on guitar.Oberhofer has been releasing singles since 2010 and had released his first album ‘Stereogum’ in 2011. The second album release ‘Time Capsules II’ in 2012 was released worldwide with acclaim and has recorded on such labels as: ‘Inflated,’ ‘White Iris Records,’ and ‘Glassnote Records.’ During these times, Oberhofer has toured with such bands as: Sleigh Bells, Neon Indian, and The Morning Benders. Within its career, this band has played music at many clubs, bars, and festivals around the world including ‘The Late Night Show’ with David Letterman, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Lollapalooza, and Austin City Limits Music Festival. All performances have been to advocate different musical releases.The guitar styles seem to be influenced by some surf rock, pop-punk, punk, and rock and maintains the same style through the whole album; but with occasional divergence. The drums and percussion seem to stay true to the same rock and punk styled influences throughout the whole album. The bass is nice and heavy and moves the music to a different direction than one would expect. The glockenspiel is not heard as much as one would hope or expect to hear it, but is played with talent. The vocals are pop-like with a digital sound, and grow on the listener more and more. On one of the tracks, the vocals are even almost yodeling (but not really) and demonstrate the vocal ranges capable of the singer.This is a decent band altogether, and can demonstrate musical influence ranging from bands such as; The Talking Heads to Bright Eyes to The Pixies. The lyrics are the best part of the music, in my opinion, they capture soul and tell wonderful stories.

Wed, 04/10/2013 - 2:01 pm
This band is amazing with a great style derived from classical, electronica, techno, and even house music. The band members are Francesco Tristano, Rami Khalife and Aymeric Westrich. Francesco and Rami met in New York while both studying classical piano at Juilliard. Apparently, both Francesco and Rami participated in the clubbing scene of New York as much as they did their studying. Upon meeting each other, they both began playing together with their classical training. The third member, Aymeric, is the percussionist and was previously Rami’s friend from school. Aymeric later moved to New York and absolved himself within the same club music culture as Rami had. All three musicians developed their sounds together by 2001, but afterwards, each had pursued their own careers. By the year 2005 this trio had began playing again and had gained acclaim at the Sonar Festival in Barcelona, Spain.
 
Including the album ‘ISTIKLALIYA‘, AUFGANG has released two albums and several EPs. AUFGANG also has performed at quite a few European concerts and festivals. This band had recorded most of this recent album live, so the editing would not inhibit the essence meant to be captured for the listener. This music is just as much organic as it is electronic and contains talented improvisation.
 
The pianos are exceptionally melodic and the drums are very nice with pulsing rhythms. There are moving jazz, gospel, epic, punk, blues, rock, funk, classical, and electronica sounds present. The vocals are diverse with some tracks that echo emotion and some that just charge and move the listener. Some tracks have very beautiful lyrics and experiences. I have noticed some vocal and musical styling similar to that of such performers as Bright Eyes, Yeasayer, The Battles, The Postal Service, Eddie Vedder, Jim Morrison, The White Stripes and even Foster the People.
 
The instrumentation is even more diverse and talented than the vocals! There are clap tracks, guitar effects, nice flowing music and sometimes a very intense repetition of sound. Much of the music includes a psychedelic/trippy sound; either with a slow or fast style with distortion, space, feedback, and/or cleanliness. This music is groovy and moving with an ability to make one want to dance and boogie. AUFGANG is super funky and unearthly and they definitely raise the listener to extreme mental and physical peaks that rival the compositional talents of Frank Zappa, Rick Wakeman, Bach, and Jeff Mills. If translated, the word aufgang has four meanings that are all relevant to the musical styles: ascent, rise, staircase, and stairs. This band demonstrates all four definitions in their music and because of that reason alone……..should be heard on album or in person!