Motivational Tapestry Wove by a Psychedelic Spider

I first heard of Doomstar! last autumn through The Sleeping Sea--the first band I wrote up here. Somehow we got in touch and eventually they sent me a CD. It came on a rather shitty day, or at least that was when I checked my mail. It was my first, and only, post sent in for this site and it was decorated at that! (I want to take a little detour and say, thank you, it was greatly appreciated.) Doomstar! is a 3-piece out of Cambridge, Massachusetts, consisting of Spenser Gralla (guitar and vocals), Noah Bond (drums), and Jeffrey Johnson (bass and "yelps and noises"). They met while attending at Umass, Amherst, but didn't start playing together until September 2007 when they all lived in Boston.

What I got was Doomstars!'s debut album Colors, self released 6 March 2010. The album was co-produced by Justin Pizzoferrato--sound engineer for such notables as Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr.--and recorded at Bank Row Studios in Greenfield, Massachusetts. The album is described by the band as Doomstar!-year-one but also includes some improve tracks. It plays much more like an EP, and I mean that in a good way considering the short attention span of today. They tell me that lyrically the album is based on abstract feelings of introspection, loss and celestial wonder, but for me, as a whole, it is nothing short of hope. The vocals are so drowned out they could often say anything, and the music is so lush and energetic, the words tend to become whatever I want them to be.

Introduction is exactly that, a slow ease into what's to come. Simple guitar, sparse drums, and bass holding the whole together. Blues and Other Dark Colors seems to be the remedy to such a mood. The guitar is friendly, the drums uplifting, and the vocals soft, like a shrink telling you everything is going to be okay, with a bass-line at your back gently nudging you over the toughest of hurdles. Night feels like an outtro to the mess you've just got through. And In the End…There Will Be Color feels like an intro to Helicopter Pilot. It's these transitions that give Colors the feel of an EP, the easy-listening that our short attention spans desire. Helicopter Pilot brings back the uplifting feeling that we find in Blues… It's undeniable line, Where you gonna run to?, reminds us of the facing we all must do and the chants urge us to go for it. It reminds me of tracks by Broken Social Scene. Light is like an intermission. It's simplicity and divergence from from psychedelia into folk respectfully caters to the everyday-listener. The Conversation acts as an intro to Mountain Siege, brining back the broken delivery we encountered earlier. Mountain Siege is an attack on the psyche if not our very morals. It's aggressive guitar and drums are a battle cry, while the bass is the hand on our backs with vocals like some righteous drive. This is the first time I sense the influence of The Walkmen--the only influence the band sited for the album. Attack plays as a segue into The Easy Way, yet still, it seems a fadeout. The Easy Way brings us down from the battle. It's drums still aggressive somehow bring you a calm. When you think it's all over you have to face the need to carry on. It's like nothing ends but only brings you something new. It's end is so reminiscent of something that's come before. As for me, I'd rather not figure it out.

My Favorite Track

Blues and Other Dark Colors

Most Accessible Track

Helicopter Pilot

Since last year Doomstar! has released another EP and are now on tour. Check out their Bandcamp page for purchases and their MySpace for show dates.

photo credit: © Jhnystvns

Don't Call them Foolish, They Know the Ghosts in this Town.

A few weeks ago I got my hands on a copy of Eep!, the latest EP by Los Angeles two-piece Lazy Loons. Lazy Loons is made up of Phil Freedman & Dane Rivera, both sing, play guitar, autoharp & drums. Phil also plays bass & banjo on Eep! while Dane plays thumb piano & handled producing & mixing. The EP was recorded in Dane's home in "a suburb outside LA proper." When asked about the concepts behind Eep! Lazy Loons replied, "Spooky. A little bit scary, maybe. Haunted. Like an old house kinda thing."

Simply put, Eep! is music made by kids who love music--from Sinatra to Talking Heads, from Tom Waits to Grizzly Bear. It's schizophrenic, it's eerie, & it likes to taunt you. Eep! is a low-fi collection littered w/ voices, sighs, stereo-pans & other nuances. The songs are strong, well written, & have a lot of replay value, w/ undertones of distrust, depression, disappointment & the inevitable. As well as the above mentioned Lazy Loons sites inspiration from The Beatles, Sly & the Family Stone, & Édith Piaf for this EP.

It opens w/ Aligator Waltz (yes, 1 L) a two part song that sounds like a hazy dream hosted by a drunk Frank Sinatra only to wake up in a gondola on the Missisipi piloted by an adolescent Tom Waits. (I seem to like music that makes me feel like I'm on water these days.) Dane uses two distinctly different voices here, while Phil changes from lone member of an angelic choir--harp & all--to a ghost trying to remember a tune stuck in his head. It's all weaved together w/ layers of thumb piano & guitars.

When you reach shore you find Alice; a song which I have decided is the wooing of a poltergeist. Phil & Dane share vocals w/ friend Richard Najar of Richard and His Boyishly Handsome Band. It's mixed in a way that transitions between the three vocalists w/ Phil in stereo, Richard in the right, and Dane in the left--sometimes finishing each other's sentences, other times others becoming a chorus. Throughout the song is a childish giggling--which verges on the sound of crying @ times--and Grizzly Bear-like harmonies.

On Jay Em Berry they are joined by Victor, another friend who may or may not have a last name, on accordion. Where Alice plays w/ voices that move left & right Jay Em Berry has vocals which seem to come forward and move back. I imagine a cold & sad Hook in his captain's quarters rocking in a stationary chair while mumbling out this song. It's guitar has a jewelry box sound about it, while the accordion is sparse & dreary. My favorite part is a toss up between the the loud exhale in the beginning, the panning snare drum in the middle, & the strange bass-like guitar @ the end.

Foolish Boa blows me away--catchy whinny lyrics & acoustic guitar over beautiful autoharp, harmonies, & panning tambourine versus screeching guitar that verges on nails on a chalkboard. It's like a battle between chaos & harmony or the two making love, I'm not sure.

Pastel may be the quintessential song of Eep! It's haunted sound taunts you, it's changes tease you, & it's beat makes you sway. It builds a tension in you and tells you it will melt it all away, but it never does. It's good but makes you feel as if you missed something so you want to listen again. It's mood could be described as the disappointment of content.

A.M. Ghosts is a three part song that goes from meshing perfectly w/in the EP to a becoming almost too rhythmic for it, to what I can only assume is where they are going next. It starts off w/ what sounds like some sort of alien bird call; then comes in these hopeless vocals accompanied by distant harmonies & upfront guitar--the essential sound of Eep! The final strum leads to a more rhythmic groove. Dane's vocal delivery is reminiscent of Pastel & two tracks of overlaying self backed vocals--each have there own speaker & play like call & response. The rhythm guitar is like string piece from something by Curtis Mayfield. When the drumming stops & the beat boxing comes in we're not in that old haunted house anymore. Phil takes over vocals & that crazy Foolish Boa guitar is back w/ a more bubbly shape. Soon backing vocals & guitar fight for attention while Phil testifies that he deserves to be heard. A final guitar flourish then it's just the beat boxing & Dane comes back in w/ vocals similar to the beginning of the song: I never feel quite alright, perfectly summing up the mood of the EP.

My Favorite Track

A.M. Ghosts

Most accessible Track

Foolish Boa

You can listen to more Lazy Loons (or more smoothly) on their Last.fm or MySpace pages. Lazy Loons is working on new material & reworking old material.

P.S. I just got permission to provide download for this EP. Download Eep!

Construction Paper Rainforests

I've been listening to a two piece band out of Cincinnati, Ohio called The Sleeping Sea. The Sleeping Sea consists of Jarrod Welling-Cann who sings and plays the keyboard, guitar, & vibraphones, as well as Michael Abitz who plays percussion & vibraphones as well. Both are studying to become audio/visual engineers, but I'd rather someone sign them & keep them making music. I got my hands on their Sun Drips EP about a week ago. The self produced EP was put together in a basement in Cincinnati using a variety of instruments including a little bell piano and rice inside plastic easter eggs.

Simply put, the Sun Drips EP could be described as Unicorns meets CocoNot, on sedatives, in a boat, drifting through a rainforest. Or maybe, the prettiest soundtrack to a Disney toon that hasn't been made.

The EP is put together very well using fifties guitars, multiple vocal tracks, smashing drums and very pleasant repetition. The Sleeping Sea manages to use repetition & simplicity reminiscent of rocksteady, do-wop, & early rock 'n' roll, in an ingenious way--switching it up before one can become annoyed, & before you know it they have switched again or gone back. Another reason it works so well is a complex backdrop of nuances which include, what I can only guess, are animal sounds, hand claps, & whistling. What amazes me more is they managed to do this w/o their music sounding formulaic. The EP is recorded clearly w/ perfect transitions; each song fits perfectly. Sun Drips EP is filled w/ short dreamy tracks that make one think of animated forests & singing animals. It's like playing, cuddling, and dozing off into blue, green, & violet night.

My Favorite Track

"Mars Is A Pretty Red Dress"

Most Accessible Track

"Oh, Zebra, Come Swim!" or "Fall Eyes On Africa"

You can listen to more (or more smoothly) of The Sleeping Sea on their Last.fm or Myspace.com pages. They also have a blog. The Sleeping Sea is currently working on their next project and has added Trombonist Andrew Walker of A Pinecone to their rooster. They will be playing @ the MidPoint Music Festival 24 September.

The Sleeping Sea also has a band called Ghost in the Piano Room & both Jarrod & Michael have solo projects. Jarrod uses the moniker Sailboats and Bubbles while Michael makes music under the name Quince Vetivert.

Photo credit: © Jarrod Welling-Cann