Joshua Ketchmark - Under Plastic Stars (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://www.joshuaketchmark.com/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/josh.ketchmark

Written by Drew East, posted by blog admin

Being a reviewer is really a dream job.  You get to discover new music that you’ve missed and sometimes music from established artists that you couldn’t catch either.  There’s so much stuff out there with the ease of home-recording taking over the market that you’re bound to forget to check out something.  Reviewers on the other hand have it easy and being one has led me to the music of Joshua Ketchmark and his 12^th release Under Plastic Stars.  

The gravel path opener “We Were Everything” sets the bar at a high quality level from the very beginning.  Acoustic guitars mingle with Ketchmark’s sturdy voice as the song slowly picks up speed; allowing room for a few deep bass grooves and tapping, perhaps brush-played drums that keep the music always moving forward.  “Every Mystery” reduces the atmospheric quality to a warm simmer nearly solely fronted by Ketchmark’s gleaming acoustic guitar work, trippy organ playing, countrified rhythms and full-throat vocals that really hit the melody mark.  Taking things down a dirtier, danker alleyway “Let It Rain” goes for a downtempo, rhythm n’ blues feel with more focus provided on the bass guitar and piano than just simple guitar-centered shucking and jiving.  The album’s first run ends with a mesmerizing ballad, “Lucky at Leavin’” that sees Joshua and a female vocalist giving a touching update on the Jones/Wynette classic harmony vocals.  

Picking up the pace, “Hereafter” brings back the rhythm section alongside some twangy acoustic guitars and some summer-baked slide licks for a Mason Dixon sweetened ballad that acts as the perfect foil to the buzzing, rock n’ roll-y “Get Out Alive.”  “Get out Alive” features some of the album’s only plugged in guitars and it’s a jam that would sure to bring a smoky club audience to their feet and cheering for the act so gracious enough to deliver it.  “Saturday Night” stays uptempo but retains a thoughtful smolder in its hickory steamed guitar melodies, plaintive rhythms and heartfelt vocals that really dig under the skin and stick with you long after the album stops playing.  “Harm’s Way” is another slice of delicious Carolina pie cut from folk/country cloth and mainly featuring Josh and his guitar howling away into the night.  The glory bound “Sweet Surrender” utilizes piano to get its main point across while the rhythm section jostles Ketchmark’s vibrant guitar into some steady groove, although things never really take off on a rock n’ roll path again over the course of the record.  “17” implants another stunning male/female duet into a livelier more rocking piece than the prior contemplation of “Lucky at Leavin’” while the closing duo of “Losing Control” and “The Great Unknown” end the album on a folk-country dirt road.  

Everything about Under Plastic Stars is a musical home run; a true taste of musical Americana that’s as friendly and familiar is a Fourth of July cookout.  This release is a modern classic of singer/songwriter chops with plenty of intricacies and variety woven into the aural fabric of Ketchmark’s chosen sound.  If you like your music mostly acoustic based but unafraid of experimentation and great vocalizing, then this release is most certainly worth your time!

J.Briozo - Deep in the Waves (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://www.jbriozo.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/jbriozo/

Written by Raymond Burris, posted by blog admin

It’s impossible to pin down J. Briozo on his first full-length solo album, Deep in the Waves.  The visionary singer/songwriter responsible for this recording is Jeff Crandall; lead vocalist and lyricist for the Minneapolis-bred, off-the-wall roots rockers Swallows.  Jeff’s work in that band has been lauded with critical and listeners’ acclaim alike, and as the band prepared to record their new album (In the Shadow of the Seven Stars) Crandall found a set of his own songs forming in his mind.  The result is 12 dangerously unique, oblique earworms that evade genre trappings and show completely no concern for style, labels or anything else that’s the basis for a lot of modern music. 

Kick-off track “Blind” is a theatrical piece rich with moody musical drama.  Jeff’s vocals glide melodically over clouds of reverb-drenched, meditative guitar loops while a laidback percussive pulse, a deep bass presence and brooding keyboards shade in the foreground and background.  It’s an interesting way to start the album and is somewhat the result of combining Portishead’s psychedelic trance with blues, pop, chamber music and post-rock ambience.  Quite frankly it’s a boundless sound that gives tradition the cold shoulder.  The song’s most immediate counterpart (the title track) summons a similar vibe but swaps the majority of the keyboard components for acoustic strum and string quartet symphonies (cello, viola, etc. are the lead elements).  “Beautiful Mess” dials down some of the experimentalism for a hugely memorable, pop-leaned chorus with beautiful, serene vocal melodies from Crandall and folky acoustic strum giving way to fuzzy electric guitars, driving drum clatter and several sea changes in mood. 

Acting as a sign of things to come the electric riffage and explosive leads of “Beautiful Mess” dives headlong into the fervent blues-rock attack presented by “Spinning Out;” a cut that features an eclectic mesh of acoustic tranquility and scorched Earth, hard rock boogie that never lets up for a second of its playtime.  Stunning vocal harmonies, a pulsating bottom-end grind and organ flourishes cultivate a keeper of a track that just happens to possess the album’s most memorably intoxicating chorus.  It’s practically the polar opposite of “Rain Song,” an aural arena where Crandall’s voice quivers with a low-key, husky blues as strings and acoustic guitar ebb and flow in streams of understated melody.  This is one of the softest, most delicate jams amongst the 12 and as such ends up a surprise highlight. 

Elsewhere, “The Big Parade” implants a full horn section into a hammering, hard-rock swinger that’s exploding with acoustic/electric charm, “Catatonia” and “Las Cruces” place folky acoustics at the forefront while leaving room for atmospheric blues-chord bends and strings to hypnotize the mind, the quartet of songs beginning with “Las Cruces” and ending with “Santa Cruz” cross-pollinate heavily orchestrated chamber music with pop/folk/blues embellishments, leaving closer “Sun Sun True” to blend guitar rock pyrotechnics into ultra-catchy, three and four part vocal harmonies that sound like they were piped in directly from the 70s (almost like a mixture of ingredients from The Byrds meets The Outlaws). 

Deep in the Waves is a staggering achievement with daring songwriting, top-notch performances and an attentive ear put towards the production and mixing.  There’s really nothing out there that it’s directly comparable to which is a difficult feat to muster in 2017.  If the idea of the best elements of the 60s, 70s and 90s all rolled into one is your idea of a good time, then you’re going to have a field day with Deep in the Waves.

Sarah Donner - Black Hole Heart (2016)

OFFICIAL: https://www.sarahdonner.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/sarahdonner/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/sarahdonner

MUSIC VIDEO: (PHOENIX)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j13Jwyb-AnA

Written by Frank McClure, posted by blog admin

One of the most beautiful aspects of Sarah Donner’s album Black Hole Heart is how fresh these familiar acoustic soundscapes sound in her hands. Donner has an unique talent for making the textures and tones of traditional folk music come alive with an almost pop-song like energy and has a penchant for structuring her folk-influenced tunes in a manner that mimics the orchestrations common in pop songs. It makes many of the tracks on Black Hole Heart stand out in a crowded musical style where it’s often a struggle to tell the difference between various musicians. Donner also possesses a set of pipes that rate among the most expressive instruments either on the indie or mainstream scene today – she comes off, truly, as a singer capable of handling any material. She wisely writes songs, however, that play to her strengths and the dozen songs on Black Hole Heart are fully realized musical pieces with considerable melodic and vocal strengths.   

The best possible opening for the album is “Phoenix” and Donner, thankfully, concurs. The melodicism of the vocal and arrangement alike have a gentle, but lively, glitter that work perfectly together and Donner gives one of her best singing performances while still lacking some of the overt vocal pyrotechnics we hear on later tracks. Piano and acoustic guitar work extremely well together on the superbly constructed “Black Hole Heart” and the personal nature of the lyric nevertheless touches on emotions we can all relate to and wisely avoids too many specific details that might isolate it from our experience. The folk song influences running through “Tamsen Donner 1847” somewhat obscure the five star writing job that forms the heart of the song. Donner’s done a great job conjuring the atmosphere of a doomed voyage in her lyrics and the crystalline musical backing is quite appropriate for the work. The rustic, bluegrass tinged qualities of “Athena” means the song is essentially cut from the same cloth as the aforementioned “Tamsen Donner 1847”, but the jaunty air of the musical arrangement couldn’t contrast any sharper with the earlier song’s mood.

Mike Batchlor’s organ work and fine trumpet playing from Phillip Fillion distinguish “The Flood” musically from the surrounding songs. Donner’s vocal excellence is just as impactful with the added instrumentation and she clearly draws a certain degree of inspiration from the near-shuffle guitar and unusual instrumentation. Some humor creeps in near the end of “The Longest Road”, but this is otherwise another affecting, personally-slanted tune that Donner gives a zesty, impassioned reading of. “Sinking Ship” is reminiscent of the earlier “Tamsen Donner 1847” in a few ways, but it’s most notable another character driven piece where Donner embodies the voice for a narrator on the cusp of losing their life. Despite the weighty scenario, the music maintains a tasteful air rife with haunting atmospherics. Black Hole Heart solidifies Donner’s standing as one of the best singer/songwriters working on the indie scene today.