Yam Haus - Stargazer (2018)

OFFICIAL: http://www.yamhaus.com/

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Written by Mike Yoder, posted by blog admin

Yam Haus’ debut full length Stargazer possesses a remarkable completeness quite unlike anything you’ll hear in any style this year. Their embrace of electronic instruments, particularly synthesizer, naturally risks accusations of artificiality, but the Minneapolis based four piece successfully integrates keyboards and synthesizer with a guitar sound that takes a number of surprising twists and turns along the way. You can’t easily pigeonhole Yam Haus. They begin the album, however, with a string of five star pop rock tracks as polished as one can hope for. The opener and title song “Stargazer” introduces us to the band’s grandiose pop structures but, despite the obvious sweep inherent to the material, you never get a sense of the band lapsing into overwrought histrionics.

As stylish as the first song is, “West Coast” is even more so. They cop to an obvious Eighties influence during songs like this, but they mix it up with a thoroughly modern guitar presentation nicely ornamenting the electronic aspects of their style. The personal qualities of the songs, reflected through the lyrics, aren’t diluted in any way by the presentation. “Kingdom”, the final song of the album’s initial run of pop rock gems, has the same chorus strength we hear with the aforementioned two songs and yet another variation on their ability for pairing guitar with keyboards makes this is a winning number. They strike up an improbable gospel influence with the song “Too Many People” and lead singer Lars Pruitt’s voice plays off quite well against the song’s piano. The chorus immediately connects with listeners and the backing vocals bring an added sweetness to the song, but it’s the discreet guitar fills along the way bringing crucial colors into the song’s sound.

“Bad News” has a moody tenor despite its strong percussive pulse and electronic instrumentation. There’s some lightly played funk flavored guitar running throughout the song that never announces itself in the mix and Pruitt delivers one of the album’s most soulful performances. The bridge is especially notable thanks to how well it incorporates vocals with the song’s pop texture. Piano once again makes its presence felt with notable effect. “We Are the Storm” has a palpable rock edginess missing from the aforementioned songs and the tense guitar work during the verses memorably explodes with the chorus. Post-production effects lend a near claustrophobic quality to Pruitt’s singing that’s particularly entertaining.

Vocal presentation is important for the song “This Won’t Be the Last Time”, but the song lives and dies on the back of Lars Pruitt’s lead vocal. He has an effortless command of pop music formulas without ever sounding too clichéd and much of that comes from his obvious emotional connection to the material. “Groovin’ (That Feel Good Song)” certainly lives up to its billing as one of the more relentlessly positive, upbeat recordings included on Stargazer and other bands might have ended the release on this note, but Yam Haus clearly has higher intentions. Those are manifested with the album’s acoustic curtain “Something Better”, but Yam Haus artfully adorns the closing with a number of tasteful instrumental flourishes never subtracting from the essentially intimate nature of the performance. It’s a wholly satisfying conclusion for this great album.

Rhett Repko - Thnx For The Ride (2018)

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Written by Wendy Owens, posted by blog admin

Rhett Repko’s new seven song EP Thnx For The Ride capped an active 2017 for this impressive musician, writer, and performer. His previous EP release About Last Night occupies a much clearer singer/songwriter niche than the new release, but he sustains the same level of excellence that’s defined his work from the outset with this new release while taking his music in a distinctly different than before. Thnx For The Ride is an outright rock and roll album – there’s some acoustic guitar present with the release, but there’s no question that electric guitar dominates these songs and Repko proves to be credible in that mold. He has an outstanding band accompanying him on this seven track journey. Lead guitarist Stefan Heuer, bassist Dan Gallagher, and drummer Tom Bryant is a crack musical unit who are never flashy without cause and give Repko’s songwriting the added spark it deserves.

The EP opener and title song “Thnx for the Ride” announces the collection’s intentions. Repko clearly wanted a gripping, immediate sound and this tune doesn’t disappoint as “Thx for the Ride” features shake you by the lapels rock thunder along with some deft shifts in time signature and tempo the band flawlessly pull off. “Please Don’t Laugh” is a little closer to straight forward rock than the opener, but there’s the same high degree of musicianship pushing things forward that distinguishes the title number. Repko’s vocal here stands out as one of the best on the EP and he mixes emotive phrasing with high energy in a way ideally suited for these songs.

A songwriting high point arrives with the track “It Ain’t Coming From You”, and Repko fans the caustic flame of heartache burning inside this song with an impassioned singing performance. Guitarist Stefan Heuer contributes some important harmony vocals throughout Thnx For The Ride, never vying with Repko for supremacy in the mix, but rather strengthening his already fine delivery. The song is musically compelling, as well, particularly during its surprising second half. “And I Told Her So” is probably Stefan Heuer’s finest moment as a guitar player on this EP and his lead work late in the song immeasurably adds to its final impact. The lyrics are exceptional, once again, without ever overreaching and Repko’s vocal ranks with the earlier “Please Don’t Laugh” as one of his best moments on Thnx For The Ride.

The brisk pacing of “Learn Your Name” allows for a number of stuttering tempo changes, yet the song never goes astray and has genuine commercial appeal to go along with its unimpeachable rock spirit. The finale “Make Me Right” is a fiery curtain for the EP and serves as a musical exclamation point for everything that’s preceded it. Rhett Repko’s written and recorded quite an explosive little rock release with Thnx For The Ride and it’s intriguing to wonder where his Muse might lead him from here.

Shofar - s/t (2017)

BANDCAMP: https://shofar.bandcamp.com/releases

BROADJAM: http://www.broadjam.com/shofar

Written by Daniel Boyer, posted by blog admin

Shofar’s return to the musical arena with a six song self-titled EP will likely stand, by year’s end, as one of more successful releases in the band’s admittedly slim discography. It marks their first studio work since 2005’s Turn, but the time away hasn’t dulled their musical acumen in any appreciable way and, indeed, it seems lead singer and songwriter Larry Hagner has further matured during his time away from the microphone. The band’s religious/spiritual based message hasn’t been secularized, per se, but rather subsumed into an accessible vehicle that presents it alongside recognizable sounds and avoids any hint of hectoring or sermonizing. This is far, however, from a glorified solo vehicle for Hagner – taken as a whole and on an individual basis alike, the songs on this self-titled EP are clearly the product of a cohesive unit with each member making important contributions to the overall whole.

There’s a nearly progressive, quasi-classical intro kicking off the EP opener “Running” before a wall of pulverizing guitars falls on the listener’s head. The chaos clears for Hagner’s vocals to enter the mix and the nicely melodic qualities of his voice contrast nicely with song’s recurring raucousness. The indie nature of the band’s recording doesn’t hold them back at all; everything has a high level of production polish and an obvious ear for instrumental balance. While the rock histrionics of the opening track afford Hagner a chance to flex his hard rock muscle, we get an opportunity to hear his more classic melodic strains on “Powerman”. There’s some backing vocals sweetening things here at key points and some steady, unspectacular, but wildly successful guitar work. “Shades of Grey” is, like the aforementioned tune, more modulated than the EP opener, but it has a strong alt-rock stride that gives it some added urgency over “Powerman” and there’s a wider vocal presence on this tune that helps the tune come off quite nicely.  

“Hands Down” is more about observing a specific character than any particular message and one of Hagner’s best writing jobs on this collection. It’s a hell of a rock track as well that percolates with real rock power and an appealing “sweep” carrying listeners along. “Countdown” and the finale “The Coming” are much more in keeping with the band’s earlier material, but there’s an intensely human quality to these songs that keeps them tethered to relatable qualities instead of sounding unduly preachy. Shofar’s self-titled EP is a great musical mix that’s equally capable of overwhelming listeners as it is beguiling them. This is a talented band that we need to help redeem challenging times in the world of rock and roll. They bring great music to the table along with first class lyrics that draw you in.

Ben Brookes - The Motor Car & The Weather Balloon (2017)

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Written by Laura Dodero, posted by blog admin

Some people have to work at it, wood shedding and chipping away until they carve their talent out of intelligence and sheer rote alike. Other musical artists sound like they never had a chance to do anything else with their lives and it naturally comes out of them without much apparent labor. Ben Brookes definitely sounds like a natural. The ten songs on The Motor Car & The Weather Balloon seem to come gushing out of him, yet they are guided by an artistry that condenses his waves of emotion into well constructed pop rock sounds brimming over with melodic excellence and moments of real rock and roll muscle. Two former members of pop rock legends Badfinger aid Brookes in realizing his musical vision and one of them, producer Mark Healey, is particularly important as Brookes primary collaborator in making this effort as good as it sounds. Despite any indie status this review or other may confer on Brookes and his release, the sound quality and mix of this album is as highly polished as any mainstream release.

The naturalness of his talents comes across immediately. “I Wanna Go Home” never reaches to have an effect on the listener because it definitely touches upon emotions we’ve all experienced while still moving to its own idiosyncratic beat. The vocal melodies on The Motor Car & The Weather Balloon are among the greatest strengths on this release and the first track gives us one of Brookes’ better ones, but the supporting performances from his band mates is equally important in making this song stick in the brain. “Asleep in Galilee” is one of the more commercially minded offerings on the release and features particularly effective keyboard playing from Greg Inhofer. It has an almost heartland rocker thrust thanks to Inhofer’s contributions and the Americana quality of the performance juxtaposes nicely with the innate Englishness at the heart of it all. “Crack a Smile” has lyrics that share a distant kinship with blues songs of the distant past and still comes off as one of the better ballad-styled numbers on The Motor Car & The Weather Balloon.

“Before Sunlight” and “Siren” are the final two predominantly acoustic songs on the album. The first track is one of the melodic crown jewels of the release and the irresistible qualities of the melody are difficult, if not impossible, to forget. “Siren” is probably closer to the style we hear him employ on “Crack a Smile” and has a straight ahead approach Brookes might have varied more. It’s a rare partial misstep on the album, but doesn’t compromise the release in any way. The guitar driven muscle of “Stories in the Rain” and “Somewhere Around Eight” breaks musically from the album’s first half in a decisive way and doesn’t let go of listeners once it’s sank its teeth into you. The album ends with the meditative “Shackles”, a track sporting one of the album’s best choruses, and the lead guitar near its end gives it extra eloquence it might have otherwise missed. The Motor Car & The Weather Balloon is an outstanding release that will win Brookes countless fans, both young and old. It’s a good feeling to come in on the ground floor of something big and, frankly, potential doesn’t get much bolder and bigger than what we hear with this album.

Elliot Schneider - Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Basketcase (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://elliotschneidermusic.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/elliot.schneider.1

Written by Daniel Boyer, posted by blog admin

Elliot Schneider’s seventeen song opus Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basketcase is an album out of time. Some may quibble about the length of the album, but there’s little question that an immense, virtual powder-keg of creativity explodes on this release and the extended duration will seem justified to discerning listeners because the bonus tracks provide a musical back story for Schneider’s career. Though it’s his fourth album since re-emerging in the music world after 2010, there’s still a sense of an artist recapturing lost time once you’ve taken Schneider’s personal story and his recording output into account upon appraising him. A cancer survivor, a seventy years young musical talent whose stood astride stages of famous venues like New York City’s legendary CBGB’s and brushed against greatness personified by figures like Les Paul, Elliot Schneider’s Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basketcase is an impressively creative outpouring by any standard and informed with equal parts energy and wisdom.

It makes an impressive statement from the first with the song “The Moon Has Flown Away”. The language is marvelous, but it doesn’t call attention to itself. They aren’t gaudy poetic musings but, instead, have a cumulative effect thanks to the judicious and tasteful piling on of significant detail. Schneider’s singing really brings the words to life and the warm musical backing further accentuates its qualities. Schneider certainly embraces a classic sound on this album, but it isn’t delivered like someone who considers the style akin to a butterfly pinned under glass. Schneider and his fellow musicians, instead, make a hard commitment to the music from the first note on and treat the style as a vital and relevant musical form. Energy is the order of the day on “Diehard Killjoy” and it shifts seamlessly from guitar rave ups during the instrumental breaks and churning riffing during the verses. It’s obvious the lyric is intended to be funny, but the lyric likewise has a serious bent as its subject has clearly had an effect on the singer. It’s one of the nice features of the songs that, even if it has a prime role in the instrumental makeup, Schneider brings us hard edged guitars without ever making the texture overly abrasive.

“Captain Argent” has chiming, breezy elegance and Schneider’s singing matches it with a loose confidence that puts over the song with just the right amount of strength. It’s another relatively off beat lyric from Schneider, but there’s a few songs on the album where his traditional and fundamentally solid delivery normalizes the lyric. The tempo continues to pursue an upbeat note with “Are We Only Dinosaurs?” and the approach we hear on the previous song applies here as well. His retro inclinations are more pronounced with this song, particularly with the guitars and vocal arrangement, but it never comes off so foreign to the audience that it jars our listening experience. One of the album’s abiding strengths, its vocals, reaches an apex with the song “In a Sense Innocence” and the choral approach he takes with the song’s singing dovetails nicely into the song’s airy melodicism. “Overruling Neo-Fascists” is another retro minded number musically and it’s interesting to hear such a brazenly political lyric crouched inside a jovial and melodically geared arrangement. The contrasts on Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basketcase make for compelling listening and there’s an across the board strength defining the release in other areas as well. Elliot Schneider’s skills are considerable and he has the experience to frame them in just the right way for audiences.