If there is one thing about New Mexico that I miss, it is the breakfast burritos from the Santa Fe Grill located in those Pic-Quic gas stations.
Actually I am lying. I miss living down the street from the Dirt Cult Records headquarters. Chris was a rad dude and I am glad I got to know him even if just for a brief moment. His band, Low Culture, remains one of my favorites to this day.
Recently, I learned that Dirt Cult relocated to Portland, Oregon and I thought I would check in with Chris to see how things were going with the big move. He advised everything was going smooth and shared a few new releases his label is putting out in the upcoming months.
I thought I would do a quick review on all of them them. Enjoy!
Autonomy/No Sir I Won’t – Split I blame Chris for getting me into Autonomy before I even became pals with him. This split is pretty bad ass crust-ish punk act that to me sound way better than Crass. I loved the samples throughout. Autonomy’s “Ashes To Ashes” was a pretty kick ass song that just started almost psycho-garagy and turned fizzled out with a Cure-sounding bass riff. No Sir I Won’t were cool to check out and full of aggressive punk rock that reached into the 80s style I grew up loving. Definitely will be checking them out some more.
Apocalypse Meow! – Baseball and Alcohol 7″ Featuring Off With Their Heads’s Justin Francis as well as members of Sundowners, I knew I was going to adore this 7″ before I even listened to it. With songs relevant to the 7″‘s title, Apocalypse Meow take two of America’s favorite past times and mix them into pure pop-punk goodness. The track “MVP” ruled with the lyrics “all I want to be is a goddamn MVP” repeating throughout. The title track though is what did it for me. Loved it.
Blank Pages – Blank Pages LP
Straight outta Berlin, Blank Pages proves to have one hell of a release with some serious garage rock layered with a old school punk rock feel. These guys really remind me of the Marked Men in a good good way. Great song writing added with vocals that could easily fit in with the 70s/80s punk scene. “We’re All Broken” was just amazing with almost a surf-punk sound in the middle. I was beyond impressed with the clean sound throughout the release and just full on togetherness of the band. It just works so well. “All In Due Time” was another great track. I am really glad Chris threw Blank Pages my way, I am totally loving what they do. If you call yourself a fan bands like the Ramones and the Dickies, I have the feeling you will like what Blank Pages have to offer Ich bin ein Fan von Leerseiten.
For more info on Dirt Cult releases or to check out some other amazing release on the Dirt Cult label, head on over to http://dirtcultrecords.bandcamp.com.
As many of you know, I spent about a year in Las Cruces, NM for my paying gig. I left last June and just recently returned to my state of birth. My time out there was mostly spent on working at said paying gig, thrifting for fun finds, and more or less being a hermit.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my time out there, but I just did not do a whole heck of a lot for the most part. Home is where the heart is right?
About a month before I packed up and moved back to my beloved Ohio, I ordered the brand spanking new Rumspringer album from the Dirt Cult Records website, and label owner Chris Mason sent me an email suggesting that I just stop over and pick it up as he lived close to me.
I decided to head on over to the Dirt Cult headquarters to pick up my purchase later that day, and he wasn’t kidding – I lived literally a mile away from him.
We hung out for a few hours that evening and he introduced me to a good portion of the Dirt Cult catalog including the band he was in. I have heard of some of the bands before (including his own band), but never really checked any of them out entirely, sans Rumspringer of course. Chris was great company and was quick to share with me a bunch off his label’s roster. I loved what I heard and am just stoked I had the opportunity to kick it with him that night.
Before I said adios to Las Cruces, I was able to check out Chris’s band play a July 4th party and even hang out again while helping pack up some records.
Running a record label has always been something I have wanted to do. I know there is cost and time involved in it and hopefully one day I can make that happen. For now, I just will live vicariously through others.
Even though I am out of the desert and back in Ohio, America, I still keep in touch with Chris as he is just a solid human being. Recently, I had the great idea of interviewing Chris for the site. He was all about it. Check out the fun interview we did via trading emails and such recently:
BHP: Can you give me a little history about how Dirt Cult Records got its start?
CM: I always thought that running a label sounded like a lot of fun, so in 2006 after my band at the time, Shang-A-Lang, had recorded our first 7″, I figured it made sense to start a label and put that record out rather than “shop around” for someone to do it. I also figured that if I completely fucked up somehow that at least I’d be fucking up one of my own band’s records.
Why Dirt Cult? Is there some specific meaning behind that name?
I had some friends, Ronnie and Adam, who ran a zine in the early 2000’s called Dirt Culture. Those same dudes also opened up a record store here in Las Cruces called The Dirt that was really the catalyst for the creation of a DIY scene here. It’s where we all cut our teeth booking bands and playing shows. I also helped Ronnie (or he helped us I guess) release a split 7″ between my band The Answer Lies and another local band called 10 Seconds To Liftoff on “Dirt Culture Records,” but the zine kinda went on hold because Ronnie took a job in California. So when I needed a name for the label I thought I’d use Dirt Cult as an homage (or maybe blatant rip off) to the zine. It’s the reason that the first Shang-A-Lang 7″ is DC-002. I always kind of considered The Answer Lies/10 Seconds to Liftoff split our first release, even though it was released a couple years earlier.
When did you first start appreciating vinyl?
When I was a toddler I’ve been told I used to throw my dad’s vinyl collection around his room like frisbees. When I got a bit older (around 5 or 6), I was obsessed with that medley on side B of Abbey Road. I would play it over and over again. I think I was as excited about the mechanics of it all as I was about the music. Of course, as a child of the 80’s and 90’s CDs were pretty much what I listened to, and I didn’t rediscover vinyl until I started going to punk shows that had DIY distros in the mid-90s. I loved flipping through records and buying shit that looked cool, hoping it was good. Unfortunately, around that time, I was still buying primarily CDs for convenience’s sake, which is a shame because I missed out on a ton of cool records that now I just have shitty scratched up CD versions of. I kept buying a mixture of vinyl and CDs up until sometime in the early 2000’s. Around then, I decided that I wasn’t a huge fan of CDs as they always ended up scratched up on the baseboard of my car, gave most of them away, and bought my music on vinyl pretty much exclusively.
That pretty much sums up my relationship with vinyl too. Well said. So did you start with records or cassettes early on with Dirt Cult?
Dirt Cult’s first five releases were 7″s. Our sixth was a tape comp featuring a bunch of my favorite bands. That’s probably a pretty accurate representation of how things progressed: 75% vinyl, 25% cassettes.
Were there specific bands early on that you knew you wanted to work with?
I don’t really know if I set out to work with anyone early on. Though I’m sure I had a “short list” of bands I would have liked to ask, I’m not sure how many of those bands actually ended up releasing records with Dirt Cult and how many releases just kind of fell into my lap.
About how many albums have you released on your label to date?
By the end of the year I should be at right around 70.
You’ve already had some great releases this year, especially Rumspringer & New Swears. Care to hint about any upcoming releases?
Sure. I’ve currently got five records at the plant; a new Canadian Rifle 12″, a new Unwelcome Guests LP, Sweatshop Boys LP, VVHILE 7″, and a Free Machines 7″. I’ve also got some tapes of the new Muhammadali out this week for their upcoming tour. That LP will be sent to the plant soon, but I’m betting it will be a 2014 release. I’ve already got a list of 2014 releases lined up as well and it’s going to be an epic year for me.
Nice. Looking forward to hearing some of those. This is probably not a fair question, but do you have any favorite Dirt Cult releases?
I’m always most excited about whatever I just released, which is a great sign I suppose. But I try not to play favorites.
Typically, how long does it take for you and a band to get from talking about releasing a record to actually having it in hand?
It just all depends upon my release schedule and the band’s organization. Lately, I’ve really tried to avoid sending anything to the plant until I have the music and all the art. It just saves me from headaches later. So some releases happen quicker than others. It does take about four months to get a record pressed these days, so the timeline has definitely gotten longer. Gone are the days when you could have a record out in a month.
Dirt Cult is more or less a one man operation right?
Yeah. I pretty much do everything. Though every once in a while I bribe my friends with beer to come over and stuff records.
Did you ever think your label would last this long? Ever feel like giving up?
I never really had a game plan going into this, so I’ve never given it much thought. I suppose there has never been a reason for me to stop putting out records because I enjoy it. I never really had hopes of being a “successful” label, so I’m sure I’d be doing it even if it wasn’t going well. So giving up? Naw. Slowing down? EVERY FUCKING DAY!
Let’s hope things speed up again. How gratifying is it to be able to say you run your own record label? I know I am jealous of what you have.
I certainly love that I’m always busy and creating stuff, and I’m also pretty proud of what the label has been able to accomplish in the past few years. But it’s certainly not as glamorous of a job as people might think. I spend a lot of time repairing art files, uploading music to servers, assembling records, and playing with packaging tape. I also think it took me six years of making constant mistakes to finally get to a place where I’m doing a few things right.
Dirt Cult isn’t even your full time gig right? Where do you find the time?
I’ve always been a person that doesn’t really like downtime. After a few nights of staring at the TV, I start panicking and thinking I’m throwing my entire life away. So I spend most of my free time either working on Dirt Cult stuff or working on band stuff. I’ve also got a fairly flexible work schedule that allows for trips to the post office and other odd jobs throughout the day.
Speaking of band stuff, care to tell me about the band you currently play in?
I am in a band called Low Culture. We’re just under two years old and have released records on Dirt Cult, Dirtnap, Dead Broke, Rad Girlfriend, Drunken Sailor, and Cut the Cord that… and have toured the Northeast and Canada with Iron Chic, Europe, and have done a ton of regional trips.
Europe huh? How was that?
It was amazing. Really makes me question if I’ll even do an extensive US tour again. Bands are just treated so much better over there…breakfast, diner, as much beer as you can drink, and sleeping arrangements always planned out well in advance.
Any plans for an upcoming US tour with Low Culture?
We’ve got plans to play Awesome Fest 7 in San Diego at the end of the month as well as the Dirtnap showcase in Portland and Seattle in mid-September, but otherwise we don’t really have anything lined up. I’d like to make it to the Midwest sometime in 2014 if we can.
If someone asked you what Low Culture sounded like, what would you tell them?
I don’t know, I think I always have different ideas about what my own music sounds like than other people. I’ll bring a song to the table thinking it sounds like Elvis Costello and someone will say it sounds like Shotwell. Maybe “garage pop?”
When is the next Low Culture release expected to drop?
We pretty much have it written. We just have to record it. So I’m expecting it’ll be out in 2014 sometime.
Can’t wait. You helped create Trainyard right? Can you tell me about that little DIY operation?
Trainyard is a DIY practice/show space in Las Cruces that has been around for several years now. For years, after the Dirt went under, shows in Las Cruces primarily occurred in houses. Unfortunately, we don’t have basements so shows would take over people’s entire houses. It became increasingly difficult to convince people to open up their houses to a raging party once a week, so we set out to find a stable venue. There have, of course, been pros and cons. It’s great to have access to a space where we can do whatever we want, but since there isn’t really an alternate venue in town, it can feel somewhat stale at times. People don’t want to spend most of their nights hanging out in a shitty warehouse with weird wood paneling, and I can’t say I blame them.
Do you feel you have helped ramp up the music scene in Las Cruces, NM?
Yeah, when I moved here there wasn’t all that much going on outside of a shitty bar scene crowded with Tool wannabes and cover bands, but there was a small group of us who set out to make our own fun and build our own scene. That’s one of the cool things about living in this town. People complain all the time about how there is nothing to do, but it’s really not that hard to build whatever the fuck you want to.
So from one music lover to another, what bands are currently on your radar?
This list is always way too long. Let’s see, some bands whose records are currently piled up by my record player are Nona, No Sir I Won’t, Needles//Pins, Dark Rides, Nato Coles and the Blue Diamond Band, Nervosas, and Chandeli’ers.
If there was one band out there that you wish you could release an album under your label, who would it be?
Superchunk
What do you like more? Being in a band or being that guy who slings records for bands?
That’s a tough question. They can both be rewarding and frustrating, but honestly, I being in a band is more “fun.” I just love creating music and traveling and playing shows and everything that comes with it.
Some Dirt Cult releases you really should check out:
Well it would appear that 2011 is coming to an end. With that said, it’s time for a “Best Of…” Broken Headphones 2011 edition.
There were a ton of amazing releases throughout the year as well as live shows that I was able to attend. Below is just a various list of bands that caught my attention, be it a recording or live show, over the past 12 months.
I should add that some of my favorite releases were from local Akron/Cleveland acts. I am not just dropping their names because we are pals or anything, they all worked hard and put out some excellent releases. If you have not heard of any of them, you really should check them out.
I may have missed a band here or there, but the following were the ones that stood out over the rest.
Albums of the Year:
Seahaven – Winter Forever
*Hands down this is one of my favorite albums to drop this year. They just have this indie punk rock sound that is ever so likable – trust me on this. The first time I listened to it, I was hooked. I see big things happening with this band in the near future.
Nothington – Borrowed Time
*This is another album I favored over the rest this year. Catchy lyrics layered over wholesome punk rock is what this album is all about. To make matters even better, they kick ass live. They are coming back to Cleveland next month and I can not wait to see them again. Listening to this band brings me band to the punk rock 90s I grew up on.
All Dinosaurs – Paranoid Indigenous
*So maybe the music was released in 2010, but the LP dropped this past Spring so I consider it a 2011 release. This Cleveland act is beyond fun to listen to plus they put on one of the best live shows ever. They are funny, quote 80s movies and are in it for the fun. It helps they are also all super cool dudes. If you are a Cleveland native, you should already know how amazing this band is.
Dave Hause – Resolutions
*I was a little late checking this album out as it was released in early 2011, but am glad I did not pass it up. Hause (The Loved Ones) is an amazing musician and proves it in this killer solo release. With help from his friends, he put together one hell of a release. Do me a favor, if you like music, listen to this.
Living With Lions – Holy Shit
*Words can not really describe how impressed I was when I heard these guys. All I know is I will have this album playing regularly for a long long time.
Deer Tick – Divine Providence
*The boys in Deer Tick changed it up a bit and put forth a bitching rock album that I really dug.
Dawes – Nothing Is Wrong
*Oh Dawes…you’ve done it again. What a solid release. You guys are on your way to being huge. Keep it up.
Those Darlins – Screws Get Loose
*The girls and Lynwood dropped a impressive follow-up to their debut this year and I adore it. Still kicking around the country-punk attitude, the foursome toyed with a more indie / garage rock sound and did a fine job doing so.
Old Man Markley – Guts n’ Teeth
*This self-proclaimed “New Grass” band was one of the more fun releases I had have the pleasure of checking out this year. I can not wait to see what happens next with these guys and gals.
Banner Pilot – Heart Beats Pacific
*Impressive release by a great punk rock band. They need to play Cleveland soon.
White Wives – Happeners
*This was the surprise release of the year for me. Featuring members of Anti-Flag, this album is far from a pop-punk rock album. On the lines of indie rock, White Wives needs to be heard.
A.A. Bondy – Believers
*This guy really outdid himself. You really have to check it out for yourself to realize why I appreciate it so much. It’s a really beautiful release to listen to.
Bon Iver – Bon Iver
*Not normally something I would listen to, but holy shit – it rules.
The Black Keys – El Camino
*Yeah yeah yeah… The former Akron, OH boys once again put out a release I admit I love. I do not love the fact that the next time they hit Cleveland, they will be playing an arena. It is safe to say they made it big time. Let’s hope they don’t screw it up.
Signals Midwest – Latitudes & Longitudes
*And yet another local act. These guys are a big deal though…to me at least. The dropped a really good record. For serious.
EPs of the year:
Luther – Siblings & Sevens
*Folk / Punk / Rock awesomeness. I was caught off guard by this band. They rule. Sadly they had to cancel their Cleveland show after the band was involved in an accident in Chicago. Luckily no one was seriously injured. I can not wait for their full-length to drop.
Harvey Pekar – Thirty Ghosts
*Dear Harvey Pekar (the band), thank you for existing.
Worship This! – Demo
*I normally do not mention bands that I am really good friends with the members, but I adore this band. That’s all I have to say about that.
Two Hand Fools – Believeland
*These guys better get signed in 2012 or else I am going to fight someone. Another Cleveland act with plenty of talent.
Cherry Cola Champions – EP
*I remember the first time I saw these guys live. I was not into them during their first song, and once their second song started, I was blown away. Looking forward to seeing what this duo has up their sleeves next year.
The Awesome:
-Going to SXSW and seeing bands such as The Dead Milkmen, Flatliners, Dead To Me, Eyehategod, and tons others at various venues in Austin, TX earlier this Spring. It was one hell of an experience to see so many bands cramped into such an amazing city. Sadly when you have that many bands, you tend to miss out on some great sets by amazing bands. Regardless, it was just awesome. Plus…I saw Dale Watson play at Ginny’s. That right there made my trip.
-Hanging out with Ninja Gun for a few days. These guys are some of the best dudes I know. They wanted to play shows on the East coast and I was able to lure them to Kent to play a show in September. We all enjoyed hanging out so much that they kicked it for a couple more days where I took them up to Melt for some cheesy deliciousness.
-Getting Dave Hause to play a house show in Akron. After seeing that Dave Hause was not playing a show in the Cleveland area just 2 weeks ago, I threw him the idea of a house show and he and tour mate Cory Branan were totally down with the idea. The result was a show to remember with Hause and Branan trading off songs all night long.
-Hanging out with friends, new and old, at the Inner Sanctum Pier show on the E. 9th pier. More people could have showed up, but regardless, I had a killer time that sunny day and got to watch Pat The Producer turn into a human tomato.
-Hanging out with Rise Against and doing some charity work them at the Malachi House in Cleveland. The guys were super cool to hang with and really did not have that “rock star” attitude built from success. Props to 92.3 for making that happen.
-Making the trip back to Austin, TX early November and attending Fun Fun Fun Fest. I got to see some of my favorite bands all in one weekend including Murder City Devils, Hot Snakes, Hum, Slayer, Eyehategod, The Damned, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, and Russian Circles. This was one of my favorite festivals of all time. It was a festival I had wanted to attend for a a few years now and I decided to go for it. I am so glad I did.
-It’s A Kling Thing House & Girley House. Both houses put on some amazing shows in 2011 with local acts as well as touring bands. Seeing Jeff Rowe over the summer as well as Mixtapes just a month or so ago in a basement is as good as live shows get for this guy.
-Daytrotter’s Barnstormer Tour. What a great evening of music that was. The show was in a freaking barn. Yes, I do not remember much as the beers were going down like water, but I know I had a blast with some pretty special people.
The Suck:
-Ben Weasel’s SXSW blowout. Sadly I was on the other side of town watching Cleveland’s very own Ringworm in a ghetto ass bar. Don’t ask me why I skipped out on seeing Screeching Weasel live, I was under the influence of many ice cold Lone Star beers. Honestly, I am kind of glad I missed Weasel acting like a little girl on stage.
-Danzig’s Fun Fun Fun hissy fit. One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Fun Fun Fun Fest was because the Danzig Legacy was playing it. I was stoked to finally see Danzig sing some Misfits songs with Doyle on stage. Instead I witnessed a diva take the stage late and get their set cut as they played past curfew. I only heard two Misfits songs and left with a bad taste in my mouth. People can think what they want about Danzig and that night. I was in the crowd watching heater being pulled on stage as well as the side of the stage tarped up so that little Glen would not get cold. It was over an hour until the stage met his needs and the dude was fully aware of the curfew. I will say that the two Mistfits songs had me feeling like a kid all over again. Shame I could not witness the entire set that he had planned. Lucky for me Ted Leo did a TV Casualty set the next day and made up for the Danzig drama.
-Seeing NOFX over Those Darlins. I regret that decision a lot. Two of my favorite bands played the same night and I had to choose one over the other. The good news was that I got to see and meet Old Man Markley. Sorry Darlins, I will not miss you next time you all hit up Cleveland. Please forgive me.
-Atari Teenage Riot’s Cleveland show getting cancelled. I was stoked to see these guys and was prepared to lose my hearing that night. Hours before the show, their promoter cancelled the show. Needless to say, I was pissed.
-92.3 and 107.3 changing formats. Cleveland is a lost cause with radio now that both those stations were yanked.
Wrapping it up…
2011 ended with a bang for this music lover. Thanks to all my friends from all over who made this year extra special for me. You all know who you are. From letting me crashing on couches to allowing bands to play in their basements you helped make this year what it was. Also to everyone who attended shows with me and shared the same passion I have for music, thanks.
Happy holidays everyone and thanks for taking a part out of your day to visit this site.
Face it, the Beachland Tavern was really not that heavily packed last night, but every music lover that set foot in that bar for the Those Darlins / Turbo Fruits / Henry Wagons show all were treated to an amazing evening of music.
Three bands with three different backgrounds played the small stage not caring one bit how many tickets were sold. They were there to rock out and have fun with their fans, and that is exactly what happened.
It’s been about a year since Nashville’s Those Darlins graced Cleveland with their beauty, not to mention their amazing music making abilities. The ladies had a rough start to the summer when one of the Darlins took a tumble at a Southern Ohio music festival breaking her arm. This was just a small set back but their ladies (and drummer Lynn) had to take an unwanted break. Just a few months later the band regrouped, recorded a second album to be released in 2011, and hit the road doing what they love to do best.
If anyone knows something about the man behind BHP (you know, the guy who writes all this stuff) it is one thing: BHP hearts Those Darlins. I saw them 4 times alone last year. Overly impressed with their sound and live show-woman-ship, I never missed a show. Needless to say when I discovered they were coming back to the Beachland, I made plans to be there. I was excited to see them and hear perhaps a new song or two (more on that in a bit) but what I did not expect was the surprise that was the opening act, a man named Henry Wagons.
The moment I walked into the tavern I looked at the stage and there he was, a 6-foot tall Australian man with an acoustic guitar in hand. With shaggy hair, glasses, mustache and a sweet green headband he was already playing a song to the minimal crowd that seemed to suckle around the edges of the bar. He sung with an outlaw country vibe that immediately caught my attention. I felt I was listening to an Aussie version of Waylon Jennings but also had an amazing sense of humor. He called out the crowd a few times, made reference to the longest walk ever he experienced at Cleveland-Hopkins Airport and ended his songs with comedic heavily acted strums to his guitar.
Playing his own rendition of Kenny Roger’s “The Gambler”, or so he said, the crowd went crazy for it. I laughed when Henry Wagons said just before playing the song , “I wanna be like Kenny Rogers in another 10 to 15 years,” and also commenting that he lacks the silver-lining at the current moment. Another track he played had him screaming “Willie Nelson” over and over, it was amazing.
The winning song of his set to me was a cover of “Never Been To Spain”, a classic Elvis song that was in fact, not written by Elvis. While playing his set he commented that he was just one man from his band back home called Wagons and that it was his first trip to the states as well as his first night with Those Darlins and Turbo Fruits. After taking to his manager, who was touring with him later in the evening, I learned that they could not afford to have the whole band come over this time around but hope to change that next time they go on tour. After buying a Wagons CD after his set and listening to it on the way home all I have to say is this: I can not wait till Wagons plays the states. The CD is incredible.
Up next was another Nashville act called Turbo Fruits. They were a blend of Nashville and Detroit that was overly impressive, think Hank Williams meets Detroit Cobras. They had 50’s riffs in some songs and dipped into a blues feel during other tracks that had me almost overanalyzing them at times. My conclusion of them was simple though, they were a kick ass band that really put on a show. I especially enjoyed “Dreams For Sale” and “Volcano” and even went so far as to grabbing their LP after the show to check them out some more.
Finally the headliners of the evening, Those Darlins, took to the stage. This time around there were five folk on stage, the three Darlins, drummer Lynn, and some other dude. One would assume that they have a touring guitarist to help out with their shows or perhaps even help Nikki Darlin with some of the guitar duties seeing how she did break her arm in half as mentioned earlier.
Regardless, Those Darlins wasted no time jumping into their set starting off with “Who’s That Knocking At My Window”, a familiar track to most of the crowd. They sounded just as amazing as the previous times I saw them, if not better. They looked happy to be up on the stage and aimed to make sure all were going to have a good time.
Things soon changed for the good when the band decided to play a series of new songs from their upcoming release. With no setlist guiding their performance the girls would shout out the names of the songs and jump into them. Playing tracks like “Boys”, “Be A Brother”, and “Waste Away” it was clear that their sound had taken a turn from the country/punk feel their first album displayed so well.
Their new material mixed up 70’s rock with indie rock yet did not drop the sound where they came from. It was a good sound that all in the house went crazy for. I know I am not the only one excited for their upcoming release. To make matters even better, Lynn was providing back-up vocals on some of the tracks while Nikki focused on her singing duties losing the guitar. Every time the girls announced a new song was being played the crowd just stood their in great anticipation for what was going to come next. I can honestly admit that there was not one new song they played that I did not like and I was not the only one who felt that way. These girls were turning heads at the Beachland and it was not just from their good looks.
Wrapping up their set they played “Red Light Love”, “Wild One” and “Night Jogger”, a new track off their recently released 7″ split with Funsticks, a Jesse Darlin and Lynnwood side project. Making things even more fun they played the Funsticks song that appears on the 45 as well. Yeah, I might have picked one of those up al well…
This was one of the better shows I have been to as a whole seeing that I enjoyed all three bands that played. I can not even tell you the last time that I was this entertained by acts I had never heard of before. I went in there looking for a country/rock night and left with a whole other experience. Henry Wagons and the new material by Those Darlins were the major winners for me.
To think I almost skipped out on that show too. I am so glad I talked myself out of it. Totally worth it.
I cannot believe it is June 22nd already. Summer is officially here and what better way to bring in the warm fun season than to jam out to some amazing music – but what exactly is out there to listen to? Luckily Atlanta act The Constellations have decided to drop their debut release titled Southern Gothic just in time to provide a great soundtrack for your summertime fun.
After two years in the making with assistance from producer Ben H. Allen (Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective), the eight piece act has released an album that mixes all the fun of bands like Outkast, MGMT, and the Gorillaz with almost a 90’s grunge / soul combination all while adding their own flair.
Honestly there really is no way to define a genre for this band as their songs range from rock to hip hop to pop – that is not necessarily a bad thing. Lacking consistency never sounded so good. Add in love for Tom Waits and guest appearances by Cee-Lo Green and Asher Roth, it is quite apparent this band is not a gimmick you are listening to.
“Setback” opened the release with a funky electronic jam heavy on the bass with lead vocalist Elijah Woods almost rapping over music that easily could be thought on something the Chemical Brothers might have created or even Fatboy Slim. This was the song that was brought to my attention to earlier in the year and needless to say it sparked my attention tremendously.
Not giving the idea that Southern Gothic might be only an electronic album came “Perfect Day” a relaxed and very cool sounding track reminiscent of good ol’ Gnarls Barkley. It’s only fair to mention Gnarls Barkley seeing as “Love Is A Murder” featured ½ of the act otherwise known as Cee-Lo Green who provided a monologue throughout the track. This was one of those songs that easily will stick to the minds of many and be broadcast all over the radio.
“December” was another track that just screamed to be played on the radio and sounded like a unreleased Broken Bells track. I could not help but think of how perfect the song would be for a going out on the town mix. “Take A Ride” proved to be another inebriated party track with the message to just raise hell starting at the barstool.
“We’re Here To Save The Day” sounded like a strange alliance between Beck and Eminem. Listening to Asher Roth supply a flow of heavy heard rhymes throughout it was apparent song clearly was out of place with the rest of the tracks yet was amusing to listen to. I also could not help but wonder why Asher Roth was almost blatantly shown the spotlight on the song while earlier Cee-Lo barely crept through his spoken word of sorts.
“Step Right Up” was by far my favorite track on the album as it was a clear tribute to Mr. Tom Waits. The song was a completely off the beaten path revolving around one of my favorite artists of the 70’s. Keeping with the iconic storytelling individual this song also keeps the funk moving around for almost ten minutes. I can not see everyone getting a kick out of this song but something tells me this is one of those songs best seen live.
“Remurder Is A Lovemix” was a soulful piece with the commonly heard advice “if you really wanna live, you gotta be ready to die”. I enjoyed this song with Elijah Woods changing up his singing style as well as the random distorted guitar solo that jumped in the middle of the track.
Southern Gothic is a gallant release by a group of musicians who seemingly refused to keep their material contained. Usually the result of something of this nature could be disastrous but The Constellations manage to pull it off in a great way. Already turning heads at SXSW and Bonnaroo the band continues to tour and will be making a stop at Lollapalooza. Do yourself a favor and make sure that Southern Gothic is part of your playlist one way or another this summer. This band will be going places, I know it.
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