Music In Review - My Musical Meanderings
By Justin Shay
First up on the-things-I’ve-been-digging list is a beastly scorcher by Odd Clouds called Liquid Moon Ritual EP. This CD attempts to document a day in the life of a few dudes - and one dudette - from the surrounding areas of Detroit in their quest for freedom through sound. Tons of trombone/trumpet scronk mixed with moog noise, drum sets, conga percussion and vocal wailings fill this disc. Such a great tribal-ish sound here, I really love what’s going down on this disc! My only complaint is that it ends far too soon.
Next on the list are two lovely discs made by dear friends. One is called Viva La Fantastique Avec by Actual Birds and Friends, and the other is Fruits Of The Spirit by Patrick Elkins. Both albums will appeal to those who enjoy their folk music with a little bit of noise and experimentation.
Neither artist is afraid to take it “out there” while still cranking out some beautiful tunes in the process. These fellows have both been traveling around the country by bus (and sometimes by car) quite a bit over the last couple of years and continue to do so in between their day jobs, so look out for them when they roll through your town; you won’t be disappointed. I’m tempted to say that these two discs might be the best they’ve made, but I‘ll leave that for you to decide. I am probably too close to the music and the people who made it to talk too much about it all but I will say that this stuff stands up with anything else that’s happening right now and you would be doing yourself a favor by picking them up.
Coincidentally, both aforementioned albums shared the same producer in one Fred Thomas, whose latest disc, Sink Like A Symphony, has just entered my CD player for the first time just now. Upon first listen, I know that I like it already. On this one he’s doing his usual folk singer songwriter vibe that we’ve all come to love so well. It’s a pretty stripped down affair that focuses mostly on his acoustic guitar strum, strong lyrics, and the occasional noisy background drums, piano and percussion, which reminded me a bit of The Microphones especially on the 2nd, 9th and 13th songs. He has grown immensely as an artist/producer and has had his hands in many projects coming out of the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area lately.
Last but not least, I had a great find at the Goodwill store a while back. I was lucky enough to score the self-titled cassette of a band called Ready For The World, best known for their 1985 chart topping single, “Oh Sheila”, which kicks off the second side. Around this time they were bringing that popular Prince-like Minneapolis sound across Lake Michigan to their hometown of Flint. There are some other sweet tracks on this one too, like the hilariously catchy favorite “Tonight”, whose lyric goes something like “I want your lips. I even want your tongue girl. Come and give it to me”. I wonder what teenage girls made of this tune back in the day when it came out?
I’m sure that by now you’ve noticed the connection between all of the aforementioned artists in this column. Yes, that’s right; they’re all from my beautiful home state of Michigan. To me it has always been apparent that the mitten is a hot bed of creative activity and that it has had a major impact on the world of music. I won’t even begin to name drop because you already know what I am going to say, but I do want to say thanks to all of my friends, friends of friends and people back there who constantly keep the creative spirit alive.
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Liquid Moon Ritual EP and Viva La Fantastique can be purchased at http://www.casanovatemptations.net/
Fruits Of The Spirit can be bought at http://www.weretwins.com/ or by emailing mailto:patrick.elkins@excite.com
Sink Like A Symphony can be obtained by going to: www.myspace.com/ypsilantirecords
Ready for The World might be found at your nearest, local thrift store.
First up on the-things-I’ve-been-digging list is a beastly scorcher by Odd Clouds called Liquid Moon Ritual EP. This CD attempts to document a day in the life of a few dudes - and one dudette - from the surrounding areas of Detroit in their quest for freedom through sound. Tons of trombone/trumpet scronk mixed with moog noise, drum sets, conga percussion and vocal wailings fill this disc. Such a great tribal-ish sound here, I really love what’s going down on this disc! My only complaint is that it ends far too soon.
Next on the list are two lovely discs made by dear friends. One is called Viva La Fantastique Avec by Actual Birds and Friends, and the other is Fruits Of The Spirit by Patrick Elkins. Both albums will appeal to those who enjoy their folk music with a little bit of noise and experimentation.
Neither artist is afraid to take it “out there” while still cranking out some beautiful tunes in the process. These fellows have both been traveling around the country by bus (and sometimes by car) quite a bit over the last couple of years and continue to do so in between their day jobs, so look out for them when they roll through your town; you won’t be disappointed. I’m tempted to say that these two discs might be the best they’ve made, but I‘ll leave that for you to decide. I am probably too close to the music and the people who made it to talk too much about it all but I will say that this stuff stands up with anything else that’s happening right now and you would be doing yourself a favor by picking them up.
Coincidentally, both aforementioned albums shared the same producer in one Fred Thomas, whose latest disc, Sink Like A Symphony, has just entered my CD player for the first time just now. Upon first listen, I know that I like it already. On this one he’s doing his usual folk singer songwriter vibe that we’ve all come to love so well. It’s a pretty stripped down affair that focuses mostly on his acoustic guitar strum, strong lyrics, and the occasional noisy background drums, piano and percussion, which reminded me a bit of The Microphones especially on the 2nd, 9th and 13th songs. He has grown immensely as an artist/producer and has had his hands in many projects coming out of the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area lately.
Last but not least, I had a great find at the Goodwill store a while back. I was lucky enough to score the self-titled cassette of a band called Ready For The World, best known for their 1985 chart topping single, “Oh Sheila”, which kicks off the second side. Around this time they were bringing that popular Prince-like Minneapolis sound across Lake Michigan to their hometown of Flint. There are some other sweet tracks on this one too, like the hilariously catchy favorite “Tonight”, whose lyric goes something like “I want your lips. I even want your tongue girl. Come and give it to me”. I wonder what teenage girls made of this tune back in the day when it came out?
I’m sure that by now you’ve noticed the connection between all of the aforementioned artists in this column. Yes, that’s right; they’re all from my beautiful home state of Michigan. To me it has always been apparent that the mitten is a hot bed of creative activity and that it has had a major impact on the world of music. I won’t even begin to name drop because you already know what I am going to say, but I do want to say thanks to all of my friends, friends of friends and people back there who constantly keep the creative spirit alive.
------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
Liquid Moon Ritual EP and Viva La Fantastique can be purchased at http://www.casanovatemptations.net/
Fruits Of The Spirit can be bought at http://www.weretwins.com/ or by emailing mailto:patrick.elkins@excite.com
Sink Like A Symphony can be obtained by going to: www.myspace.com/ypsilantirecords
Ready for The World might be found at your nearest, local thrift store.
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