Oceansize – SuperImposer (leak)
Oceansize
Posted by Todd Hamm
The first leak from Oceansize's fourth album Self Preserved While The Bodies Float Up is a return to the structured chaos of early efforts like Everyone Into Position and the Music For Nurses EP. Released yesterday on the band's new Superball Music imprint, "SuperImposer" is bookended on either side with an edgy guitar flurry between which singer Mike Vennart runs taught strands through the upper register over a hectic time signature a la "One Out Of nONE".
It's good, and it's refreshing to hear the group gravitate toward to the kind of schizophrenic songwriting that piqued my interest in the first place, a good seven years ago. That being said, where past Oceansize tracks of this nature turn corner after corner, taking you down the proverbial rabbit hole as a listener, this song never seems to entirely unfold. There are flashes of promise everywhere--from the frantic intro/outro combination to the tightly wound guitar work behind Vennart's soft croons--but the bridge is soft and the melody is rather simplistic by comparison. The good news is that there's even more new Oceansize music on the way (SPWTBFU is due out September 6th in Europe, September 14th in the U.S.), and also that the release of the first single came with this delightful handwritten note from guitarist/keyboardist Gambler that you can check after the jump...
Song of the Day: Guthrie Scarr – “Voice of Reason”
Posted by Todd Hamm
It's not often I'll stumble upon a honky tonk jam that's rompin' stompin' enough to hold my attention for three and a half minutes, wake me up like a slap in the face or cup of coffee, and--although it would undoubtedly be of the awkward mock square variety--make me feel like dancing. "Voice of Reason" is written and performed by Seattle folk rocker and former Darlings of the Lo-fi bassist Guthrie Scarr (pictured left) along with an extremely talented backing band of young playmakers like Nate Stone (keys), Paul Ohnemus (drums), Brett Massa (bass); and journeyman grunge-era sound tech Ed Brooks (check your old Pearl Jam liner notes).
Guthrie Scarr - Voice of Reason
The song itself is not overbearing in it's complexity, nor does it rely solely on the singer/songwriter format that many name-bearing bands seem to. The track is rich and textured, uptempo and ironic in it's rowdiness. Scarr's chops on the guitar are evident in the ferociously picked riff that sets the tone from the jump, and holds steady through the duration of the track, interrupted by delightful minor breakdowns and his Axl Rose meets Ryan Adams vocals that lay over the top nicely, nearly daring the listener to have a good time.
Front cover
I pulled "Voice of Reason" from Scarr's debut solo EP Wasted Grace which you can track down on CD Baby's site HERE. While the remaining four songs on the release are of a more reserved nature, and often beg for a gentler melding of the soft instrumentation with the sharpness of his voice, the songwriting is promising, and the quality instrumentation matched with Brooks's crisp studio work serve well to carry the weight.
Avatar Young Blaze – A Day In the Life
Posted by Todd Hamm
Avatar Young Blaze
Is your rap collection too soft? Do you need more guns, drugs and illicit money getting out of your friendly neighborhood MC? Enter Seattle's (Ukraine's/Russia's) Avatar Young Blaze. He is a bad man. His lyrics are sinister, and they're delivered eerily calm through clouds of blunt smoke from luxury sedans and building rooftops. He's good at what he does, and although his subject matter usually slinks through the gutters and back alleys of his environment, there's something captivating and even familiar about the guy. With each venomous song or video clip he releases, Avatar welcomes you to the fold and guides you through his daily experiences, teaches you hard lessons he's learned and explains why things have wound up the way they have. For example:
This is "A Day In the Life", a mini-documentary that was releases today about the MC's life and influences, which basically finds him smoking a ton of weed and looking his most menacing in a winter-time L.A. hideout. He touches on topics like his upbringing, and his parent's flight to the U.S. to escape the crumbling U.S.S.R., as well as his flight to California to escape Seattle's notoriously rainy winters, and also why he's such a badass. In addition, he previews a couple of tracks from his new Baptized In Vodka project (release date TBA), which is a nice lil' bonus for fans.
Released simultaneously with the video was the first single from BIV called "I Am King", a song that captures Avatar's style at it's best: hardcore and brash, but honest. The production is clean and laid back--tropical even, and features smooth background vocals, which is somewhat of a departure for Av. Although it has a bit of a new and distant feel to it, the song sounds natural, as he tells it like it is in traditional Avatar Young Blaze fashion.
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