Whisker-A-NoGo

Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, this indie-emo outfit has a new 13-track album available for free download on their Bandcamp page.

Check out their official website here: www.darlingwaste.com

My rating: 7.7/10

@whiskeranogo

This is definitely an artist that you want to check out.  I was intrigued from the first second I started watching this video on YouTube.  Turn the lights down, the music up, and prepare to be goose-bumped.

Nathan Dale is a unique blend of Eels, Ours, and Jeff Buckley.  (Three of my personal faves!)  After listening to his 11-track record a couple times, it’s hard to pick a favorite.  My instincts are saying “One Bad Day”, but maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for music videos as they add another dimension to the song.

I thoroughly enjoyed the slanderous-blasphemy portrayed lyrically in “Oh, Messiah”, so you definitely want to listen to that one a couple times. Unless, of course, you’re a slave to what the song’s about.

My rating: 8.3/10

Here’s my Q/A with Nathan:

Briefly introduce yourself, and the band.

My name is Nathan Dale. I live in Sacramento, CA. I’ve been playing guitar for over 20 years. I’ve played in bands for a lot of those 20 years. These days, I’m also doing the solo artist/singer-songwriter thing.

In no particular order, list your top ten inspirations, even if they’re not musical.

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Chords of Truth influences include classic artists like Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen and Cat Stevens. With a unique sound that has been compared to recent hit artists like Jack Johnson, Mumford & Sons, Iron & Wine, and Ray Lamontagne. I can tell that Jason is a hard working artist who pours his heart out in his songs, and I tip my hat to his D.I.Y. approach, which comes through in his music.

I got to ask lead-singer and open-mic junkie, Jason Garriotte a few questions today about what it’s like to be an independent singer-songwriter in South Carolina:

Introduce yourself to this world of strangers:

Well my name is Jason Garriotte and I’m a singer/songwriter known as Chords of Truth.   But I’m also a college

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The Dutch frontman currently hailing from Sweden, released his third musical work back in February, this time releasing a 10 song full-length Electro Noir.  After listening to the album (and checking out the facebook page),

I would suggest this album to fans of Bjork, Talking Heads, and Kraftwerk.

I had the opportunity to interview A.S. Swanski via email today:

Introduce yourself, and where you are from and where you’re living now.

I’m A.S. Swanski. I’m a musician, producer, writer and a few things more. I was born in The Netherlands, spent a few years in Belgium and I’m now living in Sweden.

How would you describe your music?

Always a tough question!

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I have known this band for many years, and they’re f*cking sweethearts.  More than once, I’ve found myself in Denver hanging with these guys, and their counterpart-comrades The Photo Atlas and The Epilogues, and not wanting to leave!  I’ll just go ahead and say it, I totally want to move to Denver. :)

The new self-produced album from the Colorado-natives, American Volume, showcases their well-rounded ability to write, record and release their own content with no hands in their pockets. 

If you were to combine the vibe in Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs, with a touch of Cave In’s older-ambient stuff, you are off to the right start; the guitar tone in their heavier tracks isn’t really the heavy you would expect, it’s more like Incubus’ [newest] tone or something resembling Our Lady Peace.  Oh, and I think you’ll agree with me that the accordion in “Stones & Sticks” was a fine choice.

Here’s where you can check out their new video for “Bar Talk”. 

Rating: 7.4/10

@whiskeranogo

Long Beach, California-based ‘aggressive pop-rock’ quartet Bethpage Black independently released their EP Black Music last month.  Combining the sounds of The Used, All-Time Low, and Foo Fighters, I gotta admit- I just listened to this EP several times, and shitsbueno :)

I had coffee with the drummer today (Steve Coy), who is also the business-man in the band.  We discussed the benefits of remaining independent these days (and how our bands probably wouldn’t be together had we been ‘signed’ in the past).  

It was interesting talking about the direction that both of our bands were headed in, as we were breaking down our 3-month plans.. I quickly realized that this guy has

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For fans of Rammstein, Daft Punk, Prodigy, Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode, this Rome-and-London-based duo’s eclectic and foreign sound will certainly entertain you through your work day, as well as on the way home from work, and all the way to the nightclub where you’ll dance and party your ass off.  As a matter of fact, I think I’m going to go party right now.  

(Dave Grohl and his nephew?  No… it’s Crysand from Rome, by way of London.)

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Nate Reuss, lead vocalist of NYC-based trio, Fun., is now one of my all-time artistic heroes.  His previous band The Format, announced their hiatus on February 4th 2008, and the reasoning made perfect sense, after reading this very lengthy blog.

The ‘big brother’ record label, once again, stepped on the wrong creative toes.  The band knew all along that they were going to create this ambitious and electrifying ‘blessing in disguise’, all on their own terms, with no hands in their pockets. 

Cheers to holding-strong to their 6-year quest, and bring these ideas to fruition.  I give them props for staying true to their integrity, and I truly praise this second effort from the band.  I bet it feels good for them to see the album behind them.  

Serving as a declaration that independence shines bright, Some Nights is destined to inspire other artists to realize their ability to write/record whatever they want, following Fun.’s example; the only exception being a ‘succumbing to pressures’ and signing onto controlling record labels that tweak the music to sell more singles. (cue middle finger)

The 10-track album is cohesive, I still need to figure it out a little more though.  The single “We Are Young” has such a timeless, catchy melody, I can’t get it out of my head. The music video is great too (@ 23million views!).  

The first couple times I spun the album, I noticed that towards the end, my A.D.D. takes over, once again, and I [cough cough] zone out on something else.. is the first-half of the album stronger than the second-half?  Mayyyybe.

I gotta say though, this is a solid f*cking record.  Here’s a link to download it for free, if you are into that kind of thing.  

My rating: 8.6/10

@whiskeranogo

Rhode-Island-based Nick Duane comes to the table bearing good tidings of great independent music, with his third album Before The Storm.

This album has a very original, unique sound.  14 tracks with a vast sonic range, combining classic inspirations such as Simon & Garfunkel, Sufjan Stevens, Prince, The Police and maybe even a little David Bowie at times.. blended together in his own clever way. His style, and self-proclaimed D.I.Y. systematic, is exemplified in a quote from his website: “These days I like to think of writing music as an idea without boundaries, only opportunities.” 

On his ReverbNation page, Nick describes his sound as “Synthpop, Atmospheric, Indie Rock, Adult Alternative”.  I am going to have to agree with him on that.

As creative of a guy as he seems, I hope to see more ‘professionally-representing’ videos (than these, anyway), as this day and age calls for the added dimension.  Maybe it’s just my A.D.D. speaking, but I have the attention span of a goldfish when it comes to content, and I know I’m not alone.  This album deserves a visual narrative accompanied by a thriving YouTube presence.. clearly you can tell I care enough to suggest the constructive criticism. [smiley face]

My rating: 7.7/10

@whiskeranogo

Long Beach based Kei-Shon-Son is the ‘head-quarterback’ of “Tha Sleepwalkers”, who’s aggressive form of gospel-inspired rap blends a sharp electro beat with dark and moody synth melodies, creating a one-of-a-kind soundscape, while exercising a solid rhythm section.  The vocals to hit sharp and punctual, with heartfelt and smart lyrics about real life stories.

Stream the album on their website for free!

The track that stood out to me the most was “Sleep Walking”.  I tip my hat to the attention to detail with the vocal production.  The lyrical direction made it easy to relate to a lot of what was being said, which is a tough task to accomplish normally, but these guys seemed to pull it off tastefully.

[Here’s a short video promo for their album that I thought was unique.]

After listening to the album and getting a sense of all that was going on with The Sleepwalkers, I had to rub my eyes after seeing that the Facebook page had ZERO likes.. this album is absolutely deserving of a solid marketing plan, at the very least! Happy to help spread the word for a fellow Californian with abstract video ideas like this one. 

My rating: 8.2/10