NOAH & THE WHALE, LAST NIGHT ON EARTH

 

Noah & The Whale, who hail from out side London, are back with their third studio album. Last Night On Earth is a loose concept album about....the Last Night On Earth, or not. But as far as concept albums go, this one succeeds by not trying to do too much with the concept. Listening to this album I feel a bit like i'm back in 1985 listening to Tom Petty....and that is a good thing. There is a great rock-anthem feel to these songs and I enjoyed listened to this album from beginning to end. And I think that you will too.
L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.   

Sounding Out: Dinner Belles

A few years back, a group of musicians were brought together by a mutual friend to play music and hopefully form a new band. As they began playing together, they quickly discovered a special dynamic developing within the group. Over time, informal jam sessions became regular Wednesday night practices, and eventually, the Dinner Belles were born.

I first discovered the Dinner Belles when I saw them on Blogotheque. There was something immediately familiar to me about the band and I was captivated by their performances. As someone who has a lot of family and friends that sing and play instruments, impromptu music jams inevitably break out when folks get together. Watching the Belles, I just felt at home in some way.

Given that the band has not released any albums or singles, exploring their music became particularly problematic. So, I tracked down two of the Belle’s members in Hamilton, Ontario, where the band is based.

Terra Lightfoot and Brad Germain are two of the seven members of the Dinner Belles. Talking to them both was a real treat for me, and not surprisingly, their openness and attitude seemed exactly like what I would have expected, based on seeing their video performances.

I told Terra and Brad that my sense from watching the videos was that the band is a very collaborative group and their interaction was almost family-like. I asked them if this was true. Terra and Brad said that this was absolutely the case.

“It seems really funny, but we are an extended family now......We all have great vibes and great love for each other,” Terra said. “I think the reason for this is because we sing together. And that might sound crazy, but it always makes everyone of us feel amazing whenever we get together. Whenever one of us is having a bad day, we send text messages to one another and say let’s get together and play some music tonight. It is really nice to be in a band like that.“

I asked if this ‘togetherness’ has to do with the personalities of the people in the band or is there just a different sense of community within this group? “Singing together brings us to a different place,” Terra said. Brad added that music and family are both important to all of them and that is how they approach their time together. “In this band everyone has the same voice, which is really nice. I think that it has helped us all as players and musicians in learning how to listen to what other people are doing and not try to cover things with noise all the time.”

I asked them, if everyone has the same voice, was their any anyone person who acts as a kind of ringleader for the band?

Both said that there was no head of the band who controls or dictates the pace or what is to come out of it. “It is a very democratic process,” Terra said. Brad agreed. “Everyone has a say in this band. We meet each challenge as a group…and the same thing goes with the song writing.”

I told them that I found it amazing that songwriting and managing a band could be so democratic considering that there were seven of them. Could the Dinner Belles be that successful working together like this when there are so many personalities and ideas?

“It has been surprisingly easy,” Brad said. “I think that part of it has to do with the personalities of everyone in the band. There’s not that alpha male or person who wants to run the whole thing. That is what makes it so easy for all of us.”

Terra added that the band never really had a songwriting formula that required someone to take a lead role. “There is no form to the band….and it works in different ways for us ever time we write a song. No two ways are the same.”  They said that sometimes people break into small groups to write and create, sometimes individuals bring ideas or songs to the group, and sometimes songs develop from just casual jamming together.

“Everybody feels comfortable bringing something to the group,” Brad Said.  “No one feels that their ideas are going to be brushed aside or be made to feel that their ideas are less important than someone else. It is a tough thing to find in a band…it is a rarity and we all recognize that. I think that it is a really healthy way to run a band. And I think that it is a really great way to BE a band.”

They also agreed that there is no pressure that they put on themselves, which is important to them all. “When you don’t put a whole bunch of pressure on yourselves,” Brad said, “it just comes as it comes and it makes for a far more enjoyable experience.” But, he said it helps that they are slow workers. “If we had to come to every practice or get-together and learn seven new songs, that might be taxing and frustrating, but we work at such a slow pace, it makes it easier to be democratic,” he said laughing.

Given their seemingly casual approach, I asked them if there have been changes in terms of aspirations and goals that they have for the band over time?

“I don’t know if it has changed,” Terra said. “I think that we are a ‘go with the flow’ group as much as possible, whenever we can.”  Brad then said that they are all musicians who have other projects and take their craft very seriously, but he said that this band occupies a different space for everyone musically. Terra added, “We are not trying to do anything huge with this project, but if it happens, that would be great. Let it be what it is going to be.”

Mississippi River Gambler   

I told them that something was happening in terms of visibility and interest as a result of the Blogotheque videos. I asked them if the attention that the Dinner Belles are receiving is perhaps having them evaluate things differently now?

Terra started off by saying that they have been surprised by the attention. “We really didn’t expect the kind of response that we got.” They said that a lot of people who have reached out have done so wanting to know more about the band and their music. This has been very exciting and humbling. As a result, they have realized that having more music available for people is something that they want to do. Now the band is set to release their first album in June.

Terra and Brad said that The Dinner Belles are looking forward to releasing their album, but they don’t really think that there will be a big change to the way the band approaches things going forward. Brad said, “everyone wants to have music be their career and their way to make their bread, but when you start to get into music for money it seems like you sometimes have to compromise the things that you want to do and you have to make decisions that are business based and not music based, and that is one thing that we have been conscious of. We just want to do things the way that we want to do things and that is really it. If we can make some money along the way, great.” Terra added, “I think the kind of success that we are interested in is a different kind. It is not mainstream success. I think we want to be as self sufficient as possible and still be able to reach the market that might want to hear us.” I appreciated their perspective. 

I asked them, if they would be hitting the road and touring in support of the album and trying to grow their base of listeners. They said that the band is not necessarily going to be touring around the country. Besides coordinating seven members and their families, traveling with everyone and their equipment across long distances is really more than they feel they can take on right now. Terra added, "this may just be a band that plays live locally and enjoys the time playing together...and in terms of being accessible to other people, it may just be a band that lives online."

I told them that I understood the reasons for not touring, but that it was really too bad that this would not be the case. The Dinner Belles' live playing is what has drawn people to them and it is what I think makes their music so special.  Brad said that he appreciated what I was saying. He thought that maybe the reason why the band has been able to make connections with people is because they can see themselves sitting down with the band to play music.

Playing In The Barn

Terra said that their live performances are meant to be a family affair. This is even the case when they are practicing. “The barn, where we practice during the summer, is on a farm that is owned by the Harleys…..We love going there to play. We will go there on Sundays and play all day long. And it really has become a big family affair where friends and family come over and and hang out and barbecue while we practice. It creates a really neat sense of community.” She then said that the Dinner Belles strive to have this same sense of community when they play their shows live. “We all love playing live and when we perform, our shows are meant to just be a big party and everyone’s invited!”

Terra and Brad said that in the end, they all just want to create and play music with their friends. And in doing so Terra said, "we hope to make our little community a little bit bigger." I think that the Dinner Belles are on to something here.

Drive-By Truckers, Go-Go Boots

Sometimes I don't want a high concept album or songs with overly cryptic lyrics. Sometimes I just want to hear great straight-forward songs with great songwriting. There are 14 of them on Drive-By Truckers' Go-Go Boots. This alt-country band has been putting out albums (nine in all) for many years, and Go-Go Boots is their most successful. Some songs here are straight forward country and others cross over to more of a folk-rock sound. I loved every minute of everyone of these songs and this is by far one of my favorite albums of the year so far.
Everybody Needs Love   

Acid House Kings, Music Sounds Better With You

The Swedish indi-pop band Acid House Kings are a household name in their home country. It is really too bad that more folks don't know about them here in the States. AHK have been putting out fun, well crafted songs and albums for almost twenty years. On Music Sounds Better With You the songs are lighthearted and happy feeling, and there is a great '60's euro sound that can be heard throughout the album. I wish that I could just stop bobbing my head back and forth as I listen to it.
Windshield   

Sounding Out: Flash Fiktion

Flash Fiktion is a band on the rise, ready to release their debut album in mid May. The first time that I heard the band, a big smile came over my face. Flash Fiktion’s music is upbeat, happy, and fun and makes you want to get out of your chair and dance. With only a few songs released over the past few months, I wanted to track down the band to hear more.

A few days ago, I had an opportunity to Skype with the band from their London studio, where they are putting the finishing touches on their new album. They were excited to talk about the band and their music.

Having been together for two years, Dan Peranic, Matt Rokk, and Olie Thomas have found a sound and musical style that is quite different from what they were doing before they came together. I had read Matt describe their music as an eclectic mix of everything they love. Flamboyant melodies with Cuban beats dressed in electro hooks. Music that will make you jump up and down, he said.

“With this project we wanted to try something different and more organic than what we had done before. The sound that we are doing initially came by accident.” Dan said.

At the time they all met, Matt and Olie were trying to find a different sound, from the more straightforward stadium oriented rock that they had with their last band. Dan, who plays the drums, grew up on the coast of Croatia, and had a very different musical background. He explained, “The music along the coast is quite light and bright and summery and is heavily influenced by Afro-Cuban Jazz and reggae. Luckily, when we bumped into each other, we were all mentally looking for something different and things just clicked straight away, which made it easy to start working together.“

Flash Fiktion takes its name from the literary term flash fiction, which refers to story telling being done in an abbreviated fashion, usually in 300 to 1,000 words.  Olie had said in another interview, "It's not like a novel, drawn-out, something that thickens and develops. It's a narrative with a quick impact.“ They said that they are taking this idea applying it to songwriting.

On the forthcoming album, they said the songs are stories about real people that they know or knew and events that the three of them have experienced. Dan referred to them as chapters in time. As an example, they talked about the song Capsules Of Sun. “This is a song about a girl who went to school with Matt who ended up using too many drugs from being too stressed from life and having a kid at a very, very young age. She just ended up ruining herself in that manner.”

I told them that this was dark material for such an up beat song. “If you are listening to……good pop music, the melodies should be catchy and fun, but behind it there should be thought and intelligence.”

Capsules Of Sun   

With such abbreviated story telling, I asked if all the songs needed to be a certain length of time? “In the process of writing this album we let our hearts decide how it was going to sound. And we never actually thought about how long a song is going to last. We just write it. If it fits for a song to be two and a half minutes that’s great. If it needs to be ten minutes, it can be ten.” Having said this, Dan added, they did not want to go into anything that was too self-indulgent.

“We wrote lots of songs. Some go seven or more minutes. We just did not know how those longer songs would reflect on a first album. We are trying to combine the pop side along with the artistic side and make sure that we do not loose our audience. People love putting music into boxes today. And from our perspective, as soon as you do a ten-minute song they are going to say ‘ah, that’s a bit too proggy.’” And with that they said, the focus that they want the audience to have with their music and what they are all about musically may be lost.

I wondered if it was difficult to balance creating songs that are at once pretty complex in form and yet sound fairly relaxed and casual.

"That is the most difficult thing to do". But they said making a difficult thing sound simple was one of their goals. “It’s like you listen to a song and think, oh this is quite simple and then when you actually go and analyze it and you can hear that there are four key changes and 15 chords…..We take what we do very seriously and loads of work have been put into these songs to make them as good as possible. Every element on every song has been thought through and is intentional, right down to smallest shaker that maybe in the background of a song."

Dan added that in wanting to make the album sound as good as possible, they sought input from people in the industry. Unfortunately, there was disappointment, when, after months of requests, they got no responses. Then they heard from Alex ‘Lexxx’ Dromgoole, a highly regarded engineer, who has worked with artists from Arcade Fire to Madonna.

“Lexx decided that he wanted to work on it because he loved what we were doing. It was obviously not about the money because we could not afford to pay him much of anything. It gave us confidence and a boost that there are people who are recognizing and like what we are doing.” Now, they said, it all comes down to marketing and getting their music out there.

In another interview the band said that they did not fear the current music environment and finding a place for the band and their music. I told them that while I appreciated the band's confidence, I was curious how it is that they are not more anxious about launching their music and finding an audience at a time where there is so much easily accessible music for people.

Dan said, “No matter how cheezy it may sound, we are definitely confident in the songs and in our performance. And we are definitely excited.” They then went on to say that they believe what will help make them successful is that their music cannot be put into a category and will stand out. They said this feeling is drawn from the past experiences that Matt and Olie had with their last band.

“All of us have been in bands or played with people even when it didn't feel quite right. All of us went though the stages in our lives when we were hoping that our previous projects will make that huge impact. But in the end you realize that you have be true to yourself. That's why this feels right. You have to wear the clothes you love and you have to play the music that REALLY is YOU. As soon as there is too much input from 50 different people, mess begins, and before you know it you are doing something that's not you and an audience can feel the fake. Sure, you can always bombard people with your music and put millions of £££ behind it but it will never stay."  

They added that hundreds of bands in London today look the same, they have the same haircuts, and they sound the same....and they don’t think young people today have as many options for music as people had growing up 15 or 20 years ago. Dan said, "UK TOP 20 in is either indie/electro or R&B and that's where it ends."  

I asked them if not having a more categorize-able musical style could backfire on them in some way. I told them that I had read one, not so great review of a show that the band played back in November. In the review, the writer took issue with the fact that they thought they were going to hear a band with one kind of a sound and got there and heard a different kind of a sound. Dan admitted that what they are doing is a bit risky.

“It is a really bizarre thing here in England at the moment. Everything has to be boxed and there is not a lot of room for somebody trying to do something different….I don’t understand it. For us the music that we do has to excite us and has to be exciting. If you are going to come to rehearsal or go to a gig and have this feeling of being bored to death, then there is not much point in writing it.”

Me And Mr. E   

They said the response that the writer of that review had of the band’s performance is exactly what they want to avoid, but not because what they are doing is wrong, rather, it's because the expectation of the listener needs to be different. I told them that what I found interesting about our discussion, was that while they are talking about not having their sound or style being put in a box by others, it seemed to me that the band actually wants to create their own box and do have some kind of description that they want people to be using in talking about their sound. I asked if that was a fair assessment.

“Exactly it is.” Said Dan. “We do want people to hear our music and say ‘oh yeah, that is Flash Fiktion. For us, with every band that we listened to growing up, you could hear straight away what band it was. We want our music to be recognizable like that.“ I asked them about this box that their music fits in. “It’s a bit extravagant sounding. It’s quite dancy, it got electro-indulgence, it’s got Cuban and Indian influence in it.”

Flash Fiktion has a game plan and it seems to be working so far. Their single is being received very well and is getting quite a bit of airplay. They said that it has been a ridiculous amount of work, but that the band is happy to have produced something that they really believe in. “Even if nothing happens now, ten, fifteen years down the line, we want to be able to listen to this album and say wow we made some great songs and we are proud of what we have done.”

Listening to this album, I would tend to agree with them that their music will find an audience, and a pretty broad one. The songs on this album are just great and I have been thoroughly enjoying the fruits of their labor.

Elbow, Build A Rocket Boys!

I was in Glasgow, Scotland in 2001 about the time that Elbow's debut album, Asleep In The Back, was released. From the opening drumbeat I was completely enthralled with the album and the band. And I returned to the states proudly touting my new find and import.

To this day, Asleep In The Back remains one of my all time favorite albums. And the last track on the album, Scattered Black and Whites, for which this blog is named, is one of my very favorite songs. Given my affinity for Elbow and their music, it is safe to assume that I have been quite excited about the release of Elbow's latest album, Build A Rocket Boys! for some time. And I have to say that this album delivers.

Build A Rocket Boys! is just outstanding. And I say this not as someone who is a fan of Elbow, but as someone who appreciates great musicianship and songwriting. Behind Guy Garvey's poetic lyrics and captivating voice, Elbow creates gorgeous and complimentary musical phrasings and arrangements. At times gentle, at times angular, Elbow's music tells as much about the stories in these songs as the lyrics. 

As for those marvelous lyrics, Garvey is still drawn to life's passing and the memories that are collected along the way. There is weight and melancholy as Garvey reflects on childhood, family, friends, aging, and death, but he is never heavy-handed, sappy, or clichéd. And while the road traveled maybe fraught with challenges and uncertainly, Garvey ultimately takes solace and comfort in the notion that we are not alone in life. On Open Arms, he sings "We got arms for broken hearts like yours my boy, come home again. Tables are for pounding here and when we've got you surrounded, the man you are will know the boy you were." And as almost a response to this calling, in the last verse of Dear Friends, which closes the album, Garvey sings "Old friends, you stuck a pin in a map I was in. And you are the stars I navigate home by." Honestly, song writing does not get any better than this.

While the entire album Build A Rocket Boys! is amazing, there are a few stand out songs for me. Songs like Lippy Kids, Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl, and Dear Friends shine with a maturity that can only come from a band that has been together for many years. On Lippy Kids, for example, there is such subtlety and gentleness to the music as the band spaces the instruments in an open and airy way, leaving each one to resonate in its own space while supporting one another and Garvey's vocals at the same time. On songs like this one, Elbow has never sounded better.

If you are not familiar with Elbow, I highly, highly encourage you to explore the band's music library starting with this album. Build A Rocket boys! is one of their best.

Lippy Kids