Strangers Family Band

The intriguingly dark & groovy sounds of Strangers Family Band have drawn me in. I have been playing their EP, Beware The Autumn People, a lot, found from reading the amazing all-psych-all-the-time blog Trip Inside This House. I mention these words 'dark & groovy', but there is soooo much more here, so much more. The seven songs that comprise this psychedelic gem of an EP have been crafted by five young men who have been musicians practically their entire lives, and came together two years ago as a complete band with the talent and desire to create songs that are as compelling as they are catchy.
The title track, Beware The Autumn People, kicks in with carnival-like keys, which slide into a stomp of drums and guitar reverb, and lazy vocals, slurred over the stomp. Strange Transmission, with its unmistakable Doors-vibe, is just brilliant: from the deep, slightly ominous, Morrison-style vocals, to the organ keys in the background, to the imagery of a spiral staircase leading you to a midnight splendor. This song meanders its way through image to image, hypnotically. Tangerine is two precious minutes of space cadets and sweet dreams, set to a lovely little organ melody. Wooden Hands is.....a mysteriously dark, unique, quite catchy....love song?? Not your ordinary love song, I assure you! Enochian is a spooky little minute of whispery effects over possibly a sermon. Girl I've Been Taken, with its sly-sounding vocals and little organ jam at the end is probably the grooviest slice of psychedelica I have ever heard. No One Sees Her comes on as a happy little jaunt, with horns over plucky guitars and light, bouncy drums, but still......something dark lurks in the background......
The members of Strangers Family Band seem to have been born to make music. Scott (bass) and Rick (guitar) are brothers who have been playing music as long as they can remember. Rick and Juan (who plays drums) played music together in high school, and Scott and Ates (vocals) became song-writing partners in college. Kevin, their bloody brilliant keyboardist, was the last addition to the Family, and completes it oh so well. The band name, well, that just seemed to fit perfectly as they are truly either blood or close enough to it, and strange indeed, intriguingly so.
Currently on heavy rotation in the Strangers' house is music that comes from some of the most creative minds of the 60s and 70s, albums that take you on theme-park rides through their concepts, albums by The Kinks, The Pretty Things, The Beatles, early Donovan, 13th Floor Elevators, and Syd-era-Floyd, to name just a few. Conceptually, Strangers Family Band is planning on taking us on their own musical-mind-trip beyond the Beware The Autumn People EP, with the full-length they are currently working on. Scott cites some interesting influences that go beyond even obscure psychedelica or concept albums: Balkan folk music and Carnatic music. This is one band who is so left-of-center, I have to admire and love it!
Somehow, Strangers Family Band take their talent and their love of so many different styles of creative, interesting music, and make their own quirky, hypnotic, darkly enthralling music. Besides the requisite drums, guitar, and bass, Strangers Family Band utilizes Hammond organ, sitar, electric sitar, ukulele, upright bass, quattro, and tablas. On the upcoming album, a multitude of local musician friends of the Family play guest. For now, go to their site and download Beware The Autumn People. What are you waiting for?! Go check out Strangers Family Band!
A big, warm thank you, to Scott from Strangers Family Band, for enlightening me about the band, and big thanks to the whole band for making this amazing psychedelic music and sharing it with us!

Pilot Cloud Plays Brooklyn

Much to this fan's delight, Pilot Cloud made their way from Philly to Brooklyn on Friday night, October 9, to play a set at Bar Matchless. The set was forty minutes of the most blissful, heartbreakingly gorgeous shoegaze that you could possibly ever hear. I have been playing their album In Transition at home on my stereo for weeks now, and it did not even prepare me for how these songs translate to the stage. Equal parts blooming, soaring soundscapes, and subtle, quiet flutters, Pilot Cloud's songs both explode with force, and then calm the storm. Songs played were Dead Satellite, Leaf, Map, Star Redoubt (complete with the bird songs at the end, like on the album!), In Transition, Diaspora (not on the album, but available to listen to on their MySpace player), and the closer of the album closes their set: Ex Astris Scientia. Pilot Cloud is most certainly a band who have the talent to take their stunning recorded arrangements to the stage and make them better. That is quite a feat, and if you have been lucky enough to acquire the album In Transition and then see them live, I am sure you would agree.

The Flower Machine

They dig balloons. And trampolines. And candy canes.
Take some time today and visit the musical world of The Flower Machine.
This is music for a sunny day. Or any day, for that matter.
I have been listening to their album pictured above, called Marmoset Meadow, and I keep thinking they are from England, but no, they hail from Los Angeles, possibly from another time, another dimension, here now to offer us some of the most acid-drenched psychedelic tunes I have heard thus far. Syd would be so proud.
Check out the tunes, and follow the links from their MySpace to further explore the psychedelic heaven that is Trip Inside This House's music blog. The Flower Machine have donated their sublimely sweet and infectious tune called Traveling By Trampoline to a not-to-be-missed compilation album you can download for free. The album's songs were compiled and made available to us by the creator of Trip Inside This House. I give him many thanks, as the songs from his Summer Solstice II compilation (there is also a Summer Solstice I, yes, from 2008) have been playing in my house and brightening up my days, for the better part of this week now. I hope you all find the time to grab your tambourine & enjoy the magical little cloud-world of The Flower Machine!

Pilot Cloud Takes Off

Pilot Cloud is a duo from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Forgoing the typical four-piece band set-up, Nick Biscardi and Justin Lerner are doing it all themselves. On top of that, they are giving away the songs of their first album, In Transition (the lovely cover art is seen above). This is one give-away you cannot miss. I am a little late in finding out about this, as In Transition was completed in 2008, but thanks to some snooping around MySpace and following leads, I did find it, and I am in love with In Transition's lush, sweeping soundscapes and airy, sparse vocals.
With their musical beginnings sown in the form of the band Hans The Double, Justin and Nick paired off after that band split up in early 2008. What is important here, is that they felt the need to create their own original and exciting music, and now they are sharing it with us.

I asked the band a few questions, to get to know them a bit better:

So you are doing it! Making and producing and distributing your own music. I read that you guys did not actually plan this out, but rather it just came together, song after song till you had enough for In Transition to be a full album. I have brought your music to quite a few peoples’ attention, people from all over the world, and they all absolutely love it. Do you feel now, like you are gaining a bit of a fan base, a year after In Transition’s release?

When we had the album finished and ready to distribute, our only real M.O. was to submit to as many blogs as possible and see if anyone would run something on us. Things started to pop up here and there after that. A bunch of places just listed us as a band to check out, didn’t really say anything about us. As more people listened, the features started getting bigger.
With the internet, we’ve been able to pop up anywhere and everywhere. An Italian blog wrote a real nice review of the record. People on Last.fm started tuning in from places like Norway, Estonia, and all over the world.
Regarding an actual fan base, it’s been easier to connect to people playing shows. When we play, we have everything in front of us to let people get to know us. However, it’s been great to use the internet as a way to get a foot in the door. We just played in Columbus, OH where we’d only talked to one of the accompanying acts via email before the show, but by the end of the night we’d made at least ten new friends.

Have you guys always lived in Philly? How is the music scene of your hometown? Would you say there is a ‘scene’ there that Pilot Cloud fits into?

We’ve been scattered throughout the tri-state area. I, Nick, have spent my whole life living in different suburbs of Philadelphia and now live in Bryn Mawr, PA. Justin grew up in New Brunswick, NJ, went to school in Delaware, and now lives in Philadelphia.
There’s not a tight-knit scene that Pilot Cloud is in with, but there’s definitely some interesting psychedelic, ambient, and shoegaze bands in and around the area like Arc in Round, Cloud Minder, Streaks of Light, and Ports of Call. If there’s any organization amongst bands, we certainly haven’t been privy to it. We spent most of 2008 immersed in basements writing “In Transition”, so we’ve adapted to the hermit lifestyle, but we would definitely love to be able to be a part of a handful of bands that have themselves together to essentially create a scene of our own
.
What kind of guitars/amps/other instruments do you guys use? What is the key to bringing an expansive sound such a Pilot Cloud’s to the stage with just 2 people?

We wouldn’t really say there’s much of a trick to us having such a big sound. Justin plays an Epiphone Les Paul guitar through a Vox AC15 amp. I play Gretsch drums and Zildjian cymbals. Nothing major there. The real key is that we play alongside the bass tracks and supplementary guitar layers onstage. We’re not playing more, it just sounds like we are. The guitar layers are likely what do the trick.

Have you always been involved in music? What are your inspirations?

We’ve each been playing our respective instruments since the late 90s. With the difference in age between us (Justin is 28, I am 21), it has taken up more of my life than Justin’s. I took up drums at age 9 after a failed stint at trumpet, while Justin took up guitar likely to impress girls when we went off to college.
Both of us stay motivated and inspired by the music we like. Pilot Cloud started out of wanting to make music we would want to hear. We knew why we liked the bands we did, and we thought we could put our own hat in the ring to stand alongside music we already listened to.

You are coming to New York City in October, where you most definitely fit into a scene! The shoegaze, psychedelic, and noise-rock scene is vibrant, and alive with young artists who are getting out there with their bands and making amazing music. Is this your first time in New York and are you excited? Do you follow any New York City bands, or are you friendly with anyone here?

We’ve played New York before in previous bands, and it’s definitely still exciting to come up to Brooklyn. We’re friends with Brooklyn-band The Party Faithful (Justin went to college with their bassist), and they actually helped us pin down this show in October. Through prior bands, we’ve come across some real cool acts like The Press, Gold Streets, and Moving Mountains (from Purchase, NY).

When you are done touring to support In Transition and have given away all your copies of it (I still think it’s worth a TON of money!), what is next for Pilot Cloud?

We surpassed a lot of our own expectations since we released “In Transition”. We toured behind it, made some cool new friends, got some kind reviews, and even had some money tossed our way. Unfortunately, the physical copies of the record are disappearing before we can order more pressings. We’ve gone through close to 300 free copies since last Christmas.
But all that being said, we have really missed the writing process over the last year, so we’re going to get working on a follow-up EP to “In Transition”. We’ve written one new song (which has been assimilated into the live set) called “Diaspora”. Beyond that, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Thanks to Nick for the interview! And thanks to Pilot Cloud (check their MySpace and listen to some tunes from In Transition) for the amazing music. Pilot Cloud's songs are songs that reveal more and more with each subsequent listen. Upon first listen, Leaf, Map, Sounds of an Era, and the title track all sound like the perfect mid-to-up-tempo shoegaze-style compositions, but keep listening. The real charms of the songs are to come, and that is the mark of some quality song-writing and talented arranging.

More to come in the very-near future about Pilot Cloud, after they come visit New York City for their gig with their friends The Party Faithful, next month!

Black Market Karma Interview and News

About a year ago, I heard a song called Pulling Shapes by a new band from England, called Black Market Karma. That song, and the companion song they had set to play, called It's Gone, were like nothing I had ever heard before. And even though I still love those songs like no others, Black Market Karma has come a long, long way since then.
I wanted to know what Black Market Karma have been up to this past year, and Stan, their singer and guitarist, was kind enough to let me know. Here are his answers to my latest ten questions:

You have a new member in the band now? Who is he and how did this come about?
Yeah, Sam’s just joined and we’re a 5 piece now. We’d been looking to get a new member for a while. We like to get a lot of textures and sounds into our recordings, but we couldn’t quite pull off all the parts live without another player. We needed things like extra percussion, keys and also a 3rd guitar on some tunes. Sam’s been a good friend of the band for a while now and he’s a good musician. I was jamming with him one day and it just clicked in my head; “Why don’t we get him I the band?” We broke him in with 4 gigs in 3 days and that was it. He fit in with us instantly, it’s been pretty cool.
I have seen all of the videos you post on YouTube. Are all of these songs recorded for your upcoming album?

Yeah, pretty much all those tunes are recorded / half way done or “to be recorded.”

How is the summer festival tour going? Which festivals have you played? Which was your favourite?
Summer’s been ace. So far this year we’ ve played Create festival, T-fest and Lounge on the Farm. We had a great time at lounge, proper good fun. We turned up on the Friday and camped till Monday morning, playing Sunday evening and just generally digging the festival lifestyle in-between. We were buzzing all weekend and the gig itself was top drawer, got a real good turn out. We’re looking forward to being on the bill for that again next year. As for this year we’ve got one more festival this weekend which is a Woodstock 69 tribute just outside Paris and we’re all pretty psyched about it. There’s a truckload of 60’sesque bands heading down so it should be awesome.
Whom have you been gigging with?
We’ve been all over the shop with gigs, and to be honest I forget most of the bands we play with. One group that stood out for me were Daylight Frequencies, the Horrors' new tunes were good too when they played at LOTF. The Pale Blue Eyes are another good band too.
How is the song-writing, the recording, and the production of your music going? Is the debut full-length nearly ready to be released?
It’s going swimmingly. We’ve got around 2 and a half tunes left to record so it’s on track! Once we’ve got the artwork sorted we can send it off to be pressed and we can start getting it out there.
It seems you have had a pretty exciting year! How has this past year shaped your music?

I’d say doing so many gigs has changed the music a bit. When you’re playing the same tunes every night you start to improvise to keep it fresh and some really good stuff has come from that. All the sound-checks have given us time to jam together too and a few new song ideas have come out that way.

Dami is quite a dancer. Did he train professionally?! Who else in the band can dance like that?!
To be honest, I think he just looks at himself in the mirror doing dance moves and that’s where that came from. I can’t dance for shit. The only other guy that could have the potential to dance is Sam, cos he’s half Spanish. It’d be cool if he could Flamenco Dance, but I ain’t seen evidence of it yet.
What guitars have you added to your collection lately?
We recently trekked it to Manchester and picked up an Epiphone Elite Riviera 12 string guitar (I think that’s the full name). It sounds mega and we’ve already used it live a few times and on the new recordings. It’s a beast.
What bands would you faint if they asked you to be their touring partners for the next 3 months?

I’m not sure I’d faint over anyone really, not my style! I’d love to play with the BJM or Black Rebel though. I reckon we’ d go down pretty well with the Warlocks or the Black Angels, too? If the Velvet Underground were still about, that’d be awesome, ha!

What do you have planned for the rest of 2009, and looking even more forward, for early 2010?
The initial plan is to get the album finished and out there. After that we’re just gonna plug it everywhere and get it heard as much as possible. We’ll see what happens!

Thanks for taking the time to update us, Stan. Keep on, you've got a lot of fans waiting for that album!

Oblisk: Album and Gig Review

Oblisk, a band from Detroit, Michigan, has released their second album, titled Weather Patterns, and are in the midst of touring to support this amazing piece of work. I got the chance to see the band perform in Brooklyn at one of the best small places to see live music, Public Assembly. I also got my copy of Weather Patterns, which is now on heavy rotation.
Oblisk's debut album, 2008's Tune In/Tune Out, was a ride through back streets, late at night, not knowing what lay around the dark corners, feeling a bit nervous to find out. The songs had a jittery quality paired with vocals that were a bit moody and hollow, just enough to make you wonder what the ghosts were, and this made for an engrossing debut album. Now with Weather Patterns, Oblisk keeps some elements that are signature: the deep, ghostly vocals and the themes of situations unknown and a bit dangerous and disturbing, but the instrumentation has grown to include layers of guitars that create waves of sound that swell to intense highs. The drumming is tighter, less skittish now, and the bass lines, though also retaining a signature Oblisk sound, are deep enough to be the undertow you must watch out for within those waves. On Radar uses some shoegaze-style-guitar feedback perfectly. Epicenter picks up the pace to a frenzy of post-punk style guitar, reminiscent of Wire. Silent Passenger utilizes the undertow of bass to carry the song, which tells of a chance, and of course, possibly dangerous, encounter with a stranger. The psychedelic reverb of the guitar on Overcast is perfectly paired with a choppy drum that stomps its way through the song.
Oblisk live is something you should see if you live near the cities along the Eastern half of the U.S. where they are currently touring. On Radar, Tunnel of Phoenix, and Overcast are phenomenal live. Nick Baran's an ace guitarist, really something to watch. Check out Oblisk on MySpace to see if they are coming to a city near you, and buy Weather Patterns. If you liked Tune In/Tune Out, you will really love Weather Patterns. The production is tops (album was produced by Isaac Betesh from House Of Fire), the songs are guitar-heavy trips to nowhere and back, and the CD artwork is simple, yet perfectly represents what this album is all about (very nice work, Dave).

SOREN WELL: EP and gig review

Well I have in my hands, and in my stereo, the 'advance limited copy' of Soren Well's first EP, and this is a real thrill. The music Soren Well has been honing during the recent months, has taken on life, and formed an expansive, explosive sound that already impressed me when all I had was the songs they posted on their MySpace player. I found their MySpace page while searching out New York City bands who play gigs with other bands that I know and love. Since I was really enjoying those songs, I made it over to see Soren Well play a gig that was almost a one-night shoegaze/noise-rock fest at Public Assembly in Brooklyn (on June 27, 2009): six bands playing from 7 pm till 1 am, all big-guitar-effects bands who can blow your mind with their intensity and creativity.

Soren Well play music that definitely can be described as shoegaze, but I also like to add to that sort of generic tag, that Soren Well have what bands like The December Sound and A Place To Bury Strangers have: a way that they layer their guitars and vocals that gives their music a slightly darker, shivery feel. There is a haze of gauzy guitar in the background, with the lead guitar topping the songs with the defining highs. Throw in some excellent, powerful drumming, and some vocals, that not unlike Zack Sarzana's from The December Sound, sit just atop the highs of the lead guitar, and you have a set of songs that are sometimes hypnotic, sometimes a bit evil, always intriguing.

The six songs on Soren Well's self-recorded, self-produced, and self-distributed debut EP are pure bliss, a necessary fix for a shoegaze addict like myself. After begins the set of songs and gets slammed by the rumbling rhythms and wild guitars of Starry Eyes Gone Blank Tonight (quite a poetic song title), and Soren Well use that perfect pair of songs live, too, as their set closers. Two songs played live but not on the EP are Ghostbear and The Devil Is Always Winning, both fantastic. And don't let Soren Well fool you into thinking their music is of the sedative style, as you might think by reading their MySpace (influences: Ambien and Nyquil); rather, their music soars to some serious heights. Well, maybe Plaster will sedate you, just a little bit, but Black Transmissions will wake you right back up again, before Glass throws you straight into the wall. You'll love every second of Soren Well, I promise you that.