posted by Leigh on March 9, 2012
Floating Furies … Cowboys on Clouds … A Lonely Sea … These are only some of the psychedelia you will experience if you turn your ears to the imagery-rich tracks on the very first release from Slings and Arrows, aptly named, The Furies. The Furies is a time-is-a-bending sojourn into the mind(s) of “this fun music project,” child-of-sorts of Brooklyn-based musician Mike Story, of former Izzy’s fame.
The Furies puts a lasso around my neck with “I Saw the Furies Floating By.” I didn’t take it off. I just let it pull me around the just plain catchy chorus, and lift me upward, inward, onward through the magnetism of the vocal harmonies. For anyone who likes a good slow jam (yes, that word is coming back, in a possibly all too evolved glory … start the revolution), “We Sail on Cowboy Clouds” is like an adult lullaby (the kind you don’t fall asleep to, but the kind that puts you in a chill state, ready to control your fate in the lucid dreams that come next … ). The harmonies are delicate, balanced, sweet, faintly Beach-Boys-esque; the track urges me to make a new dance and call it something fancy and slowly dance it to this ditty like I’ve never quite danced before. Good news I would imagine, since Slings and Arrows’ self-reported goal is “to have fun and to make people sing and dance.” Good job, guys.
And now, it’s time for Mythology 101: The Furies were female divinities, punishing crimes at the victim’s instigation. Do you want to see one float by? Come out tomorrow, Saturday March 10th, to the Listening Party from 3 – 6 pm at Union Pool in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It might be the only way.
Slings and Arrows – I Saw the Furies Floating By (Downloaded 158 times)
Slings and Arrows – We Sail on Cowboy Clouds (Downloaded 146 times)
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» Meaningless labels: Harmonic • Male vocal • Psychedelic • Vintage
(5 votes)
Loading ...posted by Leigh on March 4, 2012
Blair at Glasslands in Brooklyn, NY, February 2012. Photo by Leigh Celent.
There is something refreshingly pleasing about musicians who are just themselves, no gimmicks necessary, allowing the music and their talents to speak for themselves. Blair, the musical project of Brooklyn-based singer / songwriter Blair Gimma, falls endlessly into this category. No overachieving sadly gobbled up images here. I caught a recent show at Glasslands in Brooklyn, and her performance mirrored what I had already heard in her music: helplessly charming modesty, understated presence and a romantic genuineness that amplified her music’s overall appeal. Blair is none of the falsehood; experience her music for what it is, as what it is is quite lovely.
Blair released her first full-length album, Die Young, in 2010. “Hello Halo” exemplifies that airiness, that ephemeral element of her vocals no matter what the subject matter (listen closely) … “Got a radio in my head, and it tells me what to say, and it makes me talk this way … “ “I don’t know what I’m saying,” but it all sounds like a motto for many a cultural generation. “Wake Up Shake Up” brings her New Orleans roots to the forefront, a bit of a modern pop take on the city’s jazzy appeal. And, one can’t help but smile as a curse or two are discerned in her satin-like, angelic vocals.
If you like what you hear, check out all of Die Young, and be prepared for what 2012 has in store: an EP, to be followed by another full-length, both as charming as Die Young, I’m sure.
Blair – Hello Halo (Downloaded 198 times)
Blair – Wake Up Shake Up (Downloaded 232 times)
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» Meaningless labels: Dark • Female vocal • Fuzzy • Poppy • Sugar
(6 votes) Loading ...posted by Leigh on February 12, 2012
We previously featured I’m in You in 2008 after the release of their EP, Lurid View (see previous post here for all the juicy goodness). The band is at it again with a new single, entitled “Sure.” It comes with the same lengthy dreaminess that we’ve come to expect, all the space and time being used to its advantage. With “Sure” we get the added bonus of some 80′s nostalgia and electronic rhythms that will have you doing moves that you may have forgotten that you have. Perhaps while crying, or contemplating, simultaneously (or sporadically, depending upon your talents) in the corner. Check out their official site below for upcoming shows. Hint: If you are in New York, you may be lucky.
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» Meaningless labels: Danceable • Electro • Male vocal • Vintage
(4 votes) Loading ...posted by Leigh on November 27, 2011
I can not come fresh from seeing one of my all time favorite bands without somehow expressing in words the experience and sharing some music from the wildly unforgettable show. It doesn’t matter that I recorded the tracks on an IPhone 3 (I’m old fashioned … ) and that they are fuzzy and poor quality and unabashedly sound like a child pointed the recorder directly at the floor while the sound was coming from the ceiling and proceeded to stomp both feet (to the music, of course) … Even amidst this interference, the power behind this grandly influential band does not go unnoticed in these recordings. The Cure, a band that was so influential in shaping my musical repertoire of today, a band that once upon a time made me feel like I wasn’t so alone, and a band that can still make me feel that camaraderie in isolation today.
The Cure saved me many times over, so it’s not a surprise that they did so again. I was having a day of typical city set-backs … being pushed by a man twice my size on the train, feeling lonely and oppressed by the holiday madness, surrounded by displays of love while feeling my own need for it crushingly present … The minute I found my seat in the second row of the Loge at The Beacon, sharing a nod with a fan to my right also alone in his presence and excitement, I knew I was home.
The Cure guided us through three hours of time travel, through three pivotal years, exposing the evolution of their musical genius at every timepoint along the way. The journey, masterfully executed, involved 1979, 1980 and 1981, Three Imaginary Boys (“Fire in Cairo” always a favorite), Seventeen Seconds and Faith, respectively, played in succession in their entirety. Always giving their fans more, The Cure dazzled with two encores, consisting of less often heard B-Sides and some of their later, more popular tunes, all complemented by the usual charming banter and witticisms of Robert Smith. So charming was his stage presence that a fan in the front row could not help but jump onto the stage in the middle of “Let’s Go to Bed,“ managing to steal a kiss on the cheek before security hauled her away, forever outcast to the streets of the Upper West Side. Smith barely missed a beat, and segued comically into “The Walk.“ Follow along with the track below (and hope for some upgraded recording devices in my near future).
The Cure – Fire in Cairo (Downloaded 132 times)
The Cure – Lets Go to Bed and The Walk (Downloaded 136 times)
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» Meaningless labels: Beautiful Lyrics • Dark • Male vocal • New Wave • Vintage
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November 28th, 2011 at 2:48 am
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November 28th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Hey Leigh, check out this sweet recording gear. Works with the iphone, and not too expensive.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/22/tascam-unveils-im2-microphone-add-on-for-ios-devices-makes-live/