NEWSOUND_VOL X_2014 by UA MEDIA

Vol. X 2014

FEATURING

SOMETHING FOR KATE CONDITIONS LITTLE DRAGON

ALBUM REVIEWS

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

ALPINE ALICE SMITH TANLINES

PINK FLOYD

WWW.NEWSOUNDMAGAZINE.COM SAVES THE DAY • THE OCEAN BLUE • WEIRD DREAMS • LOON LAKE • ANTHONY GREEN

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Dear Readers, Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a rush or pleasure that people experience when listening to something new; something immediately likeable but different from the norm. Heartbeats race as basses drop, bodies sway to addictive guitar melodies, feet tap to pounding drums. The magazine youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re holding is dedicated to recreating that experience for its readers, over and over again. New Sound Magazine is the start of something innovative. Something that is fresh, contemporary, and powerful. Were looking to become an authoritative voice in the music industry. We are doing so by scouring the music scene for fresh talent with the potential to make it big. Regardless of your person preference in music, we are bound to have everything from pop to rock to hip hop to electronic, and all variations in between. Our editions introduce local long island artists, New York City artists, alongside budding musicians from around he world, presented to you in interviews, album reviews, and our take on their live performances. New Sound is reaching out to every gifted new artist and seeing every concert possible in order to let you get inside the heads of the next generation of music. New Sound magazine is truly a cutting edge music publication, and on behalf of the entire staff, were pumped to keep sharing our editions with you. We want to help you find that new band which is going to give you inexorable pleasure. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re ready to help you find the new sound!

ASHLEY GOLL

PUBLISHER/CEO: PAUL CORACE EXECUTIVE EDITOR: JOE D’AMBROSI MANAGING EDITOR: ASHLEY GOLL SENIOR ART DIRECTOR: LOUIS H QUACH GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: WIN-KYE CHEONG NICOLE MANZO SENIOR VIDEO EDITOR: SCOTT GLICKMAN VIDEO EDITORS: NICK HERMS MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: ASHLEY GOLL CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: KATARINA BARONE BRIGID DESMOND MOLLY DESMOND ASHLEY GOLL CHRISTINA GOLL CATHLEEN KEHOE DANIELLA GUTIERREZ KEVIN SPERANDEO PHOTOGRAPHERS: MORGAN HARRISON HANNAH SINGLETON

“New Sound Magazine spotlights both young, talented artists that have the potential to become the next big name in the music industry, and the truly brilliant bands which already have. We’re finding the voice you’ll fall in love with, the song you’ll play over and over, the concert you won’t want to miss.”

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N O

N E T

S T C

P hoto by p0m

Album Reviews

Check It Out

6 8 12 16

44 46 48 50

Alice Smith Alpine Tanlines The Ocean Blue

Features 20 24 28 32 36 40

Conditions Saves The Day No Good News Little Dragon Something For Kate Ease Up

Anthony Green Weird Dreams Loon Lake Julia Holter

Where are they now? 52 Pink Floyd

M ALBUEW REVI

PHOTO COURTESY OF HYYPEZUP

BY: K ATA R I N A B A R O N E

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lice is clearly a more experienced person than she used to be six years ago, and that finds its perfect reflection on She, a more mature album than its robust predecessor. The vocalist tends to use her impressive four-octave voice with soul-minded intensity and jazz-laden prowess. The subtle keys-based arrangements allow her to be in the spotlight most of the time. Her genuine talent gets revealed as soon as a 40-second a cappella introduction for “Cabaret” makes its presence felt. It’s easily the best track on the album retaining an ideal balance between infectiousness and sophistication, accentuated by a resplendent operatic bridge.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BET

In addition, the lines: “I see no reason for chasing/In Hollywood, got to lose my patience” in the song’s vigorous chorus make it feel relevant, closely corresponding to the singer’s unwillingness to compromise her artistic integrity. Now fully released, “SHE” lives up to what Alice’s fans have been waiting ever so diligently for. Her four octave voice runs and flares and blares and booms and blasts, yet it never feels like she’s over singing. There’s no overuse of melisma, no auto tune, no back-up — just Alice in the raw on full blast giving every song her gutsy, soulful all.

The standouts are the leading track “Cabaret” where Alice asks “where are you going with your life” before reveling in how life is a cabaret of adventure and champagne. It’s bouncy and doesn’t fit any particular genre like most of Alice’s music. It recalls the musical Cabaret, but it’s not a traditional musical number. Her voice recalls that of a jazz vocalist meets gymnast, but it’s not a jazz song. “The One,” on the other hand is closer to soul/R&B ballad territory with some clever wordplay recalling New York Hip Hop as Alice goes into “I see what you did there” territory

when she punchily sings “I’m not the one, don’t you play, don’t you play, don’t you play me, son.” Tracks “Ocean” and the beautifully breezy “With You” may recall some prince, in that, again, she isn’t uncharacteristic much like all of Prince’s music was. “Shot,” after all has a bit of 80s New Wave lurking in its blues. Alice’s album a lot of those random moments when the genre flips.. She’s suddenly singing the classic country sounding “Loyalty” an ode to friendship betrayal or the sweet and relaxing “Be Easy”

which sounds like it wouldn’t be out of place on a 90's record album. Title track “SHE” is a blues rock number of bold expression and assertiveness. And there’s a cover of Cee-Lo Green’s “Fool For Love” that rivals the original. If you’re someone who wants to see Alice blow up and go beyond being the darling of vocal purists and people who lived in her mom’s basement, there are a few tracks on here that if they got on the radio could take off, namely “The One” and “With You,” DESIGNED BY NICOLE MANZO

ALBUM REVIEW

ALPINE BY ASHLEY GOLL

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PHOTO BY TRACEY LEE HAYES

his six-piece band from Australia sound as though they come from Scandinavia and are as fresh as Swiss mountain air.

“Hands” is just one of many catchy yet reflective electro-pop tracks on the band’s debut album,A is for Alpine,which drops Stateside today. It is an impressive entrée, full of light-as-air vocals, shimmering production, and spare guitar notes. Now, the Melbourne-based performers are preparing for a thirteencity tour across North America in June. “Some days we’re driving for fourteen-and-a-half hours,” says Lou James,one of Alpine’s two lead vocalists, but “we’re planning on stopping at a lot of thrift shops.” By “we,” James means she and Phoebe Baker;the two have been early teens and, along with

fellow lead singer friends since their guitaristChristian

O’Brien,formed the band’s earlier iteration, Swiss, in 2007. The pairing of two front women may recall ABBA but as James emphasizes, “the whole duo female vocal was really just an accident.” It came to her surprise that their seemingly effortless harmony “was a really rare thing. When we first started, a lot of people were like, Wow, it’s insane how well your voices work together.” But it is disparate influences that add depth to the act’s highaltitude sound: Baker favors freestyle jazz à la Nina Simone, while the more measured James, reared on the Kinks and the Velvet Underground, prefers to write, then “develop, develop, develop” the leitmotifs of lust and longing that course through the record. After Alpine’s renaming, one fan told James that what she really heard was “I’ll pine.” “The idea of pining for something really suits our lyrics,” the singer says. “It just comes from exactly how we’re feeling.” Designed by Win-Kye Cheong

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MISSION STATEMENT “New Sound Magazine spotlights both young, talented artists that have the potential to become the next big name in the music industry, and the truly brilliant bands which already have. We’re finding the voice you’ll fall in love with, the song you’ll play over and over, the concert you won’t want to miss.”

Info@NewSoundMagazine.us (631) 757-3187

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BY: C H R I S T I N A G O L L

ALBU REVI M EW

heir song “Real Life” has been floating around since 2010, but with Mixed Emotions, Tanlines finally have an album’s worth of material. Vocalist and keyboardist Eric Emm pairs well with multi-instrumentalist Jesse Cohen, and throughout their debut they manage to blend some dance floor-worthy pop gems with the sound of the ‘80s in a way that differentiates them from the many others who have gone that route. “All of Me” and “Yes Way” position Tanlines as a dance party-starting band in a vein similar to that of Vampire Weekend channeling Paul Simon’s Graceland - but don’t let that fool you. The rhythms are never drenched in Afro-pop; instead Tanlines successfully insert these types of rhythmic complexities over drumbeats that are rooted in club music. Hand claps and thick synthesizers propel the songs into, dare we say, summer playlist territory, and Emm’s melodies will ear worm their way into your heart.

With hard synths and buoyant African-style drumming, “Real Life” sits as an apt focal point for Mixed Emotions. The longstanding unofficial single also highlights Tanlines’ unabashed enthusiasm, which is hard to deny. It’s this same kind of sound and attitude from which the addictive “Cactus” is born. On the whole, however, there are moments when you wish they’d go as all out as they do on the previously mentioned tracks, but there’s a certain subdued feeling that rears its ugly head from time to time. Still, Mixed Emotions plays like a great debut. It’s a fresh use of recycled-sounding ‘80s influence, which is hard enough to accomplish these days in itself, and it finds Tanlines further developing their sound into something all its own amid melancholic lyrics that show hints of maturity. DESIGNED BY NICOLE MANZO

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“All of Me”

“Real Life”

“Yes Way”

“Cactus”

PHOTO COURTESY OF TRUE PANTHER

Essential Tracks:

ALBUM REVIEW

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he Ocean Blue return with a batch of melodic pop that sounds like they never went

away!

You would think time away would have a profound effect on Ultramarine but the band comes together on this record like it has only been a year since their last release. You might also think that Schelzel’s voice may not be up for the same challenge but he sounds as in control today as he did two decades ago with his impeccable floating vocal that continues to guide The Ocean Blue. Songs like the jangly upbeat “Sad Night, Where Is Morning?” not only highlights their solid return but it is one of the best tracks the band has ever written. Its confident crescendoing guitar that separates the versus is memorable as Scheizel simply sings and sums up things with “took a long time to grow, take a long long time to know; took a long time to grow, took a long long time to go”. The following track, “New York 6AM,” starts off as one of the softest songs on the album until its guitars and drums explode a minute into the track and quickly carry it into a surprising new direction that made the song a favorite and highlight why The Ocean Blue have influenced others. What I really like about Ultramarine

is that The Ocean Blue sound like The Ocean Blue. It seems so simple to say but it is the truth. How many times do you hear a veteran band return and they attempt to make their classic style “current” by sounding like something they are not. That misstep absolutely does not take place here and track after track The Ocean Blue deliver songs that could have existed back in the early 90’s just like they thrive today. The band’s arrangements have not changed much either but instead of staying in the past The Ocean Blue give a quality lesson in melodic pop for today. I am not sure if the younger generation will embrace Ultramarine as they should because it still doesn’t have the edginess of some of their current peers but given the chance, I bet there are a significant number of fans that would be surprised how good this album is. With this record finally out I hope that The Ocean Blue stay around this time and don’t wait another 13 years as Ultramarine shows that they still have plenty more melody in the gas tank and reminds me how much they have been missed! Key Tracks: “Sad Night, Where Is Morning?”, “New York 6AM”, “Ground Gives Way” Designed by Win-Kye Cheong

THE OCEAN BLUE

STORY BY C ATHLEEN KEHOE

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BY DANIELL A GUTIERREZ

PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOD FIGHT MUSIC

n an era where auto-tuning has become a staple tool in the music world, it’s rare to come across a musician who hasn’t dabbled in the “perks” that technology has endowed us with. Even more rare is coming across raw, true talent, since auto tune has basically facilitated any person with a computer to adjust their voice into a pleasant sound, without it actually being natural. Enter the band Conditions, formed in 2006 in Richmond, Virginia. These four guys: Brandon Roundtree (vocals), Alex Howard (guitar, vocals), Corey Thomas (bass guitar), and Ryan Tinsley (drums) boast Rock music engineered the more organic way, or at least without precious auto-tune. The guys of Conditions have been together as friends since high school thanks to the extremely tightknit closeness of Richmond, Virginia music scene. The members were all in different bands that were a bit heavier musicwise than their current gig. Upon leaving them, they collaborated to make music that transcends the visual stereotypes of what a post-hardcore rock band looks like or sounds like. Roundtree supports that on the band Facebook page writing, “We want people to stop listening with their eyes, so to speak. To stop buying what is being force-fed and to start re-growing the ability to say “no” to certain things; to have a musical opinion.” That’s quite an aspiration that is shared by many but executed by few.

The group first released recorded material in 2007 and simultaneously played at Bamboozle and Warped Tour that same year. Since then, they’ve released two albums: their full debut album, Fluorescent Youth in 2010 and just recently the record, Full of War. The band has been known to state that their influences derive from bands such as Jimmy Eat World, Blink 182, The Foo Fighters, and Thrice. However, Fluorescent Youth screamed of influence from Anberlin, Saosin, and Ivoryline executing that style in an unforgettable fashion. Those eleven tracks played it a little safe, but the band redeems itself with this new album. Full of War. They expand their boundaries by having the tracks focus a lot more on the chorus and hooks as opposed to their old material. In a genre where the music is usually the focal point instead of the lyrics, Conditions makes it a point to convey a strong message lyrically and balance the importance of it. “A Wonderful Lie” was a turning point in the writing, where the band realized they were coming up with material beyond what they had conceived their own limitations to be. “Best Mistake” is one of the best examples of the album’s sense of adventure, blending a hint of electronic elements with a straightforward approach to love. “Long Division” is a slower song that delves into the human battle between believing in science and believing in God that

is raging now. The entire album, thematically, deals with duality and paradox. The band also takes the live concert experience very seriously, as they should. It’s one thing how a record sounds through your headphones and a complete other how they sound live, their energy, and what they bring to that stage that audiences will take away with them. Alex Howard told Secret Sound Shop back in 2011 that taking your music seriously is important, but not taking it too seriously is just as vital. He said, “I just want everyone to have fun… lyric wise and what not, we take our music very seriously, but in between songs when we’re up there, we’re just having fun and putting on the best show we can, playing the best we can. In between songs we’re always joking around. We just want everyone to see a serious side of the music and take something away from that message, but then also while they’re there just to have a good time and know that we’re all just having fun. And for people to come and talk to us and then be like, “hey, I like that band more now because they’re nice guys”. So, I hope people think we’re nice guys.” Conditions is currently not on tour, but their album is available for download through the Apple Store ITunes. They constantly update their Facebook Fan page every day, so be on the look out for upcoming shows near you.

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BY BRIGID DESMOND

SAVES THE D 24

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Photo Cour tesy o f Va g ra n t Reco rd s

DAY

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LET’S F**KING DO THIS

as been the american alternative rock sensation Saves the Day’s mantra for the making of their latest album. After seven previous albums produced by hand full of multiple record labels, the New Jersey formed band has seen it’s share of Ups and Downs ( no pun intended for the reference to their album of early recordings and B-sides). The previous three albums (Sound the alarm, Under the boards, and Daybreak) represented a trilogy of music that chronicled a darker period in the lead singers career. Chris Conley has been performing as the front man of the band for more than half his life. The group decided to do this album differently; financing the project through a fundraising site (www.pledgemusic. com), where fans can contribute. The band used incentives to those who pledged. ranging from a pre-order of the album itself to private performances by the band themselves. I was lucky enough to attend one of their acoustic pledge shows in the spring. The band performed a private show as part of a launch party for a Philadelphia based music website (wwwLiveatthelakehouse.com). The band performed to an intimate crowd of half a hundred people. Saves the Day played nearly four hours, taking breaks to refill their pint glasses with imperial stouts and happily engaging with the fan base. When the band finally managed to pull Chris away from serenading his fans, it was only because the brewery needed to clean up for brewing the next day. Saves the Day formed and became popular around the turn of the century, alongside other pop-punk bands, like Taking Back Sunday and Brand New (who they are currently touring with in Europe). You may remember watching some of their music videos on Fuse or maybe MTV2, off their third album and ‘Stay what you are’. Shortly after they were signed to dream works, which became Inter scope, the band was dropped due to poor commercial success for In Reverie. Over the next year and a half, the band bounced around for a bit, Members came and went, Chris lost his direction. After finding some help from ‘Bird by Bird’, a book on writing his band mate had with them on tour, Chris started refining his process. Like any good musician, he found his rhythm again. That process became the seeds of their next album, Sound the Alarm. Chris is the only remaining member from the original formation of the band. He created and performed in the side project, Two Tongues alongside Max Bernis of Say Anything. His music is an expression of his life and career. His fans and critics have participated in a reciprocal music writing process with Chris over the last decade and a half. It’s no wonder that the singer showed us the darker thoughts in his mind with songs like “The End” (Sound the Alarm), but after three albums describing a pit that he has been crawling out of we can enjoy the product of a proven artist; someone who can overcome the hurdles of success and depression. Designed by Win-Kye Cheong

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BY MOLLY DESMOND

o Good News is a local band from Long Island, Ny. The group is composed of Chris Regan (vocals/bass), Kevin Burke (guitar/backing vocals), Bobby Sciacca (guitar), and Harry Corrigan (drums/ backing vocals). No Good News is a pop punk band that uses trumpets to round off their ska sound. If you like Saves the Day, The Movie life, Less than Jake, or Hot Rod Circuit, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll love this young up and coming band. They have dabbled in everything from 7 piece ska acts to Green Day Covers.

desire to hang out with friends while bonding over their mutual love of music is what lead to the bands formation in 2011. They now have over 2,000 Facebook likes, 7,000 youtube views, and 1,000 twitter followers. They have made quite the name for themselves locally, and with the help of their first tour in April of 2012, have

expanded their fan base nationwide. The guys were only 17 at the time of their first tour. Luckily, fellow Long Islanders and the other band on tour, Giants at Large, showed them the ins-and-outs. Their debut album, “In Constant Comparison” was released in 2013. It is currently available on their band camp website to download for free. The album features 11 songs, with each better than the last. Their style is fun, lively, and catchy. Each song leaves you wanting more. The album is even being published and distributed in Japan via Ice Grills Records. Although No Good News is currently unsigned, they are hustling everyday to make their way. They have so far been on two tours. The most recent one was this past summer with State Lines. They traveled altogether cross country in a blue mini school bus, the first vehicle they have purchased. When they weren’t on tour, the guys followed The Warped Tour, playing acoustic sets in parking lots and selling CDs. They are anything if not determined. The band has stayed true to their Long Islands roots, playing everywhere from Patchogue to Deer Park to Glen Cove. Recently, they headlined a show at the Emporium in Patchogue, NY with none other than Less Than Jake. The guys have been featured in the Glamour Kills Winter Sampler and Alternative Press magazine. The group runs their own merchandise store (free cd with every purchase), and their own social media accounts. They occasionally host fun contests, like best halloween costume, and award prizes to their fans. No Good News also likes doing surprise acoustic shows, always keeping their fans guessing. Not only do the seem like they are a good time to hang out with, but they also have an endearing, caring side. The guys have done shows for humanitarian societies, and even hosted a show where you needed to bring clothes or canned goods to donate in order to get in.

Photo by Laura Murray

Sadly, Kevin Burke announced in September 2013 that he would be leaving the group. His last show was December 22. According to their twitter, one of their mothers actually got caught in a mosh pit at the farewell show. The rest of the guys are currently working on a new album and planning a tour. Hopefully 2014 brings even more greatness from this amazing band. Designed by Win-Kye Cheong

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STO RY BY K ATA R I N A BA RO N E

othenburg, Sweden is a hotbed of diverse and escalating musical talent. From the mighty Soundtrack of Our Lives to idiosyncratic songsmiths Jose Gonzalez and Jens Lekman, through to the unpredictable pop styles from the likes of Love is All and Audrey, not to mention the infamous black metal scene, Gothenburg now boasts the dynamic, organically soulful pop sounds of Little Dragon. Featuring radiant vocalist Yukimi Nagano and her close high school friends Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrick Kallgren (bass) and Hâkan Wirenstrand (keyboards), Little Dragon stepped into the spotlight with the release of their first double A-side single on Peacefrog “Twice/Test”. A former Rough Trade “Single of the Week” and universally hailed as a masterpiece of free thinking soul, according to One Week To Live. Born and raised in Gothenburg to a Japanese father and American mother, Yukimi says, ‘I grew up listening to American folk because of my Mom, but I’ve always had an affinity for R’n’B.’ Meanwhile, keyboardist Hâkan spent his childhood in the deepest, darkest woods of Smaland before moving to Gothenburg, hearing a lot of Swedish folk music, later getting into electronic and synth music. Erik grew up hearing early hip hop and jazz. From time to time we have had to get side jobs, Yukimi sighs, ‘but we’d rather stay broke, so we can concentrate on the band.’ Their true vocation can be in no doubt based on this divine debut offering. Yukimi has sung with Sweden’s electronica-jazz outfit Koop, and both Yukimi and Erik play live with Jose Gonzalez. Erik also drums with Peps Perrson, a legendary Swedish blues/reggae artist. We had an admiration for each other musically, and way before we defined ourselves as a band we were making music and hanging out, Yukimi explains. ‘It’s like a family, and the band is our big passion. Little Dragon reminds you that when you’re really creating music, it’s like building a ship that will travel in a direction previously inconceivable.’

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owever, what unites these disparate influences is an undeniable swing and lightness of touch, braced with bass heaviness, borne from the intuitive connection between the band members that epitomizes Little Dragon’s music. Unwilling to stick to definitions or reasons for why Little Dragon is what it is, Yukimi offers effusive and illustrative impressions, which is as good a way as any to understand this very special band. ‘Maybe Little Dragon is a city, she muses. ‘Blue trafficlights, fast food-signs, neon, love, loneliness, technology in a city reflected in the middle of a vast ocean. The music juxtaposes tradition and intense knowledge of musical tools, with destruction, invention... blazing a new trail. I like to think of our music as dreamy, but not always in a pleasant way. Sweden’s Little Dragon make minimalistic, R&B-infused electronic music so skeletal that at times it seems the songs are in danger of being whisked off your iPod by a passing breeze. The fewer sonic elements there are in a song, the more they have to individually deliver. When they do, the result can be pure and magical. But there’s a danger in keeping things so simple. A mediocre song cannot rely on a lush string melody or interesting electronic effects to rescue it. There’s no place to hide. Just as being photographed naked requires a Playboy body, nude music requires melodies that are more than just passable – they need to stun. There are few stunners on Little Dragon’s occasionally appealing but mostly soporific third LP Ritual Union. The album’s playful first-third hints at what Ritual Union could have been. The title-track morphs from its surf-rock intro into a sinewy and sexy anthem about, of all things, matrimony. Vocalist Yukimi Nagano’s frigid delivery is largely responsible for the relative success and failure of these songs, since there’s little else to distract from it. When she doubles the synth on “Little Man,” her detachment underscores the kiss-off of her lyric. Consequently, the song is a knockout. “Shuffle A Dream” thumps and stammers with a chorus worthy of Beyoncé. Nagano is most emotive on “Please Turn,” her vocals a tonic to the song’s twitchiness. Things unravel from there. Either Little Dragon were unconcerned with hooks, or they simply ran out of good ones. The songs rely more and more on grooves and atmospherics; by the time you reach “Seconds” it feels like years have passed. Little Dragon have made an album that, absent copious amounts of Ritalin, often leads to more interesting tangents, like the dust accumulating on your bookshelves and the cars passing outside you window. Ritual Union is a boon for a very specific subset of the population: the curators of semi-hip retail chains who provide shoppers with quirky and unobtrusive soundtracks to enjoy while browsing their wares. Be sure to check-out Ritual Union the next time you’re at Urban Outfitters. Designed by Win-Kye Cheong

Something For

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Kate BY: A S H L E Y G O L L

t all started in 1994 when schoolmates Paul Dempsey and Clint Hyndman from Melbourne decided to form a band. They teamed up with Julian Carroll on bass to form ‘Something for Kate’. They immediately connected musically. They played their first gig at ‘The Punter’s Club’ in Melbourne to a small amount of people that didn’t seem to take much interest. They independently recorded a demo tape which sold well beyond demand. They were soon signed up to a record deal with murmur. Something for Kate has had a densely casted enigma surrounding their movements for the last 6 years. With the meteoric rise to success of front man Paul Dempsey’s solo album,Everything is True, it was unsure whether Dempsey would continue his success with further follow up LP’s or Something for Kate would just become would be a glorified backing band to whimsical musings of Dempsey’s musical direction. Though, Dempsey had always enforced that Something for Kate would reform and create music collaboratively again. And reform they did, spending the past northern hemisphere summer locked up in a studio in downtown Dallas, TX, Clint Hyndman, Stephanie Ashworth and Dempsey set

to work on what has become Leave Your Soul To Science. It is the 6th studio release from the band, and with it they bring everything you’d expect plus a forefront of the unexpected. They toured around a lot playing in small pubs and developed a small yet devoted following. Their first EP, 'The Answer to Both your Questions', was recorded in Melbourne with production by Greg Atkinson (Big Heavy Stuff). This was widely accepted and their fan base grew. They released a single, 'Dean Martin' which found airplay on Triple J and their popularity started to grow substantially. Another EP, called 'Intermission' consisted of leftovers and one off recordings, came before the released their debut album. Something for Kate went to New Zealand to record their debut album 'Elsewhere for 8 Minutes', but soon after recording finished Julian got married and settled down in the country. His replacement was Toby Ralph. Spurred on by the single 'Captain', which received heavy airplay on Triple J, 'Elsewhere...' made a name for SFK in the Melbourne music scene.

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Leave Your Soul To Science comes off different to any Something For Kate record before it, with a heavy 80’s synth laden guitars, pulsating bass and a touch of electronica which in all, correlate to a more grittier sound as the band seems to have found a rejuvenated aggression that has possessed the bands writing. On the track ‘Back to Normal’ Dempsey yelps“Do you think you can just stroll through my head like you own the fuckin’ place?” It’s this intensity and wrenching that shows that musically the band is showing the timelessness in the sound they are encapsulating, without the feeling of being dated. This is exemplified in the climax of opening track ‘Star-Crossed Citizens’, with the sweet falsettos of Dempsey being juxtaposed by a heavily distorted guitar, crunching bass and crushing drums. Former Sandpit bassist, Stephanie Ash Worth took over Toby's place in the band when he moved back to Sydney in early '98. Their second album 'Beautiful Sharks' debuted at No. 10 in the

Aria charts and took them to a higher level of recognition. The first single 'Electricity' and their position on the 'Dawson's Creek' soundtrack with 'Photograph' brought their music to a much wider audience. They released three more singles off the album, 'Hallways', 'Whatever You Want' and 'The Astronaut' and made several successful national tours, including appearances on 'House of Hits' and 'The 10:30 Slot' For their third album they employed producer Trina Shoemaker, who'd won a Grammy for work on Sheryl Crow's recent album. The result is a rich and full sound which they haven't been able to capture up until now. The first single 'Monsters' reached new commercial levels, and their 'Mythology' tour sold out venues all over the country. 'Echolalia' got rave reviews and attracted more fans than ever. Their 'Echo-la-la-lia Tour' sold out large venues all over the country and was followed by a highly successful solo tour, appropriately titled the 'Singularity' tour. DESIGNED BY NICOLE MANZO

p U e s a E BY: C H R I S T I N A G O L L

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ase Up is a reggae/ska band from southern California made up of Rico Estrada, Nate Legendary, Will Eye Bee, and D Rail. The band dropped their first EP back in 2009 and they have consistently released one project every year since. The Ease Up have shared the stage with many talented acts and have proven that a DIY approach in this industry still can lead to great success. They are set to plug the hole in the armory with a debut eponymous LP an 11 track, set for release in March 2014, which features a number of guest artists. The good thing about being a music reviewer is that I have had the opportunity to take a listen to the release and what a blinder it is – my English winter will be far brighter with this to listen to – roll on March when the sun rises in earnest for everyone that gets hold of this fine release. From the heart of the Southern California

scene Ease Up has been playing shows and touring up and down the state for a couple of years now. Gaining notoriety playing with local reggae greats Stranger (who’s extremely talented horn player Don Carter plays on the release) plus bands like Seedless (who are currently gearing up to tour the nation with Tribal Seeds), they are well established in the musician’s community. With their big sound and awesome vocal harmonies, Ease Up blends an enticing amount of reggae, rock and pop music that hit like a sunny California beach party. The CD starts with a cymbal roll and blasts straight into the reggae-rock powerhouse “With You”. Lead singer Rico Estrada’s smooth as butter voice weaves perfectly through the band’s tight rhythm section while lead guitar player Will “Eye Bee” rips a quick solo to help peak the song out. Nate “Legendary” (bass) and “D-Rail” (drummer) hold down the

heartbeat of the album with their rock-solid presence and perfectly timed runs. Cruising seamlessly into the fast-paced ska song “Feelin’ Irie,” you are taken back to your favorite high school house party busts that no one wants to put on their resumes. Featuring Matt Liufau of Seedless’ thundering vocals, his soulful breakdown is enough to get anyone moving. Sounds simple enough, but with its supercatchy and addicting catch-phrase you will quickly find it reverberating through your head for days to come. After this, proving that there is a sensitive side to the group, the EP features two more laid back love songs titled “Another Time” and “Til The End”, with the perfect roadtrip anthem “Cali X in between.” “Til The End” winds the album down, starting with a beautiful vocal harmony and proceeding to hit with some of the catchiest riffs and choruses to be DESIGNED BY found on the CD. NICOLE MANZO

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF EASE UP

Upcoming Tour Dates March 24th @ Bear Mountain (Snow Resort) Big Bear Lake, CA. March 27th @ CSU Dominguez Hills. Dominguez Hills, CA. March 28th @ Saint Rocke. Hermosa Beach, CA. (with B-Side Players) March 30th @ Slidebar Rock n Roll Café. Fullerton, CA. April 10th @ Grant & Green. San Francisco, CA. April 11th @ Christy’s on the Square. Santa Rosa, CA. April 21st @ The Observatory Orange County. Santa Ana, CA. May 31st @ Rio Ramaza Marina & Event Park. Sacramento, CA. July 12th @ The Journeys End. Mad River, CA.

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BY: ASHLEY GOLL

he 26-year-old Anthony Green is best known as the lead singer for the Philadelphia-based progressive punk act Circa Survive and he's also an accomplished instrumentalist in his own right and has been penning the songs that would eventually become Avalon consistently for the past decade. "Some of these songs are brand new, but most of them are really old," Green explains. "For one of the versions of 'Dear Child (I've Been Dying To Reach You)' that's on this record, I wrote the lyrics for it four or five years ago and the music even years before that," he elaborates, adding that many of these songs were composed while he was still a junior in high school. Although Green initially intended many of these songs to be used in Circa Survive, ultimately he decided that in order to fully realize his artistic vision he would have to tackle these tracks on his own - a decision that was due to communicative issues as much as they were musical.

PHOTO BY CHRIS PHELPS

"I think at the time that I was writing a lot of these songs I wasn't necessarily able to articulate to [Circa Survive] all the stuff musically I wanted to do with them," Green explains. "I don't know chords; I don't know scales; I can't talk to anybody about time signatures, so I couldn't really explain how I wanted these to sound without doing something ridiculous like humming something out that doesn't make sense to anyone except myself," he adds. The logistics surrounding the writing and recording process of Avalon allowed Green to present his songs exactly the way he envisioned them, making this album the first true glimpse into the inner workings of Green's psyche. DESIGNED BY NICOLE MANZO

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Weird Dreams BY DANIELL A GUTIERREZ

t’s not often that you hear a band made up of men that attempts to replicate the sound of a 60’s girl group combined with a Beach boy’s influence and a David Lynch resonance. Weird Dreams successfully marries together those three ideas, resulting in the dream like album, Choreography. Weird Dreams was formed in East London in a vintage clothing shop by Doran Edwards (vocals/guitar) and Craig Bowers (drums). The duo wrote and recorded a self-titled fourtrack EP that was released on cassettes through Bowers’ Sleep All Day Records. Later on, both guys teamed up with Hugo Edwards (bass) and James Wignall (guitar) to make another four-track EP entitled Hyonagocic Lullaby. Choreography is a pleasant sounding album; its mellow melodies are enjoyable to the ear. However, you can’t help but feel as you listen as if there’s something more sinister brewing under the surface of the music. Edwards’ lyrics have a melancholic and ominous tone to them, when he sings, “I love the way you hurt me, hurt me so bad” or in the album opener, ‘Vague Hotel’ Edwards laments, “I live in a bullshit building where the party never stops / I’m frowning because this town is just a hotel filled with nothing much.” This isn’t exactly a mood-lifting tune, but if you’re in the kind of mood where everything seems like a drag, Choreography by Weird Dreams will certainly do the trick. Designed by Win-Kye Cheong

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LOON LAKE BY ASHLEY GOLL

Check these guys out & read about their personal side having to do with their most recent music!

So what’s the Loon Lake story? We are a band made up of three brothers and two mates. We are from Melbourne.

What’s it like having three brothers in the band? Few punch-ons here and there, but generally it’s pretty good. I’m sure most bands have their own punch-ons here and there.

Tell us a bit about the recording of your new EP,Not Just Friends. OK, we did it in the summer of 2010/2011 at Sing Sing Studios and Woodstock Studios [in Melbourne]. We had a couple of cracks at it as we felt the first time was a pretty raucous result. The next session was much better. Basically we record the whole thing live, and then just do the vocals and lead guitar parts over the top. So the whole thing has a pretty raw sound, which we like. We recorded about seven songs, some were re-recordings of some demos we had already released, others are new.

Is ‘In The Summer’ really about your mum? Na, but Mum likes to think it is. She wears a shirt that says, “I’m the mum of the Loon Lake boys”, to work everyday. Na, that’s bullshit. The song is about the ocean. I think the lyrics relate to the mother ocean. One day Mum will get a ballad.

You’ve got some floor snare in the new video. Reckon it’ll become a festival mainstay like the floor tom? Maybe it will. I think we just couldn’t be bothered taking all our gear to the video shoot that day. You are right though, there does seem to be a lot of floor toms on stages these days.

Tell us about your hometown. Well, Melbourne is where we all live now, but for four-fifths of us our hometown is Wangaratta, and more specifically a little town just outside of Wangaratta called Tarrawingee. It’s a great town in country Victoria. It’d be the best town if it had an ocean. I have lots of great family and friends there. We have a really good football club there: we’ve played in the last three grand finals, and won two of them. Recently Jason Akermanis played against us. Never listen to a word he says.

Name your favorite bands from your neck of the woods. Wangaratta? Well, did you know Nick Cave spent some time in Wangaratta as young fella. Melbourne? My favourite group to come out of Melbourne would probably be The Avalanches.

Where’s your local and what’s it like? My local would be the Elsternwick Hotel. Its a nice big old pub, has a great parma. Strange mix of heads in there at times though. Designed by Win-Kye Cheong

BY: A S H L E Y G O L L

ounger bands making cool underground music have become goth-curious for the first time in probably 20 years, and the tendency to filter all "pop" hooks through the funhouses mirrors of "avant-garde" production techniques is so commonplace that clarity-- a voice spared from way too much reverb, for example-has become the exception instead of the rule. Tragedy--Julia Holter's first full-length-- is one of "those records," but it's also more: more sonically detailed, more attentive to its compositions, and more clever and varied about its use of grayscale. Holter isn't just holding a Russian icon painting in the air and cranking the echo. In turn, it's a record with more integrity than a lot of its peers, a record committed to itself as a project but also exemplary

as a summary of several trends in contemporary underground music now. Holter uses plenty of synthesizers, but also field recordings and percussion that sounds like rattling chains, a blend of sounds that register as obviously "unnatural" and ones that register as almost tactile. Long passages of the record have no beats or vocals, and some of the more songoriented tracks-- "Try to Make Yourself a Work of Art" or "So Lillies", for example-- are structured as ambient passages that seem like they're trying to organically slip into their "pop" moments, then slip out of them as the track comes to a close. DESIGNED BY NICOLE MANZO

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Photos Cour tes y of Pin k Floyd

There were, really, three different Pink Floyds: the initial one led by Syd Barrett, the one forced to soldier on after Barrett’s LSDinduced demolition, and the one that eventually made the string of masterpieces starting with The Dark Side of the Moon. Getting from Piper to Dark Side required several years and several albums, none of which sounded especially alike—a fact that seems more remarkable with the benefit of hindsight. Each album, however, had one particular track, often an extended instrumental piece, that served as a centerpiece that at once set it apart and connected the sonic dots that burst through the pyramid in 1973: “Interstellar Overdrive” (from Piper), “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun” (from A Saucerful Of Secrets), “Quicksilver” (from More), “The Narrow Way”

(from Ummagumma) and “Atom Heart Mother Suite” (from Atom Heart Mother). As the band has indicated repeatedly over the years, there would be no “Echoes” without “Atom Heart Mother Suite”, and so on working backward. Virtually every element Floyd had attempted to incorporate into their best songs is unified in “Echoes”, with no false notes or forced feeling: the moods and colors captured on those shorter instrumental pieces remain, stretched out to utilize the group’s considerable ambition and enthusiasm. The merging of Gilmour and Wright’s voices—a harbinger of good things to come, although on “Time” Wright sings the choruses while Gilmour handles the verses—is appropriately mesmerizing, and the two remain uncannily in synch on their respective instruments. “Echoes” also signals a minor step forward for Waters lyrically.

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