nathan k. | methodist girls

You won’t get to third base with these songs unless you’ve lived life, not unafraid, but unafraid to live.

 
A few hours ago my friend Nathan emailed to me gifts. Gifts of new music are always welcome around here (Thanks Mr. K). And as I ride eastward from Chicago aboard a bustling Amtrak train towards East Lansing Nathan’s latest release Methodist Girls is the perfect traveling companion.

Methodist Girls opens with Sloppy Love. For me this doleful beauty elicits a poignant depiction of our human hearts. How emotions get jostled from lover to lover. Eventually we grow jaded, lovelorn and even cynical. But we plod on hoping and searching for love, and at times we find it no matter how fleeting or lopsided. Continue reading “nathan k. | methodist girls”

I Was There: The Shelter, Detroit, Michigan | Kitten


 
It’s official, I got a girl crush. Kitten is the band. Chloe Chaidez is the object of my affection. I got it bad ya’ll. Yeah, I know and I am just as surprised too. Let’s get this straight. I am not some floosy easily enamored by a demi-rock Pop-goddess with the stage presence of a modern day Madge Ciccone (but with prettier and softer edges than M. Sorry Ms. Material Girl). At first brush Kitten is Madonna, Taylor Dane and Cyndi Lauper-ish, but with extra sprinkles and sweeter glitter. Yet, her sound isn’t as simplistic as it seems. There exists depths of influence and elements with deep roots from the late 60’s and 70’s. A heavy dose of the bands stemming from the British Invasion. Along with a spattering of divergent elements as well. I musn’t forget her supporting cast. Guitarist Andy Miller and bassist Chris Vogel bring the goods and then some. Kitten is purely hard candy-Pop with an independent spirit. It’s at times a funkier, more often than not a post-punkier scope and orchestration. She’s like a jawbreaker or an all-day Day-Glo sucker. Kitten’s self-titled debut album is an alt sort of Pop too, which doesn’t don primary colors. No, hers is an ultraviolet and star splashed fluorescent patina. Yes, I have a genuine and unapologetic girl crush indeed. Continue reading “I Was There: The Shelter, Detroit, Michigan | Kitten”

cloud boat | model of you | our sunday best

A cathedral of sound where within a soul can finally know rest.

Cloud Boat is a duo of two (Sam Ricketts & Tom Clarke), but they bring together the pieces of countless souls. Tom Clarke has a voice chiseled from the light just reaching us after light years of travel. His is a voice alive with dead things. It is the relic of hope and fear, it is a sweet drop of sound which enters our collective ears and ignites the spark of life. A sound particle on which the first steps of resilience are built Continue reading “cloud boat | model of you | our sunday best”