The Midas Touch

As a card carrying geek, I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about and speculating on the nature of super powers. Which would I like to have? Which would I not like to have? What are the limitations of abilities granted to heroes in comics and film? These are among the things that clutter the space in my head that would otherwise be occupied by math, science, and other useful skills.

The other day I found myself thinking about a discussion I saw somewhere. A reporter asked an interview subject a fluff question that was along the lines of "If you could have any super power, what would it be and why?" and the person said that they would love to have the ability to touch any book and immediately know it's entire contents.

Something about this stuck with me (only this part obviously, since I don't remember a single other detail from the interview) and it made me wonder about the nature of that power. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like it would be terrible. I mean, I can see the benefits of being able to touch a text book and know it's contents, but the only way I can see this ability being worth it, is if it were controllable. If not, it would be more like a Midas touch, in my opinion.

The ability to simply touch a work of fiction and know the whole story would destroy the pleasure of reading. I don't think that I'm alone in feeling like the joy of a good book is in the slow burn, the cup of coffee you drink while you're reading, the gradual unfolding of events... to simply know the story isn't the same as having read it, even if you do know every single word.

Such are the musings of a man with entirely too much time on his hands.

Front of Resistance - Reclaim Your Mind EP

What is punk rock? I've spent a lot of years listening to a lot of music and going to hundreds of shows in houses, halls, and holes in the wall and to be perfectly honest, I couldn't tell you. It's cliched to say, but punk is probably the only musical genre that is completely subjective. You can ask five different people to define it and you'd get five different definitions (and one of them would probably punch you in the face because that's a really stupid question). I can only tell you what it means to me personally and that is: complete and utter fearlessness combined with a willingness to play anywhere just for the fun of it and an unparalleled passion for lyricism and music. If you meet those criteria, then you're punk enough for me.
So what is a punk band to me? The Front of Resistance embody what I feel punk should be if not necessarily what it currently is. This band have more guts as artists and musicians than I've seen in almost anyone else. Their ability to write songs in whatever genre seems to strike their fancy with no regard for developing a uniform sound and conforming to one niche is refreshing and exciting to listen to. You literally have no idea what you're going to get from one song to the next and it makes listening to their music genuinely fun.
Their lo-fi recordings demonstrate a gritty, beautiful sound that you would associate with the early 7 inch records from the DC hardcore scene in the 80's. There's a little Minor Threat and Rites of Spring, a lot of Against Me! and Anti-Flag, and even a healthy spoonful of Dashboard and The Get up Kids in almost all of their songs off their first EP as a full band (Reclaim Your Mind).
On the disc's opener "Help Me Fly" you can hear a great dynamic in the vocals between singers Amirit and Ron. On this song you hear the guitar playing the rhythm and the keyboard taking the leads, and at first I thought that I was hearing them set up a trend for their sound but I was wrong. On the very next song "Maybe Someday", a track that sounds a lot like Rancid in their ska days with Justin Sane singing, the guitar takes over and you can hear Ron's surprising chops as a lead guitarist.
All of the songs on the EP lace their varying melodies and style with the one common denominator; passionate and often politically charged lyrics. "Don't Think to Much" sounds like an old Get Up Kids tune with heart wrenching and passionate lyrics that almost shock you to hear delivered so intensely. The dueling piano and guitar solo in this song is a perfect illustration of the band's sounds colliding. "Outside Point of View" and "The Felt Presence of Direct Experience" both have their trademark lyricism with very different approaches. "Outside Point of View" has a very melodic, old school punk sound with some screaming and gang vocals. "The Felt Presence..." is an all acoustic affair with really soft, sweet vocals from Ron that hearken the sound of Bright Eyes or Neil Young.
































Keep your eyes on these guys.

http://www.myspace.com/frontofresistance

Devin Lima & the Cadbury Diesel

Let me just state something for the record: I have no problem with a lack of originality. If you
can write a great pop song using a tried and true formula, then my hat is off to you. That being
said, when I do come across originality in music I'm especially impressed because it's so difficult
to be different in today's music culture.

Devin Lima & the Cadbury Diesel's "Mozart Popart" is one of the most unique pieces of art I've
beheld in a long time. It blends equal parts R&B, Rock, and Europop to form one of the most
original sounds I've ever heard. There's even tinges of hip-hop laced in between the
lines.

Lima has an incredible voice but that's only a small part of what makes up his total package. He
has an incredible grasp of melody, lyricism, and an amazing backing band in the Cadbury Diesel.
This is one of the best records I've heard, probably, all year.

Just so we're clear, I'm aware that Lima was formerly in boy-band, LFO. While they were fun,
"Mozart Popart" is a work of pop genius. Just give this album a spin, if you don’t like it...well...
then you’re dumb.

http://www.myspace.com/devilima

Destroy Nate Allen "Take It Easy"

Sometimes in life you make a friend that enters and leaves your life with little fanfare but that ephemeral visit leaves a mark so profound that you know you’ll never forget them. To me that friend is Nate Allen. A few months ago, Allen was in the midst of his six-month tour of the United States. He stopped by Flint, Michigan, where I was living at the time, to play some shows with a friend and mentor of mine, Jason Guitarstring. I had the privilege of playing a show with Allen and seeing him play live twice. Both shows were light-years beyond any live performance I’d ever seen.

The way that Allen performs his music is so visceral and honest that it completely disarms the listener. You watch him sing from a place in his gut that seems to produce the perfect solution of passion and candor and you can’t help but soak in every word he sings. Allen tells stories in his songs and he makes them not only his own but everyone in the room’s whether it’s him singing them in person or his voice filtering out of your stereo speakers.

When he was in Michigan, Allen told the story about how his newest album, “Take It Easy” came to fruition. After a show he played in Indiana, not to long before he arrived in Michigan, a gentleman approached Allen and offered to record him that night. Allen explained that it was midnight and he was already running on an unhealthy shortage of sleep, but something made him agree to the gentleman’s offer. In his words “I thought it would be an opportunity to make a new friend and a new memory.” He went on to describe the sessions as being almost miraculous. The outcome, “Take It Easy”, is 11 tracks of music in its purest form. Allen blends elements of folk, rock, punk, and gospel to form his own unique sound. His gritty, melodic low tenor guides you through the tracks like the chapters of a book, each one revealing more about the protagonist as the story progresses.

Certain tracks stand out, like the brilliantly written “Arizona”, an apparent opus to the road. Other stand outs are “Glad Tidings” and “Stand By Me” both of which are double time numbers that have a distinctive feel to them that makes them addictively catchy. The tracks that really leave their mark, though, are ones like “Ambulance”, “On With the Show”, and “Let’s Get Together” that are slow burning folk songs that have a very soulful quality. They’re very profound and delivered in a fassion that drips with emotion but still with an incredible pop sensibility.

Nate Allen is an artist’s artist. He is the purest form of musicianship I’ve ever seen and I truly believe that his music is that of a lyrical intellect beyond his years. His album is free for download on him website, http://www.destroynateallen.com and I recommend getting it.

Empty Orchestra

By: Travis Valentine

As someone who has always loved listening to music and yammering on about it for days, I know that I’ve found a special group when it’s difficult for me to start talking about them or to tell someone about them. Empty Orchestra are the sort of musicians that you, simply from hearing or seeing them, have such an enormous amount of respect for that you can’t possibly explain how amazing they are. Stephen Wisniewski and his revolving cast of Flint music legends form a sound so eclectic and powerful that the cerebral hit of the beautifully potent lyrics and the soul wrenching musicianship are a one-two punch that will make almost anyone an instant fan.

The thing that first attracted me to Empty Orchestra was lead singer and songwriter, Stephen Wisniewski’s unusual voice and singing style, and moreover the fact that this particular voice was coming out of such a small guy. I’d heard his previous/other band Lingua Franca play live twice and own their split 7 inch with The Conquer Worm, and though Stephen’s voice was still powerful and made use of his unusual phrasing, it was no where near the gruff, visceral bellow that inhabits the voice part of Empty Orchestra. Stephen can go from the howl of a 70 year old bluegrass singer in a dive bar somewhere in Mississippi to a soft baritone, gently crooning an eerie tale at the drop of a hat and it’s only one of dozens of factors that make Empty Orchestra such a strong group of musicians.

The band’s new full length and second CD is called “Here Lies… Empty Orchestra”. The tracks on it blend elements of folk, rock, alt-country, and bluegrass with a grace that’s beyond their years. There is a very soulful quality to the record as well that gives you that gritty, deep soul sound with traces of rhythm and blues. Songs like “World on a String” have a dirty bluegrass quality with Stephen channeling the earthy croon of a 70 year-old man sitting in a smoky bar somewhere in the deep south. There really isn’t a song on the record that doesn’t stand out. The day after going to their CD release in Flint I was driving to Lansing with my wife, listening to the CD and every song I’d say “Turn it up, I love this one.” Tracks like “This Heart is a Monster” tell stories that keep you listening to every word as you follow the intricate musicianship through it’s various twists and turns. There’s a few more stripped down songs on the album (“Like Pianos”, “Lonesome”) as well that show you a more soulful, emotional side to the songwriting. If anything can be said of Stephen’s singing it’s that he has range. His ability to go from zero to sixty in three seconds flat is as admirable as his writing.

The final characteristic of this record that I’d like to draw attention to is the beautiful production. An enormous amount of credit should be given to Mark Michalik not only for his drumming but for his ability to record a beautifully glossy recording.

htttp://www.myspace.com/emptyorchestra

The Swellers

This is Their Everest

Dark hopefulness is sewn into the music with brilliant eloquence throughout The Swellers pop-punk tour de force, "My Everest". The songs call to mind the glory days of melodic punk where throaty anthems condemned apathy and hyperactive guitars provided mosh pits with the fuel they had waited for. The sound on the record is both a sonic tribute to the sound that shaped their genre and a work of pure innovation. It blends the old and the new effortlessly, implementing virtuoso like instrumentation and vocals that range from a soft baritone croon to a full, gut blasting, bellow.

Two standout tracks on “My Everest” are “Vehicle City” and “The Way Back Home”, both of which are essentially love letters to the city of Flint. “Vehicle City” is the album’s opening and it’s about the Flint scene’s deterioration after The Flint Local closed last year. It’s an almost gut wrenching reminder of the good times so many people had there and a dark image of the skeleton of a scene that’s left behind. “The Way Back Home” is the albums closer, and is the band’s thank you letter to their hometown and a promise that they’ll never forget the friends they’ve made.

Other tracks that take The Swellers tried and true formula for melodic punk rock and build upon it are “The Flood”, “This is My Everest”, and “Clean Slate”. They almost seem to pick up directly where their EP, “Beginning of the End Again”, left off, pushing the boundaries of the entire genre. Another characteristic that the record has is a surprising amount of diversity. Two tracks in particular, “Keep Looking Where Your Eyes are Looking Now” and “Skoots” are heart wrenching, with Nick Diener’s vocals bordering on beautiful. The songs are both about Flint band Takeout’s fallen member Skoots. It’s a challenge to listen to all of “Keep Looking…” without tearing up.

Five years ago, a band was formed in Fenton, MI to play local shows and keep the true aesthetic of punk rock alive. Five years later that band has evolved into one of the single most talented band out of the Flint scene. “My Everest” may just be the record that launches The Swellers to national notoriety, but whether it does or not, it’s almost certain that they’ll never stop playing.

Eric Quimby

Soul in the Suburbs

When you grow up in a town that’s biggest claim to fame is that Michael Moore went to High School there, it’s difficult to carve out a musical niche. It’s equally as difficult to fall into a geographic, musical cliché. This is true of Davison’s Eric Quimby. It isn’t Florida where everyone expects musicians to be fast, radio clean pop rock, and it isn’t the New York underground where you have to be a noisy hardcore band. There’s no musical status quo, giving Quimby the chance to create his own sound, and be the musician he wants to be.

Talking to Eric Quimby isn’t quite what you’d expect of someone with the voice and presence that he exhibits in front of a microphone. He’s friendly, goofy, and to be honest, sometimes awkward. He never knows exactly what to say, and he seems embarrassed by compliments. Humble is an understatement when thinking of his general attitude toward the whole thing. Quimby manages the perfect balance of knowing he’s talented, giving him the confidence to sell himself, and being modest so that he’s likable. A testimony to his humble nature is the fact that he claims that the biggest compliment he’s ever received was when a group of girls recognized him at a gas station in Grand Blanc.

The same geographic blank slate Quimby gets from growing up in the suburbs of Mid-Michigan works to his advantage when drawing his influences. Being the tender age of 18, he’s a child of the 1990’s so that’s where he pulls the majority of his musical references from. He says that his greatest personal influence is probably Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas because he’s endured the kind of success he’d like to attain while still making a unique style. When you hear him, you get a refreshing drink of that mid nineties pop-rock that is rare in the current era of hyper active studio production and repetitive nothingness that makes up today’s radio pop. The soulful, world weary call of John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls melts effortlessly into the crisp, dark baritone of Diswalla’s J.R. Richards. Quimby’s vocals and musicianship are beyond his years, combining both a natural ear for music and a finely honed craft.

With a heart of gold, a pocketful of dreams, and a handful of other clichés Eric Quimby embodies something that everyone experiences. Dreams. Hopes. Some of us lose them along the way but Eric has the courage to fight for what he wants. Keep your eye on that boy… he’s going places.

http://www.myspace.com/ericquimby