Pattern is Movement
All Together

Philadelphia, PA
Self-recorded in Philadelphia | Produced, engineered and mixed by Scott Solter

Far too often, classically trained musicians tend to forget that music doesn’t have to be advanced in order to be enjoyable and often, advancement can hamper a work rather than promote it. Luckily, Andrew Thiboldeaux and Chris Ward, the duo known as Pattern is Movement, have managed to find a happy medium on their latest, All Together.

The prevailing sensation of the record is one of adventurous curiosity, structures varying wildly from minute to minute on each track, the only constant being Thiboldeaux’s whimsical vocal turns. The music is dizzyingly complex if you stop to think about it for a moment, but like peers The Fiery Furnaces, the band’s adherence to pop hooks and dreamy strings and pianos keeps everything interesting rather than the boring self-serving experiment it could be. On “Jenny Ono,” the duo set bombastic, fractured percussion up against lush strings, recalling the more frenzied moments of Scott Walker. The effect creates one of the more ethereal pop songs in recent memory: strangely warm and embracing, but sacrificing none of the band’s avant tendencies.

The best moments of the album stick to a similar formula and allow Scott Solter’s production to act as an instrument of its own. Solter deserves praise for crafting a production style that is rich in texture and unobtrusive. Much of All Together manages to sound beautifully decayed as though it were sampled – the drums compressed enough to crunch but not pushed to the point of thinness, the strings sounding positively unworldly. The one-two punch of “Peach Trees” and “Trolley Friend” stand out as the highlight of the album. The clanking pianos of “Peach Trees” give the song an almost psychotic beauty to match the vaguely Oedipal lyrics, with its narrator’s desire to “kill your father.” By contrast, “Trolley Friend” is a blazing venture
through a world split equally between gamelan-like percussive work and the ebb and flow of Renaissance ballrooms, as though Dan Deacon had sat in on the session.

Although All Together occasionally wanders into overly somber, melancholic territory – as on the fitfully depressed “Sea Captain” – the work as a whole is gorgeous and insightful, exciting in the risks it takes and joyously comforting in the moments that feel instantly familiar. Pattern is Movement have proven themselves to be onto something new, but more importantly they’ve also shown that not all things advanced have to be confusing and boring. (Hometapes)
-Morgan Davis

myspace.com/patternismovement

Religious Girls: Reaching the Ethereal Through Tribe

Words by Chris Damien; Photos by Berta Daniels

In the lifespan of any band there is a point when decisions need to be made that dictate how seriously it is going to be taken by its members. Religious Girls made this decision upon forming. Believing that the music they wanted to make would be so central to their lives, they worked to reorganize their lives according to it, in a very extreme way. They found a cheap place in East Oakland, where the landlord is cool as long as he gets rent and isn’t hassled by the city, and turned it into headquarters.

Deep Space Nine is the house of Religious Girls, the epicenter of all their creative efforts from when they rise until they stagger to bed. They’ve held numerous shows here and have sound-proofed their garage to act as a practice and recording space. It’s here where they hand-screened all their merchandise and burned all their CDs for their current national tour.

I first saw Religious Girls play at Bottom of the Hill and was immediately intrigued by how they began to set up for their set on the floor, instead of the stage. When I got closer to investigate, I found that it was simply because they couldn’t fit all their gear on the stage. Four guys, three with drums, and each with their own table of live electronics, keyboards, samplers and tons of pedals. The next 30 minutes was a non-stop barrage of intense percussion, screamed tribal chants, paint splatters – just another show for Religious Girls. Main drummer Nick Cowman had an opportunity to speak with me over the phone recently about the group’s promising future.

Cowman explained that the decision to commit himself to living at Deep Space Nine was part of joining Religious Girls, and told of the interesting circumstances leading up to it. Dylan Resnick and Chris Danko originally started the band in 2005 as a two-piece under the name Destroy Tokyo, while attending high school together in Pleasanton, Calif. Playing dueling keyboards, in a sort of Blood Brothers-like cacophony, they slowly drifted toward adding dynamics to their sound and entertained the idea of adding friend Guy Culver, whom they had known in the Bay Area through his artist collective, Pretty Blue Presents. Culver, in turn, had known Cowman through Pretty Blue’s involvement in Sacramento, where he had been playing with his group Brother. Culver joined the group and suggested Cowman be asked to play drums.

Deep Space Nine was now complete and Religious Girls began laboriously developing their material and paint-splatter neon-geometrical-figure aesthetic. Through forcing themselves to be around each other all the time, everyone was held accountable to work as hard as they could to benefit the collective. Despite occasional tension, Religious Girls have found the capacity to unite under a common purpose of creation.

The band has quickly moved beyond house shows and late night recording sessions to impressively self-manufacture their first release, Open Your Heart to Fantasy, to sell on their self-booked national tour currently in progress. Cowman and Danko booked a large majority of the dates along with help from tourmates, Our Brother the Native. “It takes a lot of time and effort, but if you can do this, you should because it’s all the more rewarding in the end,” says Cowman. “People have offered to help book or represent us, but we have always just tried it on our own because it cuts expenses and is a great opportunity to learn about more aspects of the music industry.”

Religious Girls, however, are more than just work ethic. Cowman says the band is “progressive,” in every sense: sound, methods and lifestyle. Open Your Heart to Fantasy, which can be heard on their MySpace or purchased at their live shows, is a promising release that will interest anyone who likes experimental pop with a lot of noise influence and heavy percussion. Comprised of five songs totaling about 30 minutes, the album has a very liquid flow, ranging from hypnotizing chants and raucous percussion to fleeting, chaotic, digital glitches. And finally, the listener is delivered from riotous samples to a beautifully atmospheric, ethereal fuzz. The heartbeat of this album is strong, while its momentum lulls with its noisy serenity. The listener can’t help but heed the advice of the title and open their mind to something fantastical, whatever that may be.

One of the most interesting aspects of Religious Girls’ music is that it’s completely without lyrics. Questioning the very role of vocals in music, they prefer to collectively chant. The intention is to allow complete interpretive freedom for the listener, communicating not linguistically, but animalistically.

Cowman says this practice is a pun on the band’s name. “As far as beliefs, we are all very different,” he says. “None of us can agree on anything except the idea that music is the best form for worship.”

Listen to Religious Girls

Nerd Parade
The Span of a Life

Atlanta, GA
Produced, recorded and mixed by Nerd Parade | Engineered by R. Garcia and
John Jacobus at NerdCave in Atlanta | Mastered by Jeremy Dickens at
Offnominal Audio in Nashville

Nerd Parade’s most recent album, The Span of a Life is a fair representation of the band’s talent. If there is any band that can defy genre, it’s them. They’ve managed to combine elements from all over the musical map to create a sound they can call their own.

This alternative indie pop-rock band is on a journey to bring rock’n’roll back. While definitions themselves can seem constraining, so can an overhaul of style.

It can become overwhelming when there is too much going on in a song and it can work against the band, shining the light away from the album’s most reputable tracks. The third song on the album, “Yay, Yeah, Uh-huh!” is a perfect example. While it has parts and pieces that are soulful, it mostly finds itself sounding contrived.

On the contrary, the two opening tracks of the album “Sixty-Eight Reasons” and “The Span of a Life” are spectacular.

They combine the bands strongest suits: dual vocal harmonies, a sweet mixture of acoustic and heavy electric guitars and epic theatrics.

In its entirety, the album begins strong, finds itself again in the middle and ends beautifully. It’s a striking record, with an inclusion of elements that is smart, sweet and playful. The simpler parts outshine the rest, making The Span of a Life incredibly interesting. Technically simple, the music has an element for everyone. It is an album to be listened to start-to-finish and not any other way (Pulse Recordings).
-Amanda Macchia

myspace.com/thenerdparade

Mississippi Man
The Snake Oil Salesman

Los Angeles, CA
Produced by Mississippi Man | Engineered and recorded by Raymond
Richards at Red Rockets Glare Studios in Rancho Park, CA | Mastered by Dan Long

First, listening to Mississippi Man’s debut EP, The Snake Oil Salesman, will clear up any doubts of how five West Coast kids from L.A. came to be called Mississippi Man. The album is infused with the feel of old time Southern blues, both in melody and tone, as the band reaches deep into the storied South to pull inspiration.

The album starts with a ghostly carnival melody above the atmospheric hiss of an old record. The nostalgia quickly ends as the band enters and the ghostly melody transforms into a quick toe-tapping swing, accented by the shrill but melodic voice that drips into the music with grace.

“Bonjour Le Monde,” the second track, is reminiscent of bands like the Cold War Kids, whereas “The Jester” sounds like a lost Beatles track. Yet, despite the familiarity, Mississippi Man creates a unique and enjoyable sound that carries through the entire EP. The strongest track on the album, “Ricochet,” plays like The Band’s “Long Black Veil.” It is a slow story-driven song that could easily cause spontaneous barroom singalongs.

The last track on the EP is a wonderfully executed and beautifully written heartfelt song about war called “The Fight.” It’s a simple song that showcases all of the band's talents. The music is sparse at first, but slowly all of the elements are added. The unique voice for this song restrains itself to be a quiet storyteller, then the simple but steady percussion, piano and bass all disappear as the band uses broken glass, clapping, and their voices to transition. After the song ups the tempo, a graceful and quotable solo brings the album to an end.

The Snake Oil Salesman may relish in stories from the past, but there is nothing stale about the album. Here, Mississippi Man deliver a fresh and original album that deserves multiple listens. (self-released)
-Dan Evon

myspace.com/mississippimanmusic

CD's Received Today

Here's some new music we got in the office today...

The Orphins- Wish You Well
Oh My Land- If God Gave Me A Cannon…
Guitar Bomb- Happy Hour at The Silverado
Geoff Byrd- X-Ray Vision
Rebecca Culhane- These Days

Big Gigantic: A Human Touch to a Tested Sound

Words by Dean Schaffer; photo by Jonathan Katzenberg

When drummer Jeremy Salken tells me that he’s only 19 years old, I almost believe him. Maybe it’s his looks or his youthful attitude, or maybe it’s the fact that I can’t see the mixed drink he’s holding in his wristbanded left hand, but, all things considered, it’s probably his music. Salken (actually 28) tours with Big Gigantic, the musical brainchild of Dominic Lalli (actually 31). Lalli himself is an accomplished saxophone player and member of Boulder’s groove machine The Motet, and his current project combines the improvisatory impulses of jazz with the essence of electronica. Formed late last year, Big Gigantic just released a new album, Fire It Up, which reaches backwards, forwards and sideways for musical inspiration and direction. The result is something new, something which, like Lalli says, “is just so many different things.”

Big Gigantic undoubtedly qualifies as “electronica,” but the name hardly does justice to Lalli’s vision or his nuanced execution. He muses, “The one thing different I wanted to do with this project is make electronic music, but make songs and make melodies, especially melodies. I really wanted to have something where you would be singing the melody later, which happens more with songs by bands, not by DJs.” On “Fire It Up,” Lalli’s natural melodic sensibilities shine through. “Got to Keep On,” “Landmark” and the rest feature driving electronic rhythms, but also catchy-as-hell synth melodies and keyboard riffs. Whereas house music falls back on thumping, repetitive bass beats, Big Gigantic returns to the age-old craft of good songwriting: juicy hooks, memorable choruses and beautiful harmony – only instead of guitars and vocals, Lalli has a laptop.

The cultural significance of this shift hasn’t escaped Lalli’s notice; when he discusses his musical vision, he muses, “Back in the day, saxophone was what the guitar is now. I’m not saying the guitar is turning into the laptop, but shit happens. You can either hate on it, deny it and get left in the dust, or you can embrace what’s new and find a creative way to use it.” This innovative, progressive attitude explains worlds about Big Gigantic’s approach, both to their music and to the enterprise as a whole – the band is giving Fire It Up away for free online at www.BigGigantic.net/FireItUp. Lalli looks to the Internet as the independent artist’s boon: “The beauty of what’s going on these days is you don’t have to be on a mainstream label because everything is so Internet savvy. We just get online all day and just promote, promote, promote. You can do a lot of the work yourself.” The real money, he points out, isn’t in records but in touring; fortunately for him, that’s where Big Gigantic gets even more interesting.

Anyone who attends a Big Gigantic concert expecting to hear a typical DJ performance is in for a surprise. At the Sunset Strip’s Key Club on June 18, as at all of the group’s shows, Lalli arrives with his indispensable computer, but also with some unexpected additions: his saxophone, a keyboard and Salken. Lalli programs all of the album’s drum beats digitally, but Salken performs these beats live, adding a particularly human touch when Lalli solos over the electronic tracks on the saxophone or keyboard. More than anywhere else, this is where Big Gigantic’s jazz roots blossom into something unique. Lalli, always humble, minimizes his group’s inventiveness: “We’re sort of like a DJ a little bit, with a little bit more.”

But when the other DJs perform afterward at the Key Club, Big Gigantic’s inventiveness becomes even more apparent by contrast. Ott, from the U.K., showcases an impressively eclectic taste, mixing Western beats with Indian sitar and reggae-style steel drums (all in the first three minutes!). A sole figure perched stoically next to his laptop, Ott’s performance, a skillful blend of styles in an unbroken stream of music, somehow lacks luster – for all his dexterity, he simply is not an exciting spectacle for a concert (granted, after all, that isn’t the point of his set). The night’s headliner, Shpongle, attempts to address this problem by spicing up the show with four dancers, whose elaborate, otherworldly costumes look like a cross between DayGlo fantasies and Quetzalcoatl. But for all the pomp, Shpongle and Ott can’t match Big Gigantic’s raw intensity when Lalli blows passionately during his sax solos in “Wish I Knew” or “Fire It Up.” Big Gigantic brings the improvisational excitement of jazz and the emotional intimacy of live musicianship to their inventive beats. It’s like electronica is growing up, but, like Salken, staying young at heart.

myspace.com/biggigantic

Meredith Meyer
It’s Spooky to Be Young

Los Angeles, CA
Engineered by Bill Racine | Recorded and mixed at Pilsen
Sound Studios in Chicago by Bill Racine
Mastered at Golden Mastering in Ventura, CA by J.J.
Golden | Produced by Bill Racine

It took two years for David Lean to finish Laurence of Arabia. He set the philosophy in motion that good things come to those who wait. With Bill Racine (Rogue Wave, Mates of State) turning the knobs, L.A.’s Meredith Meyer spent four years creating her debut LP, It’s Spooky to Be Young. The affable singer has a confident tone, true to her romantic and classy demure. It’s Spooky to be Young is a dreamy offering dotted with genuine achy balladry and urgent mid-tempo rock. The crystal-clear production allows her ebbing voice to be dark and intimate, while also boldly avant-garde. Unlike some of the wilting female singers of the 1990s, think Fiona Apple or Natalie Merchant, Meyer is emotional without the whine and sings with a modern, effortless convention. Her versatility is admirable; Meyer is comfortable with a gentle piano nocturne (“Modern City Carol”) as she is beating up a guitar (“It’s Spooky to Be Young”).

Meyer’s voice is unquestionably the utmost strength of the release. Set a notch above the instrumentation, her voice is deeper than most female singers, and sharpened by a slight rasp. Her lyrics ache from one lovelorn parable to the next. “All Those Pictures” is where Meyer really finds a home: elegant balladry is paced with splashy percussion, reserved guitars, rising tides of strings and Meyer’s sweeping voice. Nodding to the haunting Mazzy Star, Meyer’s voice glides through a smooth wash of reverb. It’s Spooky to Be Young is dedicated to its ominous title. Meyer’s songs are relentlessly detailed patterns of sound. The litany of instruments are so intricately sculpted, it’s hard not to love the songs solely for their instrumentation. It’s no surprise she’s unveiled a spot as one of the most promising new artists of the year. (self-released)
-Christopher Petro


www.meredithmeyer.com