In the last month we got a crap load of submissions from various artists all over the place after the review of indie artist Alexx Calise. This year we kick off with reviews of three Atlanta acts: Sonen, McNary, and The Head.
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Sonen
Sonen
Sonen – ‘Devious Device Ep’
Does a collection of 8 songs constitute an EP? Or maybe there’s a ten song limit if you want to call it an album? Whatever.
To say that Sonen sounds like The Postal Service is dumb. It’s a lazy comparison that can be easily made just because Sonen has the dueling male / female vocal counterpoint of Keith Evans (vocals, bass, guitar, synth) and Holly Mullinax (vocals, synth, perscussion), a couple of keyboards and a laptop. Just add shimmery guitars with echo and there you go: instant Postal Service! But you would be wrong. Sure, there are some pretty melodic hooks in their songs but sitting firmly between those hooks are buzz-saw synth sounds and heavy beats provided by self proclaimed (possibly) “laptop ninja” Josh Guss. {Dude, if you did claim that title I wonder if you regret it. Some inside jokes should never see print.}
This stuff is way more dance oriented and darker than PS will probably ever be. A perfect example is midway through on a song called ‘Monolith’ where high pitched synth work leads the listener over a pounding beat into a dark and twisted mountain of a chorus. To me their sound is more indicative of 80′s style synth pop via The Twins (Head Down), Human League (Outta Line), Peter Schilling (Vividly Blue) or Speak and Spell era Depeche Mode (Wake Up). While I don’t hear the Joy Division comparisons that are made within their bio I definitely can draw a comparison to New Order, but that’s a lazy comparison on my part. Maybe there’s a little Ian Curtis style self loathing straining to break loose from the tight knit arrangements and floaty guitars, but I think that whole ‘Joy Division’ comparison has been played out. Hell, I’m guilty of it too. Why we have to reference Curtis, New Order and Joy Division when talking about synth heavy indie bands is kinda beyond me at this point. When was the last time a reviewer said, “Hey, this band sounds like The Cars! I love The Cars!”. Not in a while in my recollection; at least not since Weezer was still good. If you insist on a more modern touchpoint then Fischerspooner or a cleaner sounding version of The Faint work just fine. Personally, this is the kind of stuff I like to listen to when I need to focus on something and be inspired at the same time. It will fit nicely on my Mercury Rev-Telefon Tel Aviv-Akira Yamaoka-The Rentals-Metric inspired work playlist.
Sonen is quite popular within their locale, being voted Best Electronic Act 2010 in Atlanta by Creative Loafing Magazine and also host monthly Laserbeam Kitty nights at the Highland Inn Ballroom. If you live in the Atlanta area and are a fan of 80′s synth pop and dance check them out and pick up Devious Device through Sonen’s website.
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McNary – ‘Pure Night Air EP’ 
McNary is the band name of singer-songwriter Tim McNary. I wanted to make a clever reference to Van Halen here but I got nuffin’. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m not as clever as Danger or Andy and I’m ok with it. On the other hand I don’t know if I’m ok with Pure Night Air; I’m conflicted and confused and with good reason.
McNary falls into that genre blending stye of bongo stoner country surfer jazz pop that tends to be quite popular with 19 year old college students who hate music but like to buy stuff. A genre all it’s own created by The Dave Mathews Band and continued on by the likes of Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz. And that’s why I’m confused – I don’t get this kind of stuff. It’s all over the place stylistically- pop, country, bongos, banjos, and ballads. Obviously, a bunch of people out there like this stuff and I can’t fault anybody for it. It’s unobtrusive, catchy, and well performed. But To be honest I don’t feel very challenged when I listen to this kind of stuff. I know it’s weird to say that it doesn’t challenge me with all the different genres that are represented; this kind of stuff just doesn’t do anything for me. It’s radio friendly and admittedly, I hate listening to commercial terrestrial radio. While I’m writing this I realize that it’s tonally very similar in many ways to the work of loop master Stendek and guess what, I like Stendek. Like Stendek, McNary appears to be a seasoned performer that can entertain a crowd, based on some of his You Tube videos, and he would probably fit very well on a bill with Miles Nielsen.
There are two songs that stick out at me on Pure Night Air- the center piece ‘Step Outside’ and the creatively named ‘Buck It Up’. One is solid song-craft with a great hook, catchy and simple sing song chorus; the other is a lame ho-down that the whole family can enjoy. Can you guess which is which? Are you trying to be clever or just scared to say F#@k? On the other hand it could be an awesome example of self-editing; a pre-approved radio friendly version that soccer moms can bounce to while carting the kids around during the day. Yet after the sun goes down, soccer mommy throws back a couple Jaeger Bombs and flashes McNary while belching out “Fuck it Up!”. In that case it could be considered genius. I’m not a fan of whistling in rock and roll either ever since Winds of Change ruined it for everybody. ‘Step Outside’ on the other hand is text book radio friendly for sure and nothing that hasn’t been done before, but it does show McNary’s ability to write a strong hook that doesn’t need a gimmick associated with the song to grab listeners. It’s a solid offering on it’s own and really doesn’t need the silliness of Buck It Up. Maybe that’s the point though, to have some fun. I miss fun. Check out McNary at www.myspace.com/mcnaryinc
I have a minor annoyance that has nothing to do with the music but I feel should be pointed out. After I downloaded these tunes and loaded them up in iTunes, all the song titles had “(c) 2010″ at the end of the song and in the album title. This was annoying to me because this kind of info should be inserted within the MP3 file meta data; not in the titles. The Copyright info is also on the Bandcamp page where I downloaded the tracks. I understand the desire of an artist to protect their work but to me this seems silly and doesn’t really do anything to protect you. Instead it just annoyed me cuz I had to delete this info myself.
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The Head {Photo by Peter Doyle}
The Head {Photo by Peter Doyle}
The Head – ‘Stockwood EP’
A young, energetic rock band from Atlanta, The Head has been writing, performing and recording music together since 2007. The Head is Jacob Morrell and twin brothers Jack and Mike Shaw. They care deeply about their songs, roots, fans and each other.
I did not write the above paragraph; it’s the typical kind of thing you usually see in a bands bio on their website, press kit, whatever, etc. In full disclosure I’ve written these kind of bios for bands I’ve been in before as well, nowadays I don’t really care to try and explain my connection to my music, the deeper meaning behind the bonds of blah, blah, blah. It’s boring to read and to write. So you might as well let the music speak for itself.
Luckily, The Head have some talent to go along with the glossy sheen that their website, PR and production provide. The Stockwood EP is more than adequately produced by Grammy Award winning producer Don McCollister (Sister Hazel, Indigo Girls, Third Day, Shawn Mullins) and the playing is tight but that’s kind of the problem.
The first and title track of this three song EP sounds like The Fray initially; radio ready to go out the door with a solid hook in the chorus that I like. Guitarist Jacob Morrell doesn’t have very much to do throughout the piano driven song (when he does do something in the song it’s just lead guitar with little direction) until the solo kicks in at 2:25 and lasts until 3:15. In my opinion this bridge could have been cut in half and therefore gotten to the interesting part towards the end much sooner (except for the noodling wah-wah drenched guitar). I understand that they’re trying their hand at modern pop psychedelia but the guys in The Head should do some more homework. This one’s for you guys.
Second track ‘Sneeze’ is a straight forward pop tune that reminds me a tad bit of Telekinesis but coming up a little short. I feel as if the song would have been better served by a dirtier treatment (imagine Steve Albini producing). ‘The Ballad’ closes out the collection of songs with a cool 12-string hook reminisceint to me of The Smithereens ‘Cut Flowers’.
Check out the pictures of them playing cool vintage gear on their website. To me, it says a lot when a younger band apreciates gear like that. These kids seem like they’re capable of writing some great tunes in the future but before they do, they need to get in a shitty van and go play dive bars across the country; puking their guts out after a Jameson and PBR fueled show. They’re too spic-and-span clean right now, too Jonas Brothers but with waaaayy better music. Whereas The Beatles had to clean up their act after spending time in Hamburg, these kids need to go there and get dirty. The Stockwood EP is available through their website www.theheadmusic.com.
Sock Monkey Sound DIY Tip of the Week (for humor purposes only)
For all you musicians out there who don’t know a word processing program very well. On a Mac hold down the Alt/Option key on your keyboard and press the letter G. On a PC type ALT+0169 and let go. This creates the © symbol in just about every text editor (Word, Notepad, TextEdit) and is also supported within html web language. Which means you can use this shortcut on WordPress, Facebook, MySpace, and Bandcamp. Science = 1, Art = 0
