music reviews
silent as a movie
Wakey! Wakey! (aka Mike Grubbs) has built quite a buzz on the New York City music scene and with good reason – the sound and sentiment of his jarringly honest lyrics, stunning keys, and dominant vocals resonate in your ears long after the songs are over. Silent as a Movie, recorded live at Piano’s and Rockwood over the last year, is full of alternately pounded and lilting keys paired with the raw, dramatic emotion of Grubbs’ huge vocals. He’s drawn comparisons to Ben Folds, but Wakey! Wakey!’s sound is wholly original. “LGA,” with its dramatic strings and powerful crescendos, earned Grubbs a spot in the finals of the 4th Annual Williamsburg Live Songwriter Competition. “Take it Like a Man” features Grubbs hammering on the keys while pausing for a cappella vocal bursts in the verses and a gorgeous chord progression punctuated with mournful strings in the chorus. “Honey Covered Hands” is a vaudevillian romp with accordion, strings and a delightfully jaunty chorus. “Car Crash” shows Grubbs’ ability to deliver devastating lyrics without cloyingly tugging at heart-strings (“At least you were thrown clear / I’m still stuck in here / I kick off my shoes / I let the flames crawl up and burn right through me.” Grubbs’ vulnerability behind his dynamic and powerful voice is what makes this artist so interesting to listen to.
www.wakeywakeymusic.com
At home with pearl and the beard
Pearl and the Beard’s gentle folk melodies and graceful, cohesive harmonies beg to be listened to in a homey log cabin somewhere. And the duo did record their first EP, At Home with Pearl and the Beard, at home – in Brooklyn. Using household items like benches, keys, and a washing machine to create unique organic sounds, the pair - Jocelyn Mackenzie and Jeremy Styles – created a four-song set of gorgeous gentle folk melodies, traced by soft entangled vocals. All four tracks are stunning, but two are clear standouts. “Good Morning” has an ethereal childlike quality, from lyrics like “her hand was a catfish and her leg was an eel” to it’s jangling keys and chirping birds which bookend the song. “Donny & Johnny” shows the pair can also treat sadness with levity. The song opens with claps and a shaker but is punctuated by the melancholy chorus: “They say that come summer Coney Island’s gone / They’re putting up condos where the Wonderwheel was.” The pair’s full-length will be eagerly anticipated.
www.myspace.com/pearlandthebeard
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decisions based on information
Bess Rogers has accomplished an impressive feat on her debut CD – she fearlessly takes chances and effortlessly stradles musical genres, creating a completely cohesive album. Decisions Based on Information finds Brooklyn-based Rogers not only testing her vocal capacity from track to track, but also using every instrument youmight find in a music conservatory. Album opener “You and Me” is sparse, jaunty pop with a walking bass, snare, fiddle and tambourine. “I Would Never” builds to a huge sound with Rogers’ voice soaring over a trumpet and trombone. There’s violin, french horn, and cello on “Urdone;” marimba, peg legs, and shaker buttressing Rogers’ haunting vocals on the ominous “Sunday;” and accordion, knee slaps, and violin on “See Me? See You!” Rogers’ voice is similarly varying, shifting from lush, to sweet, to haunting, to sultry and back again. Decisions is a stunningly adventurous debut that unravels itself a little more upon each listening.
www.bessrogers.com
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still in a fight
Byron Zanos has said his last album was inspired largely by a relationship with “one particular girl I was with for four years,” and his sophomore effort takes that theme and expands it into a concept album. On Still in a Fight, our hero goes through all the stages of processing a breakup, and takes musical challenges in so doing, trying mellow acoustic, adventurous funk, radio-friendly pop, and heartstrings-pulling folk. Zanos uses smart, honest and evocative lyrics to work out his emotions, from recognition on the title track (“the honeymoon’s been long and over…you won’t open up and I’m never sober”), to anger on “Bye Bye Baby” (“cause this is the last time you’ll be leaving me/last time you walk out of the door”), sadness on “Chemicals” (“life after you – been tough on the mornings/it’s been pretty tough on the evenings too”), envy on “Envy” (“got struck with the fever – been drinking out the bottle/and I see you’ve got another ‘just a friend’”), regret on “The One that Got Away” (“searched high and low / to find someone like you / it’s true - I compare them all to you”), and ultimately acceptance on “Thank You” (“you’ll be here, always with me”). Concept albums are often misguided and sometimes overdone, but Zanos’ heartfelt delivery and stunning upfront emotion makes Still in a Fight both sophisticated and relatable.
www.Byronzanos.com
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WAKEY!WAKEY!
