Well, here we are folks, We are three months in. It's April Fool's Day, but this is no joke. The Louisville music scene has produced many gems so far this year. We are not short on new music to sink our teeth in. Let's take a minute to highlight some releases, both song and album, of local musicians. (Writer's note: If you are a musician with new music and I did not list your music, I'm sorry. I likely didn't know about it or couldn't fit it here.) For the sake of local, I'll leave out Houndmouth and My Morning Jacket.
Modern State- This very new band have released two songs so far in 2015. Both songs sure know how to create a moment. Delicate guitar work make it easy to sway when listening. The young indie rock crowd should eat this up but yet the songs seem as suitable for Warped Tour as they do Zanzabar.
Twin Limb- Originally the female duo of drums and accordion, Twin Limb added multi-instrumentalist (and the producer of their album) Kevin Ratterman to the group. You can hear this combination in their song "Long Shadow" filled with harmonies, thumping drums, and an angelic atmosphere. Twin Limb has spent the first part of the year opening for Houndmouth and will also play Gonzofest and Forecastle.
Howell Dawdy- Howell Dawdy is the first of two monikers of Alex Smith on this list. Dawdy released a mixtape last year but kept the releases coming this year with his song "Beautiful Love," released on Valentine's Day. With all Dawdy songs, the lyrics are a bit tongue-in-cheek, but the beats are excellent as any other rapper in town. What can I guy who "stood at the top of the mountain and guess what it wasn't good enough" do to give this song a little boost? Why a guitar solo from Houndmouth guitarist Matt Myers of course.
Lydia Burrell- This one is my favorite of the four albums on this list and it's the second Alex Smith moniker. It's an 8 track effort with each song spanning at least four and a half minutes. It was a surprise release last week and I was very happy to see "Some Instrument" on the tracklist. This song, like others on the album, starts with a simple riff or beat, but then it builds and builds. Soon enough, you've lost track of time, he entranced you for 6 minutes, and you're ready to go again. Head over to Bandcamp because this album is only available digitally.
Plastic Bubble- If Plastic Bubble's new album is not pop music, I have no idea what is. It's fun and catchy. It sounds like they brought every instrument they owned to the studio and played all of them in this 20 track album. That said, their is no track longer than three minutes, so it's nothing but hooks. Expect something different for each song though. It's as if they cleared out the studio and choose all different instruments for each track. If you are into simple, fun music that you can hang onto, this is for you.
Tall Squares- Slacker rock, garage rock, whatever you want to call it. Tall Squares new release "So Heavy For So Long" is making it with strumming power chords and playing fast beats. With it's organic feel and production, it feels like college rock but it's got more to it than that. Regardless, it's rock'n'roll the same is should be.
Twenty First Century Fox- This instrumental track is excellent. No way around it. Guitars intertwining are the highlight but the beat from the drums is really the kicker. It is some indie pop at its finest. Twenty First Century Fox will release their album Pet Rounds on April 11 with a show at Zanzabar.
Wilder Stallions- I take you to the previously written review of Wilder Stallions's debut album Don't Let Your Meat Loaf here.
Ed Monk- We previously had an inkling of what Ed Monk was all about when they released “I Was Young” last year and the song they released earlier this month called “Pages in the Sun” take their guitar-heavy indie rock even further. The instrumentation is tight and the instrumental to end the song is awesome. I can’t help but think bands like The Cure were a big help in making this one.
The Waves- One of the two songs that The Waves released in the first two weeks of this year might get the oh this sounds like Tame Impala sounds like psychedelic Beatles treatment, but you can cut that out right now. Two minutes into “Kaleidoscope” is the best guitar solo I’ve hear from a local guitarist in a while. The other song is, to say the least, trippy.
Bastion- In the "Wow! I didn't know he could do that!" category is Bastion, the name of Jonathan Bastian's EDM music. He told The Voice-Tribune earlier this year that his EDM interest started because he needed something to get the adrenaline going for his early shift on the airwaves for WFPL. A story like that and you might wonder about how this can work. Well, it does. And it's catchy. Also on Bastion's soundcloud page are remixes of Fleetwood mac, Johnny Cash, and more.
Photo courtesy of Plastic Bubble's Bandcamp page.
