Like a Monkey With a Miniature Cymbal

Songza told me it would play me music that would make me feel like I was sitting on a rooftop in the summertime. Unfortunately, I don't think I have sat on enough rooftops in the summertime to know if this playlist really delivers what it promises. All claims aside, it certainly offered up "Over and Over" by Hot Chip, a song that I love but haven't heard in years.


Next time I'm cleaning the leaves out of my rain gutters, you can be sure this is the tune I'll be listening to.

New WHY? on the Way

WHY? is a 2000s band, who I really believe was mysteriously transported from the mid-'90s. They do all that '90s stuff like mix rock and hip-hop, and sing and talk, and talk-sing, and who are always hugely deadpan. (Think early Cake or a less ridiculous Bloodhoung Gang.)

On paper, this doesn't sound like something that would appeal to me but I love both the two albums of theirs that I've heard (Alopecia and Eskimo Snow). There are certain moody afternoons where this is exactly the band I want to listen to.

Looks like they've got both a new EP and a new LP coming out this fall. They just released this new single (which, so far, suits me just fine).

Sod in the Seed (SoundCloud)

You can also check one of my favorite WHY? tunes here - These Few Presidents (YouTube). 

Secretly in Love with Justin Bieber?

 
If you love those sugary-sweet, Bieber-esque hooks, but aren't quite ready to admit your Bieber Fever to your friends, I may have a fix for you. DATABOY is just as catchy, but with a slightly more electronic vibe (and clearly more hipster cred).

For the next few days, you can stream their new album Dreams are Gold here. You can also check out a bunch of their tunes on SoundCloud. 

Rocky Votolato = Incredibly Nice Guy

Over the last year-ish, I've had the chance to talk to Rocky Votolato three times. Each time I hang up, my first thought is, "Wow, what a nice guy."

Call number three was no exception.

His new album, on the other hand, is quite exceptional. Check out the tune "Little Spring" here.

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Rocky Votolato is feeling better. Much better.

Over his long and impressive career as a singer/songwriter, Votolato has had his share of personal peaks and valleys. But when it came time to write 2010’s “True Devotion,” he was pretty much at rock bottom.

“I always want my writing to reflect where I’m at in my life,” he says. “With ‘True Devotion,’ I was in a really dark place. I was struggling with some really personal, existential issues. On this one, I feel like I’ve sorted a lot of that out.”

“This one” is his new album, “Television of Saints.” From the first notes of the record, it’s easy to hear that Votolato is in a different headspace. “There’s a lighter feeling to this album overall. It’s not as heavy as the last album,” he says. “There’s still an element of struggle and darkness within the songs, but it’s more from a narrative perspective.”

Though the record is not as heavy, “Television” is just as weighty. The songs flow together joyously and effortless, creating the most instantly engaging collection of Votolato’s career.

He says the album title draws a phrase coined in the 1930s, referring to how the newly invented television had such a power to bring people together. Through the record isn’t about TV, it is about how we are all connected in some way. Votolato says he was heavily inspired by his connection to friends and family when he wrote the album.

So it was only fitting that he reach out to those same folks to help him make the album. His brothers Sonny and Cody both played on the record. “This is the first time I’ve had both of my brothers on an album. That was a really cool experience. I’ve been wanting to do it for a long time,” Votolato says.

Having finished out his contract with indie label Barsuk, Votolato decided to turn to his friends and fans to help him fund the record. Through the website Kickstarter, he was able to raise $40,000 (more than double what he had asked for) in just 30 days.

“I’m really, really grateful to all of my fans for all of that,” he says. “It allowed me more freedom and more control creatively. I got to the make the record I wanted to make. And I didn’t have to go into severe debt to do it, which is what I would have been facing if I hadn’t done Kickstarter.”

In exchange for their donations, fans were treated to a wide range of collectors items, from t-shirts hand-screenprinted by Votolato’s wife to paintings made by his son. For the fan who donated $2,500, Votolato promised a private concert anywhere in the U.S. or Europe.

“Most everything has worked out really well and is pretty close to being finished now. It’s been a ton of work, but I think well worth it,” he says. There was one small problem, though.

“I had 128 hand-written lyric sheets to do and I kind of sprained my neck because I was writing so many of them without taking a break,” he says with a laugh.

Despite the full-band feel of the “Television of Saints,” Votolato will again tour as a solo act. “I like to play alone,” he says. “I like to keep the shows simple. On the records I’m most pleased with, I’ve followed the philosophy of ‘less is more.’ It makes things more intimate. I think that’s what I’m best at, so that’s what I’m bringing to the shows.”

So Yeah, I Feel Electric Pink in the Cheeks

I was just about to start writing an article about the incredibly nice Rocky Votolato when I got distracted by Spotify. I started with Rocky V, but then the "related artists" made me think about The New Amsterdams. Before I even pushed play, my eye was drawn to a band I haven't listen to in years--The Promise Ring.

The Promise is a bit of an acquired taste, but I absolutely love Electric Pink. I love the perfectly simple bass line and, of course, the lisp-y vocal.

For a long time after I first heard this song, every time I wrote a new song I would the steal the line "I live a small street/With very small shoes/But in a small house" as a place holder. It doesn't make any sense. And I love it.

Electric Pink [on Spotify]
I'd also recommend Happiness is all the Rage. 

The Atom Age: Dirty, Dirty Rock 'n Roll

Burt's Tiki Lounge is dark, dingy and loud. It's pretty much the perfect venue for The Atom Age, the East Bay, California five-piece that likes to keep its rock 'n roll a little dirty.

"Getting the audience horny is definitely an important part of the type of music we play," says guitarist/singer Ryan Perras. The Atom Age, however, is not what you'd call a gentle lover.

The band's garage rock sound is more an audio attack than a romantic swoon. And though the band features the tenor saxophone, there are no slow jams or sexy solos.

"We are really into rock 'n roll from the '50s and early '60s," Perras says. "Having tenor sax was considered pretty much essential back then--it was often more prominent than guitar. It's definitely a homage to that time."

The saxophone is a crucial part of the band's frenetic sound, that gives traditional rock 'n' roll an affectionate punch in the throat. "[The sax] adds dynamics and depth to the sound, as well as a being cooler-sounding alternative to guitar for lead parts," Perras explains. "A screamin' saxophone is just a part of wild rock 'n' roll, and I can't even imagine the band without it."

The band's new record, "The Hottest Thing That's Cool," just hit shelves this week. Perras says the album is purposefully a little rougher around the edges than their debut release, 2011's "Kill Surf City."

"On [our first] album, we hit The Atom Age sound on the head a few times but there's almost a lot of power-pop sounding stuff which, while still good, was not really what we had in mind," he says.

"We spent a lot of time touring on that record and really finding what direction we wanted the sound to go in, and we ended up having a very clear picture of what we wanted. For the new album, we worked really hard to make sure every single song was how we envisioned it. I think we can say that every song has The Atom Age sound."

That sound is raspy, raunchy and unrelenting. The band's live performances also follow suit, whipping the crowd into a healthy circle pit. "Screaming 'C'mon Motherfuckers' 500 times only gets ya so far," Perras says. "Just because you take your band seriously doesn't mean you have to be hardcore artists with the weight of the world on your shoulders. It's really criminal to forget about the most important part of rock 'n roll: FUN."

And the band certainly hasn't forgotten about rock 'n' roll's best friend: sex. "I would like to think [our show] is a high energy experience that leaves you sweaty and feeling horny" Perras says, before adding, "but strangely satisfied at the same time."

Check out an Atom Age playlist here.

Koffin Kats: Inspired by Beavis and Butt-Head

Vic Victor can trace his rockabilly roots back to the most enlightened intellectuals of the '90s: Beavis and Butt-Head.

He was watching the show when he saw the video for Reverend Horton Heat's 'Psychobilly Freakout.' "I thought it was just really cool," Victor recalls. "The video was weird and the guy played a big violin."

When Victor picked up the Reverend Horton Heat album at the record store, "It changed everything for me," he says. "I started getting into the 'billy culture and the hot rod culture. I started cuffing my pants and slicking my hair back."

That rockabilly/psychobilly culture became the backdrop for his band the Koffin Kats, where he sings and plays upright bass. But it wasn't the only inspiration.

"Once I started writing my own music and had my own band, I found my own way. I realized that lifestyle wasn't totally for me because I didn't fully believe in rockabilly. It was just another form of music. I didn't want to dedicate myself to one specific form of music."

"Ever since I've been a musician?--and just a fan of music--I've gone from listening to a Metallica album to a Tom Waits album to a Stray Cats album. Dedicating myself to one style of music has never been what I'm about or what Koffin Kats is about."

The band has always tried to let those varied influences come to the surface of their music. "I never want to put out the same album twice," Victor says. "And within the album, there's always something that the 'billy side, the punk side or the metal side, can dig. We play music that's all across the board. We're basically just a mutation of all the music we like, all put together--stylistically and musically."

Koffin Kats are also known to throw in a surprise or two, like on their new track "The Devil Asked," which is more Black Sabbath than Tiger Army. "It's cool that we've been able to make straight-forward, rockin' records, but it's also cool to be able to include some songs that people wouldn't expect from us," Victor says of the song. "It's going to be one that people either love, hate or just don't get."

"If someone has been a fan of our discography, they'll realize we've done stuff like this on other albums where something comes out of left field. It breaks up the monotony of the record. I don't want to write something where 30 minutes later, you think you'd been listening to the same song over and over."

As the band's sound has evolved, Victor's lyrics have also matured. "As I've gotten older, I've put away writing the off-the-wall science fiction lyrics of the first few records," he says. "I wanted to write songs about situations I've been in or or situations where people can just say 'I've been there.'"

The lyrical turning point came after Victor penned "At the Bar," a song about a fictional character wasting his life at the bar and watching relationships fail. "I've had so many people come up to me and say 'Man, I've been there,'" Victor says. "It's rewarding to hear people say that they can relate to something that you wrote. I don't consider myself to be any better than the next person, but to have someone say that they appreciate that you write really pushes you in a new direction."

Now Victor writes about what he knows best, and the band's new record, "Our Way & The Highway," is drenched in alcohol (see "It Happens Every Night," "The Bottle Called," "Booozincrossanation," among others).

The band's show in Salt Lake, however, will be slightly less, er, spirited.

"We're playing an all-ages show, so the booze won't be flying around [like usual], but we definitely try to make every show as much as a party as we can," Victor adds. "We want to have a good time and want to give [the fans] every bit of their dollar's worth."

Check out - At The Bar (YouTube)

The Hood Internet

December and January are very slow when it comes to rock seeing shows. For the most part, I only write about bands coming to town that I'm already interested in. But right now, I've just been trying to find something to fill the magazine pages.

I saw that The Hood Internet was coming to town. I'd never heard of them but the name alone was enough to entice me to look into the band.

The DJ duo specializes is mashups between indie bands and hip-hop artists. I checked out a few of their mixtapes and was instantly impressed. So I reached out to them about an interview.

They told me they'd rather do an email interview than a phone interview. That comes with goods and bads. It's easier for scheduling and getting quotes that actually make grammatical sense. But it's hard to get in-depth answers or follow-up info. In the worst case, you get crappy, half-hearted responses or one word answers.

My Hood Internet interview was LOUSY. My guess is they took about two minutes to answer all of my questions and gave me almost nothing I could use. I understand that doing interviews is a chore for bands, but when you're not exactly a household name, I'd think you'd be interested in getting a little free press.

Fortunately, I think I salvaged the article, which you can read here.

All disappointment aside, I still recommended giving 'em a listen. You can download both of these mixtapes for free:

The Mixtape - Volume Six
Mixtape - Self-Titled