THE ROCK FATHER Magazine’s Post

Album Pick: The Smile - A light for Attracting Attention What do you call a debut album that is part jazz, part experimental, part prog rock, and where the lead singer is 55? Well you call it “The Smile” you also call it an interesting, and rather fun experiment in sound by two of the founding members of Radiohead and one of the founding members of the Sons of Kemet (a fascinating Jazz band in their own right). In this case you call it a fun way to start a Thursday. For reasons that we will skip over for now, with a debut later on down the road, I skipped posting yesterday, but I did end up digging into a few albums, and this is one of those that I have not yet covered. The smile is equal parts straight rock from the 90s, and experimentation in sound. It seems almost discordant in it’s moods. Starting with two electronic mellow pieces in “The Same” (A1) and “The Opposite” (A2) before busting into their first single, “You will Never be on Television again” (A3) which seems like it belongs closer to Pablo Honey. The nature of the album is to be a little funky and a little all over the place. But I am digging it. It is a solid freshman effort (their second album which I also own is almost perfect, no notes!) from a band that clearly has an identity that bridges a few genres. It is not perfect, but it is thoroughly enjoyable. When the bass line kicks in on “The Smoke” (B2) or is coupled with a riveting electric guitar on “Thin Thing” (C1) you realize why this experiment is totally awesome. If you miss Radiohead, or are just interested in something that cross a few genres, and makes you think “Is that the new Gorrilaz track?” or “Is this that new Broken Bells?” Then this is an album to check. Will review their other effort later as I just got it. Song Pick: The Smoke (B2) - https://lnkd.in/egExTZ5i #MusicalMusings #DailyAlbum

Reviewed the upcoming The Staves album, All Now, for No Depression: -- All Now seems designed to take The Staves to bigger audiences, greater acclaim, and larger venues, and the album's best songs prove they can go the distance. -- #freelancewriting #musicjournalism https://lnkd.in/efuVMiYe

Here's my latest album review on the Music heard, and observed blog: The Howl & The Hum's latest beautiful and vulnerable work 'Same Mistake Twice' https://lnkd.in/egv6-RYR

Album Pick: Andrew Bird - Are You Serious Another in my new arrivals. Not a new album, but new to me. This one is great. It is a particular style, so may not be for everyone, but it great for a mellow easy listening on a sunny day. I would describe it as “Wrong Way Up” By Brian Eno and John Cale, mixed with a bit of early Ted Leo, or basically really good easy listening beach/pool music. Now to be fair 1.) We have yet to open the pool, and 2.) It is raining. Yet I am still digging the vibe here. I love the Violin/fiddle playing on “Roma Fade” (A2) after a nice “uplifting” trip through the lyrics of “Capsized” (A1): And when you wake up Night's falling, someone is by your side Pull it together, darling you're not alone All of that over the usual string, bass, drum, and piano heavy production that work in concert on this album, there is really nothing to fault here, by the time you get to “Truth lies low” (A3) you are basically enjoying what I will probably refer to going forward as “Natural Valium.” let’s diverge a bit from the album, to discuss my vinyl picking criteria, since as you may have guessed through this year long adventure it is a bit all over the map. My Criteria is pretty simple: 1.) Is the entire album good? 2.) Is the album art something that my kids will find fun, and be able to associate with the sound enough to ask me to put it on? 3.) Will this make it to my regular rotation of music? Now notable it doesn’t have to have all three, but 1 and 3 are a requirement, and 2 obviously is a bonus. So if you put this in the context of “Are You Serious.” You will see that it meets all three criteria. Now I have not always used these three criteria as a staple, and thus there have (on occasion) been follies and transgression that are just best summed up as “Why?!” I am going to devote a week to do some of those. Many of those albums were either early additions to vinyl, quick purchases while crate digging based on artist, and other works I liked in the genre, or something my wife bought by accident because “I liked the other one by them…” So with that being said enjoy Andrew Bird by the time you get to the Accoustic “Chemical Switches” (A5) you’ll either have fallen in love, or will be bored, but I am going to assume the latter. For song pick I could go with any song really but I really like this live version of Roma Fade. Song Pick: Roma Fade - https://lnkd.in/duxwcsUH #MusicalMusings #DailyAlbum

Album Pick: Alt-J - An Awesome Wave I woke up this morning with no theme in mind, but I really wanted to hear An Awesome Wave by Alt-J, so that is what I am doing. Alt-J's freshman effort is a mood in an album. I woke up needing to be picked up, but not dancing out of my chair, and that is what this album does. From the start of the album with the intro (A1) you get sucked in to see what this is going to be, the album produced SEVEN singles and top 10 hits, and has been featured in multiple movies etc. That being said it flows so organically that while you can pick out any song to be a "Single" (And clearly someone did) the album feels complete, with pallet cleansers throughout as no-name songs (A2, A5, B4) that are designed to move the flow of the album. This is an album that I find myself defaulting too when my wife and I can't agree what to listen to: Me: What do you want to hear? Sonya: I'm in the mood for something dancey but not too dancey. You? Me: I'm in the mood for some Jazz, maybe something Mellow. Sonya: Alt-J? Me: Perfect! I could literally do that with "Insert music genre here ______" and have the same result (Well maybe not rap). It has everything a growing human needs, piano brilliantly delivered on tracks like "Something Good" (A6), synths that can't help but get you out of your seat at the end of "Breezeblocks" (A4), A full choir "Bloodflood" (B5) a String trio "Tarro" (B6) yet none of this seems out of place, or like too much over production, it just feels pleasant and is held together by the strong (though not exactly articulate) vocals of Joe Newman, and the excellent production work. It's an album that is easy to love. Side note: I don't often, read or bring up reviews for albums, cause I am not an actual critic, but one negative review I read ages ago stuck with me: The claim (from a reputable music critic) was that "An Awesome Wave's" popularity was disqualifying it. The review stated that Alt-J made music people wanted to hear, while some people were calling them the "New Radiohead." That to me seemed like such an odd take that I wanted to include it. Playing music people want to hear is good (Radiohead music is fantastic and I WANT to hear it). Suggesting that a band can't be fantastic, and also successful negates bands like The Beatles. It's a weird litmus test of Indie rock journalists that I never understood. The reviewer gave it 4.8/10 stars. I will concede that the reviewer was spot on that it is difficult to make out the lyrics, which are also often times just hilarious non-sequiturs: Triangles are my favorite shape Three points where two lines meet Toe to toe, back to back, let's go My love, it's very late 'Til morning comes Let's tessellate While I find that fun, some might not. Either way I thought the review was way off, but you judge for yourselves. Song Pick: Something good - https://lnkd.in/erBEECNS #DailyAlbum #MusicalMusings

#Review It has been forever a widely common practice in global music for debut albums to be eponymous. With sudan?, a solid thirteen-track album spanning around 40 minutes, the Mumbai-based musician quite understandably wishes to establish his musical credo. Accruing experience as a composer and producer, what sudan calls his sound is naturally an amalgamation of projects previously undertaken in the aforementioned capacity; nevertheless, to his immense credit, the sprawling album is as poised as it is eclectic. Even on a perfunctory perusal of the album, the diversity of the host of influences that sudan derives from is readily apparent: elements range from Hip-Hop to mellow Electronica, and, brilliantly, the entirety of this range that might ordinarily seem to constitute a polarity is fused into coherence with the “intro” (the self-explanatory song title) of the album itself. Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/gHGntbDd By @anubhabroy_

"“WHERE AM I” expresses an empty heart, loneliness, and longing. This song, despite its sad lyrics, contains a comforting overall sound, which fits into the overall theme Eunwoo is attempting to convey." READ HERE: https://lnkd.in/e-AWU5fa #music #Kpop #Eunwoo

**📀 Record of the Day: Prince – Dirty Mind (1980) 🎸** Released in 1980, *Dirty Mind* is the album that turned Prince into a legend. 🌟 A fearless fusion of new wave, funk, rock, and R&B, it’s raw, explicit, and revolutionary. Prince recorded most of it in his home studio, playing nearly every instrument himself! 🥁🎹🎸 **Recording and Production:** Prince recorded *Dirty Mind* in his home studio in Minneapolis, known as Kiowa Trail Home Studio, during a prolific creative period. The album’s lo-fi, stripped-down sound was a departure from the more polished production of his previous work. Prince played almost all the instruments on the album himself, including guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums, which allowed him to have complete creative control. The production of *Dirty Mind* was intentionally minimalistic, emphasizing raw emotion and directness over complex arrangements. This approach was influenced by the punk and new wave movements of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The result was a sound that was both innovative and accessible, breaking new ground in the fusion of genres. **Legacy:** *Dirty Mind* is often credited with helping to establish Prince as a groundbreaking artist who wasn’t afraid to tackle controversial subjects. The album received critical acclaim and is regarded as a pioneering work that influenced the direction of pop and R&B music in the 1980s. Its fusion of genres and daring lyrical content continue to inspire artists across various musical landscapes. 🔥 Tracks like “When You Were Mine” and “Head” still push boundaries and inspire today’s artists. This album redefined music in the '80s and beyond. If you haven’t experienced it yet, now’s the time! 🕺💥 #Prince #DirtyMind #MusicLegend #NowPlaying #IconicAlbums #RecordOfTheDay

Cris Cohen: One thing you said about this album, you were talking about bringing 80s hard rock into 2022. From your perspective, what elements of 80s hard rock are maybe harder to find in 2022?   Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big, David Lee Roth, Talas): Well, a lot of it, of what we've just been speaking of – that chaos, that spontaneity, that little bit of pressure to get it done because we don't know what's going to happen the next day. So, things of that nature I think are important factors in the music of then. And now, there is a little bit of relaxation, possibly, not with everyone. Generalities are never true and there's a generality that's always true.   Because you can sit down and get an engineer and piece through things and kind of play a part at a time and go back and check it and change it and fix it if you need to and continue on. It's quite a different thing. We were slaves to the tape back in the day, just before digital recordings. First digital recording I think I did was the first Mr. Big record. But you had to get it on tape, and it had to be right, especially the drum track. That had to be righteous, because you couldn't edit the drums. You could, but it was always precarious to edit the drums on too much tape.