by ImperfectFifth | Aug 15, 2018 | soundtrack
The creatively titled ‘EG’ playlist is a mix of some of my all-time favorites as well as artists and songs that were instrumental in shaping ‘Conversation’.
-Jim Ford, Bill Withers, Neil Young, Al Green
‘Still Bill’, ‘Harvest’, ‘Gets Next to You’ and ‘Harlan County’ were four records that I immersed myself in as I writing ‘Conversation’. I’d sit down with each, learn some of the music and write out all of the lyrics. My producer, Eddie Spear, introduced me to Jim Ford and now I’ll pay that knowledge drop forward.
-Jason Isbell, Bob Dylan
In my opinion, Dylan is the best songwriter of all time and Isbell is the best of my generation. These guys have set a high bar and I continually look to them as I work on my craft.
-‘Truly, Madly Deeply’, ‘No Hard Feelings’
I always love when an artist finds a way to make a cover song sound like their own. I’m a big Manchester Orchestra fan and I came to find Yoke Lore after ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’ popped up on a Spotify feed.
– Coldplay, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Smashing Pumpkins
These are some of my favorite bands of all time and artists that helped shape me as a young musician. I put a few songs on here that I’ve had in heavy rotation recently.
– Natalie Royal, The Delta Saints, Brendan Benson, James Droll, Elise Davis
Nashville artists! I like to get out to shows when I’m in town and there is no shortage of talent in Music City. Here’s a handful of artists that I’d encourage anyone to acclimate themselves with if they don’t know them already.
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Keep up with EG Vines here.
by ImperfectFifth | Aug 15, 2018 | snapshot, visual
On August 7th, G-Eazy and his cohorts – Lil Uzi Vert, Ty Dolla $ign, YBN Nahmir, Murda Beatz, and P-Lo – played a stunning set during a toasty night at Providence Medical Center Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, Kansas. Photographer Rayne Schmidtberger brings us some highlights of G-Eazy’s time on stage below.
**photos by Rayne Schmidtberger
by Karina Marquez | Aug 14, 2018 | singles, wolf tracks
Canadian artist The Pinc Lincolns is the current musical project of Daniel Colussi, who has self-released three full albums since 2014, and his latest one is due out on October 10. “Not Half/No End” is a five-minute song that starts with a pure and simple melody. The instrumental is reminiscent of some early Coldplay songs with its repetitive piano chords and cool guitar riffs. The track’s overall sound gives off 90s pop-rock vibes, especially due to the vaguely angsty lyrics:
Just like the first cigarette of the day,
I’m letting it burn on the plane
Towards not half/no end.
It’s has a classic stuck-in-your-head pop chorus, which is just barely masking the dark nature of his lyrics. Colussi did this intentionally, aiming to make a complex track to open the album:
With ‘Not Half/No End’ I was trying to make a simple, accessible, pop song with a repetition that the listener could get lost in. I wanted to be vaguely intelligent, like a John Cale song from 1974 or a Peter Jefferies song from 1990. This song is supposed to be an easy hit that starts the album, because the second half of the record is so resolutely bummer. And, as is generally the case, the sentiments that lay behind the song only became clear to me after it was written, finished and in the can.
Be sure to check out his upcoming album “On the Plains” and Canadian tour in October. Keep up with him here.
by Gemma Harewood | Aug 14, 2018 | singles, wolf tracks
With a sassy but stunning sound, Brooke Williams is making her mark as a singer and songwriter right now. Based in North Hollywood, she has appeared on tracks from the likes of Neo Noir, and is now pushing her own original material. It’s hard not to love the guitar-driven pop stylings of “Nightmare” with its infectious rolling drums and Williams’ very own distinctive vocal hooks. It helps that she brings a tangible level of personality to the table too – this single was written about a situation she found herself in. She says:
I used to hang out with this guy who always described himself as a ‘nightmare.’ Every time I hung out with him, we’d have the craziest, most unexpected adventures. He was the kind of person who pushed your comfort zone and you’d become addicted to the fun and thrill of it. He was spontaneous and could never make his mind up about a girl, let alone anything else. Over time I realized these were all the reasons he called himself a nightmare. I thought it was an interesting word to describe yourself and it stuck with me, which is what inspired this song. I kept thinking to myself “Damn he really IS a nightmare, but it’s one I want to be in.
Keep up with Brooke Williams here.
by Meredith Schneider | Aug 14, 2018 | singles, wolf tracks
On September 10th, Columbus, Ohio-based rock collective The Candescents – comprised of Alex Harris, Alex von Lehmden, Miguel Alfredo Acero III, and Cody von Lehmden – releases their debut EP Riverside Dr. As the next glimpse into the music and what to expect from that title, we’ve got their third track “Back of Your Hand” to share. From the beginning, there’s a raw, party-like atmosphere to the track, intricate lyrics setting a standard amidst the pop/rock sounds. The soundscape makes “Back of Your Hand” the perfect sunsoaked burner, and we’re more than smitten.
Keep up with The Candescents here.
by Aubrey Hanson | Aug 14, 2018 | albums, review
Being that it’s summer time, we’re all very busy, but smart and talented Shonali Bhowmik takes busy to the next level! Not only did she attend law school throughout her career, but Bhowmik also leads a life of acting, and performing with her band Tigers & Monkeys. Tigers & Monkeys create a blend of indie rock music that matches perfectly with the alternative style vocals with a hint of some southern charm in there to take it bake to Bhowmik’s childhood roots. Tigers & Monkeys are expected to release their new album Saturday Destroyer on September 17, which you will want to keep an eye out for, because the best is yet to come! As a teaser, the band recently released their new single “In An Instant” which combines everything that you would want to hear coming from a new album.
In order to get ready for their new album release, stay up to date with Tigers & Monkeys on Facebook and by listening to all of their previous music!
by ImperfectFifth | Aug 14, 2018 | perspective
When I was about seven years old, I was introduced to my first record by an old man on a train. He was seated with three other older men, as the train car rolled through a warm summer’s evening. His face seemed weary and craggy with years of travel, and despite his small stature he drew me in and commanded my attention. With a voice sharp yet gruff, he dispensed life advice in exchange for whiskey and cigarettes, which he bummed from the silver-bearded man seated across from him.
After the conversation wound down, the old man put his head against the window and drifted off to sleep. And then, quite unexpectedly, this old man passed away in his sleep. He died right in front of me. And unbelievably, an apparition began to fill the train car. It was the ghost of the old man, looming large over the other men. The silver-bearded man was singing this song, and the ghost began to dance and sing along. Finally, the ghost pulled out a deck of cards, threw them in the air, and showered the train car with them. Then the scene ended.
I was seven years old, watching an episode of The Muppet Show. I was completely transfixed by what I had just seen and heard. And the song that the silver-bearded man and the puppets had been singing was absolutely infectious. “You gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em…” It just completely took over my mind. What was this song? Who was that silver-bearded man? I was possessed with the need for answers.
And after demanding more information on all of this from my parents, they eventually bought me a cassette tape. 20 Greatest Hits by Kenny Rogers. And I played that tape until it wore out, on a little brown Fisher-Price cassette player. “The Gambler” was the greatest song ever written, according to my seven year-old ears. And for the next several months, wherever I went, that song came along in my head. Sometimes complete with the dancing ghost of an old man. And a group of puppets, their voices rising together in that rousing triumphant chorus.
It’s weird. Now that I look back on some of my earliest attempts at songwriting, they are replete with references to gambling and card playing. Despite the fact that I never cared much for either of those things in my real life. As I started to get into other music, I remember hearing gambling references in several Grateful Dead songs. And then on to Bob Dylan. And I began to see a metaphorical thread appearing. I followed that thread for a long time, and it led me to some amazing music. I owe the writer of “The Gambler,” a debt of gratitude for jump-starting a life in pursuit of beautiful song. Thank you, Don Schlitz. Also, while we’re at it, thank you to Jim Henson. And Kenny Rogers! I think of that little seven year-old kid in front of the television, stumbling on a seminal moment in his life. Ears in rapture to a truly great song. Worlds of possibility developing in his little brain. Future songs murmuring from somewhere far ahead in embryonic time.
Memory is a funny thing. Why did this record make such an impact on me? Was I merely seduced by Muppets with a clever hook? Or maybe it was my own budding interest in ghosts, cemented by the release of the film Ghostbusters at around the same time. Or maybe it was the fact that I almost died myself from anaphylactic shock resulting from an allergic reaction that same year. I can’t really know for sure. But that record, and that song, stuck with me. Somewhere deep in the darkness of my mind, the Gambler sleeps. On a train bound for nowhere. And there will be time enough for counting, when the dealing’s done…
Keep up with James Houlahan here.
by ImperfectFifth | Aug 13, 2018 | perspective
The year before I moved to Israel, I worked at a restaurant in my neighborhood. I would walk to work through Seattle’s leafy Ravenna neighborhood listening to Meir Ariel’s 1997 record Bernard VeLouise, generally arriving at the restaurant somewhere in the middle of the fourth track.
Meir Ariel was an Israeli singer-songwriter often referred to as the Israeli Bob Dylan. On top of that, his ability to create words and turn phrases in Hebrew is heralded as somewhat Shakespearean. A supremely talented lyricist, he never enjoyed the fame in life that he found in death. He fought in the Six Day War (and the Yom Kippur and First Lebanon Wars), and he initially gained a following after he wrote a parody of a nationalistic song circulating in 1967 called Jerusalem of Gold, by Naomi Shemer. Ariel’s version was called Jerusalem of Iron, and speaks of the horrors he saw fighting in the city. In Shemer’s version the chorus is, “Jerusalem of gold, and of bronze and of light.” In Ariel’s: “Jerusalem of iron, and of lead and of darkness.”
Bernard VeLouise isn’t his best known record, but for some reason it was the first of his that I picked up. And when I say picked up, I mean listened to on Spotify. Seattle’s Easy Street Records doesn’t exactly have a well stocked Israeli music section. It was the last record the Israeli folk troubadour would release before his death at 57 in 1999, caused by an infected tick bite.
Before I learned how to speak Hebrew, I had no idea what the record’s opening track, “Etzel Zion”, was about. With an upbeat, meandering, Eastern European melody, and the word “Zion” (biblical Israel) in the title, I thought the subject matter must be some pretty heavy shit.
Later, once my Hebrew had improved, I learned that Ariel had in fact penned an ode to the fast food chicken schnitzel shop across from his apartment in Tel Aviv.
At Zion’s on the corner of Hayarkon and Trumpeldor
Between the post office and the Dan cinema
They put a lot of heart onto your plate
For just a little pocket change
They put a lot of love into your pita
And they don’t make you wait.
In August, 2014, in the midst of Operation Protective Edge, I was outside a hotel in Jerusalem, in a cloud of cigarette smoke surrounded by a circle of Israelis, listening to Meir Ariel on a shitty iPhone speaker. A string of military helicopters buzzed overhead and someone said it was the ceasefire team returning to the Knesset from discussions in Cairo. Then the rocket sirens started wailing and we had to scramble to the bomb shelter, with Meir’s music still coming out of the phone.
Six months later, I had two suitcases, and an apartment with a lease in my name waiting for me in Jerusalem. Everything else was up in the air. As my flight dropped below the clouds and the lights of Tel Aviv came into view, I noticed that the Israeli guy next to me had started sobbing, and I could tell it had something to do with the music he was listening to. I peeked over at his iPod. Annie’s Song by John Denver. Weird. I put on Bernard VeLouise. By that point, Meir’s music was no longer foreign to me. It was a comfort, a constant, when moving halfway across the world was full of so many variables.
A few years ago, an Israeli winery put out a limited edition Meir Ariel series of wines that featured illustrations found in his notebooks on the label. I wrote the song “The One Who Shines, The Lion of God” on a hot July evening in Jerusalem after polishing off a bottle. In English, the name Meir Ariel can be translated to “The One Who Shines, The Lion of God.”
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Keep up with Ben Fisher – and keep your eyes peeled for the release of Does The Land Remember Me? – here.
by Meredith Schneider | Aug 13, 2018 | singles, wolf tracks
Los Angeles- based indie pop duo Joyeur released “Fast As You Can” on August 9th, and we’re not sure we’ve taken it off loop since then. At this time of year, the fun tends to slow down and the work comes out. School is coming up, a lot of busy seasons at jobs are ramping up, it’s no longer vacation season. But Joyeur provides an escape from all of that. It seems to be a developing pattern that the duo’s hard, cutting attitude, and intricate lyrics stick with you, to say the least. If you keep your ears glued to all notifications of Joyeur’s releases, we have a feeling you won’t possibly regret it.
Keep up with Joyeur here.
