Dirty Glitter 2013 In Review #8: The Last Internationale, X Ambassadors & Daley

Radio check 1, 2, 3! What we have here is a Spring of 2013 segment for your recollection. This collaboration between High Voltage and Dirty Glitter with Brody Ramone on WGBU-FM every Thursday night at 8pm PST/11pm EST has yielded some pretty sweet musical fruit not the least of which comes from the three talents in this 8th edition of Dirty Glitter 2013 In Review.

Dirty Glitter 5/8/2013:

The Last Internationale- "Cod'ine"
The merger of folk, rock, punk and blues with an air of protestation for righteous reasons brings us to the Last Internationale, a New York City trio formed of Delila Paz (vox, bass), Edgey (guitar) and now Rage Against the Machine's Brad Wilk (drums). With a sound that's raw and strong, smacks of being socially awake and challenging the status quo by way of rock and roll (and isn't that what rock and roll is supposed to do?), the Last International are refreshingly irony-free and substantive: probably because they don't miss the musical plot that. Now what we have here is TLI shining on a cover song: the Buffy Saint-Marie classic "Cod'ine" which Saint-Marie wrote about her experience recovering from her addiction to codeine. Even though this is a cover, it's the Last Internationale flexing some of their strongest muscles in the translation of emotion. From their current EP New York, I Do Mind Dying this is "Cod'ine."

X Ambassadors- "Unconsolable"
Brothers Sam and Casey Harris along with friends Noah Feldshuh and Adam Levin source everything from the Staples Singers to the Stooges to Ginuwine to hip hop to fashion their seriously groove-based music. If you could actually taste music, which I totally believe is possible, you could file Brooklyn-based X Ambassadors under "thick and delicious"; it's full of texture and feeling, often swells into bombastic territory with lyrics that speak from many places of the heart. On Tuesday May 7th they released their 6-song EP, Love Songs Drug Songs, which had some serious production assistance from Alex da Kid and some guy named Dan Reynolds (yes that Dan from Imagine Dragons). Back to considering the music to be delicious, in this song "Unconsolable" Sam does reference bread and butter. See? It all comes full circle.

Daley- "Game Over"
His proper name is Gareth Daley but this British soul singer of the blue-eyed variety simply goes by Daley. Embracing all that is romantic, sexy, laid back and groovalicious about r&b and neo-soul and lacing it with a little pop, Daley's music breakthrough came in 2010 when he provided guest vocals on the Gorillaz song "Doncamatic." Since then he's produced and released the EP Those Who Wait in 2012, toured with and supported the likes of Emeli Sande and Jessie J and been one of the UK's rising stars in a new wave of neo soul. He's currently working on a full album but for now from the Those Who Wait EP here's "Game Over."

Signed,
Diary of a Concert Whore  aka @dharma69

Essentials: Irontom's "The Nitro EP" & Javier Dunn's "Trails"

EPs can be anything from the wanton disposal of excess musical baggage to a band marking their territory but without the peeing on things...because that would be gross. With that in mind, it seems that Irontom is relatively baggage-free and intend to be in your face for a while. Here is Harry Hayes, Zach Irons, Daniel Saslow, Dane Sandborg, and Dylan Williams following up 2012’s The Loose EP with recorded versions of four songs which they have been fleshing out and kicking audience asses with live for nearly a year now. Where The Loose EP was a sensory teaser, The Nitro EP is a ballsy, self-assured calling card.

“It’s not enough just to play anymore.”

Within the breadth and space of that one sentence (actually several sentences but we’re parsing for brevity) Hayes and his brothers-in-no-nonsense serve up a deceptively simple and eloquently contained cease and desist letter on musical bullshit with “What Will Happen To All The Indie Stars,” the lead off track as well as a damned good question (think about it: where are approximately 85% of 2012’s “buzz bands” and blogosphere darlings extolled as the best thing since maple bacon donuts? Exactly). Alain Johannes (Queens of the Stone Age, Eleven, Them Cooked Vultures) was tasked with producing The Nitro EP aka harnessing Irontom’s funky and bombastic nature. Not taming it, but making it discernible for ears familiar and unfamiliar with the assault these guys unleash live. Nitro dishes power and muscular punch song for song with significant sound detail: You can hear what each member brings to the plate and it’s something to pay attention to because Saslow’s churchy keys are just as fundamental as Irons’ aggressive guitar bravado is to the walls of sound that they create. Essentially Nitro is “controlled bold” supported by above average songwriting (dig into the distress of "Tinkerbell"), the craft of melody, hook and musicianship at an enviable level of skill, particularly considering the band’s collective and individual youth. Hayes walks a line between self-critical and analytical in the push and pull of “Boy Born” and the title track is an example of the art of building a refined blitzkrieg.
From Hayes’ agitated vibtato and world-class ability to shriek a full chorus then fall back on a coo, to the rugged rhythms of Sandborg and Williams, The Nitro EP is the capture of a band's lightening in a bottle (which you can release whenever you want) and an indie rock harbinger that Irontom is a bullshit-free zone.

Feel free to jump on the Irontom train. It's a sweet ride.

Here's the thing about Javier Dunn: He's really pretty.

I probably should've used my inside voice there, but this is why my internet name is "dharma." Another thing about Dunn is that for the past 10 years or so he has been something of a right-hand-man to songstress Sara Bareilles as her long-time touring guitarist and occasional collaborator. Great musical results have been the return on this partnership but there comes a time in every music man's life when he's got to pay attention to his own truth, whatever that truth may sound like.

Abandoning the role that he fashioned for himself as "merely" an acoustic singer/songwriter on the side, Dunn's truth now sounds like that shyly confident romantic storyteller with a Taylor guitar on open mic night getting his synth-washed sexy back and phone numbers on cocktail napkins. It's the sound of love and its potential, if not inevitable, pitfalls with an overlay of r&b groove and pop sense electronically tweaked, but gently so as never to become overbearing noise and lose the plot of a good song well sung. The focus of Trails (released on June 25th) is equally split among Dunn's vulnerable, carmel-toned voice, his lyrical gifts and the emotional textures evoked by each song's arrangements. From a tale of romancing via liquid courage ("Couple of Drinks") to a melancholy duet with Bareilles ("If You Go"), Dunn's done pretty well for himself in showcasing how hot a graceful coolness can be.

That and he's really pretty. Check out his new video for "Couple of Drinks."

Song Spotlight: Catching Finish Ticket On Their Way Out

"So our band name is a funny one. We basically decided that we don't ever want to share the true meaning behind the name because, we were in high school when we came up with it and we aren't too fond of the meaning anymore, to say the least. We like to make up stories in each interview. Usually we say that it is because we ran track in high school and it has to do with placing in a race. Another one is that we want to travel to Finland and don't have the funds to buy a ticket out there, so instead we dropped one of the n's in Finnish and made it our name. We usually have a lot more, but those are the two that I remember at the moment."

-Brendan

Okay. So this is what we're dealing with where twin brothers Brendan and Michael Hoye, Gabe Stein and Alex DiDonato who are San Francisco Bay Area's Finish Ticket are concerned: mystery, wanderlust and chronic lying.

Aside from these issues (all of which can be solved with a little counseling), tomorrow- Tuesday, February 26th- marks a day of great import for these guys: the release of their debut full length album, Tears You Apart, where clean, airy and unobstructed production is the name of the game. Former Rilo Kiley bassist Pierre de Reeder served as producer and the result is 11 solid tracks that are pop/rock lush with melodies of lovely; straddling those lines and- along with Brendan's silken vocals- it's ear candy, if you will.

Utter ear candy is surely the third track, "Catch You On My Way Out," which is a musing and contemplative song that, with pretty piano and guitar support, expands and contracts emotionally as well as sonically in all of the right places. Where are we going with this wistful song?

 

"In a modern world, you're a different kind. With every step I take you fall behind..."

"Lyrically, this song is basically about putting our lives on hold to pursue music and having to let our relationships with friends, family, and girlfriends suffer because of it." Alex says. "It’s about trying to find that balance, but never really being able to." Damn that rock and roll lifestyle but somebody's got to do it.

Did I mention that their album, Tears You Apart, comes out tomorrow Tuesday, February 26th? Okay. Ear candy.
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A Rare Child: Danielia Cotton

 These days in the realm of music, an air- that rarified air- of authenticity often feels harder and harder to come by. The popular, packaged and big-box music machine churns out more and more for us to listen to and look at but less to actually hear and see, let alone feel. One cure for so much malaise and mediocre offerings goes by the name of Danielia Cotton.

From the mostly White and small town of Hopewell, New Jersey, Danielia covers many musical bases, some of which don’t often cross over: female, singer, songwriter, guitar player, Led Zeppelin fan, hard rocker, Black. One minute the richness, rasp and howl of her voice is taking you on a soulful journey, the next it’s inciting the urge to headbang. She does rock and roll, not  R&B so general/stereotypical expectations tend to need revision. Thin Lizzy to Nona Hendryx to Tina Turner: these are some of the formidable footsteps that Danielia is walking alongside as opposed to merely following in.

Some of the best singers are the ones who are especially deft at using their lifetime of experience as fire and fuel. In that respect, Danielia can be considered a raconteur of sorts: her voice connects with the honesty of life’s real struggles with love, pain, loss, joy and darkness with a vengeance and emotional ferocity that’s as blunt as it is beautiful. Vocal talent is one thing that Danielia has in spades, but how she uses it is what impacts the mind and heart. Her third album, The Gun In Your Hand, dropped in October and is representative of her pushing through the unimaginable lose of miscarrying twins and just as she does with demographics, the album crosses many genre lines.

If you want to know the who, what, where, how and why of the music, ask. So I did and Danielia was kind enough to dig into and shed some light on a few of her songs on the album including her downright devastating cover of Prince's "Purple Rain."

"Boy Blue"
"This song really unfolded in a beautiful way. Me and one of the co-writers, Shelby Gaines, were in a rehearsal space and he literally played three beautifully haunting notes and I said "STOP" and we were off to the races. I had recently learned that my high school friend Lisa Sprague's son had committed suicide and it really struck a deep chord in me. As I began to write the lyrics, I saw a boy trying to free himself and began to write the story. I was very familiar with the idea of trying to keep one's head above water through difficult times. Anyway, I love this song and the haunting melody. I think it is uplifting but telling of how we struggle to survive hard times and keep our head above water."

"The Only Reason"
"I love this song as it is just a pure and simple ode to great love. Love is not safe, it's everything but."

"Save Me"
"I have always struggled to understand my darkness so to speak. I think it's okay to embrace the crazy in you. It keeps you sane. I love this song as I believe it's about asking to be saved and the struggle to save yourself at the same time. We need both sometimes. Grungy rock has a way of being the perfect vehicle for life's tolerable insanity. This is my ode to old school 70's rock, but where a female rock vocalist gets to kick ass."

"Purple Rain"
"I have done other covers and I am careful in my choices. However, I only pick songs where the story speaks to me and am absolutely positive I can make it my own. This song came across to me as an apology. First line, "I never meant to cause you any sorrow". I sang it like I was apologizing to someone who really didn't care to hear me, so I had to really get them to listen. I had to mean it. There are many things I am sorry for in my life, so there is always a place to go when I sing this song. I am also celebrating one of my heroes."

I don't think that you can ever have too many girls with guitars or ones who don't care to fit into pre-designed boxes. Fortunately for us, Danielia Cotton is both. See this live performance of the title track from her album Rare Child.

To treat your ears to more of what Danielia has to offer, listen to and download the her uplifting track "Lighthouse Keeper"  from The Gun In Your Hand. 

New Music Monday: Nico Vega "We Are The Art"

Believe it or not and comparative to most, I haven’t lived in Los Angeles for very long: I haven’t even celebrated my third LA anniversary yet. But years before making the conscious decision to take root here, Nico Vega were my first Los Angeles band discovery and let’s give it up to MySpace for that (applause!). From the moment that I heard Aja Volkman throw down the challenge of “Take. We will be giving” with that voice…it truly was a sonic lightening bolt to that part of the soul that very few musicians get to touch and take up residence in. And yes, they are still there.

Nico Vega has changed a bit. They’ve evolved from a three-piece to a four (Hi Jamilla!). There have been two weddings and one baby. But the basic construct of what they are seems distinctively intact: soulful, passionate and unified music makers in a tribe where everyone is welcome: The more the merrier, the more loving. Where the songs come from places of challenge and champions, warriors and lovers, power and spirit with music as the conduit.

So yeah, very happy to wake up to the news of new music and video from Nico Vega. Their second album has been heavily under construction during 2012 and here’s to hoping that they gift us with it soon. In the meantime, art is the subject at hand in "We Are The Art" with its video directed by the band’s drummer, Dan Epand. It’s a reveal and revealing, yet an unadorned thing so that you can focus on the subject at hand. And nothing less is expected from Nico Vega.
 

"Stand up for what is beautiful. Give it up for the ones that try. Oh the art is the reason that we came here. Take a bow, together we fight."..."We Are The Art"

PS: if you're lucky enough to already have tickets for No Doubt's November 24th show at Universal Ampitheatre in Los Angeles, well you're luckier than you thought because Nico Vega will be there as support.

Song Spotlight: Sad Robot’s “The Prostitute”

We live in interesting times when a song called “The Prostitute” is the topic of discussion. And just in time for the weekend (in case anyone was considering a career change) and two weeks prior to the Presidential election. Draw what you will from that.

Why so sad, robot? The only folks who can answer that question are Katherine Pawlak (vox, piano), Nick Perez (guitar) and Jake Hogenson (drums); an LA-based three-piece who, as Sad Robot, are carving a place for themselves within Los Angeles’s rock scene, planting a seed here, a seed there. Their intense live energy during their monthlong October residency at LA's Silverlake Lounge has earned some heady praise so effective seed planting: done. Theirs is a power sound…or perhaps the sound of power and claiming it, which is lyrically blatant on tracks like "Sing" and "Hold On" from their album, 1.0 due out October 30th. This is Sad Robot’s second full-length but their first as a trio and Katherine channels that throaty vocal grit of hers to punch out a struggle, comparatively and otherwise.

"'The Prostitute' represents a desperate need of escape." says Katherine. "Whether it is from your past, from yourself or a world you hope to never go back to. Metaphorically through the tale of a Prostitute, we parallel the story with the likes of Cool Hand Luke and how every attempt he made to run away, he was always brought back. There is a message of hope in this song as well and the need to never give up. I didn’t want the lyrics to conclude with a happy ending of her getting out, not that she never will, but I wanted to show the struggle in it and leave it open at the end. We hope the listener could relate to this song in their own lives as we all have our struggles and should never give up."

If you like what you hear check out and keep up with these rock stars-in-training in the usual places: their official site and get friendly on Facebook and Twitter.

"You know, that, that Luke smile of his. He had it on his face right to the very end."...Cool Hand Luke

Cultures Colliding/New Music Discovery: terminal

Filter Magazine’s Culture Collide Festival came and went in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles and I can say that, without reservation, that it was a success. That’s because Culture Collide is an international music festival and very niche event with a very particular goal: to bring the various music flavors of other countries to meld and bleed into the already melting pot that is Los Angeles for discovery by hungry ears. This year 50 bands from 24 different countries participated in the 4-day, multi venue event that culminated on the fifth day with a big old block party.

Considering that I cannot imagine under what circumstances I would have discovered a little band from Denmark had it not been for Culture Collide- I say again- the damned thing was a success.

terminal. Thorsten Bæk (vox, guitar), Henrik Engstrøm (bass, synths, vox) and Rasmus Toft Ilsø Jensen(drums). What we have here are three gentlemen of Nordic descent (or Scandinavian as the two are interchangeable) who are possibly Calvin Klein or Abercrombie & Fitch models in this lifetime or the next (if they’re okay with pseudo soft porn). What we also have here is a Danish trio with the ability to craft deftly emotive songs (Danes are apparently very sensitive people) that have no fear of that thing called rock or an undercurrent of dance.

In the madness that was Culture Collide I was fortunate enough to catch two of their sets at the festival: One, which went smoothly; the other, not so much (technical difficulties are a bitch). But in the true spirit of rock and roll, they kept calm and carried on delivering an abbreviated and partially acoustic set that far from disappointed those who hung in for the duration. They (we) were rewarded with terminal kicking out a fairly gutsy “everything we have” set minus their backing track which- in case they hadn’t noticed- didn’t diminish the strength of their sound. Also, the power and dynamics of Thorsten’s vocals were clear and present with nothing to obscure them and that’s never a bad thing. Think an artful Gavin Rossdale and hold on to that.

With one full album (2009’s Bring Forth the Few) with the fantastically dense track "Chasing Light" and one EP (2010’s Ignite the World) under their collective belts, terminal’s sound has graduated to a more aggressive, formidable and infectiously grooveable level. They consciously weave a thread of electro/dance and- dare we say glam?- through the fabric of their alt rock and, from the listening, one can ascertain that a myriad of influences have found their way into their world. In the asking, Henrik waxed eloquent about what moves the band as well as himself:

"Even when we didn't know each other yet, were definitely defined by acts such as Queen, Michael Jackson, Dire Straits, Pearl Jam, and Marilyn Manson. I, personally, have accepted in my heart that I love music, which is simply good. It can be the simplest song, and if there's passion and drive and love, I'm on. We all listen to and love the Killers, Muse, Carpark North, Coldplay, Robyn, Jeff Buckley, and classical music but we're not limited to particular bands. We embrace music in all forms and have no "arrogance" in regards to genres or bands."

When all of the mechanical parts click onstage, terminal harnesses some serious energy; the kind that really good rock shows are made of. Yes they're easy to look at and that's always a plus, but what seals the deal is how they put out (musically) and encourage the listener to receive.

"I want others to feel what I feel, when I write music. I think about love, or the absence of love, between people, and the amazing thing that is the universe. Encapsulating what happens NOW and not worrying about the past or the future."

Live in the moment with terminal.

Keep and ear on these guys as they're prepping to conquer audiences well outside of Denmark in the very near future. In the meantime, feel free to catch up and get to know them on Facebook, Twitter and their official site.