Dirty Glitter 2013 In Review #7: Terraplane Sun, Great White Buffalo, Trixie Whitley & Vanaprasta

The year's almost at an end, rock stars but here's another Dirty Glitter with Brody Ramone-review. We're up to part 7 my High Voltage Magazine-recap of artists to re-discover, the artists and songs that I selected for play. Are you ready? Here we go:

Dirty Glitter 5/30/2013 Edition:

Terraplane Sun: "Get Me Golden”
How can five guys who occupy space in the beachfront city of Venice, CA possibly tap into a river of south of the Mason-Dixon line-sound blended with California sun and soul without sounding- what’s the word…ridiculous? Well, that’s Terraplane Sun for you. Ben Rothbard, Johnny Zambetti, Cecil Campanaro, Lyle Riddle and Gabe Feenberg describe themselves as “blues indie rock folk dance soul”; their sound is a little vintage, a little timeless and a lot of awesome as they truly do flesh out blues, indie rock, folk, dance and soul with full blown musicality and a refined rawness that translates wonderfully from record to their live shows which- whether they're rocking a local show or on tour with Imagine Dragons- are flat out electric and virtuosity on on display. Here's there's sunshine of a track, "Get Me Golden," which was featured in the 21 Jump Street redo and in a national CitiBank commercial.

Great White Buffalo: "Thanks For Nothing"
For some reason what Graham Bockmiller, Stephen Johnson, Blake LaGrange, and Rich Carrillo aka Great White Buffalo do seems almost effortless and in its ease is the pleasure of listening. Hopefully that makes sense because with Graham's textured vocals, the choice hooks and melodies and the lyrically well-crafted songs, Great White Buffalo are just a little too solid for their own good. They've followed up last year’s four-song Tightrope EP with a self-title one composed of six tight as a drum rockers produced by Grammy winner Phil Allen (Aerosmith, Adele) that stand up to anything that any indie rock band- LA based or otherwise- has dished out in the past year. to check out those songs, see their Bandcamp for further. In the meantime, get to grooving and rocking with Great White Buffalo and "Thanks For Nothing."

Trixie Whitley "Never Enough"
Trixie Whitley may only be 25 years old but her life experiences have brought a wisdom far beyond her age. Born in Belgium, she's the daughter of the acclaimed late bluesman Chris Whitley and those genes have passed on some immense talent as she's been a DJ, a dancer, a waitress...most before she was even old enough to vote. A multi-instrumentalist equally comfortable with a guitar or behind a drum kit, Trixie's fiercest tools are her songwriting and her voice which is stunningly soulful, haunting, emotive and- also- belies her age. So much so that the one and only Daniel Lanois (who has produced Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel and some of U2's best work) tapped Trixie to be the voice of a collaboration project called Black Dub. Her full length debut album, Fourth Corner, was released in April and shows off what makes this lady so darned special. From that album, this is "Never Enough."

Vanaprasta: "NineEqualsNine" (honorable mention) (I. Love. This. Band. So. Hard.)

Vanaprasta is Sanskrit for a person who lives in the forest as a hermit after giving up most material desires. It’s also the name of one of my absolute favorite local bands. Based in Echo Park, CA, Vanaprasta are all about dynamic musical elements that shape-shift from psych guitar rock to disarming soul to blues progressive and shamelessly back again carried by Steven Wilkin’s flexible and arena-worthy vocals: he was, after all, an opera singer as a child. Along with Taylor Brown, Collin Desha, Cameron Dmytryk and Ben Smiley, these guys are ambitious with Pink Floyd-ish experimentation to Zeppelin-ish guitar to full blown prog, and yet they aren’t afraid of tripping a little weird. While indie rock is their game, this track, “NineEqualsNine,” is a game-changer due to the lush and sensual current of R&B that runs through it and the song title is indicative of their fascination with numbers, shapes and patterns in life. They’re in the studio working on album #2 as we speak (and I cannot wait for it) but this track is from their 2011 debut, Healthy Geometry. 

US10 On Spitfire Radio: 4th Of July Edition

Independent radio is a good thing for obvious reasons, but no reason so obvious as loosening music fans from the narrow lanes of restricted listening and limited music discovery. Major radio stations have their painfully structured playlists of songs that you'll hear repeated every hour on the hour with little room for deviation. And then there are free spirits like Spitfire Radio across the pond in  Birmingham, England who are all about being a quality alternative and a source for amazing music that you may not otherwise find. That's where Barry Tomes (a Brit) and Brooke Henderson (a Yankee) come in as hosts of the program, US10 which showcases 10 of the BEST new and emerging bands/artists from the US. Isn't it lovely how we Americans and the English have been able to get along despite that nasty American Revolution-thing?

Now being given the opportunity to select 10 of my favorite artists for this week's edition of US10 was a pretty honor, yet a really difficult one. Why difficult? Because although 10 may sound like a lot of artists to choose, it's barely scratches the surface due to the abundance of good shit out there just waiting to be discovered by ears like yours.

My US10 turned out to very LA-centric and, if you know me, there will be a few familiar names: it wasn't intentional, I'm just very fond of much of the music growing in my own backyard. So check out the show (with adorable and witty banter courtesy of Brooke and Barry whom I thank for indulging my selections), dig into the music and perhaps turn yourself on to a new band.


Bands featured:
The Last Internationale
X Ambassadors
Big Black Delta
Finish Ticket
Terraplane Sun
Irontom
Dead Sara
American Royalty
The Features
Sabrosa Purr

Putting A Shine On Terraplane Sun's "Get Me Golden"

How can five music-making dudes who occupy space in the beachfront city of Venice, CA possibly go all south of the Mason-Dixon line-sound and blend it with California sun and soul without sounding- what’s the word- ridiculous? Yes, fricking ridiculous. Well, that’s Terraplane Sun for you. These guys are my guys: I  took ownership of them a long time ago (in the most platonic way possible) and am just shy of being able to claim them on my taxes.

Ben Rothbard (singer dude), Johnny Zambetti (guitar, mandolin and awesome hair), Cecil Campanaro (slapping da bass), Lyle Riddle (cool drummer, cool tats) and Gabe Feenberg (like...everything else, seriously) describe themselves as “blues indie rock folk dance soul”: their sound is a little vintage, a little timeless and a lot of awesome as they truly do flesh out blues, indie rock, folk, dance and soul with full blown musicality and a refined rawness that translates fantastically from record to their live show. So here's a song for you that will be on their brand spanking new EP coming out in June. The song: "Get Me Golden." The theme: going for the gold, silly.

Rothbard (or 'Ben' as I like to call him) was kind enough to sum up the song in his own words:

"Golden was written with the notion that if you want something, you gotta go and get it. One thing we've learned as a band and even just as individuals is that very little will fall in your lap and if it does, chances are it won't happen again. I've never been a fan of the lottery and have always been called crazy for saying that I'd give away all the money if I won it. It's always so much more rewarding if you earn what you get and really go after exactly what you want, whether it's love, a goal, a challenge etc...

The song itself was Motown inspired for sure. It's a dancer!"

And who doesn't like to dance? So you read these words, listened to the killer song, did the hand claps because it's a little irresistable and now you're all, "Holy shit, this band's a bucket full of awesome...if you could actually put awesome in a bucket, of course! Where/when can I get some of this live?"

Funny you should ask: if you happen to be in Los Angeles on Thursday 5/30 and attending the Imagine Dragons concert at the Hollywood Palladium, Terraplane Sun just happen to be the opening band so, BAM!, you're welcome. Otherwise, do your duty and stalk them in the usual places like their website, Facebook and Twitter in order to get in their business. They'd probably like that.

By the way, every Thursday night at 11pm EST/8pm PST High Voltage takes over the radio on Dirty Glitter w/ Brody Ramone on WBGU-FM in order to play three High Voltage-approved songs. Tune in this Thursday night and you'll hear Terraplane Sun getting some love.

Summer Songs: Youngblood Hawk, Terraplane Sun

The one thing that you really want from a summer jam is for it to make it all feel good; like the sun is shining on the inside and all things are possible. With that vibe in mind, here are two doses of sunshine in music form for you.

Youngblood Hawke 

Last year, from the remnants of Iglu & Hartly came Youngblood Hawke: A finer formation from former I & H members Sam Martin and Simon Katz along with friends Alice Katz, Tasso Smith and Nik Hughes. Youngblood Hawke has woven itself into Los Angeles' music community with their honest passion for kinship among fellow music makers and via a tried and true music methodology: hook, chorus, and danceability. The uplift of last summer's "Rootless" was right on, their live shows are rowdy affairs (in a good way), and with a full album enroute, the guys and gal just released this piece of pop anthem: "We Come Running."

Terraplane Sun

Yet another good thing having five parts to equal a solid whole comes straight from Venice, CA: Terraplane Sun.  Where the sun and swamp meet, Ben Rothbard (vocals, guitar, harmonica, tambourine), Johnny Zambetti (guitar, mandolin), Cecil Campanaro (bass), Gabe Feenberg (keys, lap steel guitar, trombone) and Lyle Riddle (drums) have no problems blending and bending the curves of rock and blues, country and folk, and whatever else they deem worthy in their world. They just wrapped up a successful July residency at the LA venue, the Satellite, and if you missed it I'm a little sad for you. They've got soul, they've got grit, and is a righteous cocktail of pure musicianship. Fresh from their upcoming Friends EP is a little "Get Me Golden."
Enjoy the tunes, explore the bands, and get your summer on.
tng
@dharma69