Rickolus Is Coconuts

How the hell is Rickolus not a massive star?  This Jacksonvillian is easily the best musical product to come out of the Bold City since well...ever.  While other bands have risen to popularity overnight, Rickolus has been more of a slow burn when it comes to his music.  Yet, he's so consistently brilliant and well consistent in releasing material that's memorable, rooted firmly in indie rock and just so damn good that stardom deserves to be his. Seriously, world, get with the program. 

His latest album Coconut is yet another quirky notch of brilliance in his career.  With massive hooks, choruses that linger for days and his kooky mannerisms Rickolus creates a tweeish pop world that's truly all his own.  Sure he jumps from post grunge, indie rawk and Britpop influences like a 12 year old girl skipping rope, but he does it with such finesse and assuredness that it works well for him.  I mean the first three songs alone on Coconut toss you around like a broken washing machine.  From the thrashy workout of “Wasteland,” to the massive soaring hit in the making, “Destroyer,” your heart will suffer heartbreak, chills, and possibly a coronary.  This is from a guy who lives in Duval folks.  Duval.  Rick and his band have crafted a brilliant record here that rarely falters and even the ballads are a worthy but heart wrenching five minutes of your time.

Coconut is fantastic in every conceivable way.  It's stupendously poptastic with enough of a rough edge about it to keep Rick's cred well intact.  Probably my favorite album of the last six months it's difficult for me not to picture this record getting huge.  Rickolus has the chops, has the songs, and has all his shit together enough where he should be hobnobbing with stars and establishing residencies in various London clubs.  Once again...success deserves to be his and Coconut goes a long way to helping achieve that goal.  You can help him get there as well by buying this record.  Now.      

Postal Blue's Album Of Love And Other Affections

The latest album from Postal Blue Of Love and Other Affections is a classic indie pop record in every sense of the word.  Harking back to all those classic Sarah records you wish you had in your collection the record jingles and jangles as if the days were always sunny and warm and as if falling in love was the best possible thing that could happen to anyone at any time.  There's nothing complicated about what Postal Blue does but they do it with such panache and classicism you can't help but fall in love with these guys.

Of Love and Other Affections is ten songs of jangly bliss that never lets you down.  For the most part, it's always upbeat and poppy even when it's at its most “bitter.”  Even the slower downtrodden moments on the record aren't too shabby in that twee depression sort of way.   Of Love and Other Affections will remind you of the Field Mice at their best.  The first three tracks alone are masterclasses on how to write an indie pop single of the week.  Postal Blue have delivered a solid record here and there's so little that's wrong with it, it would be nitpicking to mention anything.

Of Love and Other Affections is easily one of the better indie pop records to come out in 2015 and further proves how Jigsaw Records is rapidly entrenching itself as one of the best twee pop labels in the world.  Postal Blue are heirs to the Field Mice's throne and if you ever liked a jangly guitar in your life you owe it to yourself to listen to this album repeatedly.  

Atlas Maior Isn't What You Think

I have to admit that I totally misjudged what kind of music Atlas Maior played based on the cover.   Just based on the logo I figured they were some sort of post-hardcore group but about five seconds into their album Keyif I was proven wrong as they are just about as far away from my expectations as humanly possible.  Rather than screaming at the top of their lungs, these guys take jazz structures and then accentuate them with Middle Eastern and Latin influences. The Keyif EP as a result is a free sounding jazz record that feels as if it wandered from desert to carnivale.

About the worst thing you can say about Keyif is its unfortunate length.  The record is so short and just as you get into the soundworld  Atlas Maior create it’s all over.  But it’s worth savoring what we’re given and this quartet are such excellent musicians and the atmospheric worlds they create are as expansive and exploratory as they are brilliant.  From ridiculous sax runs to Middle Eastern ambiance and Latin grooves Keyif is an impressive effort that does everything but disappoint.

Highly recommended!  

The People's Champs Are American Dreamers

The People’s Champs bring a level of diversity to their music that’s just about unmatched nowadays.  Their latest record American Dreamers is an amalgamation of American pop and world music influences that mesh into a worldly danceable blend that’s as upbeat as anyone names People’s Champ should be.  Led by Alex Asher, he and the group hope to create music that speaks to everyone be it on this continent or another and they’ve done a pretty good job here of doing just that as American Dreamers is a smorgasbord of sounds and grooves.

American Dreamers has a load of grooves spun throughout it and you can spot the African and South American influences as they wash over you.  The melodies on American Dreamers are buoyant and easy on the ears and are not only rooted in pop music but have an underlying rhythm and blues influence that gives the record just a bit of soul and when you throw in the Superpower Horns, that bit of soul is elevated to a higher level.  All this soul and grooviness makes the record feel as though American Dreamers could have been recorded in 1973.  American Dreamers has funk, it has soul and it has a diversity to it that makes it endlessly exciting.  The fourth track on the record, for example, sees all of this coming together in fine fashion; the tune sounds as if it was found crate digging for another Nigeria 1970 compilation.  It’s got a vintage feel with enough modernity to bring it bang up to date.

The People’s Champs are a great group of musicians who have tapped into a unique approach to playing soulful funk or funky world music.  They have influences for everywhere competing for time and attention and the result is a record that grooves globally.  American Dreamers might be dreaming of America but it’s heart is spread around the world.  

Sam Gleaves Wonder If Ain't We Brothers

Sam Gleaves is a Virginian musician who fell in love with Appalachian music the second he tried to play it.  The tradition, community, and passion of telling stories through music was something that drew Gleaves to this genre.  Coming from a family of storyteller’s it seemed like a no-brainer and he’s done a good job of honoring not only his family but the music itself.  Ain’t We Brothers is traditional folk that sounds as if it spans the ages and traditions of the Appalachian Mountains and it does so with endearment and honesty.

Ain’t We Brothers is the sound of nights spent outside on the porch spinning tales of dusty trails, wilderness adventures, heartbreak and love.   It’s not an overly complicated album but it doesn’t have to be, because in the grand tradition of this music all you need is a banjo (maybe a fiddle) and a story to share. As such, the record is a brilliant tribute to all the traditions intertwined in the mountains and features a smattering of Gleaves original material as well as a few old favorites that he gives a heartwarming folksy feel to.  I’m not generally a fan of such music but the charming and enthralling songs sound like they came from another century.   It’s good stuff.

In a world consumed by the Internet it’s nice to see that some still yearn to live the simple life.  Ain’t We Brothers is a world where intimate communication has more value than a text.  It’s something that we as a society are slowing forgetting and I applaud Sam Gleaves for embracing the tradition of Appalachian music.  It doesn’t get much more rustic than Ain’t We Brothers and that’s its greatest strength.  This is a great record to just sit on the porch and watch the world go by to and that’s always a good thing.

Bosley Tunes In The Dirty Dogs Radio Show

Picking up where Bosley left off earlier this year with his ridiculously catchy single, Are We In Love, the man with his soul trapped in 1973 continues to write rhythm and blues influenced tunes that are simply stupendous.  The Dirty Dogs Radio Show is a soulful record that’s as lost in the past as it is lost in funk and fun.  Bosley has a knack for finding rare grooves and bringing a pop flair to them that elevates them to the next level.  Whether it’s a ballad or a floor burner Bosley finds a way to bring a bit of funk , a bit of groove and a whole lot of catchiness to everything he does.

Complete with a nine piece orchestra there is simply nothing that Bosley and his band can’t or won’t do to lay down a solid groove or funky breakdown.  With more horns than a horn factory, The Dirty Dogs Radio Show glistens with the sound of brass and brightens every song that they appear on (which is most).   The rhythm section lays down thick grooves and fat beats that drive songs out of the studio and to the dance floor and Bosley’s semi-falsetto passionate vocals lay on top of it all and are as sweet as sugar.   Even when Bosley leaves the retro-soul behind and goes all modern the songs still work because there’s enough of a funky groove to carry the tune back to the past; see “American Gurlz,” as a perfect example of this.

The Dirty Dogs Radio Show is a fantastically fun record that’s upbeat and groove-laden.  The record is an energetic work out that jumps back and forth between retro and future soul with equal amounts of success. With the retro soul thing sort of becoming cliché it’s interesting to hear someone bring a new take on the genre.  The Dirty Dogs Radio Show is not a 100% original but it is convincing and thoroughly enjoyable.  If you like to get down or just like a funky fun time… The Dirty Dogs Radio Show is well worth tuning in to.

Desert Dwellers Solve The Great Mystery

It seems only fitting that a record recorded on the road, in airports, airplanes,  hotel rooms and produced in multiple cities in multiple nations has global and diverse feel to it.  The Great Mystery has that feel and that vibe to it as the production team known as Desert Dwellers create trance soundscapes that expand beyond national borders and enter the global groove conscience.  The Great Mystery sounds as diverse as the approaches it takes in creating atmospheric dance music.  From break beat to full on euphoric trance it’s all here and it’s absolutely gorgeously pieced together in an expansive infinite style that will give you goosebumps.

The diversity of this record stems from its inability to remain limited to any one genre palette.  Name a soundworld or style and more than likely Desert Dwellers have placed it somewhere in The Great Mystery.  This record is such a breath of fresh trancetastic air that it makes me dizzy.  The lush atmospherics that Desert Dwellers come up with when mixed with their crisp spring-like beats transport you into another world that’s chilled, serene, and absolutely stunning.  So many great grooves and textures reside within this record it’s almost impossible not to feel elevated to a higher state.  Desert Dwellers have done a fantastic job at creating a classic trance/deep house record that would sit fine along a collection of Platypus or Hooj Choons records. 

Upbeat, euphoric, and diverse The Great Mystery is no mystery at all.  It’s as heavenly as a warm spring day, as lush as the Amazonian jungle, and as groovy as Timothy Leary playing with chemicals.  Desert Dwellers are an awesome unit and The Great Mystery is a classic work that’s easy to solve and simple to get lost in.  This is the state of trance in 2015-16 and it’s gone back to being globally groovy.