Big Rock Finish… reviews of independent music

Name: Hobbyhorse Album: Break in the clouds Members: Annie Aronson Phil Campbell Website: www.hobbyhorsecafe.com Favourite Song: Break in the clouds

Folk Rock, Psychedelic, Indie. That’s how Hobbyhorse describes themselves and I won’t argue. Well, I’ll go as far as saying I have no idea what Psychedelic music is supposed to sound like, because the word itself makes me feel like when you start listening to Psychedelic music you don’t listen to it anymore, you smell it or something. All sorts of new-age hippie thoughts run through my head. Perhaps I should listen to Hobbyhorse while high. I won’t though because drugs are bad mmm’kay?

The songs on Break in the Clouds are really mellow sounding. That’s probably the folk-rock coming out of them. Almost lullaby sounding, if I weren’t so amped up on caffeinated drinks I’m sure I would have fallen asleep writing this review. It’s nice. I might try it when I can’t sleep. I have to dig pretty deep but the lyrics are pretty inspirational. No one particular lyric, but just… Hobbyhorse paints stories with music notes. Quite nice.

I would really recommend listening to Hobbyhorse when grumpy and/or pissed off. You can’t stay mad listening to them. I would also really recommend listening to them right before bed. Perhaps while doing a few yoga poses that help the blood go to the head so you will sleep better. I don’t mean to say they’re boring, but it’s the kind of relaxing that could very easily let someone slip into a blissful sleep.

Name: Clock Strikes Album: Lost and Found EP Released: 2004 Members: Angus Cruikshank - drums, percussion, vocals Drew Dinsmore - bass, vocals Ben Harris - guitar, lead vocals Dave Snider - guitar, harmonica, vocals Website: www.clockstrikesmusic.com Favourite Song: Freedom (track 1)

I don’t know how I got this CD. I think my friend gave it to me, and he got it from a friend who lives in Ottawa. I think the origins of this CD lie in a music festival that happened 3 years ago.

iTunes recognizes this as Reggae. I’ll agree. I won’t disagree. It’s nice to listen to and easy on the eardrums. The relaxing-have-a-good-time music. I don’t know a whole lot about reggae so I really can’t comment on how true to this style Clock Strikes really is… but I doubt it’s off track.

There’s something about reggae music that always feels like there’s a message behind they lyrics. Not that I know WHAT that message is, but I feel like there’s something I’m not quite 100% getting. I mean, with pop love songs, it’s easy. Boy loves girl. Boy wants girl. Boy will end up with girl. With these ones… there’s talk about the future, and premonitions, and some sort of biblical sense of fighting… always music to make me think.

Lost and Found is a pretty short CD with only 4 songs on it. For that it doesn’t make for a good road-trip CD because I would go crazy listening to the same 4 songs over and over. Sometimes, sometimes I can listen to a song on repeat for hours, go figure. I like the music though. I would definitely recommend some bar play it just over the radio while people are getting their drink on. That would be nifty in and of itself.

Name: bellevue Album: Lost in Space Released: 2006 Members: Brent Hough - guitar/vox Julie Kendall - Keyboards Dan Snyder - bass Jordan Bruce - drums Website: www.bellevuemusic.ca Record Label: Music Maul Industries Favourite Song: Norman’s Nightmare (Track 9)

I almost feel bad that I asked for autographs on the CD’s that I received. I meant it in good fun, but I do enjoy having stuff personalized. (Read my earlier review where I talked about someone hand-writing me the letter on the back of sheet music) And I remember the person from Bellevue asking me if I was serious or if I meant it as some mean joke, making fun of people who sign autographs. I can’t believe the industry is so jaded that musicians are afraid to sign an autograph just because someone requested it. Weirdness. I hope autographs never go out of style!

Bellevue put themselves up against Rock, Indie and Alternative. All very generic titles for a very unique sounding band. I’ve heard rock bands sound like other rock bands. I’ve heard alternative bands sound like other alternative bands. Good lord, every band I listen to would be likely considered indie if they weren’t on commercial radio. Bellevue? I think they’re in some other sort of world. It’s trippy almost. But still down to earth. I need to get out of trying to make my own descriptions of music.

The songs in Lost in Space are pretty fun. I personally can’t find anything very awe-inspiring but at the same time I can feel there was a lot of emotion put into the writing of the songs. bellevue’s songs go a bit slower than I’m generally used to listening and appreciating. The pace fits the music because I can’t imagine songs on Lost in Space going any faster than they already are. It’s just not something I would outwardly seek while listening to songs.

I would listen to bellevue….. at home. I sort of figure while doing house-stuff like laundry or cooking dinner. I don’t know WHY exactly, but it feels like good calm yet motivating music for doing stuff that normally you wouldn’t want to bother doing.

Anyways, if you’re available October 19th in Toronto, go check them out at the Paragon Benefit for AMREF being held at the El Mocambo, upstairs. Seriously. Go.

Name: Dissident Saint Album: The Rise Released: September 27, 2007 Members: Sergey Perunov - vocals Ilya Maximenko - guitars Dimitry Chebanov - drums Andrei Zaretski - keyboard Alon Shenfield - bass Gera Kisselman - guitars Website: www.dissidentsaint.com Favourite Song: Into the Fold (Track 1)

I think the only harder thing than reviewing a band that you have a schoolgirl crush on, is reviewing a band where one of the members is someone you see at work every day (or… every other day during the school year.) At the same time, I asked for it, so I guess it’s my own fault. *Sigh* And because I can hear the millions of people wondering who on earth in the band I work with… I work with Ilya. There. Happy?

So Ilya’s told me about a thousand times that his band is Progressive Rock. Well, the band’s Myspace says Metal & Progressive. iTunes told me nothing, so I had to put in Progressive Rock all on my own. I had my friend Brandon describe Progressive Rock as really technical music that’s a cross between rock, and classical or opera depending on how the songs are written. I’m now throughly confused although I can’t disagree with any of it.

When my friend B told me that progressive meant that technical and really hard to play, he wasn’t joking. Randomly I’ll be listening to a song and be thinking “Goddamn, does this guy have 17 fingers on one hand or something?” Anyways, out of everything, I think the vocals stand out the most to me because it’s the only part of music that I can understand the best, and I swear the vocalist has had opera-singing training or something similar. And I think I don’t hear enough keyboards in songs anymore, I can’t figure out exactly what to make of them because they can sound so different every time. Hmm…

I think I have to see Dissident saint live on stage to really experience the music properly. Thankfully they’re playing soon because I’ve been bothering Ilya for a show date I think for the past six months at least by now, ever since I found out he was in a band. Besides that I’ve been enjoying hearing The Rise in my car, because… why not. My stereo system in my car has been complimented for being pretty good.

Dissident Saint has scheduled two shows in the coming few weeks.
October 20, 2007 - Reverb at the Supernova Battle of the Bands
November 4, 2007 - The Kathedral for the official release party for The Rise
Go and say hi. And see if any of them will give you an autograph. Bonus points if it’s on a body part!

P.S. The riffs? Epic.

Name: Alyson Greenfield Album: Six Songs Released: 2004 Members: Alyson Greenfield - piano, acoustic guitar, vocals Website: www.alysongreenfield.com Favourite Song: Sexual Identity Crisis of a Duke (track 6)

Bet you didn’t know I played the piano for 8 years of my life. Eight of the most wretched painful years of my life. I was never happier than the day my mom finally said “Okay, you can stop playing if you really want.” I’d wanted to for the past eight years of my life! But really, if I could play like Alyson could play, of course I wouldn’t have given up on it. But really, while my family will always think of me as a quitter, I keep thinking, if I had any talent don’t you think I would have showed it after EIGHT YEARS?!

Alyson oozes the feeling of “solo artist”, not that that’s a bad thing. But I can’t picture Alyson with a full band behind her or anything like that. Seeing a show I would see a grand piano, a woman in an elegent outfit, and a microphone on stage. And the microphone isn’t even always necessary. When I first opened the CD I wondered why only three of the six songs had lyrics printed… yea, so not all the songs Alyson performs have words. Just proves her musical ability.

The instrumental songs are pretty awe-inspiring. I don’t know how people write songs at all, I never had that creative streak in me, so it’s just amazing to watch people write something, and how simple they make it seem. Just comes out of them and they can put an instrument to use and make something sound like how they wanted it to sound. But to write an instrumental song… something that isn’t meant to have words sort of break it up, where all of the feeling and emotion comes through the instruments themselves… breathtaking.

I would absolutely <3 to see Alyson live for a show. I love acoustic shows and this would definately be awesome to watch. I still have a fear and loathing of pianos due to my childhood traumas, but therapy is facing your fears, and seeing someone be able to take a hold of such an instrument and actually make music, rather than painful noise as I was prone to making, would definitely help appreciate the arts more.