Big Rock Finish… reviews of independent music

Eldritch weird wavers, Screens, seeped into existence in early 2009, after Washington, D.C. defectors, drummer Andrew Becker (Dischord Records’, Medications) and vocalist Breck Brunson (psych-sludge purveyors, The Apes) hooked up with keyboardist, Daniel Roland Tierney (San Francisco aggressors, The Mall) and guitarist, Luke Kozikowski in New York City. After bonding over their mutual affection for Harry Partch, Harry Nilsson and Harry Pussy, the quartet began congregating in a Lavvu above a Sami fish market, perfecting a sound that simultaneously sounded like a soothing Congolese dust storm and a toddler exploding in the night.

Following countless frenzied shows in the moistest of east coast squats, Screens decamped to the rock and roll mecca of Hockessin, Delaware with reclusive and DMT diluted super-producer, L. Skell (remarkably overweight genius behind 2007’s unheralded classic “Eldridge Skell’s The Rude Staircase – Sookie Jump”) and engineer, Nick Krill (The Spinto Band), to craft a spirited mess of unbridled dystopia slathered in a rich, pasty, psychedelic batter. In late 2010, Kozikowski left the fold to pursue an acting career and was replaced with Horticulture guitarist, Saxophone Trent.

Screens’ debut full length, “Dead House” will be available in the spring of 2011…somehow, if it’s not already. In the meantime, they’ll be playing shows.

www.myspace.com/screensscreensscreens

Hands

New single being released 2/26 on Headphonica

http://handssounds.com/

D-Sisive, a prolific Canadian rapper, best known for his Juno Award-nominated EP The Book, his hit single “Nobody With A Notepad” (for which D-Sisive and collaborator Muneshine won SOCAN’s fourth annual ECHO Songwriting Prize) and his 2009 Polaris Music Prize-nominated album Let the Children Die (which was launched by the success of “Nobody With A Notepad”).

2010 saw the release of another album, Vaudeville, as well as numerous singles, including a song inspired by the documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil and a music video entitled ‘First Winter’ for The C4 Experiment hosted by Christopher Walken. D-Sisive also began working with rapper Buck 65 for an upcoming collaborative album entitled The Ricardo Christoff Apparatus. In early 2011, D-Sisive continued his Hijacked series with a single entitled ‘If I Live To See Tomorrow’, based on a song by Sigur Rós. The release of a new album, Jonestown 2: Jimmy Go Bye Bye, scheduled for free distribution online in late 2010, has been pushed back to later in 2011.

Hemant Rao is a singer/songwriter originally from Montreal, now residing in Vancouver who has toured the US west coast and NYC. Hemant’s performances are all about “living the song” and his recordings have been compared to the likes of George Harrison.

http://www.myspace.com/hemantrao

You’ve heard this one before, haven’t you? Band X defies classification. It makes for good bio copy, but almost every time those words are uttered/typed/tweeted/etc., somebody’s full of shit. Minus The Bear, however – they’ve asserted their superiority over so many micro-genres and mini-movements that attempting to neatly place them in any one box always proves impossible. So what the hell do they play, you ask? Future-shocked guitar-slinging saloon music? Funky fretboard fire sale rock? Sure and sure.

On their latest release, OMNI, the Seattle band’s fourth LP and first for Dangerbird, singer/guitarist Jake Snider and company continue to confound in the most delightful ways. From the organ-led bounce of “My Time” to the rocket-fueled rager “Hold Me Down,” the band is boldly experimental yet instantly accessible.

WWW.MINUSTHEBEAR.COM

They’re off to St. Kitts in the Caribbean to headline their first ever rock/pop concert. We realize that it sounds like a vacation but we will be working inbetween pool side visits, promise. Needless to say we’re pumped about spending 8 days in the sun. However, we will be playing 7 shows in 7 days all around the island with the big outdoor event happening Saturday, January 22. The shows is also part of a large charity event for Children’s Home Charity.

As for the new album Escape Plan, it should see the light of day by February. Two songs are being remixed as we speak, one by Mike Borkosky (who did the Antisocial Disorder album) and the other by our friend Yohann in Paris, France. Once they are complete, we will FINALLY have a finished product. At which point we should have a big CD release event here in T.O.. It’s about freakin’ time!!

http://theapolloeffect.com

Only a family could write music this intimate. Steeped in the tradition of Nashville, Tennessee, but free of any sort of genre restraints, the eccentric strains of Kopecky Family Band are both universally beautiful and resoundingly unique.

Led by the dueling male/female vocals of Gabe and Kelsey, the clan rounds out their sound with an augmented line-up featuring the standard guitar and drums with the added complements of cello and violin, as well as guest spots from various reeds, mallets, and more. The result is the sort of emotive, orchestral rock that has won the band so many fans on their 2008 debut Embraces EP and the 2010 follow-up Disaster EP.

http://www.kopeckyfamilyband.com