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: 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.

Name: Adam Hill Album: Four Shades of Green Released: 2007 Members: Adam Hill Website: www.myspace.com/mradamhill Favourite Song: Next Stop Winona

I have to say, the sweetest thing I’ve ever received in a band package is a hand-written note. And the absolutely most endearing thing about it is, Mr. Adam Hill (I like calling him that now, after listening to the tracks, he just seems like a Mr.) wrote my note on the back of some sheet music. And I’m curious to see what it is, if I could bother remembering how to read music. And to see one guy bombarding himself with so many instruments… I think I heard a jug in there somewhere.

Acoustic. Jazz. Folk. I would dare say country, but I guess Folk would do. I wonder what the difference is, they both sound very “American” in terms of the out-back country feel. Nice and simple, nothing overly complicated, and that you feel you can join in at any time with very little musical training. I think I like this kind of music best because it just invites people to join in, and make the song their own.

The songs on Four shades of Green have a way of making me smile. It’s a lot of what sound like really happy types of songs. Nothing really harsh sounding, and nothing really mean sounding. Inspiring on a spiritual level, because the world is too serious these days. It’s nice to kick back and just listen to what feels like some wishful thinking. I’ll admit, it’s not always something I will want to listen to, I prefer high energy, which Adam doesn’t give a whole lot of. The kicking back, he gives lots of.

Driving through country roads, long stretches of not a lot of traffic and wide open spaces. I think I would feel most inspired listening to Mr. Adam Hill during these types of excursions. Any other time, I don’t think I would appreciate it nearly as much. There’s just a good old country charm that you can’t appreciate while driving in the city.

Name: The Chillbilly Band Album: Back Home Released: 2006 Members: Bradly Dean Bill Dietrich Nicklas Dickerson Michael Pearce Dave Harris Website: www.thechillbillyband.com Record Label: Dean & Dietrich Favourite Song: Byoswc

The Chillbilly Band plays good natured, laid back country, and that’s just about all you need to know. They don’t challenge your sensibilities or make you ponder the tough questions. There are no crazy time signatures, 16 minute jam sessions, and there are certainly no depressing songs here. It’s just straightforward country, but it sounds more genuine than the stuff you see on CMT these days. They sound sincere without trying to sound too down-to-earthy, and their rhythms are all good news. It’s relaxed and it puts you in a good mood, good for just bobbing your head and hanging out with an ice cold brewski.

It does tend to dragged down a bit when they slow things down, such as on ‘Beautiful Disease’, which sounds a bit out of place on an album like this. I suppose it’s their attempt to try and show both sides of their sound, but they it sounds like they haven’t quite grasped the other side just yet. No harm done though, a few slower songs, and the rest of the album picks up where they left off.

I don’t feel any more analyzing will do any good, it’s everything that it is right on the surface: no frills, just good ol’ boy country music. I myself have never been a huge fan of the modern country music scene, but this is certainly one of the more enjoyable records I’ve picked up from that genre in a long time, if ever. So, if you’re looking for good music for hanging with your buds, just put this on for a spin and you’ll be set for a while.

Note from rokky: Sadly when I assigned Tyler this band, I couldn’t share with him the chocolate bars that I received with the album. I must say, a way to a reviewer’s heart is through their stomachs, and both the milk chocolate/caramel and the dark chocolate/rasberry were well received!

<3 ~ PollyPlumps

Name: Basement Arms Album: City Trash Released: 2007 Members: Dwight Schenk Jay Haddow Chris Eakins Brian Lahaie Website: www.basementarms.com Favourite Song: Over 50,000 Entries (Track 3)

Rock / Jam Band / Folk Rock. What the hell is a Jam Band? Isn’t that just a group of musicians who gather weekly in someone’s basement and they mess around until they have something that sounds decent then decide “Hey, maybe we should like do this official like and start up a band”?… Actually, now that I listen to this CD for the fourth time in as many hours, that sounds like it could have happened that way. They’ve got a nice up tempo, and it grooves and “swings” I suppose. But I feel like there was a lot of experimentation going on, since the songs don’t sound the same at all. It’s not rehearsed. They don’t have a formula for writing. This is refreshing.

I said already the songs don’t remind me of each other, right? Basement Arms is pretty heavy on some extraneous sound-effects, and I can’t say one way or another if it adds or doesn’t. I like clean music a lot of the time, instruments, voices, and not much else. But they don’t go overboard which is good. Overboard would be bad.

Where would anyone listen to Basement Arms might be a better unasked question than where would I listen to it. I listen to music at my computer, in my car, or at the club if I so happen to go. I’d like to see how they pull this music off in a live setting, that’s for sure. Some of the songs I could see playing at some of the crazier side-show performance type shows I go to though, It sometimes feels just creepy enough for it.

Name: Tim Tibbitts Album: Portraits Released: November 2006 Members: Tim Tibbitts - vocals, accoustic guitar Noel Webb - drums Attila Toth - bass Justin Abedin - electric guitar Ron Lopata - keyboards Website: www.timtibbitts.com Favourite Song: She Is Not Alone [track 8]

It’s always so cute to hear about how boys write songs about girls. And it’s just awe inspiring when these songs get recorded, and released, and used in all sorts of media. And it’s just sort of funny when you have the song-writer admit that the woman he’s writing all these love songs about, really doesn’t react to it, perhaps too much of a good thing?

I think I’m safe to say that Tim’s music is a lot of romantic love songs, and many are of the ballad type, and the most part would be accoustic. I say I feel safe in saying this, since I heard him say it on stage when I last saw him play. Considering he admitted to writing many of the love songs for his wife, it’s not particularly surprising.

After that last paragraph, it still surprised me, the music that’s on the album. Just because the songs are love songs, and are ballads, doesn’t mean they’re all slow and sound the same. Each song is quite unique in how it’s written, and what, and how the instruments are used. A lot of the songs are powerful and moving, and definately make me jealous of Tim’s wife that she’s had so many beautiful songs written about her.

These are romantic songs, I’d listen to them if I’m feeling exceptionally girly and want to feel happy and loved. Most weekend in other words. If I happen to be with any particular “special someone” who wouldn’t mind listening, I’d play it then too. It’s hard to say. I’m pretty sure I listened to this CD all Valentines Day.