Thursday, February 11, 2016

Earth Engine EP

Five tracks comprise Earth Engine’s debut EP, each one a jarring spiral deeper into unfamiliar, uncharted, and wildly unpredictable territory. One thing you won’t take away from this Detroit group’s record is exactly something you’d expect. And for a self-produced project, this is certainly no small feat. Still, at its heart, this thing is a solid collection of prog rock songs. Kind of.    
The EP takes its time unraveling its layered and cryptic, yet catchy and accessible content, dancing around hooks and bridges that often take a dramatically different shape only seconds later. The opening track (and the album’s most linear), “Remain,” washes over like a heavy tide, coming up as a level and aggressive ballad. Other tracks like “Joy Blue” hammer sporadically through to the end with many sharp turns along the way. It’s never a straight shot -- more like a deliberate detour. The structured chaos is just enough to make sure you won’t walk away.
Something the record gives a lot of attention to: bringing together aesthetic themes via production strategies. For example, you’ll notice a white noise exit in “Fever of Static,” ushering listeners into sustained emptiness. You might hear bells in “Year One” to complement If I ring the bell -- the track’s telling line. And, if you listen very carefully, you might hear a soft drone between “Remain” and “River’s Red” -- i.e., submerged and trying to surface. Still.  
And what’s most impressive is how unusual and singular EE’s sound actually is, while still making you want to dance and sing along -- while still striking right to your core. This, after all, is what music is supposed to do. And so many groups seem to lose sight of that very early on. For the time being, it seems Earth Engine can hold your attention, and more importantly, make that time count.
















The EP is worth listening to if only for the experience of hearing a local product you really don’t hear that often -- although you’ll likely find better reasons than that.

Here's the album's single:  



EP Release
Saturday, February 13 
New Dodge Lounge, Hamtramck  
$5/doors at 8:00 pm


Tuesday, February 2, 2016

White Denim (pt.2)

This new year 2016 concludes White Denim’s three-year silence; their seventh studio album Stiff is set to drop March 25. At long last.
consequenceofsound.com
Since Corsicana Lemonade, we’ve heard virtually nothing from the group (save for James Petralli’s poppy and all-too-linear Bop English), and so we were forced to speculate. Hiatus? A semi-permanent turn to other projects? It’s likely you thought that would never actually be the case. WD is just too good, too young, and too underrepresented among the masses to disband now.

So far, we have two singles and an absurdly unabashed music video, in which White Denim indeed becomes the-thing-draped-over-your-bare-chest (see below). “Holda You (I’m Psycho)” returns to us the Texas neo-twang and upbeat southern-rock lines we expect (and for which we fell in love with them) -- a warm “hey, we’re back” to settle your anxiety.
stereogum.com
“Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah),” their most recent reveal, is simple and soulful with the right amount of funk and lyrical puns to come off smooth. The band prides itself on urging people to “have a good time,” spare no expense, dance like a fucking fool; if anything, the track is Sitff’s good-time ballad. In other words, expect nothing less from the rest of the album.




This release is shaping up to be a record no different from the last three, and I’ll risk sounding naive by saying that this isn’t a bad thing at all. White Denim is the right amount of familiar, original, and interesting coming out of a region flooded with musicians both talented and forgettable. I applaud them, and might always appreciate what they have to offer.

You can find a list of tour dates on their website.

Holda You (I’m Psycho)

Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah)     

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