Los Angeles-based neo-soul group just kicked off 2012 in the best way possible by playing at The Roxy here on Sunset Blvd. last week. You can check out my concert review for LA Music Blog by clicking the link below. Photos by Melissa Karlin, unless otherwise noted.
Los Angeles doesn't have too many folk acts coming around these days, but L.A. native George Ellias appears to want to be the exception. Why, you ask? It's hard to say. Folk can be troubled waters to tread since the wealth of that genre has always relied on underground sensibilities, retained to giving the average listener a second thought. It's not entirely something attainable in a city like Los Angeles where rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers and Silversun Pickups have a huge following.
But to George Ellias, folk is here to stay. It's understandable, too, that this notion Ellias charges at us with is very much the vision of an artist well-deep into his influences. That isn't to say he's purely imitating, but rather he is providing the music we once loved, a kind of nostalgia that seems to be recurring throughout current popular music such as 70's soul punchers Fitz and the Tantrums (an L.A. act, no less). Perhaps that is key to the possible success of his niche and, of course, timing. Timing is everything.
We get his first foray into the music world with his self-titled EP, which does a pretty good job of giving us a glimpse into certain possibilities of ol' folk. Reinvigorating the days of Bob Dylan with spot-on lyrical playfulness and guitar-picking intricacy, he's able to withstand that sound without being generic. Lyrically, he benefits from relying on messages that spark the same kind of interests of Dylan's followers and possibly even today's listeners. The song "Ghost Town" insinuates the lost lifestyles of old, which is perhaps a summation of what folk is all about in the first place. Kudos to that.
The rest of the EP steers its course in a similar vein, even if they play off as more of a showcase than a concept. We get the somber "A Farewell Song" and we get a lively "Stand Ashore," and we get these tracks as merely accepting Ellias' talents. If that is the thread that defines the EP, it can appear somewhat flat, but this reviewer is willing to find that his pros outweigh this small issue.
The EP mostly stays in tune for its seven tracks (six if you don't include the outtake of "Wonder Babe"), varying in terms of "quality." Songs like "Stand Ashore" and "Take My Advice" have a more "produced" approach, while songs like "Wonder Babe" and "A Farewell Song" are of lower fidelity. Either way, the use of reverb gives each song a very live, acoustic feel, and his track placement is finely interweaved as to not make the overall sound become counterbalanced.
Ellias gives a fine number of songs to link us to fonder days. As this is only his first EP, one can only imagine what his full-length will consist of, but this EP provides us with enough optimism. Each song brings us closer to classic folk, and whether or not that is Ellias' prerogative, he's managed to make us feel good about it.
Check out two tracks from the EP, and if you like what you hear, make sure to visit Amazon, iTunes, or George Ellias' Bandcamp webpage.
I can remember the time and the place where I first heard “Pumped Up Kicks.” It was the middle of my last semester of college. I was sitting at my school’s pub debating whether I’d be more productive studying as I ate or eating, then studying. When I heard this song; my head started bobbing, feet tapping, and transporting me out of my surroundings into the fun summer just a few months away. Life’s mediocrities aside, hearing this song made me decide to put my book down, enjoy my food, and not to take life so seriously.
I’m not saying “Pumped Up Kicks” changed my life whatsoever. But it’s exactly what I needed during that stressful time between midterms and finals when you realize, soon you will be shoved out into the real world with years of schooling and you’re either going to sink or swim. With the full-length album release just a few days ago, called Torches, does LA-based Foster the People deliver the light to fiend off the mosquitoes this summer? Not completely, but it’s a start.
The album starts off with a carpe diem attitude, with one of its catchiest songs, “Helena Beat.” With the foremost lyrics: “Sometimes life it takes you by the hand / It puts you down before you know it / It's gone and you're dead again,” you know you’re in for a chilled-out yet upbeat ride to kick off your summer. My favorite track on the album really hits home with the lyrics: “You know those days when you wanted to choose / To not get out of bed and get lost in your head again.” It doesn’t say everything’s going to be alright, but it offers the possibility.
Most of the songs on this album are hit-or-miss, but there are some tracks that really stand out. “Call It What You Want” offers another dancey tune to shake off your burdens, while “Color on the Walls (Don’t Stop),” hints at the more annoying tendencies of pop with a repetitive cookie-cutter pattern we have already heard many times before. The reason why this album is not getting five stars would have to be the repetitive lyrics and patterning in its songs, as well as a lack of originality. Songs like “Waste,” while quite enjoyable, it is plain to see that this group is channeling what MGMT has already done before, that seemingly fresh, off-kilter pop aesthetic, for an alternative audience.
“Houdini,” the second single off this album, offers another well-crafted tune for the summer. It may not be killed on the radio through too much airplay like “Pumped Up Kicks” though. This track is more nuanced and complex than the previous single, with more variation in both the vocals and instrumentation. Though the groups channeling of MGMT is even more pronounced here, when have we dismissed a pop song for being slightly unoriginal?
Another track that stands out would have to be “Miss You.” With lyrics nearing poetry, once again touching upon the psyche of one who needs to ‘just let go’ for a little while, this song truly lets you get lost, or on the flip-side, immersed in the self-reflective present. With a characteristic push-pull drum beat, beautiful vocalization, vivid lyrics, and energetic instrumentation, this song, like many on the album are like the flames of torches. Like the transitory nature of fire, or summer, Torches, while not perfect, is fun while it lasts.
Say what you want about pop punk. Say that it's just whiny 20-somethings unable to let their high school days go. Say that it's repetitive and amateur. Say that it's nothing more than a hairstyle and a pair of extremely tight jeans. But then step back and take a listen to Yellowcard's latest LP, released this past Tuesday (3/22). From the opening track who's ominous first note crawls along until an abrupt explosion of up-tempo double-bass pedal and soaring lead guitar riff set the tone for the rest of the album, it is clear that this is Yellowcard's most ambitious work to date, and some of pop punk's most ambitious as well. When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes, is the album that proves all of the aforementioned assumptions wrong.
Yellowcard's latest is the first since returning to the indie label world (their three previous records were released by Capitol); it also marks the end of their two-year hiatus taken after touring for 2007's Paper Walls. The album shares some similarities with Walls from a production standpoint. Each song begins to cross the boundary into wall-of-sound territory, especially on album-closer, "Be the Young." Personally, I'm partial to this dominating rock-will-destroy-you-and/or-save-you sensibility and it's one of the things that makes this album so different from the vast majority of the pop punk world.
Lead-singer, Ryan Key, pushes himself harder melodically than he ever has, his vocals full of exertion and emotional honesty that just isn't felt like this in the band's previous work. Yellowcard has also accomplished something on this album that is very significant for them: for the first time in their music, the addition of violin as a main staple in their line-up has transcended gimmick. Violinist and backup-vocalist, Sean Mackin, is a thoroughly talented musician. However, before the release of ...Say Yes, his additions always seemed superfluous and put up on a pedestal to keep the songs interesting and novel. I'm happy to report that on this latest release, Mackin's contribution has finally, truly hit its stride. Each song is beautiful on its own and his string backing harmonies are that perfect icing on the cake to complete the full sound that this album delivers.
4/5
Yellowcard - "The Sound of You and Me"
Yellowcard - "Be the Young"
When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes is available on Hopeless Records.
