UNDYING NO BS BRASS BAND
I have been looking for this band to release an album! I'm going to think about the way it's put together like I would a collage - it feels modern, and i can engage with it on the level of pep music for a football game, or for it's innovation in the lyrics or particular blend of so many flavors - from jazz with rock flavor to new-jazz/modern indie-pop solos on like bad news track 6, but then again, it's also so retro because of the voices of the instruments and the jazz places the intstrumentals take us. For other bands on the radar doing what this band does, I'd recommend D.C.'s New Groovement? 2. Applause- fanfare track! takes you to a drumline, music is about empowerment and strength, 3. Undying- title track, more experimental - strong bass brass! 4. Vibrate Higher - soul, smooth jazz-style ranging melody still. this group seems to be focused on the energy of their band, jazzy, blue trumpet solos are backed by this really strong tuba bass line. then a turn back to the cans and rhythm from applause, blending it with jazz. Live for today, you can fly, spread your wings 5. Money is sign of Poverty - a little bit 50's swing - the big band sound - listen to the polished trumpets - they sound clean and yet they do retain a little bit of the rough and tough of a marching band style aggression. This theme comes back, and then, tuba intro - this instrument contributes so much energy to this album. Then, the trumpet gets down low and talks to the tuba while the percussionists do a scatter. Bring everyone back for another drumline, and at the end - a "tarantella" aka amazing saxophone dance break - to me the tension in this song is between big bands and more aggressive marching band pep music or, conversely, restraint and more expressive, aggression. The title of the song is provocative and a little bit in your face. 6. Bad News- I think we are still in a very retro place but some very modern instrument sounds will be incorporated. A striking trombone solo intro with a touch of saxophone. bring in the baritone and you have a building sound that is very modern and indie-rock-sounding. swing and jazz then sweeps you away with the flash of cymbals -- back to a red-carpet ballroom in the 50's. this is a song full of dramatic range and a wandering theme, the big band polish that alternates with the frank 'plaint of the lone trombone, but then moves on to an alto sax solo that cries above the whole pronouncement with that modern, haunted, independent tone. a complicated song with several themes wound together. i love it! 7. 2 the day- Shoutout to living in RVA, to living easy and maybe rebelling against the easy living. this group is full of an energy that says elevate yourself, those around you, with an attitude that is tough and demanding. Push the boundaries with positivity and don't settle for living easy. 8. Tiger Bomb - rap chorus then rock refrain backed by the brass. this is a fun song about the struggles, strength and pride of the band's creativity and success, maybe? instead of a rock guitar solo we get a trumpet backed by singing tuba that activates my imagination like a synthesizer (almost!!) and powerful drums it all feels a little bit like Sweet Child o Mine, Evanescence or something on the level of that drama- with a distinctively metal-rock flatness to it. 9. to jazz again, on That's a Wrap. It's soul but kind of flattened. Is that jazz? A little bit less climbing whole and complete than gospel and more experimental and focused on the small movements and moments. This song is right on that edge, and it's just beautiful. and truly takes you home! JUSTIN GOLDEN HARD TIMES AND A WOMAN Newlin Prize writer has it right calling this a blues roots album. I think its cinematic with all the varied textures of this music that doesn't ever take its self too seriously. Well-balanced and lovely! 1. Can't get right- Blues blues blues - there's reverb, there's harmonica, there're effortless vocals that don't get too dark. From the first notes I'm taken to a very happy rich place - it's Tennessee Jed in the strained voice of the guitar; it's music of the likes of James McMurtry for its Americana feel or Paul Simon for the gentle simplicity of the blues. 2. Ain't Just Luck- love the color of this guitar - reminds me of the pace and tone of Bob Dylan's most recent albums. This song has so many great steady voices to it, and when they run together, there's a little bit of a muddy quality at times. "I got caught in the river/ stood tall on the other side." This is the voice of blues that are not wasting time on regret and rather celebrating resilience. Imagery is a little bit like a fable or archetypal, making it a very traditional blues- carrying a dead bird over your shoulder to ward off bad things. 3. Lightning When She Smiles- rounds layered together, bright and sunny with the organ. a gospel fragment humbled down to just one repeating phrase and becoming like a meditation. I really like these blues riffs. This is just a beautiful song that is craveable- like the artist's smile. 4. The Gator - a little bit darker, the vocals are distorted in a way that feels like sunbaked or blind in the sun. back to the sound of track one and up-tempo a little bit. 5. Must Be Honey- victory love song, with organ and kind of the exit music feel. very sweet and mellow! 6. Moon Far Away- another love song, very traditional and distinctive. gators, hot sun and the blues land us somewhere Cajun or maybe just rural Virginian, with banjo and fiddle in a soft atmosphere, the sparse piano notes like bugs making ripples on still water, and the whole scene lit by the gentle glow of Golden's voice. I really like the end of the song because the intrusion of an unfamiliar sound that manifests itself earlier in the song for just long enough to make you scratch your head... this song throws in a little genre mashup with, honestly, movies. Production value is great on this whole track. Butcher Brown Presents Triple Trey featuring Tennishu and R4ND4ZZO BIGB4ND "The album was originally written and produced by the band's MC and multi-instrumentalist Tennishu as a hip hop album, but has since evolved into Butcher Brown's own eclectic ode to big band jazz, " From the band's statement above, partake in some garage hip hop mixed with the smoothest of jazz combos; this music makes me feel like anything is possible. I love the energy -- cinematic at times and then becoming a little more potent and expressive -- at all times, the jazz feels a little retro. The flow of Tennishu's lyrics is a haze through which we hear the smooth backdrop of jazz. I like the overall kind of muffled vocal production and the mixtape-style percussion. 4. Lawd Why- I love this song! It feels like such a unique voice - the music elevates these lyrics because it is so dramatic, but it takes me to a new and unfamiliar place. I feel like Foxy Cleopatra but in a modern, hip-hop time. 5. explicit, but cool the way the swinging saxophones sometimes sound like traffic zooming past you with the doppler effect. This is an urban sound, and it's not so intimidating but introspective and focused, driven on and by the pace of urbanity. 6/7/8. 777 - Mixtape percussion, music feeling a little more jazz, a little less like straight-out-of-a-Bond-film. Divided into movements, paying attention to atmosphere 9. Breevin' - explicit - another favorite though! Hype song- you know nothing hypes me up like ... smooth jazz! (Reminds me of Pineapple Express or something. Red was such a memorable character!) The bottom line: this music is easy to listen to and energetic. 10. Cusian- slow buildup, rap about staying dedicated to the squad (Triple Trey,) to making music, to the shows 11. 12. Outtro- almost gets as peppy and rough as No Bs's mellower stuff ;) here at the end, where the band departs from this album with a little extra pizazz.
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AuthorWe are Kieran and Michelle, two 32-year-old William & Mary grads living in Virginia. Archives
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