Review: Dinosaur Death Trap EP
Downington, PA’s Dinosaur Death Trap presses all of the right buttons on their debut, self-titled EP. Resplendent guitars, pitch-perfect vocals and a production quality beyond any rational expectation for an unsigned indie rock band, collectively serve as the foundation for a five-track release that feels as if its resided in your back pocket for years. Familiar and accessible, Dinosaur Death Trap’s is a sound that seems destined for an audience beyond the West-Philly suburb that the band calls home.
Opening track “Sticks and Mud” begins with the guttural growl of the bass on full reverb before collapsing into a cascade of perfectly layered “Aahs.” “Cause we don’t dress it up / We know where we’re from” lead singer Dylan Pennell croons with a nonchalant confidence. Keys twinkle beneath a clean, addictive guitar riff. And with that we’re off.
The centerpiece of the release, “Torchbearer” plays like a less-theatrical version of Conveyor’s “Mukraker.” Or maybe it’s just the repetition of each song’s three-syllable title. I don’t know, it’s late at night and my judgment is beginning to grow suspect. What I do know is this: Here, as throughout the release, Dinosaur Death Trap works in perfect balance. Each member of the five-piece weaves impeccably around the other.
With each successive spin, it seems all the more impossible that Dinosaur Death Trap EP is a first effort. It’s not that the music is overtly complex, but this is a sophisticated, thoughtful release from a group of guys who should still be fumbling around in search of their respective roles. Listen to “Sticks and Mud” below and name your price for a digital download of the EP via Bandcamp.
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Written by Rob Peoni
Album Review: Van Morrison ‘Veedon Fleece’
In the fall of 1973, Van Morrison returned to his native Ireland for the first time since his 1967 departure. The vacation arrived on the heels of a successful summer tour with his 11-piece band The Caledonia Soul Orchestra and the dissolution of his marriage to Janet Rigsbee. Accompanied by his new fiancée and the core of his orchestra, Morrison spent the bulk of the trip traveling southern Ireland and recording much of the material that would comprise his eighth studio album Veedon Fleece.
Released a year later, Veedon Fleece was dismissed by critics as a misguided attempt to recreate the magic of Astral Weeks. Rolling Stone’s Jim Miller went so far as to refer to the album’s score as “mood music for mature hippies” and argue that Morrison’s vocals suggested “a pinched vocal nerve drowning in porridge.” Needless to say, the reaction was less than a ringing endorsement of the songwriter’s return to his mellower roots.
In the decades since its release, Veedon Fleece has taken on a mythical quality amongst Morrison devotees, with many slapping the title of “forgotten masterpiece” on the release. One prominent reason for Veedon Fleece‘s forgotten status largely falls on the shoulders of Morrison, whom at least publicly, appears to have no affection for the LP. He has rarely, if ever, performed the material live and it is routinely ignored on Greatest Hits releases and retrospective compilations. The album is unavailable for digital download on iTunes and cannot be streamed by U.S. users on Spotify. However, CDs and vinyl surface routinely on Amazon and most decent record stores. Morrison appears content to leave the album as what it is: a stream-of-consciousness snapshot of an artist’s return home in the midst of an emotional transition.
Morrison spent the years between Astral Weeks and Veedon Fleece churning out a string of R&B and soul classics. Moondance, Tupelo Honey, St. Dominic’s Preview and Hard Nose the Highway all found their way into the top 30 of the Billboard charts for their respective years. Those releases solidified Morrison’s position as a bona fide star, and largely found the artist working within the constraints of American pop music of the era. Though much of that material represented a sharp contrast to the free-flowing Astral Weeks, tracks like 1972’s “Listen to the Lion” should have indicated Morrison’s return to his earlier self.
Veedon Fleece opens with a pair of sprawling, piano-driven tracks accompanied by an upright bass, brush-stroked drums and acoustic guitar. Flourishes of flute and strings replace the big brass sound that had dominated Morrison’s preceding records. The additions provide depth without abandoning the album’s sparse, intimate feel. The music tends to swell and recede in intensity giving the collective tracks the feeling of a long conversation more than separate discussions. While Veedon Fleece may not reinvent the wheel from a musical standpoint, it is nevertheless a satisfying slow roll that coheres nicely.
Lyrically, Morrison appears inspired by his Irish landscape and the bards of previous generations. He references Oscar Wilde, William Blake and the Eternals and the “architecture of his mind.” Miller is reasonable in his assessment of these themes in his review, arguing that they are pretentious and self-aggrandizing. However, I would argue that it’s little more than Van being Van. To expect otherwise is a futile task.
There is little on Veedon Fleece that resembles a radio-ready track, with the notable exceptions of the album’s centerpieces “Cul de Sac” and “Bulbs.” Although, the same could be said about Astral Weeks, long thought of as an all-time-great pop record, but one that largely worked in contrast to the more traditional folk and rock of its peers. Love it or hate it, Veedon Fleece is the closest that Morrison ever came to offering up a sequel to Astral Weeks. For that reason alone, it deserves your consideration.
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Written by Rob Peoni
Album Review: Eternal Summers ‘Correct Behavior’
Breaking out of your comfort zone. At the moment you begin trying to, it isn’t the easiest of things to accomplish. As human beings, there’s a hesitation to try and stick with the familiar, regardless of whether or not that familiar is still even good for us. On the opposite end, too much change all the time can send you into a cluster fuck of a life. You may accomplish a ton of little things, but in the end you could have collected 100 pennies and only have a dollar for your efforts. That’s probably the toughest part about progress…trying to balance not only what you’re good at in the present, but also pushing yourself in a positive direction of growth.
People judge indie rock all the time by the maturation of a band’s sound from album to album. While I think this is a tad overrated of a conversation point, it definitely holds at least a little bit of value. Mostly, I think people want to hear something different than what they’ve heard…but as the Morning Benders have reminded us, perhaps not too different. On the opposite end of that, The Roanoke, Virginia trio Eternal Summers have combined the perfect amount of past mixed in with some intriguing new substance on their sophomore effort Correct Behavior. While 2010’s minimalistic pop punk alum Silver had it’s merits based on the rawness associated with a band’s beginning, the group made a splash back in May with the announcement of their new album and the first single “Millions”. A distinctly polished pop song, it’s sound is in stark contrast to the lo-fi attitude the of 2-3 minute songs on their first album. Was this a total change up? A sign of things to come? Well, yes and no.
It’s fitting that “Millions” is the lead track on Correct Behavior as it represents the track that represents the biggest philosophical alteration for the group. Like when making a mix tape, I always like to lead with a hit. If you want to keep someone interested and listening, you better wow them at the start. And that’s precisely how “Millions” functions for this album. It’s a tone setter. It’s not the deepest song, but it is by far the most fun. It’s a looker that allows you to get into the bigger details on this album. But this is not an album of polished pop songs. In general, these songs are much fuller and more well put together than Silver, but that punky, lo-fi flesh is still very much here. “Wonder” the second song on the album, is a rebellious sounding track that puts the point of this album in a nut shell when singer Nicole Yun proclaims, “day and night, it’s night and day, correct behavior.” “Who Kill” follows with a reverb-heavy guitar drone and a complete feel. While shorter tracks are typical of the lo-fi genre, there’s something to be said for letting a song develop to it’s fullest, which is what the group does here perfectly.
“I Love You” immediately follows and is the song most reminiscent of the first album. It’s short, fun, beachy, and has a killer bass solo just after the one minute mark before the group breaks it down with the slowed down “It’s Easy”. Which brings us to the most interesting, and perhaps greatest song on this album: “Girls in the City”. With the flip of the vinyl to the B Side and drop the needle, it is a shockingly great change up as Daniel Cundiff takes the lead vocals in a mysterious, heart-breaking song about betrayal. While Cundiff’s voice stays in the low octaves and doesn’t venture too far away in terms of range, it’s dark mood and mesmerizing beat set a feeling unlike any song I’ve heard in quite some time. I’ve probably listened to this track 20 odd times already, and I feel like I understand it completely, and not at all, at the same time. In any case, I’ll leave it to you to sample and decide for yourself.
“Heaven and Hell” follows with Yun sounding like an angel amongst the chaos of the guitars below before the mood is slowed down once again with “Good as You”. That’s another aspect to this album that may go unnoticed, but the spacing of the songs and their particular sound is perfect. Never overwhelmed with too much happiness or despair, the songs float along like a perfect days highs and lows. The album closes with “Disappear” and “Summerset”, a dreamy song that sets the sun on this summer day. When the needle ventures into the static of the vinyl edge at it’s close, you’re left with an earful of contentment in this brilliant sophomore LP.
Correct Behavior is out now via Kanine Records. Those of us in Cincinnati and throughout the Midwest can catch them in person at the MidPoint Music Festival in the Cincinnati sometime between 9/27 and 9/29.
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Written by Greg Dahman
Thought on Tracks 