Fresh Track: Open Mike Eagle “5ree Thinkers”
Originally hailing from Chicago, rapper Open Mike Eagle has been carving out a niche on the west coast independent hip hop scene for a few years now. Mike’s crew the Swim Team is the next generation of Cali’s legendary Project Blowed collective, but lately his work has been putting him in a class all his own. Since the release of his strong sophomore album Rappers Will Die of Natural Causes last year, Mike has released two stellar EP’s to prep for his upcoming LP in June.
“5ree Thinkers” is the first track off his latest EP Rent Party Extension and has quickly become one of my favorite Open Mike Eagle songs. Mike has always had something to say on the mic, but his style has become more distinct and nuanced on recent material and 5ree Thinkers might be his most evolved song yet. Open Mike lets listeners know he’s “on that free thinking double talk, my peoples out there like NASA space shuttle walks”. It’s this type of attitude and self-awareness that has helped Mike cultivate a style all his own that is becoming more insightful and artistically fragmented with each release. In the third verse, Mike even references an episode of the classic live action sitcom “Dinosaurs,” stating that it contained the explanation for all the secrets of the world. Heady stuff Mike, heady stuff. Grab a free copy Open Mike Eagle’s Rent Party Extension EP.
Connect with Open Mike Eagle via Facebook | Twitter
Written by John Bugbee
Album Review: Thunders ‘Beautiful Baby in the Bummer of Love’
Since its humble beginnings in the early 1960s, “garage rock” has progressed through a series of adjustments. Styles have evolved over the years, but there has remained one constant, the guitar. In 1964, South Bend band The Rivieras took their early garage rock beginnings to the mainstream with their smash hit “California Sun”. They used a joyful organ to keep rhythm and thundering bass to measure time. The key to note is that they leaned on a memorable guitar lick to bring it all together.
Bands like The Animals used the influence of the British invasion to progress garage rock, by adding a blues influence to the guitar in songs like “We Got to Get Out of this Place.” The Stooges helped to introduce garage rock to the ever so important hidden ingredient of distortion during the influential punk era. During the 1980s and 90s, contributions to the growth of the garage rock scene proved spotty. However, the turn of the century brought the familiar sound back to the forefront. Bands like The White Stripes and The Strokes gained notoriety by pulling from all eras of the garage rock evolution while making their guitar sound their own. As a loyal follower of the scene, I keep my ear to the asphalt to find bands that sound like they pull from the classics. This one comes in the form of a referral and can be found in a garage nearly next door.
Thunders is a loud, grungy, present day garage rock contributor that appears on a mission to blow out my speakers with each successive spin. Lead singer, Ryan Reidy, is an Indiana product that has spent time building influence in the Indianapolis and Muncie scenes. Reidy now calls Chicago home, fronting this project with Hotfox members Michael Preuschl and Duncan Kissinger. The band released their long-awaited full-length debut, Beautiful Baby in the Bummer of Love last week. This release came nearly four years after gaining local interest with their 2008 EP Sympathetic Oscillations. The electric guitar shines throughout this debut release.
EP carry over “MagicSick” opens up the record with a moan and ever so important squealing guitar, offering listeners a brash beginning. This track adopts the type of punk attitude that would make Iggy Pop proud. Reidy screams, “We’ve got love that is deep in our hearts” several times during the chorus and uses a ripping guitar over his vocals to add a timely build as the song closes. This song provides an attention-grabbing introduction for listeners looking to find early value.
Title track, “Beautiful Baby in the Bummer of Love” stands on its own legs and is the centerpiece of this record. If you are the type of listener that needs an ear full of distortion to sleep better at night then this one is for you. Cymbals crash throughout the song while guitar licks, heavy on the effects pedal, disrupts the song…for the better. The listener will find little flare in this song or most of the others on this record like most garage bands offer. Thunders uses songs like this to be confrontational. It is this chew you up and then spit you out mentality that is able to demand my interest as the record progresses.
Just when I thought I had Thunders completely figured out, they throw a curve ball to close out the 9th. Reidy exists through the back door and escapes the sound in final track “Freedom Throat Blues”. A stripped down acoustic closer displays an unexpected vulnerable side of Thunders. Ending this heavy record in such a gentle manner helps to maintain an initial level of honestly with listeners, while keeping us on our toes. The guitar always seems to be the focal point of garage rock, even when it leans acoustically by itself.
Reidy has established himself as a captivating front man on this release. Add Preuschl and Kissinger to the mix and now there is a solid base to keep a direct garage rock contributor alive in the Midwest. It is encouraging to see local extensions of classic records that have kept garage rock alive for the last 50 years. Beautiful Baby in the Bummer of Love is another release that locals can be proud to rep, and a record that promotes the art of making a loud guitar the star of the show.
Connect with Thunders via Facebook | Bandcamp
Written by Brett McGrath
EP Review: DMA ‘The Boardwalk’
The first time I saw David “Moose” Adamson perform under his new moniker DMA was at a release party for his Drem Beb cassette at Earth House last summer. I remember feeling pissed off. The mix was rough, the vocals inaudible and the beats were not developed – at least for a live setting. DMA came off as pretentious. The performance felt like a big “fuck you” to everyone in attendance. As if he was saying, “This is what I’m up to now, and I don’t give a shit whether you like it.”
Neither then nor now, would I qualify as an expert on electronic music, by any stretch of the imagination. However, I have seen and heard enough to know that this was an artist still figuring out his sound.
Earlier that year, I stood in the same location and watched DMA and his former band JOOKABOX tear the roof off of Earth House during their farewell show. It was a bittersweet party. The feeling was something like watching an athlete retire in their prime. Though JOOKABOX’s members likely had legitimate and worthwhile reasons to part ways, that performance left anyone within earshot certain that they could still rock a room with the best of Indy’s musicians.
Fast forward to last week, when DMA dropped his sophomore solo release The Boardwalk. The six-track EP finds Adamson still tinkering with the same experimental electronic medium – a genre he has dubbed “crust funk.” However, this time around the material is less abrasive. The vocals, though sparse, resonate as more stream of consciousness than lyrical, but they are coherent and interesting. The title track builds on a beat that appears inspired by the consistent beep of an electrocardiogram, with vocals entering two-thirds of the way through.
“I’m standing in the Holy Spirit parking lot, next to Amy’s old blue car which I have borrowed from her. A black woman comes up to me and tells me I need to have the battery(?) replaced. She is a car psychic. I say okay, but give some reason not to do it right now. I have somehow come to this parking lot after leaving a confusing vacation resort with clear blue pools of water and nice families that are afraid of me. When I came at the resort, people were gathering to rage. But I was cruising through the darkened areas of The Boardwalk.”
This is not a release I would pass off to any lighthearted listener. The Boardwalk is built for adventurous ears with an appetite for experimentation. Nevertheless, the production has improved and the sound is more accessible. I am particularly taken with the closing track “It’s Funny.” Here, the melody is built around looping vocals of “Oohs”, a lighthearted whistle and a sporadic bass drum. The track fades out, sending the listener off in the same dreamlike state that the release maintains throughout. The Boardwalk is a definite mind fuck, but an enjoyable one. Now I want to see if DMA can pull it off live. Listen to the title track below.
Connect with DMA via Facebook | Bandcamp
Written by Rob Peoni
Thought on Tracks 