Ball of Wax 43 Songs: Perish the Island – Loose Blood

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Jon Rooney

Luna Moth main man Mark Schlipper is a devotee of drone, ambiance and the hypnotic beauty of expansive repetition.  Whereas the Moth trades in heavy guitars, bass and drums, Schlipper’s other project, Perish the Island, works with more subtle soundscapes. “Loose Blood” is an entrancing set piece contrasting slow waves of sound (a synth pad? guitar through a ton of effects? I can’t tell) with a smattering more percussive elements, like some sort of drum/dulcimer loop thing and the blunted attack of underwater bass gurgles. As the previous sentence attests, I have no idea how Perish the Island made this piece (I’m more of a jangly guitar pop lunkhead), but I REALLY like “Loose Blood.” Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff.

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Ball of Wax 43 Songs: Candice Rose – Fraud

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Levi Fuller

This is Candice Rose‘s first contribution to Ball of Wax, but a couple familiar names show up in the credits for this track: Christopher Hydinger of The Music of Grayface and his frequent co-conspirator Bobby Wayne Ingram. Candice gave me two versions of this song to choose from, and it was a tough choice: the other version was a guitar and vocals demo that more clearly featured Candice’s vocals and melody, but lacked the thick, beguiling sonic treats of this more produced version. Ultimately I decided that this version, while perhaps a more challenging listen, was ultimately richer and more rewarding. Either way, it’s a compelling tune that gets under your skin and I’m very pleased to include it on this volume of Ball of Wax.

Candice will kick off the festivities at the Ball of Wax 43 release show this Saturday. Perhaps yet a third version of “Fraud” will be born that night? Join us to find out.

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Ball of Wax 43 Songs: Karaoke Hottiez – I Don’t Care, It Don’t Bother Me

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Jon Rooney

Ok, so there’s the band name. Karaoke Hottiez is just brutal. It’s another in a growing trend of jokey pizza-fart-punk rock-ish names that seem to be all the rage in this town, evoking 8-bit ’90s Olympia backwash posing as transgressive bricolage. That being said,  “I Don’t Care, It Don’t Bother Me” is a pretty little slice of lo fi bossa nova pop, more aligned to the sublime catch-iness  of Herman Dune or the great, underappreciated Pet Politics than any number of Value Village No Wave bands this region is crawling with. It’s a charming little tune with heart, brains and style, further proof that one shouldn’t judge the proverbial book by the proverbial cover.

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Ball of Wax 43 Songs: Lys Guillorn – Dialtone

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Levi Fuller

Our old pal Lys Guillorn returns to the Ball of Wax sphere with “Dialtone,” a dark, dreamy meditation consisting of minimalist, layered electric guitar (with a hefty dose of e-bow) and Lys’s weary, languid voice. There’s no chorus or refrain and the lyrics are somewhat difficult to parse – your ear catches on phrases like “she sings a dialtone” and “how do you fly this thing?” – and the melody constantly shifts and evolves throughout the piece, like a beautiful little mini-raga. I think it pairs nicely with Raymond Anderson’s tune, as yet another sub-three-minute opus with more depth than can be properly appreciated in the first few listens. (Hey, who’s the genius who sequences these things?)

I don’t know when we’ll ever get Lys out to Seattle again, but if you live in Connecticut this Nutmegger and her band will likely be playing near you soon. Catch a show, why don’t you?

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Ball of Wax 43 Songs: Raymond Anderson – Two Dreams

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Jon Rooney

From the first few bars, I was all in on Raymond Anderson’s “Two Dreams,” a brief lo fi torch song featuring crooning vocals, jazzy chord changes, and stream of consciousness lyrics. Anderson employs just voice, electric guitar, and some analog buzz to craft a full, compelling little world that questions the metaphysical effectiveness of prayer, evokes the story of Jonah and the whale and justifies a knife fight. Pretty good stuff for just two minutes and six seconds. According to the interwebs, Raymond Anderson recorded “Two Dreams” in a living room in Portland for a 7″ release from One Horse Records, a new label in Rose City. That’s pretty much all I know about Anderson and “Two Dreams,” but it’s way more than anyone needs to enjoy this little gem.

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Ball of Wax 43 Songs: Aaron Starkey of Long Dark Moon – Too Busy

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Levi Fuller

You might recognize Aaron Starkey’s voice from the dark, moody sounds of his rock band Gibraltar, but here on Volume 43 he’s bringing us something a little different. “Too Busy” is a solo acoustic demo of a song by his band Long Dark Moon, which I have to assume has more of a rootsy, Americana-tinged sound than Gibraltar. I’m looking forward to hearing the full band at the BoW 43 show this Saturday, but the song stands on its own with this stripped-down treatment: Aaron’s playing – from light, finger-picked verses to heavily strummed choruses – and his emotive voice introduce a few levels of dynamics and keep the song moving and your ears engaged. Lyrically, he seems to be addressing the difficulty of expressing our most important thoughts and feelings – whether in song or otherwise – before life draws to a close. Heck, under a different title this song would have fit well on our “Meaning of Life” volume.

Catch Aaron and the rest of Long Dark Moon at the Ball of Wax 43 release show this Saturday at Conor Byrne.

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Ball of Wax 43 Songs: Darryl Blood – Mint

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Jon Rooney

Longtime Ball of Wax contributor Darryl Blood returns with “Mint,” a big, classic rock-y number punctuated by some nifty lead guitar lines. The lyrics, which culminate in the chorus “don’t come to my defense unless you’re mint,” are a bit inscrutable (there’s a line that goes “I’m saving all my best tracks for my box set” that I like a lot) but Blood delivers them with raspy gusto. Some creative arrangement choices, like an unexpected harmonica solo at the midway point followed by a mini vocal breakdown, make “Mint” deserving of a close listen or two. It’s a clever, well-produced track and a welcome addition to ye olde Ball of Wax.

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Ball of Wax 43 Songs: The Jesus Chords – When the Man Gets You Down

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Levi Fuller

For those of you who thought The Foghorns had a lock on Seattle’s working class anthem racket, allow me to introduce you to The Jesus Chords, a band that’s been grinding out their own brand of gritty, low-fi country since before I (and probably you) lived in Seattle. “When the Man Gets You Down” is a fine entry in the “country songs about shitty jobs” canon. It starts and ends with a simple chorus of solidarity, between which Greg Irving spools out an all too familiar litany of bad-job scenarios: disrespectful bosses, lousy hours, wage theft on top of crappy wages . . . basically the 20-teens economy in a nutshell. “When the Man Gets You Down” is pissed-off, but in a good-nature way – more of a call to booze than a call to arms.

I’m very much looking forward to catching the Jesus Chords’ working class call to booze in the perfect setting, Conor Byrne Pub on a Saturday night! Don’t miss their set at the Ball of Wax 43 release show on February 27th.

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Ball of Wax 43 Songs: The Foghorns – Like an Old Trans Am

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Jon Rooney

Ball of Wax staples the Foghorns return with “Like an Old Trans Am,” a track off their upcoming LP, a companion to last year’s The Sun’s Gotta Shine. “Trans Am” is the Foghorns at their most wistful, defeated and wise. As with much of his best work, Bart Cameron is able to paint a vivid portrait of sadness and loss with just a few subtle strokes.  Cameron opens the song with the line “the way you used to look at me / like an old Trans Am on the road,” setting the stage for a bitter, beautiful analogy involving faded muscle cars and lost love. The analogy is neither cryptic nor overworked; it’s modest yet dead-on. Lauren Trew’s bass clarinet solo is just gorgeous and the backing vocals work like a disheveled Greek chorus at the end of a bar. “Trans Am” is another small miracle of song from Cameron and his protean band.

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Ball of Wax 43 Songs: Jack Shriner – January Dream

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Levi Fuller

Jack Shriner (Another Wisconsin boy! What did I tell you?) has been a friend of Ball of Wax for quite some time, but his contributions have been few and far between (the most recent was his excellent submission to the “dance party” volume under the inspired name Bertolt Breast). It’s a pleasure to share a brand new song from Jack’s new album The Fluid Ounce, due out any day now. “January Dream” continues the head-bobbing groove that opens this volume, started by Amina and Fen Wik Ren, nicely blending some African-inspired rhythms and guitar lines with indie rock breakdowns and Jack’s subdued, straight-ahead vocals. And then at the end it all flows perfectly naturally into this Sufjan Stevens-ish 6/8 wind-and-strings coda. The whole thing is propelled forward by an unceasing, insistent shaker, which helps tie these seemingly disparate musical elements together and keep you grooving.

I am very excited to see Jack and his band (and get the percussionist a beer at the end of this song) at the Ball of Wax 43 release show on the 27th. I bet he’ll let you buy a copy of the new record if you ask real nice.

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