Ball of Wax 41 Songs: Brenda Xu – Trumpet Song

Posted on September 15, 2015 by Jon Rooney

Seattle artist Brenda Xu‘s “Trumpet Song” is a clever, sophisticated pop song featuring, you guessed it, a trumpet that make a couple of cameo appearances at the middle and the end. Trumpet aside, the song’s strongest elements are Xu’s understated, moody vocals and an inventive arrangement that makes a five and a half minute tune feel like a mini song cycle. Reminiscent of Aimee Mann and Elliott Smith’s thoughtful chamber pop, there’s also a bit of a Laura Nyro-plays-the-songs-of-Weill vibe going on here. Really, really nice stuff.

Xu and her band (including trumpet, I hope) will open up the Ball of Wax 41 show this Friday, and she is touring much of the West this fall – check her out if she comes to your town.

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Ball of Wax 41 Songs: GreenhornBluehorn – The Noise

Posted on September 15, 2015 by Levi Fuller

I don’t know how Brent and Chris Antal would feel about this comparison, but it occurred to me recently that GreenhornBluehorn has made a case for itself over the past couple years as the Simon and Garfunkel of our little musical universe – if Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were brothers, were both gifted songwriters and instrumentalists, and were total sweethearts. So, okay, not at all like Simon and Garfunkel, except for the fact that they sing beautiful, deceptively simple songs with lyrical heft – songs that actually say something – and they sing them wonderfully, obviously having spent way more than 10,000 hours playing their voices off each other over the years.

“The Noise” is the latest entry in their oeuvre, and fans of the Antals’ work won’t be disappointed. The song is relatively understated and laid back – and the lyrics seem to be making a case for everyone to chill the fuck out just a bit – but every element, from composition to performance to production, fits just so. The result is not inhuman, glossy perfection, but the lovingly crafted work of a couple of gifted, hard-working musical artisans. As far as I know, the only tracks they’ve released since their debut EP have been through Ball of Wax; here’s hoping they’re gradually adding up to a full-length to be unleashed upon us sooner rather than later.

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Ball of Wax 41 Songs: Cold Comfort – My Appetite

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Levi Fuller

It’s still summer for another week or so, and I’m gonna milk it for all I can. If the Kings’ horns and skanking beats hadn’t already gotten the message across, the chiming guitars and slinky rhythms of Cold Comfort‘s “My Appetite” should make you fully aware that we are now in the “feel-good summer jams” portion of this particular volume. Regular listeners will probably notice that this tune has a little more poppy sweetness and a lot less irony and darkness than the usual BoW fare, but I’ve always been a fan of well-crafted pop, and sometimes you’re just in the mood for a fun, charming love song played with delight and precision by a bunch of dudes from Port Townsend. Turns out that’s just what I was hankering for without even knowing it, and “My Appetite” fit the bill perfectly.

Come see the band this Friday at the Ball of Wax 41 release show at Conor Byrne – you don’t want to miss the last summer party of 2015, do you?

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Ball of Wax 41 Songs: The Kings – Jenzone

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Jon Rooney

Instrumental ska on Ball of Wax? Indeed, instrumental ska on Ball of Wax. Levi stretches his curatorial wings to the plaid, Dr. Marten-wearing heavens for Volume 41 and returns with “Jenzone,” an almost 4 minute, horn-driven, skronky workout from a band called the Kings (one of many, many bands with that name over the past half century plus I assume). “Jenzone” has breakdowns, build-ups, a wonderful finish and all the hallmarks that you’d expect and demand from instrumental ska. This band sounds like they’d be a ton of fun live, and “Jenzone”‘s placement on Volume 41 provides a nice change-up.

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Ball of Wax 41 Songs: Visceral Candy – Catastrophe

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Levi Fuller

I love the way new Ball of Wax artists beget more new Ball of Wax artists. The sexy party outfit Soft Blows only just joined our ranks for volume 39, but at the next possible opportunity member Seth Swift sent me some of the music he creates under the name Visceral Candy. Visceral Candy’s music is just as sexy, but where Soft Blows cranks up the guitars and live drums and brings the dance party, Visceral Candy ratchets down the tempo and pulses and grinds its way into your heart (and maybe other parts too). “Catastrophe” might just be the most seductive song about divorce I’ve ever heard.

While Visceral Candy on record appears to be a mostly synthesized affair, with Seth’s vocals the primary acoustic element in the mix, their set for next Friday’s Ball of Wax 41 release show at Conor Byrne promises to have some real live musicians on hand – I’ve heard talk of two drummers! – to execute Seth’s dark, groovy vision. Don’t miss it!

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Ball of Wax 41 Songs: Electric Dylan – 1998

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Jon Rooney

Before hearing a single note, I decided that Electric Dylan‘s “1998” is in my wheelhouse. Electric Dylan is the best Dylan (Street Legal foreva!) and I come from the ’90s, so this is a natural fit for my blurbage. Electric Dylan, the current nom de rock of longtime Ball of Wax friend Michael Sanchez (last heard from back on BoW 30; see also The Way It Is),  seem like a pretty, slightly moody indie pop outfit along the lines of Rogue Wave and maybe even a little early Death Cab for Cutie. There are subtle layers of synth blurbs and drum loops that thicken the acoustic guitar/vocals/drums arrangement nicely and  Michael’s performance really carries the song. A fine reappearance from Mr. Sanchez on Ball of Wax, and hopefully not the last.

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Ball of Wax 41 Songs: Tomo Nakayama – Eye Soda Lite

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Levi Fuller

Until very recently, Tomo Nakayama was one of those “why the heck haven’t they been on Ball of Wax yet?” artists for me. I’ve been a fan and acquaintance of his for pretty much the entire time this endeavor has existed, but for whatever reason it just hadn’t happened. So I was delighted when my inbox dinged with this title-tweaked, Casio-and-drum-machine-fueled rendition of a classic (I was perhaps a little too delighted, as I should have checked whether it was public domain or not, but what are you gonna do?). The beats and keys provide a low-key, head-bobbing bed for Tomo’s sweet falsetto, which he zapped with just the right amount of dirt in the recording process. I’m not usually one for singing “praise the lord,” but I’ll definitely make an exception in the case of this particular jam.

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Ball of Wax 41 Songs: Amy Blaschke – Silvery Dreams in Blue

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Jon Rooney

Amy Blaschke‘s “Silvery Dreams in Blue” is all gossamer and atmosphere – pretty, floating, and a little eerie. It’s almost a duet between Blaschke’s gentle voice and the decidedly ’80s synthesizer pads, a torch song out of Twin Peaks or Judee Sill making a New Age record. There are small touches, like a brief vocal counter melody and a little staccato organ part at the end, that make “Silvery Dreams in Blue” such a compelling song and remind us why Blaschke is one of the most distinctive and accomplished artists to contribute to Ball of Wax (track down Volume 5, people).

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Ball of Wax 41 Songs: Alex Drum – Bells

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Levi Fuller

Alex Drum swears he hadn’t seen my last blog post about him – wherein I lightly ribbed him on the many musical monikers he’s used over the years – when he decided to release his newest work under his own name, but I feel like I still have to take a little credit. Maybe the mere existence of the “Alex Drum” tag in WordPress-land somehow subtly wormed its way into his brain and influenced his behavior, like some kind of digital toxoplasmosis gondii? Or maybe he just got sick of trying to keep all these projects straight. Anyway, Alex has once again proved that no matter what he calls it, he is more than capable of reliably cranking out highly listenable low-fi masterpieces.  The most recent such masterpiece, “Bells” – perhaps named more for the jingling percussion than for any lyrical element – is built on a repeating acoustic guitar figure and its various interactions with Alex’s simple vocal melody, the aforementioned percussion, and an electric guitar that nabs the lead as soon as he’s done singing, jumping from background figures to a swirling, delayed-out swell before surrendering once more to the acoustic. As always, it’s a pleasure to have Alex here, representing our surprisingly sizable Brooklyn coterie.

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Ball of Wax 41 Songs: Blake DeGraw – Quartet IV

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Jon Rooney

It’s really exciting to see Blake DeGraw’s bracing composition, “Quartet IV,” on Ball of Wax 41. While we tend to mean rock, folk, punk, and Americana when we talk about Seattle’s underground music scene, there are obviously other styles of music being made that deserve attention, particularly in the realm of improvisational, electronic, and art music. Despite my limited knowledge and vocabulary in this space, I’m going to barrel ahead anyway with this mini-review.

“Quartet IV” opens with a chromatic motif repeated a handful of times before being interrupted by some lower, crashing tone clusters. This pattern generally repeats as the motif shifts its starting point (I’m not sure I detect a traditional key here – see, my lunkhead guitar rock music theory betrays me) and the tone clusters separate into quasi-arpeggios. Around the one minute mark the motif seems to be doubled (or, in guitar rock land, someone steps on a delay pedal) which helps the piece build to a shimmering climax before a sudden end around the two and a half minute mark. I really enjoyed “Quartet IV” and hope to hear more from Blake DeGraw around town.

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