Ball of Wax 39 Songs: Lost Wisdom – Who’s from Aleppo Again?

Ball of Wax 39 contains songs from a bunch of new artists – some of them so new that they didn’t have band names when they initially submitted their songs. One of those artists, Taylor Delph, contacted me out of the blue with a few tracks he’d recorded and wasn’t sure what to do with – which is exactly why I started this whole thing in the first place, so thank you Taylor – and I believe only named his project Lost Wisdom just before I needed that info for the physical CDs.

On “Who’s from Aleppo Again?,” Delph takes one simple chord progression and milks it for all it’s worth (one of my favorite approaches), adding and subtracting layers, building complexity, weaving melodies and harmonies and mysterious lyrics into a blissful three-minute chillout. This is the kind of track that John Cusack could cue up in his record store and say “I’m about to sell five copies of Ball of Wax 39.” Heads would start nodding,  wallets would open, and the coffers of Ball of Wax would be $13.75 richer (after the store takes its cut). I don’t know if this blog post will have the same effect, but I’m open to it. (Click here to buy BoW 39!)

Lost Wisdom is unfortunately not playing the BoW 39 release show on March 7th, but hopefully Taylor will be out there playing live soon.

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Ball of Wax 39 Songs: Julia Massey and the Five Finger Discount – Turn It Into Everything

Julia Massey and her band return to Ball of Wax for the second volume in a row, giving us another track from their fine new album, A.L.I.T.E. (You know I really like this band because I keep having them back, despite the challenge their seven-word name adds to the CD face formatting.) “Turn It Into Everything” is a swirling, expansive ode to the universe, packing a lot of dynamics and emotion into less than three minutes. There’s a lot to like here, but I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the bass wizardry of Geoff Gibbs, whose playing adds so much to this track. The guy is all over the fretboard, alternating seamlessly between deep-pocket rhythms, melodic leads, and percussive bursts of chords. This is the kind of playing that can easily veer into tasteless wankery, but everything he does makes sense and has its place – imagine Les Claypool as a session guy on prescription mood stabilizers – and the end result is a really richly developed piece of music. Word has it that A.L.I.T.E. was Gibbs’s last outing with the band, I can only imagine he’s already sorely missed. I know we’ll soon be  hearing more great songs from Julia and whoever else she chooses to associate with, though.

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Ball of Wax 39 Songs: Soft Blows – Landine

Soft Blows‘ “Landine” opens with a decidedly disco drum part, which makes sense because, for a little over 3 minutes, the song lays down a sweaty, dance-y groove in the tradition of rock bands seemingly inspired by Prince to get funky, be sexy and keep the guitars loud (a formula most notably executed by the Afghan Whigs). Soft Blows trade between male and female vocalists, with Alicia Romero playing the role of the sultry straight man to Seth Swift, the easily-excitable loose cannon. F-bombs are dropped, syllables are seductively stretched and cooing is handily applied. “Landine” stays pretty much in the dance groove pocket, with occasional flourishes of electric guitars and a screaming climax from Swift towards the end of the song.

The Soft Blows seem like they’re a lot of fun live, which we can all confirm as they play the Ball of Wax 39 release show at Conor Byrne on Saturday, March 7th.

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Ball of Wax 39 Songs: season of strangers – Yellow Moon

this is how to make that whooshing airplane sound

this is how to make that whooshing airplane sound

season of strangers‘ “Yellow Moon” is a brief burst of retro indie rock, recalling at times both the crooked fuzz of Archers of Loaf and Superchunk and the flanger pedal-drenched dreaminess of Cocteau Twins and the Cure. High-pitched voices lay low in the mix beneath a block of synths, drums and distorted guitars. I can’t really make out any of the lyrics, but the melodies cut through, making “Yellow Moon” a perfectly viable answer to the question “what do you mean by ‘noise pop’?” On the basis of this song alone, the band seems to fit nicely alongside Seattle-area shoegaze bands like Black Nite Crash and Vibragun. While season of strangers is new to Ball of Wax, many of the members came from the now seemingly-defunct Bandolier, who appeared on Ball of Wax 35.

You can see season of strangers live at the Ball of Wax 39 release show at Conor Byrne on Saturday, March 7th.

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Ball of Wax 39 Songs – Almsss – Status

Krist Krueger (Southerly, Sndtrkr, Yardsss, Healersss, and Self Group in general) can be a tricky guy to keep a bead on, as you might guess from that parenthetical list following his name. You can read my previous attempt to keep his various projects straight in this piece from 2011, but he has zigged and zagged a couple times since then, retiring most of his other projects and focusing on Almsss, the newest incarnation. (At least I think that’s what’s going on.)

But honestly, none of that really matters. The music – as always with Krueger, whatever the moniker – is solid: a dense forest of thick, blasting beats, overdriven guitar, and simple, chanting melodies spooling out in his clear, unaffected baritone. Whether he’s hunched over a Fender Rhodes behind a projection screen, creating drone soundscapes, or singing and playing a guitar, the sounds he makes are always worth paying attention to. Plus, I’m a sucker for songs in 5/4, and stoked that I get to start this volume with two different examples of the form.

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Ball of Wax 39 Songs: Sean Kiely – This Might Be True

New Jersey’s Sean Kiely is a newcomer to Ball of Wax, making his first contribution with “This Might Be True.” “This Might Be True” begins with voice and acoustic guitar looping through a melodic figure which largely drives the song.  Gentle and folky, the song seems to capture one side of a romantic negotiation, enumerating reasons for doing something (that something revealed later in the song). After a few cycles, booming acoustic bass and drums fill in the sound  for dramatic effect before the settles into more mellow instrumentation. Brief stabs of brass appear before the song title appears in the line “I guess some of this might be true.”  A short, pretty bowed bass solo surfaces in the back half of the song before it builds to a crescendo with the refrain, “yeah, it looks like New York is a good idea for a few.” After blasts of horn and “oooh”s, “This Might Be True,” and the vague, romantic negotiation therein, resolves with “Seven: I can see how you might / take the train to Rockaway.” Sean Kiely’s introduction to Ball of Wax is subtle, well-constructed folk pop with tastefully regional subject matter. If you’re in the Tri-State Area (NY/NJ/CT – not PA/NJ/DE), track down Sean Kiely and his band.

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Ball of Wax 39: Saturday, March 7th at Conor Byrne

BoW-39-posterBall of Wax Volume 39 Release Show
Saturday, March 7th, 8:30pm
Conor Byrne Pub

Performances by The Foghorns, Soft Blows, Season of Strangers, Coast, Nightlife, and Shannon Jae

It’s time (past time, really) for a new volume of Ball of Wax! Join us on Saturday, March 7th to celebrate the newest volume, a themeless, wide-ranging disc filled to bursting with 21 new songs from friends old and new, near and far.

There will be a lot of new talent on the Conor Byrne stage this night. BoW stalwarts The Foghorns will be there to close out the night, but every other band and artist playing that night is making his/her/their Ball of Wax debut! We’re thrilled to have so many new friends.

As always, a copy of the brand new Ball of Wax CD will be yours upon entering. Join us!

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Left Field Finds: They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love

“Open up the boxes, tumble down the walls, let them be the thing they want to be, not necessarily like you and me!” This is the message of the group, a community youth band from 1968 South Side Chicago led by Father Peter Scholtes. In part this is an album of worship music, featuring several traditional arrangements and Father Scholtes on acoustic guitar. But in its best moments it is more community music and youth music, as comes out in the spontaneous harmonies, mixed with woodwinds and percussionists on swaying rhythms on a combination of original songs and reimagined christian standards.

Continue reading

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From the Archives: Ball of Wax Volume 2

BoW 2 cover scanLet’s take another trip back to 2005, shall we?

We continue our archival investigation with Ball of Wax Volume 2, released in the fall of that long-ago year. The release celebration for Volume 2 was the second (and, to date, final) BoW show held in my basement. I was introduced to so many great artists right around this time: Johanna Kunin, Joshua Morrison, Steven Kattenbraker, Toy Tractor . . . oh, well, you can read the track list yourself. Suffice it to say, this is a great collection of music that you should own. And hey, it’s free (or as cheap as you want it to be).

Enjoy!

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Submit Music for Ball of Wax 39!

Image by Leo Reynolds, via flickr.

Image by Leo Reynolds, via flickr.

I’m sorry to report that winter is coming. On the bright side, though, with it will come the Winter 2015 edition of Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly – the 39th (!) such installment to be released to the world. But before that happens, some music needs to come, which is where you come in.

Volume 39 will have no theme. It will just be a bunch of great new music. Music from people like you and/or music-makers of your acquaintance. Music that might not have been recorded – or even written – yet!

Please send songs in by the first day of winter – December 21st – but earlier is always great too, of course. More info on how to submit over here.

As always, please spread the word to musical friends far and wide. I look forward to hearing what you’ve got!

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