Audio Overflow is written entirely by Cale. Cale will gladly listen to your music and review it for you, but not without prior solicitation. To get in contact with Cale, send him an email: audiooverflow (at) gmail (dot) com.
Please understand that Audio Overflow is a "part time" blog, and Cale may never get a chance to mention your music. That's a risk you're gonna have to take. Hint: your chances are better if your music is good. Read around the blog and discover what Cale likes. If you think your music is similar...send it in!
Note: It's okay to be entirely confused by that title. There's far too many "runs" for anyone's good up there, but that's how these things work sometimes.
Say what you want about Audio Overflow ("man this writing is really amateur," "geez, this guy sounds alarmingly attractive"), but one thing is definitely true, I try to be good to the artists that I like; especially ones that have been featured on the blog. Last year, I reviewedBasic Mechanics, the debut album from Charleston, SC band Run Dan Run (7 out of 10, described as "impressive").
Well Run Dan Run has put together a new acoustic EP (that's really good, btw) and set out to take over New York City. The band will be playing 5 shows in the Big Apple beginning this Saturday, June 27th in support of their second release as a band. Here's the flyer:
You can preview a couple of tracks from the EP on the band's Myspace page. As an added bonus, the band will be giving out a free copy of 27 Coming St. (the EP) with every admission to the July 1st show.
If you're in the New York area, do yourself a favor and check out this up-and-coming band. Tell Dan that Cale from Audio Overflow sent you and you may get a little something extra (a high-five is all I can promise).
Hey, what is this feature? Oh, it's Moods, the feature where I pick a specific mood and then build a playlist off of that. Nice! I almost forgot it existed.
Ever get in one of those moods where you just have to sit back and self-evaluate; where you sit back and ask yourself those really deep questions that you try to avoid most of the time? That, friends, is called "introspection" or "the examination or observation of one's own mental and emotional process." It can be quite helpful in determining who you are, who you want to become, and what you want out of life.
But introspection has it's drawbacks too. For example, I don't think a person is capable of being introspective when an *Nsync song is playing in the background. You'll either a.) start dancing and singing along (guilty), or b.) jump up to turn that shite down! Either way, you're getting out of the zone. To stay in the zone, I usually require a song with no words - an instrumental. That way, I'm not distracted by catchy hooks or someone else's introspective thoughts.
So with that in mind - you guessed it - here's a playlist of instrumental songs that should keep you in that introspective mood long enough to figure out why exactly you're still dating that rather annoying, though inexplicably hot girl that you just can't stand, or why you constantly feel the need to be the center of attention. Deep stuff, people. Don't screw it up!
I typically try to start each review with a clever story or reminiscence that somehow ties into the album that I happen to be reviewing. And as I sat here, staring at a blinking cursor for the last 10 minutes or so, I realized that I might have met my match with this one. So let's just get to it, shall we?
Run Dan Run is an indie pop/rock quartet from Charleston, South Carolina, fronted by Dan McCurry. On the band's debut album, Basic Mechanics, the group does an impressive job of displaying their wide range of talent and influences. Everybody from The Postal Service to Broken Social Scene gets evoked in some way or another over the course of the album, but the band never submits to pigeonholing - always changing directions and moods unexpectedly. McCurry, himself, is the brains behind the operation; taking over most of the writing and singing duties. His voice is shaky and fragile, yet oddly compelling in an Emil Svanangen/Adrian Jewett type of way. And though many will undoubtedly complain about his vocal flaws, his earnestness gives these songs a weight that they would lack otherwise.
Of course, being a massive fan of The Postal Service, my favorite song on the album is easily "Your Name Escapes Me," though the fact that it sounds more polished and complete than any other song can't hurt either. Electronic drums and what sounds like a distorted Rhodes piano are the perfect accompaniment to McCurry's catchy chorus ("It's talk talk/It's touch touch/I don't mean/you don't mean/your name escapes me"). The band even nailed the whole male-female harmonies in perfect Postal Service fashion. I could listen to this one for hours. Likewise, another favorite has to be the brilliant, "Science," which brings back that same piano and a few electronic specks to keep things interesting. It is from this song that the album gets its namesake ("Let's talk science/basic mechanics"), though my understanding of the lyrical content ends there due to my personal avoidance of all science classes in college.
Again, the most impressive aspect of Basic Mechanics is the band's ability to create from a widely diverse musical palette. The jazzy sounds of "Stop Sign" are completely different from the sheer minimalism of "Points of Departure," and were it not for McCurry's recognizable pipes, I probably wouldn't recognize it as the same band. But traversing such different musical landscapes has its downfalls as well. Not everyone is a fan of The Postal Service, and I particularly am not a huge Broken Social Scene admirer. As such, the noise-fest that is "The Setup:The Blackout" has absolutely zero appeal to me. McCurry's vocals spend most of the song buried under layers and layers of instruments that could use a volume adjustment, leaving me completely unimpressed.
For a first effort from a band that's only been together for less than two years, Basic Mechanics is pretty damn impressive. Songs like the epic ballad (if there ever were such a thing), "Multi-Colored Lights" and the aforementioned "Your Name Escapes Me" clearly display a band with enough talent to cause quite a stir in the coming years. The trick now is finding what works and what doesn't from this diverse collection and focusing the attention on fleshing out the good while trowing out the bad. Let's face it, "mix-tape" bands like Run Dan Run are great for an album or two, but the great ones are the groups that can pick a specific style and then evolve and develop that over the years. With Basic Mechanics, Dan McCurry and Co. have laid the groundwork. Now all they have to do is start building.
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