Amie Street purchased by Amazon.com - Who will notice?

This blog was originally formulated to highlight music found and purchased through AmieStreet.com but has in the last year and a half, strayed from this formula to include music found and delivered through other means as well.  On Tuesday, AmieStreet.com (AS) announced that it had sold the business to Amazon.com for an undisclosed figure.

Who will notice?  Well, not me.   Amazon.com has been investing in AS for the past 4 years and with each investment, the likelihood that you would be able to find the struggling independent artists-the jewels in the rough if you will-has decreased with each year.  This was the reason I was so excited when I found AS, clear back when they were in the beta phase.  In the past year and a half, AS has become the dumping ground for any number of labels trying to get every last penny they could from some pretty questionable "talent."  So much for the struggling independent artist.

Increasingly AS has cowed to the investment dollar, and the original formula that worked so well to lure me in has morphed into something unrecognizable from the original AS.  It's really too bad.  AS had an exciting formula: let the music speak for itself.  The original plan was that all music would start as free and would rise in price as it was purchased.  Artists such as "Jukebox The Ghost" saw their music start at 0 and go to the top of the price scale-because it deserved it.  Not because some label or middle man had arbitrarily set the price, but because the music "spoke for itself."  That too, had increasingly disappeared from the AS profile.  Music began to appear at 15 cents per track, then 45 cents, and sometimes there was no pretense to applying the original formula.  Suddenly, AS was no better than-and in some ways worse than-any one of the major download resellers.

I've missed the original AS for more than a year now; probably more than two years; But I'll not mourn their passing much now.  After all, it's not like there was much left of the original AS anyway.

The ever changing music of "Changing Modes"

Many people are locked into one musical era, genre or type.  Too bad too, because those people will always miss out on music that is truly interesting and innovative.  If you thought you had my love of pop music pegged by reading or listening to the music reviewed here so far, then hold on to your hats!  Enter Changing Modes and their 2010 CD, Here.  Changing Modes isn't your average pop or rock band. Their influences range from progressive rock to modern rock, jazz and classical.  While the bulk of this review highlights the talents of the vocalists and major instrumentalists, not enough can be said for the roles of David Oromander (drums, vocals, trumpet) and Grace Pulliam (vocals, percussion) who add all the right touches throughout.  There is more to hear than one listen will allow, because there is so much going on.  Whether you are mesmerized by the sometimes haunting vocals and harmonies, intrigued with the instrumentation or just taken away by the lyrics, you'll find many things worth discovering Here. 


Dissonance is used throughout Here's title track and opener, a song about being in physical or mental distress and looking for a way out.  Band co-leader, Wendy Griffiths, (keyboards, vocals) sounds alternately like Grace Slick, Chrissie Hynde or Kate Bush, depending on the moment in the song. The music adds an appropriate haunting urgency to the lyrics.  Here too is some magical guitar work from the other co-leader of Changing Modes, Yuzuru Sadashige (bass, guitar).  The interplay between the vocals and instrumentals really kicks in when the Theramin is included.


Here's theme is dissonant and haunting, and Moles is its counterpoint,  revving up the speed and kicking it up a notch.  It's the kind of song that wants your feet to move, even if the song's lyrics are about mole people in New York City who live in the subway tunnels. Wendy sings "But your life underground, is not what it seems, it's worse than your strangest nightmare and better than your wildest dreams" in the chorus, but that is just one of the images painted here.  You'll need to listen carefully to hear them all.


Louise introduces Jen Hammaker (Theremin, keyboard) on lead vocal in a whimsical song about Wendy's cat, which is just plain fun!  "What goes on behind those dark eyes?  Where do you go when I turn out the light?"  Not only is there a lot going on here instrumentally, but the backing vocals and harmonies are incredible too, with a truly interesting shift from major to minor key and back again.
  
And There's so much more! Cell to Cell is another fun toe tapper that explores carrying on a relationship via text messaging.  Distorted guitar adds interesting texture here that gives it a very punkish feel.  Embers Sweet has an almost "Yes" feel to it, if "Yes" were fronted by female vocals that is.  It definitely has that progressive rock edge to it.  A favorite track for me is the poppy, electronicly noodled One, which describes an obsession with lines like You are the One, you are the one.  White Lightning, again with Jen Hammaker, is a jazzy number with great trumpet fill from Oromander.  The White Room, sounds initially like a cover of Cream's White Room. When I asked Wendy about this, however, she assured me that "It's more of an homage to the Cream song than a cover."  It is a delightful changeup that explores sleazy politicians and their abuse of power.  Closing out the set is Meow Situation which has a swing piano feel that ends things on a light-hearted note.


Writing this review, I've been afraid that after listening to these tracks so many times, they would start to wear thin; They don't.  If anything, you begin to hear more nuances and textures that were hidden from your ears on the first listen.  Changing Modes deserves grand recognition for a diverse, haunting and playful set of music.  Instrumentation and vocals are accomplished and fun to listen to and the lyrics are deceptively simple in their complexity and entirely singable.  Formed in the mid-90's by a happenstance invitation to CBGB's, Wendy Griffiths was pried away from her classical practice room, to hear the band Soul Coughing with a friend.  It occurred to her on that night that she really missed the world of rock; "How that music hits you in the gut, which, as much as I love classical music, the concert music never quite does; At least not for me."  She came back to her room later that night and began to write rock songs, and has never turned back.  We are the beneficiaries of this epiphany, and Here is just one of those gifts.

You can find more information on Changing Modes by visiting them on MySpace or FaceBook.  They also have a web site, that is in drastic need of a voluneer developer (sorry guys), so volunteer those services if you can help them out.  You can hear sample tracks and purchase digital copies of Here from AmieStreet.com or both digital and physical copies of this and other Changing Mode CD's from CDBaby.com.

The Right Now's Pop-Soul Revolution

Picture this: Members of the Chicago based musical group The Right Now hijack Mr. Peabody's way-back machine and return to 1969. There they begin to study soul and rhythm and blues artists, like Issac Hayes, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Hot Buttered Soul and The Staple Singers.  The Right Now stay and study for four years, infiltrating Stax recording sessions and hiring on as session musicians.  After the completion of their studies, they return in the way-back machine to the present day where they blend what they have learned with modern pop-rock influences and modern soul and rythm and blues.  If you can imagine this picture, then you have an inkling of what the self-produced CD Carry Me Home is like-music that is both hauntingly retro and solidly present-day.

Lead vocalist Stefanie Berecz has a healthy set of pipes that can wail with inflection (You Will Know, Doing Nothing, I'll Get Down) add a plaintive mournfulness (Better Way To Live, I Could Really Hold On, Carry Me Home) or a soulful sweetness (Nobody, The One You Love).  If Stefanie's beautiful voice is the first thing you hear as you listen to Carry Me Home, the very next thing will be the tight perfection of the band.  Vocal assists come from Brendan O'Connell (guitar and keyboards) and Chris Corsale (guitar).  Greg Nergaard lays down a solid bass line on all tracks and no Stax influenced soul or rhythm and blues group would be complete without a horn section provided by Johnathan Edwards (baritone sax) and Jim Schram (tenor sax).  Let's not forget the consistent beat from drummer John Smillie.

Carry Me Home is tight throughout, blending slower and mid-tempo numbers with faster more up-beat offerings in just the right combination.  You never feel that you are getting too heavy a dose of one style or type because the metronome continues to shift from track to track.  Nobody truly highlights Stefanie's voice followed by a great mid-tempo rocker You Will Know which features Brendan's keyboards (a nice Hammond organ sound) and the horn section that really swings here.  There's great sax work to be heard on I Could Really Hold On and the guitars provide both rhythm and texture in a more prominent role on Before I Know Your Name.  Doing Nothing and I'll Get Down are perhaps some of my favorites here-if there can be favorites in such a great collection.  Here, Stefanie sounds like Aretha Franklin or Diana Ross and you can almost picture the band swinging and swaying as they lay down a really solid back drop.

You can find more information on The Right Now from their MySpace page including a schedule of upcoming live performances and you can purchase Carry Me Home digitally from both i-Tunes and Amie Street.  In addition, you can purchase the physical CD, T-Shirts a 45 single and other memorabilia from their Storenvy store front.  The Right Now have found a successful blend of retro and modern sounds that should please a wide demographic.  They deserve to be heard.  Check out The Right Now, right now!

Ian Axel: "This is the New Year"

Bathed in top notch piano, catchy vocals and humor, singer-song writer Ian Axel spanks the new year into existence with This is the New Year. It's a delicious romp full of great pop music craft. Ian sprinkles his ever present keyboards with orchestral flourishes and drums that add just the right texture. Layered vocal harmonies are used sparely with good effect. The production is not over blown, with arrangements and polish that add just the right touch. Nothing seems excessive. Lyrically, Ian dances around a host mostly relationship based subjects including telling a would be lover to take a hike, "Hangman", love lost that won't go away, "Leave Me Alone!" and of course infatuation "Girl I Got a Thing."

There are a lot of truly delightful tracks here. "Afterglow" represents masterful pop song craft with one of the best choruses I've heard in some time. "Girl I Got A Thing" has a pounding march-step delivery that will have your toe tapping in no time at all. All of these tracks have melodies that will ring in your head and trigger the sing-along mechanism. Seriously, you won't have a choice. "Waltz" has an almost Gypsy feel to it with a rapid one-two-three beat. "This is the New Year" features guest vocal Chad Vaccarino and talks of making resolutions-and keeping them.

More than anything, This is the New Year provides a positive, up-beat and optimistic tone to the months ahead.  Coming off a year that has been clouded with economic woes and political battles, real optimism is a very good thing!  There is a great deal of time left in 2010, but this musical offering could well be the best of the year-it's just that good.

Released only in digital format so far, you can find This is the New Year on Amie Street, Amazon and i-Tunes among other sources. You can listen to some complete tracks from Ian Axel on his My Space Page as well as videos from his YouTube Channel. When Ian releases the CD version, I'll try to post it here.