3 posts from January 2008
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If you have not yet discovered the treat that is Conan Brophy's voice, this is going to be a delight for you. Of himself, Conan claims: " I make beats and noises in a secret overground bunker in the West of
Ireland. I like to sing and paint (I painted my profile pic[over on AmieStreet]) and
generally make music and art. I used to play in bands and spent a few
years hanging around the edge of the music business before deciding I
wasn't enjoying myself so I moved to the country instead. I still love
to make music and sometimes play live and release records."
I can understand the music scene in bars and bands and crazy ego competitions getting to be too much-- thank god he only gave up on the scene and not the music itself. With a smooth voice that oozes down through your skin and into your soul, Conan makes music that soothes, cheers and lifts you into another -and much better- world.
His philosophical lyrics are intelligent, thought provoking and show a mind at work on the puzzles of the universe - or sometimes just that guy sleeping on a bench.
From the pop styled, danceable Dogwalker to the moody, aching love song Come See Me, all of the songs available on AmieStreet or his Website are very listenable. Be sure to check out the website, because he is doing some nice art out there as well.. I think my favorite is this fish.
Conan had an appearance on BalconyTV and played his song Frog Prince, which you can see here:
The music of Sublunar Minds is anything but earthly and mundane, so I will have to assume that they were skipping the common meaning of the song and were going for the more obtuse " situated between the earth and the moon".
Intelligent lyrics combined with a variety of musical tracks make their
music fun and interesting to listen to, and I have not found a bad
track yet. That qualifies them to claim music that is orbiting above us all.
With 15 albums available ( 12 of them on AmieStreet), they have a wide and diverse catalog of music. From rollicking classic rock and roll numbers like "No one gives a good damn" and "A little bit" to Billy Joel-esque piano ballads like "East of East" and caribbean-influenced almost bouncy numbers like "All God's Money", this is a band that defies any categorization other than "talented" and good".
If you like what you hear, be sure to go give them a vote over on DeepRockDrive, so we can all have a chance to hear them perform live in our browsers.
The Minor Canon is a six member group (Paul Larson -vocals / guitar / percussion,Ryan Blake-piano / organ, Ben Eisen-bass,Erik Soderstrom-drums,Mario Frias-trumpet,Mike Richardson-trombone) that often sounds like a whole room full of rockers. With a sound that wraps itself around your heart and digs into your soul, they are not just another Indie Rock band- they are a cross between emo pop and memphis blues that comes out with the blast of a trumpet. They are not afraid to play with their music, experimenting with interesting breaks ( often reminiscent of Chicago,Brian Eno and Paul McCartney),such as those in Not There
No surprise that they had an opportunity to do a residency at Spaceland in 2007.
Here is a clip someone shot of a performance they did there.
This is not just all about the music for them, but also about the lyrics as well- as evidenced by intelligent, well written lyrics that engage your mind while your body sways and dances to the music. Killing Spiders is a perfect example of the poetic reach of this group. In addition to being able to get No Good Deed Goes Unpunished and Spaceland presents: The Minor Canon on Amazon.com and iTunes, you can now find them on Amie Street as well. One can only hope that although their mySpace page says they are going to do first release of their next album on that web spot, they will quickly follow it with an upload to their fans on AmieStreet as well.
