A.L. Harper

Previous Band of the Week artists, Green River Ordinance (GRO), recently announced that they would be giving away their acclaimed debut album The Beauty of Letting Go completely free. This independently released album is sincere and dynamic, sumptuously layered with rich, warm melodies, harmonies, and rhythms. Their unique brand of power-pop and indie rock is textured with just enough Texas colour to give their sound a down-home feel. GRO’s always honest, emotionally warm lyrics, strong drum driven, guitar rich songs sung by frontman Josh Jenkins’ country-boy-singing-rock vocals. GRO have the kind of talent that will inspire you to stand back a little, shake your head, and mutter in awe, “Fuck me, they’re fabulous!”

And now, amidst rumours that GRO are on the verge of signing with a major record label they have taken the unusual step of offering that amazing album free for download. They are also streaming their new EP Way Back Home for you to hear while there. According to GRO’s manager Paul Steele (Trivate Entertainment) the band are hoping to swell their ground support and to expose themselves to new audiences. Paul said, “We are basically trying the ‘pay it forward’ model relying on the fan to spread the music. FreeGRO.net is a site paid for by us allowing for the complete 100% free download of 10 songs, the full length Beauty of Letting Go no strings attached.” The ultimate goal is simply to get 500,000 downloads by May 2008.

To download The Beauty of Letting Go, free just visit FreeGRO.net. You can also visit GRO’s MySpace space.

Matt White is a singer-songwriter and he isn’t. He writes and sings all his own music; he plays the guitar and piano and even sings his own backing vocals. However he doesn’t sound like a singer-songwriter usually does. Maybe his hard-to-peg-down sound comes from his history. His father is a musician, his grandmother is Shirley Kesselman, one of the first female jazz orchestra leaders in the '30s, his aunt is an opera singer, White is a former opera student himself and began taking piano lessons at just three years old. No wonder then that this pretty-faced 27-year-old’s sound is both sunny and sweetly innocent while maintaining a mature and well-flavoured air.

His bio says he is a one-man Maroon 5 but I think that’s spurious as Maroon 5 are just a five-man Prince, and I would compare him to the genuine article rather than the paler imitation. But it may be the white-boy funk they are referring to and that is definitely present on White’s debut album Best Days; however, Matt has none of that over-produced gloss. In my standard metaphor style let’s say that if Prince and Billy Joel got married, then divorced, White is who Prince would hire to represent him. The prodigy, funky white-boy with singer-songwriter sensibilities and a touch of Broadway dazzle. If Matthew Broderick wanted to be a rock star he would ask Matt White for advice.

His talent for telling accessible, charming, sometimes romantic, always witty stories is where the real difference lies. White is a man who can find the funny side of being dumped, and laughing at yourself in song is an enviable ability. Every song on Best Days is filled with humour, women, and well placed imagery; as demonstrated in the title single: “and in the morning your eyes open/ it’s so innocent/ the sun is blazing/ we are sweating/ you look lovely/ nothing else matters anymore/ cause you’re in my arms again”. And from the sound of it White has been through his share of women and few other’s too – the revolving heart of love – but he relates all of his loves and heartbreaks with an urbane vivacity that will keep you hooked from note one.

Best Days is out now, available from amazon.com. If you would like to here a few tracks you can visit White's MySpace space or visit his own website.

Sons Of William make the kind of rock you want to hear when you’re slumming it in a saw-dust-on-the-floor bar, in the deep-south, sitting, feet-up on a table, drinking bourbon. As you watch, the band slowly enthrals the rancorous audience into silence with a rich tapestry of music that is bluesy, funky and always horny. Then the tempestuous, luscious, vocals harmoniously caress lyrics that are, you can’t help thinking to yourself, intellectually above this bar’s usual crowd.

Their debut album, What Hides Inside has a mix of radio friendly indie rock and more edgy, southern rock, great songs, fantastic musicianship, stirring vocals and plenty of energy and soul. Their dirty, raw, mostly bluesy, sometimes funky sound is combined with dark, sensual, smoky vocals, intelligent, passionate lyrics sung in rich harmony by frontman Joe Stark and bassist Jen Janet.

Joe Stark’s amazing, often mind-blowing talent with a guitar is matched by his mellow, smoky, make-my-panties-wet vocals followed closely by his ability to write intelligent, profound and always literate lyrics. And What Hides Inside has everything that makes this band so exciting. You really need to own this album.

“Darkest Secret,” my favourite track, contains the lyrics that inspired the album title. “And I know what hides inside. I can keep your darkest secret alive.” This song has everything that I love most about Sons. Soulful guitar, coloured with classic rock and the oh-so-hot lyric “With heavy hand and a jealous glow/ you touch me so sinful and slow…” sung in Stark’s steamy, mellow voice in perfect harmony with Janet’s sweeter, feminine tones.

“Easy to Love” is a sweetly passionate love song and has a killer guitar solo that absolutely conveys the full weight of emotion in this beautiful track. “Smile,” the first single from What Hides Inside, shows the Sons influences well, you can hear the classic rock and even a bit of early pop. For straight-up southern country rock there is “Ndependence Day,” with perfect harmonies, scorching guitar and even tinkling, raining piano. “Vicious World” is a brilliant mix of modern indie rock melodies and classic rock musicianship. The final track “Count On Me” is softer, smoother with an acoustic guitar beginning. The song is a perfectly timed crescendo, ending with an orgasmic climax and finishing with yet another of Joe’s blistering guitar solos.

Sons Of William’s What Hides Inside is a triumph of talent, spirit and rock music. Perfect for listening to when riding in your car on a warm summer day with the windows open, music blaring, or in that dirty little bar you just love to frequent. But I like listening to What Hides Inside after a hard week, on a Friday evening at home with a bottle of whisky and a good friend. You can hear tracks from What Hides Inside at Sons Of William’s MySpace space or, better still, just purchase it from their webstore.

Mix southern blues rock, a twist of classic rock with a serious dash of fabulous guitar work, driving bass lines, and powerful beats, then add dark, smoky, sex-soaked vocals emotively singing intelligent, warm, sensuous lyrics and you know what you get? Sons of William. This soulful, bluesy trio are the south Louisiana brothers Joe (vocals, guitar) and David Stark (drums) whose father, William, is the biggest inspiration to his two adoring sons. Along with fellow Louisianan Jen Janet (bass) who offers her silky, melodious, feminine tones in harmony to Joe’s rich, passionate drawl.

Sons of William is what rock music should be, full-flavoured, emotive and libidinous. It’s the kind of rock you want to hear when you’re slumming it in a saw-dust-on-the-floor bar, in the deep-south, sitting, feet-up on a table, drinking bourbon. As you watch, the band slowly enthralls the rancorous audience into silence with tempestuous guitar, perfect seamless symbiosis of the bass and drum as they accompany the luscious, ardent vocals and lyrics that are, you can’t help thinking to yourself, intellectually above this bar’s usual crowd.

But now you don’t need to go anywhere, this rich tapestry of music that is in turns bluesy and funky and always horny – and I’m not talking about a horn section – is now on CD. Sons of William have just launched their full-length debut album What Hides Inside. To celebrate the release of their album Joe and David spent some time with me discussing their dad, whiskey – Scottish vs. American – and of course their music.

Where did you get the title of your new album What Hides Inside?

Joe: It’s taken from the lyrics in a song called “Darkest Secret”, which is the second song on the record. It's just about having someone you can trust enough to share something with and how, instead of suppressing whatever your secret is or whatever hides inside. Feeling like what you want to do for that person, your significant other, is to keep it alive. That is the premise of the song and the title has implications all its own, you can imply what you want.

We put our brother on the cover, and that has an implication all its own. Not only his expression, but he had a little bout with cancer a year ago. So it was a little homage to him.

He’s OK now though right?

Joe: He’s doing great now. He’s doing very well. But we felt it was poignant to the people in our family.

And that’s important to you isn’t it? You boys are very family oriented aren’t you? In fact your band name is that. You and David are sons of William right?

Joe: Absolutely. We know we come from the same blood, and we are proud of the way we were raised musically and as people. And more than that we wanted to pay homage to the guy (their father William) and tribute to our brother and include as much of that as possible.

You were raised musically?

Joe: Yeah, definitely. Our dad played piano and organ in bands and he met my mom when she was singing at a wedding. They put themselves through college and graduate school doing that, doing gigs and performing around south Louisiana.

And it was cool too because, for us, what that allows is for music to always be… Usually it’s something that is suppressed in a household, something that is discouraged in a household.

Being musical?

Yeah because inevitably the kid wants to do it.

Do you mean rock music or all music altogether?

Maybe music altogether too, because even people who are studying classically don’t necessarily make the best living.

Oh I see what you mean. People are discouraged from becoming professional musicians.

Joe:  Absolutely. And we were always encouraged to follow our hearts. I guess it’s a little bit inevitable that if there is an opportunity to do it you’re always going to take a stab at it. But for us it was really okay, I was encouraged play music and I was encouraged to be artistic and I was encouraged to write what we were feeling and I was encouraged to feel okay performing in front of people.

So you had a very warm loving upbringing. So where do you find the angst you need to write music?

Joe: All of that aside, you get to this place where, you’re encouraged and then all of the sudden you find this inner struggle and you find this…

David: To become who you….

Joe: Yeah you find this inner struggle to become what you are…

David: To live life.

Joe: and I think those unanswered questions of life are big motivations to writing. Also it is a fucking struggle to be out there on the road and busting your ass, whenever you don’t reap the benefits of what you sow. You’re out there killing yourself, playing these bars and driving these miles and sometimes it hard to see what the hell you’re getting done cause you’re not really seeing the fruits of your labour.

David: The light at the end of the tunnel starts becoming a little smaller in your head sometimes.

Joe: But that said, that struggle for me…

David: That’s what starts your song writing. You kinda got off the question.

Joe: So I would say that the struggle that it takes to become a successful artist is a great source of fear, anxiety and angst. And I would also say that the little bombs that the god lord drops on you or your family, your life, things you have to crawl out of are good sources of that too. That’s it. I think it’s the struggle to find who you are as a young adult, the struggle that society puts on you to be successful. I mean, when you’re young you have dreams of grandeur and then you find yourself making a small, extremely modest living doin’ this. And all of your peers are becoming successful in business or whatever they do, and you feel this certain sense of having to keep up with the Jones’.

And there is all this shit that surrounds you that takes you away from the core of being an artist, in the truest form, and you get caught up in that and all these things fuel the fire of good song writing. Besides trying to be smart, and literate and read good books and listen to good songwriters as well.

Do you get inspiration from other songwriters?

Joe: Absolutely, sometimes to a fault. We wear a lot of things on our sleeves especially like, the classic sense of music, The Beatles, Bad Finger, the Stones, all the great stuff. In another sense we try to do our part and listen to the Richard Thompsons and listen to the Bob Dylans and listen to the truly brilliant lyricists and songwriters of the world.

Do you write all the songs Joe?

Joe: I do have something to do with all of them. I don’t necessarily write all of them by myself. When I do co-write it’s with one dear friend of mine who lives in Mississippi or David. And mostly it’s a co-write with David and I.

And what inspires you David?

David: Pretty much the same thing that he said. I just a little younger so…

Joe: David always comes up with great melodies… I don’t mean to cut him off but seems to be typically the case is he’ll show me something that has an amazing melody and chord structure. Not being a guitar player it comes from an entirely different place than I would ever think to come from.

David is the drummer.

Joe: Right, exactly.

David: I started playing the guitar that was my first instrument.

Joe: And mine was drums we kinda just switched.

David: Funny how that worked out.

So you both play the guitar and drums?

Joe: Yes he plays the keys also and I play bass also.

Tell me about the new album, What Hides Inside.

Joe: Well we’re as excited as hell about it. We took about two years to make it, a year and a half…

David: It was about two and a half years actually.

Joe: As a constant, it features David and I writing and playing on every song, there is a slew of guest musicians. We had a long time to think about it, almost too long we feel. So we had a long time to process recording this album. And it was like… It’s fun to look back on cause you hear all the stories about these great records all made in California like Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors and how long it took to make it. And it was all drug induced cause they could afford to with the big label money but this is our chintzy version of that.

This is your indie Rumors

(Both laugh)

Joe: Exactly

David: I like that. This is our indie Rumors

Joe: So we are out on the road busting our ass for about two years, behind this EP, and in the last three months of this touring David and I take an honest look at where we’re at. And we just say that touring behind this EP that we only play two songs a night from, after becoming this band, two and a half years after making our first EP that we are still touring behind, we have to have a new record out. We got to the point where we felt like we were really impressing the audiences we were playing in front of but that we might be letting them down by going home with a two and a half year old product. That we felt like didn’t represent where we were at right now. And that will always be available and we will always be proud of it but we just felt like we got fucking better.

If you would like to hear Sons of William’s stirring brand of intelligent southern rock, you can visit their website or take a look at their MySpace space. Or better still, just buy their thrilling new album, What Hides Inside. You won’t be disappointed.

I once had an author friend tell me that when people find out you have written a book, you suddenly discover that everyone is writing a book. And it gets worse; they want to tell you all about it, in excruciating detail. I can tell you the same applies to being a music writer. When people find out what you do, you quickly discover that they, or someone near and dear to them, play in a band of some description – and that description is usually something like “blech”.

So when new neighbours moved in – two very hot looking, twenty–something guys – and my daughter let it drop that her mummy was a music writer, it was no surprise to me that one of them turned out to be in a band called Yoshi. He told me however they had nothing recorded yet but they were working on it. And by working on it I mean starting their own record label, Fwoosh Records and accompanying clothing line – as one does.

A friendship grew between my daughter and I and the neighbour boys, based on proximity, we share a landing and hall, the boys youthful, gregarious exuberance and our openness, humour, and constant willingness to participate in their silliness. They baby-sit occasionally, get me drunk when necessary, and look after us like big brothers when we really need it. They are good neighbours, so it was with some trepidation – fear of it being crap and that I would have to say so — that I listened to Yoshi’s debut single “Headphones” and was absolutely delighted to hear something I really liked.

Their eclectic mixture of hip-hop, powerpop, punk, ska, and maybe a bit of electronica is fun, youthful, intelligent, and utterly refreshing. I found myself very quickly addicted to the track. When I sat down and talked to some of the guys in Yoshi I learned more about their concept. Think the Gorillaz without Damon Albarn; a virtual band, no names, no photos, just music, concept, and animation. If it weren’t for their talent and drive it would probably fall flat, but already they have drawn attention from BBC Scotland’s, Radio One DJ, Vic Galloway, along with the various print media, these boys are on their way up. And up they deserve to go. “Headphones” is just the beginning, the rest of the album is under construction and there are more fun, funky t-shirts to come too. Yoshi is on its way up… I just hope that the neighbour boy fixes the hall light before he makes it big and moves out.

And after hearing what they had to offer I just had to ask them to be my Band of the Week. So here they are, in interview format, for your pleasure.

What is Yoshi? Is it a concept? Are you a real band or DJs? Who's in Yoshi?

Yoshi formed in 2006, as a group of friends we played in various bands for a number of years. In an effort to create something new and distinctive we decided to start a new project, where the music would extract influences from a range of different genres. Yoshi’s music is an unusual mix of Disco, Rock, Hip Hop, Punk and Indie.

The Yoshi album is being written in the studio at the moment and is being constructed much like a lot of dance and hip-hop music is produced. That means working with a lot of loops, samples, drum machines, and keyboard parts.

The concept behind the band and the material has purposely been intertwined with video gaming, as we want our music to reflect the massive influence video gaming has had on us and on popular culture.

Once we had the bulk of the album written, we started to work on recreating the songs with a live band. After a lot of rehearsing we played our first live gig in Edinburgh in late July 2007 to coincide with the official launch of our debut single ‘Headphones’.

Where does the the name Yoshi come from?

Yoshi is the name of the bass player’s dog.

Who writes your songs? Tell us about your debut single "Headphone".

The songs are written as a collaboration between the different members of the band. We record a lot of stuff, try things out, keep what works and get rid off what doesn’t. We use a lot of samplers and computers as well as old analog synths. Our intent is to create up-beat, feel-good party music. The band’s song writing and live performance feature three part harmonies over analog synth and drum breaks, mixed together with dirty guitar and 8-bit computer game samples.

The single was released digitally and as a limited edition CD and 7” Vinyl through Fwoosh Records on the 20th of August 2007.

The single “Headphones” is a pretty straightforward guitar riff over a percussive drum break, which deliberately sounds pretty nineties. We used a squelchy filter sound on the bass. The vocals are really dry and in your face.

The B-Side, “Demo Style”, is more full-on than “Headphones”. It has a much higher tempo and is definitely reminiscent of drum-n-bass in its production.

When does your album come out and where will we be able to pick it up?

Although most of the songs are written for the album we are currently finishing off the songs in the studio. We hope to release it next summer through our own label Fwoosh Records. In the meantime though, we plan to release one more single this year and then another early next year, so this is plenty to look forward to!

Tell us about your art work, record label, and clothing line.

For the single we designed original artwork, commissioned from freelance illustrator Emma Geary and based on Japanese video-game cartridges known as Hu-Cards.

We decided to form a record label to release our own material; this allows us to keep full control over all the creative aspects and direction of the project. From the start we have done things completely independently; from recording the bass guitar to deciding what kind of cardboard would be used for the 7” sleeve.

After we began working with Emma Geary and designing the artwork for the single it became clear that we had the basis to create some really cool clothing and merchandise. So working closely with Emma we designed a range of t-shirts which expanded on the characters that were created previously for the single artwork. We wanted to put as much time and effort into the design and manufacture the t-shirts as we had with the recording and production of the music.

What can we expect from Yoshi in the future?

As we said before there will be another single before the end of the year and will be playing plenty of live gigs throughout the UK. Apart from that, we will be in the studio finishing the album and hopefully designing more clothing as well as a few other surprises.

Don’t believe me about Yoshi? Check them out yourself. You can hear “Headphones”, along with a few other tracks by simply visiting their MySpace space. You can also buy their single and their funky merchandise while you’re there.

Recently I decided to do something I haven’t done for quite some time - read a book because I wanted to. I know this may not sound like a big deal but when you review books all the time, there isn’t much time for reading for pleasure.

I had, for several months, been craving — if you can crave reading a book — to read something by Terry Pratchett, so that is what I picked up. A couple of days after I began reading my chosen novel – Going Postal in this case (Terry Pratchett is the author of more than forty books so choosing one can be fairly time consuming) – I was at the coffee shop, book in tow, having a coffee with friends.

When asked what I was reading – when you’re a critic everyone wants to know either what you’re listening to or what you’re reading – and I told my friend, she got a look on her face rather like she had been eating a lemon and said simply “I’m not into fantasy.”

“Neither am I” I thought to myself. It was then that I wondered how many, intelligent, well-humoured, highly literate people are missing out on one of the wittiest, most talented, and engaging authors currently living, simply because some publishing house dickhead had decided that, writing stories about a place where magic is real and that take place on a flat world, riding on the backs of four giant elephants, who are standing on the shell of a giant turtle named A'Tuin, as it slowly swims through space, is fantasy.

OK, in retrospect it can sound a bit fantasy-esque, but his stories aren’t. Well no more than any stories filled with wizards, witches, small gods, gnomes, golems, elves, the undead, werewolves, vampires and even death. And by death I mean DEATH the man, the anthropomorphic personification of death. You know the fella’, the Grim Reaper, The Angel Of Death, the guy with the long black cloak and scythe who will come for you when you die.

In Pratchett’s novels DEATH rides a giant white steed with a mane of blue flame named Binky (And what would you name your horse if you were DEATH?). Terry Pratchett’s DEATH is a rather sweet, kindly old-gentleman type man…person…whatever, who is rather curious about people and has a real love of humanity. And he is probably the most intelligent, multi-faceted and charming character in Pratchett’s entire arsenal of unforgettable and engaging characters; an array that is truly mind boggling.

The fact that Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series are only actually a series because they all happen on the same world seems to have escaped many. But by this definition anything written by John Grisham or Stephen King would be a series because they all happen on Earth.

Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels are as much fantasy as Monty Python’s Life of Brian is a biblical epic. Yes, a few are about regular, recurring characters but they aren’t ALL about the same set of characters. And although they can swim through novels in which they are not the primary character this just serves to demonstrate what a rich, complex universe Pratchett has created.

One example would be the city of Ankh-Morpork, a city-state that is as corrupt as its river is polluted. The river Ankh is so polluted you can walk on it and even slice it into sections; it’s a river that oozes rather than flows. Ankh-Morpork is the largest city and spiritual and economic capital of the Discworld as well as being the home of the Unseen University, the only magical university on the Disc. Ankh-Morpork has the feel of a working medieval city with flavours of the Flintstones, or Gilligan’s Island. With ingenious gadgets galore, frequently aided by magic of course, to make life that much sweeter.

It is also the scene of much, rather comedic violence as it is also one of the few cities on the Disc that is multi-cultural. And in this instance multi-cultural means Dwarf and Troll, Vampire and Werewolf living side by side, all natural mortal enemies of course – think cats and dogs with battle axes, clubs, blood-sucking fangs and nasty claws.

Luckily for the city they have the City Watch, local coppers led by Commander Vimes. A working-class born, man-of-the-people, with policing in his blood who has through marriage become, very reluctantly – not reluctant about the marriage just the titles — His Grace, The Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes and most recently His Excellency, Ambassador for Ankh-Morpork. Vimes is Dirty Harry with more dirty and less harry, feeling the city in his feet, under his boots, Vimes seems to believe that the city lives and breathes and he can tell when it’s holding its breath.

Helping Vimes is a rag-tag group who truly represent the multi-culturalness of the city and includes watchmen from all ethnic groups including dwarfs, trolls, werewolves and the undead. Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson is the muscle bound, six-foot-six, always-cheerful, unfailing honest dwarf – adopted by dwarves when he was a baby – who is possibly the lost heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork. Carrot helps keep peace along with his girlfriend Sergeant Angua von Überwald – werewolf.

And if that isn’t character enough there is always Cecil Wormsborough St. John "Nobby" Nobbs. The only human in the city of Ankh-Morpork to carry a certificate signed by the Patrician himself, verifying that Nobby is indeed a human, and probably the only person to need it. Nobby is the kind of man who steals from the dead, in fact he makes a habit of it. And he possesses the wisdom of every flat-foot through the ages which equals nil, particularly by mouth.

And keeping all this barely contained anarchy running smoothly is the Patrician, Lord Havelock Vetinari. With an interesting array of by-hook-or-by-crook tactics — usually by crook as they work harder when the other option is death – which includes letting Guilds run certain aspects of city life, i.e. The Assassins Guild, The Thieves Guild and most importantly The Seamstresses Guild – the kind of seamstresses who walk the streets and charge less if you use protection, if you get my point.

This is only one of the beautifully diverse places on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. His Discworld is as diverse as our round world, mirroring our societies with sarcasm and irony like only a Brit can; making fun of everything from the nature of belief, to the character of human nature using colourful characters and whimsical story telling as his props. He expertly and viciously points out all the ridiculousness that we cling to everyday, in a way that is intelligent, charming and inoffensive. Terry Pratchett is a man among gods. Small gods yes but gods notwithstanding.

All graphic art by Paul Kidby.

Recently a friend asked me what I thought of Colbie Caillat, and at the mere mention of her name I was flooded with the feelings of girlish pleasure I used to experience every time I listened to her song “Bubbly” on her MySpace page. Colbie Caillat is one of the new generation of MySpace success stories. However, instead of self-releasing her music and raking in tons of money while thumbing her nose at the big record labels, she was, by sheer weight of the number of “friends” she had on MySpace and the number of plays that her MySpace profile received – reportedly near 10 million — signed to Universal Republic (UR) records. And now, the fruits of her association with UR have been released, and her beautifully sweet, romantically girlish sounds can be heard on her debut LP Coco.

Coming from virtual rock royalty – her father is legendary record producer Ken Caillat who produced for Alice Cooper, the Beach Boys, Herbie Hancock, and most notably Fleetwood Mac (Rumours and Mirage) – and spending so much time around music and professional musicians are probably why such a young artist (22) has such a mature and well developed sound. Despite this maturity Caillat imbues her music with feelings of happiness, innocence and a joyous life lived in the sand, sea, and sun. Her particular brand of acoustic folk-pop is fresh faced, guileless, and winsome. Caillat’s music magically transforms me into a giggly girl falling in love for the first time, making me feel young, beautiful, and utterly beatific.

I think in many ways you must be female to understand and truly enjoy Caillat’s simple melodies and lyrics, written, as they are, from a female perspective. So where some may find her music sickly saccharine, childish, and flaccid, I see engaging pureness, teasing silliness, and the appealing nature of simplicity. To me Coco is a triumph of delicate beauty and captivating honesty, over pretentious political metaphor or cryptically expressed romanticism — which some will mistake for artistic merit. While this album will without doubt, have wide general appeal, that’s not always a bad thing. Sometimes the masses ARE right.

Coco begins with “Oxygen”, acoustic guitar, piano, simple bass and drum is all that makes up the uncluttered music leaving room for the sincere, unpretentious lyrics. And for me Caillat is all about the lyrics — “I found a boy who had a dream/ Making everyone smile/ He was sunshine/ I fell over my feet/ Like bricks underwater” and “Oh baby if I was your lady/ I would make you happy…/ Oh baby I will be your lady/ I am going crazy for you”. All this sung in Caillat’s perfect golden toned voice that never misses a single note, thought or feeling and is always sprightly, honeyed, and blissfully smooth.

“One Fine Wire” is a song about those coming of age thoughts we all have, our struggles to find ourselves and our balance in the complicated adult world, or, even after we are adults and lose our balance or fight to juggle the demands of… everything. With a lively effervescent chorus this is happy-despite-life’s-woes song. “Bubbly”, the song that got Caillat noticed, is a perfect, gladsome, engaging love song that absolutely captures the feeling that women get when happily in love. It’s simple backing music of acoustic and electric guitar, some synth, bass and drum, accomplices the light-hearted lyrics “You've got me feelin' like a child now/ 'Cause every time I see your bubbly face/ I get the tingles in a silly place”. And the chorus of “They start in my toes/ And I crinkle my nose/ Wherever it goes/ I always know/ That you make me smile/ Please stay for a while now”…

Other tracks that make my heart feel light and merry are “Feelings Show”, “Realise”, “Tailor Made” and “Tied Down”. And my personal favourite track, “Magic”, has a more sensual, lustful feel to it with decidedly big-girl lyrics:

“You've got magic inside your finger tips
It’s leaking out all over my skin
Every time that I get close to you
You’re makin’ me weak with the way you
Look through those eyes

And all I see is your face
All I need is your touch
Wake me up with your lips
Come at me from up above
Yeaaaa, oh I need you”

Caillat has managed to capture the essences of being female and in love. Caillat knows — when some do not — that when a woman of any age is under the influence of that first blush of love she is a mischievous little girl, a giggly, flirty teenager, and grown lustful woman all at the same time. With Coco Colbie Caillat expresses all of these feelings with winsome, congenial, and folksy songs.

If you would like to hear Coco you can visit Colbie Caillat’s MySpace page, or her own website where you can see the video for “Bubbly”.

I would like to dedicate this review to the man who reminded me of Caillat’s music and inspired me to write this review, as he also inspires me to giggle girlishly, blush sweetly and lust with my grown-up heart… he knows who he is.

Cary Brothers music has been featured on TV and in film, most notably Scrubs and Garden State. His music is not what some people may expect if the first song they hear is Brothers first and biggest hit, “Blue Eyes” from the Garden State Soundtrack. Where “Blue Eyes” is a singer/songwriter, folk pop tune, the songs on Who You Are are guitar driven indie rock. Other than Brothers signature quixotically emotional themes and “orgasm” style of song writing – not my words but his, honestly – “Blue Eyes” and Who You Are have little in common.

Who You Are is more Brit rock, with leanings to the modern sounds of Coldplay and Snow Patrol, coloured with the influences of Brothers teenagehood from the late 80s like, U2, The Psychedelic Furs and Scritti Politi. Brothers has even remade the Thompson Twins hit “If You Were Here”, stripping it back, finding the hidden depth in this now timeless song.

The first track “Jealousy” is a wondrous beginning to a prodigious album, giving, as it does, the perfect tastes of everything that makes Brothers music stand out from the crowd. Brothers’ almost orchestral layering of sounds, his silky smooth vocals, plaintively pouring out sentimental lyrics all swirling together, crescendoing to orgasmic heights. Brothers’ voice exudes a warm sensuality, and romanticisms that is absolutely necessary when singing music that is so passionately felt and hungrily listened to.

Following on from the sublime perfection of “Jealousy” is “Ride”, from the feature film The Last Kiss, with Brothers self-same symphonic textures, he builds, layer upon layer, a richly woven sound that seems to carry you away in the deep blue of the water, lying on your back, floating beautifully, peacefully as you crash over Niagara Falls.

The title track, “Who You are”, is faster, stronger, less ballad – although all of Brothers songs are ballad-esque – but still present are the strong melodies that underpin the whole of Who You Are, and his perfectly balanced, velvety voice that is simultaneously substantive and diaphanous. Other tracks of note – well every track on the album, irritatingly there isn’t a bad song on Who You Are, leaving me nothing to complain about – “Honestly”, with its acoustic guitar beginning and elegantly simple feelings; “The Last One” feels like The Psychedelic Furs, came back from oblivion with an updated sound and better vocals.

“The Loneliest Girl In The World”’s beautiful piano and heartachingly poignant lyrics will make you yearn for whatever Brothers wants you to yearn for. “Think Awhile” a song about arguing, walking and smoking. And finally “Precious Life” about the power of love to inspire and transform, sung with heartrending emotive precision. And “Blue Eyes” is thrown on as an extra track, just for creative comparison.

There is nothing about Who You Are that is slip-shod or economical. Brothers has filled this his full-length debut, with luxurious, sensuous, serene music, sparing nothing in the making. Stunning in its magnitude and scope, Who You Are has quickly won my heart with its richly textured sounds, creamy smooth guitar, gorgeous synth and honeyed vocals.

If you would like to hear Brothers, Who You Are it’s available at his MySpace space. Who You Are is available from both Amazon and iTunes.

Cary Brothers is a man – just one man by the way, it’s not the brothers Cary – of extraordinary talent and uncompromising artistic ethics. Brothers has decided to take the indie musician path to avoid the virtual artistic indentured servitude that so many big labels demand; keeping control of his art, his craft, and his name and maintaining his artistic integrity. Something I find tremendously admirable.

Brothers music has been featured on several hit TV shows including Scrubs, Bones and Grey’s Anatomy as well as in films like Noel, Last Kiss and most notably Garden State. His music is not what some people may expect if the first song they hear is Brothers first and biggest hit, “Blue Eyes” from the Garden State Soundtrack. Where “Blue Eyes” is a stripped back almost folk-pop track, the sound on Brother’s new album, Who You Are is more Brit rock, with leanings to the modern sounds of Coldplay and Snow Patrol, coloured with the influences of Brothers' teenagehood from the late '80s like, U2, The Psychedelic Furs and Scritti Politi. Brothers has even remade the Thompson Twins hit “If You Were Here”, stripping it back, finding the hidden depth in this now timeless song.

Growing up in Nashville, Tennessee Brothers was surrounded by music, particularly that of Elvis Presley. During his childhood he idolised Presley, possibly even emulates him now in adulthood, but Brothers certainly hasn’t imitated Presley – although the idea of Brothers being a weekend, closet Elvis impersonator is rather charming. After graduating from Northwestern University with a BA in English, he began his career getting a job as a Production Assistant on MTV – the man has more hilarious anecdotes than anyone I have ever spoken to – but ultimately Brothers found the experience lacking. Feeling empty and unfulfilled he began playing guitar and singing on the weekends, in cafes and pubs around L.A.. Eventually finding his way to the Hotel Café, one of L.A.’s more avant-garde venues, where a unique community of regular players formed to the benefit of all; helping each other to further their careers, and eventually take it on the road in the Hotel Café Tour.

Brothers and I recently chatted on the phone while he rode in his tour bus across America. I found him to be a very verbose, witty, self-effacing man who enjoyed a good laugh and likes telling his fabulous stories about his time at MTV. His cell phone reception was bad and I had to call him back repeatedly so that by the end I felt like a stalker. Brothers is the kind of guy you would love to meet at the pub for a few drinks and a good laugh and that is just what this interview felt like.

Tell us about your biggest hit, so far, “Blue Eyes”. You said you wrote it in just 15 minutes, is that correct?

Yeah. It was a quick song. The music I had kind of been playing around with for years, for the better part of a decade. And I had never found the right emotion to convey what the music was doing. I seem to remember writing it as a valentine for an ex-girlfriend.

And how did it end up on the Garden State Soundtrack?

I had recorded a demo version at home and Zach Braff, who did Garden State — he was a buddy of mine in college, we were friends but we weren’t too close in college but when he moved out to L.A. it was right when I was playing open mics and had just started my life over playing music and Zach was waiting tables and wanted to be a writer, actor, and we became closer friends through being very, very broke together. And, creatively we were always on the same page. I would help him out when he was writing scripts and whenever I was writing songs I would always play them for him or play little demos I was doing.

Garden State was his (Zach Braff’s) passion project and always had been. When he put the movie together and it was this little indie movie and it wasn’t a really big deal, and no one seemed to care about it all that much. So he had a lot of creative freedom with the soundtrack, he could just do whatever he wanted. He had always been a fan of “Blue Eyes” when I was playing it at live shows and asked me to put it in this one scene.

The version in the film is actually a demo I recorded on a four-track at like two o’clock in the morning. And then movie blew-up and the soundtrack blew-up and it became, over the course of six months, I went from having a good local fan-base in L.A. to being on the soundtrack that kind of like was… that some people saw as the definitive soundtrack of the new century. There were so many people who talked a lot about… they give the soundtrack WAY too much credit. It’s a good collection of songs, but Zach had good taste and he was also smart enough to know to listen to other people. So we would go over there with stacks of CDs and just throw ideas out. It’s like a mixed-tape had been made that ended becoming the soundtrack.

And “Blue Eyes” was on it and suddenly I had some real national exposure in a way that I had never really even imagined. My life suddenly changed.

But as you said “Blues Eyes” isn’t representative of your music. It’s certainly not like your new album Who You Are.

No. I think playing in a singer/songwriter room in L.A. had focused me back on… it pulled me away from the rock influences that I had loved growing up, mostly brit-pop stuff. I turned into more of a singer-songwriter and “Blue Eyes” reflected that one stage of my songwriting.

Then… I turned back to my influences again and started to fully realise a lot of these songs in ways I hadn’t before. And start to make rock music. There are lot of different types of music I guess on Who You Are, but more than just singer-songwriter, boy and his guitar vibe. It was really important to me, with this record, to make that statement. To make sure people understand that there’s not just “Blue Eyes”.

That was the last three years of my life and I am ready to move on. And make sure that the record is everything but “Blue Eyes”. I put it on as a bonus track as, like a gift to the people who had really supported me from the start. But I put it on as the bonus track specifically to show that creatively it wasn’t supposed to be part of tracks one to eleven.

So how is Who You Are more you than “Blue Eyes”?

I think it’s the dynamics of the record. “Blue Eyes” is more, structurally a pop song. I was an English major, and I tend to write in three act structure, like a play, more so than a song. I call them… well for lack of a better term I call them orgasm songs. (laughing) You know it’s like a slow build, where the longer you listen to the song the more you get. It’s starts off more mellow the more it goes the more melodic lines come in the more parts come in, the more keyboard here, the guitar the more complex base line. It builds and builds to like a peak moment.

That’s what I love! I love peaking out in a song, that moment when you’re playing it live, or when you’re a fan and you’re listening to a song, you are just elated. You feel the sense of joy or relief. That’s what I was trying to do with a lot of these songs on the record. To the point where it almost becomes a formula on the record but it’s a formula that I absolutely adore so.

So is the sound on Who You Are your sound? Not that folky pop sound of “Blue Eyes” but this very “band” sound. It reminds me of Snow Patrol or Coldplay.

People have compared it to Snow Patrol and Coldplay, I get a lot of people comparing it to a lot of UK and European sounds. And to me, yeah it does but those weren’t my influences. My influences were the same influences that they have, Echo And The Bunnymen, U2 mid- to late-'80s even early '90s British bands. Yes it does reflect that sound but it didn’t come from those bands, it came from the same place that those bands got their inspiration from. I’m just getting into the game a little later than those guys.

What are your lyrical influences?

I don’t really have lyrical influences. I am a melody person, to the point that there are some songs that I love, and I couldn’t for the life of me tell you what they are singing about. Like certain words will stick out, but I enjoy the song as a whole; where the vocals are just another instrument. I was never really a singer-songwriter person so I am not the kind of person who walks around with a notebook, writing poetry, or writing lyrics all the time. I write music first then however I can get lyrics to fit into that. Lyrics are the last part of the equation. I’ll hum melodies over, and over, and over until I find words that start to make sense, within the frame work of that melody. I like the music to exist as a whole where the guitar line melody is just as important as the vocal melody.

So when you were talking about building a song, you weren’t talking about the lyrics alone, you were talking about the entire song.

Yeah! It’s the whole thing. The emotional… where you can take someone with the emotionally with the music… I was always taken somewhere emotionally with the music, more so than with lyrics. I generally just write all the music then, at the very last second whatever’s happening in my life, I’ll just spit out all these words. So it is honest.

So what do you want, ultimately, for your music and career?

I just want to continue to pay my bills. I’m going to be writing songs whether or not anyone buys the music. If it all fell apart tomorrow and I was a cobbler, I would make shoes during the day go home at night and write songs.

If you would like to hear Brothers new album, Who You Are it’s available at his MySpace space. Who You Are is available from both Amazon.com and iTunes.

Below is the video for “Ride”, from Brothers new album Who You Are and also on the soundtrack from the film The Last Kiss.

Six months ago I profiled the Texas based band Green River Ordinance (GRO) for BC Magazine's Band of the Week series. At the time of that interview, they had not long-past released their debut full length album The Beauty Of Letting Go, an album which is sincere, and dynamic, sumptuously layered with rich, warm melodies, harmonies, and rhythms.

GRO have the kind of talent that will inspire you to stand back a little, shake your head, and mutter in awe, “Fuck me, they’re fabulous!” Their music contains big stadium sounds like U2, Matchbox Twenty, or Snowpatrol, but with just enough Texas colour to make them stand out from the pack. GRO’s always honest, emotionally warm lyrics, strong drum driven, guitar rich songs sung by frontman Josh Jenkins’ country-boy-singing-rock vocals, all make for fun, inspiring music that is easy to listen and sing along to.

GRO’s newest release, the five track EP Way Back Home is the perfect follow-up – although it may be slightly too short for die hard fans – to their debut album. Way Back Home’s five songs are rich in the country-steeped rock tunes that GRO are so very good at, with strong guitar riffs and hooks, Josh’s easygoing, warm, textured vocals and sincere lyrics — basically more of what makes GRO so fucking fabulous.

Now, how to pick stand-out tracks from a band that puts out mostly superior music? I can only choose my own favourites “Come On” and “Beauty Of Letting Go” – no not a remake from the album but inspired by the title. “Come On” is the kind of apologetic love song that every girl wants sung to her. Loneliness, heartfelt longing and regret are all euphonious expressed in the lyrics: “I just want to be the hand you hold when you’re cryin’/ I just want to be the voice that tells you it will be alright…” You can give “Come On” a listen here. You can also listen to GRO’s fantastically funny country-boy rap edit of “Come On”.

“Beauty of Letting Go” is the mellifluous finish to Way Back Home. GRO adeptly build this song from a point of just bare guitar and strong beats, through to the sonorous ending. But why release a five-song EP so soon after the release of their debut album? I wondered the same thing, so I asked frontman Josh Jenkins to chat with me about it. He very kindly obliged – he's a very nice guy.

Why have you released an EP rather than an entire album?

Over about three months we started recording songs, not with the intention of ever releasing anything, just demo-ing songs to send to people. We ended up with the five songs. We never really intended to put an EP out until we had the songs all done, and we all felt kinda stupid not to put it out. Not to give our fans something to look to.

Now the name of your full length album was The Beauty Of Letting Go, but the song “Beauty of Letting Go” is on this EP. Can you tell me why?

We came up with that name (The Beauty Of Letting Go), like that’s kinda what album, what all the songs had to do with stuff like that (the beauty of letting go) and we came up with the name and we were like “Cool.” After we came up with the name me and Jamey (Ice – guitar) were messing around writing some songs, and we wrote this song and it was like, it only makes sense. It was an idea we got from the album name. We wish we could have put the song on The Beauty Of Letting Go, but it was born after the album was finished.

Tell me about Way Back Home.

With the name and everything; we’d been traveling so much, a lot of the songs on there talk about pursuing music, and what we’re going to do and I guess it's just about where we’re at as a band and this whole music thing, just trying to pursue success as a band. As a band you’re wanting to make it to the next level. So that’s kind of where we found ourselves prior to the record. Just being away from home and the idea of probably moving and stuff, we just decided to name the record Way Back Home.

Are you moving?

We’re not really sure. There is a possibility in the coming months and depending on where we make our next record at, we’ll probably move there for a little while. Which is probably good, cause we have grown up around here. We love home but…

So is this GRO, seriously shopping around for a label?

Yeah we are. We’ve talked to a few and we're just waiting for the right thing to come along.

You can purchase Way Back Home at iTunes and you can listen to GRO’s country flavoured rock on their MySpace space.