The White Buffalo
The White Buffalo is a big man. His rumbling, low register of a voice draws breath on the spirit of his words and the fervor of a true believer singer/songwriter. Jake Smith is a SoCal native currently living in Venice, California, with an alter-ego as The White Buffalo. In preparation for his forthcoming second full length album, ‘Once Upon A Time in the West’, The White Buffalo is releasing an E.P. tease, ‘Lost and Found’. He found a steady driver in “The Pilot” to open the five song effort. The song barrels along with determination and commitment to cause, which in the case of “The Pilot” is “one more time to get my fill of this old forgotten thrill in this life”. The White Buffalo grabs the notes, white-knuckling the emotion and squeezing out characters so real you can feel their arms brush your skin as they reach for the next drink. A man who knows to pay attention “when trouble flags me down” (“Dark Side of Town”) knows just as clearly that “its heaven or hell, they’re both gates just as well; they’re all the same far as I can tell”. Roaming a range of Country and Rock with a left-of-dial Indie leaning, The White Buffalo inhabits a territory where night after night, he makes his living and wears the skin of the life he has chosen, or the one that has chosen him.
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Arborea
Arboea’s music moves around the air around magically. The songs use of simple
acoustics and hushed vocals anchor the fragile force that is Shanti and Buck Curran’s calling card. As Arborea, the team offer folk music that is ethereal fantasy come to life, music that becomes one with its environment. ‘Red Planet’ is a collection of songs that drift through the album offering themselves as with a dual purpose; part bright/part dark, the warm breath of an elixir that will chill you to the bone. Shanti’s vocal allows the pain of “Careless Love” to dissipate, her voice rises up from “Black it the Color” to float across the space filled by the instruments. Spare notes mirror the starkness of the winter that finds “Wolves” much as the instrumentation in “Spain” shows the darkness of the water just beyond the beach. Arborea blend voice and sound on ‘Red Planet’ in a way that lulls the senses, allowing them to come alive again as part of the music, not just as a listener.
Alec Gross
The voice of Alec Gross cuts a path through his songs, the compassion of his delivery making even the confessions of “You Don’t Mind” land gracefully. ‘Strip the Lanterns’ title track has a story line that plays tag with Alice in Wonderland references and trades chords sparingly. Alec Gross has a choir boy voice that shines, even in the back row, like his head full of alarm red hair. The songs and characters show characters who have traveled a bit from the choir, guys and gals that never look back through the bar doors after they ordered another round to calm their thirst as they lay out their lives. Clear pictures and lives appear from these songs, they play like a movie whose citizens stay with you long after the credits have rolled.
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Driftwood Fire
‘How to Untangle Heartache’ is anchored by the female duo that comprises Driftwood
Fire. Charlotte Formichella brings instrumental dexterity to the guitar work of singer Lynn Scharf to fill in the ten originals on the album. “Let It All Go” talks about the chances that have been a part of Driftwood Fire since the pair met in college. “Appalachian Hills” cites and honors memories of growing up, “Backdoor” looks out on what was and takes aim on the future and “Small City Nights” pairs two against the world, again taking the chance rather than the comfortable chair. Driftwood Fire have an energy that translates well on “How to Untangle Heartache”, letting emotions light the flames. Work on the world took first place for a few years after college before the embers of Driftwood Fire took hold. Charlotte worked as a recording engineer gauging the impact of man’s sonic debris on the American wilderness and Lynn mapped out the territories of endangered species.
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Gaston Light
Gaston Light is the beacon that Dallas-based songwriter Jason Corcoran uses to beam his words and music out to the world. On ‘Peel’, Gaston Light bleeds a jukebox worth of American Roots sounds out of the ten tracks; crackly Alt Country (“Half Awake”), one on one declarations (“I’ll Wait For You”), window down country rock (“In A Casket”), rhythm and riff driven rave-ups (“Xanax Blues”) and a steering wheel pounding blue collar dilemma (“Close Your Good Eye”). ‘Peel’ chronicles Jason Corcoran’s years in Los Angeles (the album was recorded in a converted garage in a hurried two week period in Venice, CA). Gaston Light has moved back home to Dallas.
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Savoy Brown
Savoy Brown formed in 1965 in the British Blues scene. One of the first racially mixed
blues bands in the 60’s, the group, led by Kim Simmons, and has stayed true to electric blues on into their most recent album, ‘Voodoo Moon’. Savoy Brown sticks to their plugged in, swamp crawling licks on ‘Voodoo Moon’, letting the licks light the path and dig through the night time shadows. Blues wisdom cruises along on sharp riffs, serving up equally sharp spite in “Too Much Money”, put their collective feet on the pedal and stoke the fires with “She’s Got The Heat”, slow the pace down with smooth blues curves in “Round and Round” and seer the earth with shaky distortion in “Shockwaves”. The title track lets Savoy Brown stretch, stepping in with a sly groove that leans into the spell cast by the evil magic of the midnight light with a demanding beat, playing slow/fast tag throughout the song.
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Whiteboy James and Blues Express
Whiteboy James has a massive voice, developed over years in the Southern California blues scene, dating back to the 1980’s. “Extreme Makeover’ gives the Blues Express 1992 debut a new face and re-amps up the electric edge for the new millennium. All the blusual suspects appear in the band’s songs, women of the mean and big-butted variety, players who squeeze every drop of sweat from the night, blues bars and trains. Southern California blues remembers the days when jazz and blues drank at the same bar. The tracks on ‘Extreme Makeover’ honors tradition as Whiteboy James And The Blues Express shoot an electric blue light of everything they touch.
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