ALBUM REVIEW: Meditate On It is the debut by Sleepless Saints is a record done with lots of gentleman like swagger. A tip of the hat to the guitar production and orchestration that drive this baby home. With great Rock-n-roll voice all wrapped up like Mr. Tom Petty or Mr Nick Lowe respectively. Yeah, we know it’s saying a lot if you like Oasis type reverb rock Singer/Songwriters then Sir, Mr. Christian Edwards delivers the well spun hooks. Lots of tasty vocal layers packaged in this album so say you. All the songs really show a sense of song without muddying up the heart of the matter. In particular on tracks like “Begining to Believe” there is some tasty slide guitar hands here that will buzz your ears as if you were saying “ohm” to yourself. Trust us if we thought this sucked we would tell you but we’re here to tell you this is a good sounding album all the way through with a pop sense that is delivered frankly and honestly. And if we told you Edwards actually has a meditation room in his house would you believe us?
Ah man you haven’t heard of Matt Pinfield? What’s wrong with you? You must of been really stoned in the 90’s or your’re from Canada. The music industry in the world of DJs and VJs was pretty much catered and curated by him all the way from with his early College Radio days in the mid 80’s to today. If there is a up and coming act Uncle Matty knows about them — no researcher tells him. He just listens and literally gives them a spin. One of those place was the old Melody Bar on French Street in New Brunswick, NJ. He was involved with music from his early days on 99.7 on WRSU as the youngest DJ ever on the air, to 106.3 WHTG Program Director down the Jersey Shore, and recently was on the now format changed RXP in NY. The Music Business is relentless indeed so what’s one to do? Companies buy companies without though of any cultural repercussions.
"Hi I am Matt Pinfield and this is 120 Minutes"
“It’s about going past the mainstream and showing you that there was other great music out there that you might not know. And always presented with passion, rather than hipster cynicism.” – Uncle Mattnj.com
The bad news he’s off the radio right now but still somehow the good news for the music industry is that he’s back in a big way nationally and globally for that matter on MTV2 at 1-A-freaking-M in the morning but then streaming on the hive when-ever we want. What makes him a sonic alternative music godfather is he really gets so much respect from bands from Oasis to the Foo Fighters to all the up coming indies because they themselves found influence in the bands he picked out of the record bin and spun. It’s not fake and it’s not an act. He’s a real music fan in the same way Jack Rabid is. He reads the liner notes, knows the record producers, seen the bands live countless times, knows their history and has interviewed just about everybody there is to know I think.
His presence on MTV2 is the one thing that is right today,even though NY radio is a total horrible fucking mess right now; is that Uncle Matt is now hosting 120 minutes again . Not the current faux-reality MTV bullshit but a monthly show where they show some pretty “edgy” music that’s not your run of the mill auto-tuned boring-ass pop or whatever it is that is being played in clubs these days. The stress of it all and rewards have made his life a disastrous roller-coaster for sure dealing with his own demons through the years but in this debut episode he plays videos by bands we’ve been talking about recently here on the RS Blog like Joy Formidable and Black Angels and he also digs in the vault with something off The Bends where we see Thom Yourke as a punk. So tune-in the last Saturday of every month for 2 hours of rock history and check out some new stuff.
Alternative Playlist circa 80-90’s for Junkies & Alcoholics: Cigarettes & Alcohol MP3 by Oasis from Definitely Maybe (1994) That’s Entertainment MP3 Jam cover by The Wonder Stuff off Never Loved Elvis (1991) Aneurysm MP3 Live Nirvana cover by Local H (1997) Beetlebum MP3 by Blur s/t (1997) I Am One MP3 by Smashing Pumpkins from Gish (1991) Flavor MP3 by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Live Tuscon
ALBUM REVIEW: Captured nicely in the British neo-psychedelia vessels were alternative bands like Railway Children, The Mighty Lemon Drops and The Wonderstuff. All trying to sound in parts like Echo & The Bunnymen and sometimes unconsciously like the poppier side of Dinosour Jr. Years later it’s Two Thousand Eleven and enters Red Light Driver‘s 4th release. These Indianapolis, US rockers are as much a flashback to this sound as they are filled with spot-on swirly pop guitars like said music movement from the late 80’s. This band shows that they are actually from the midwest on tracks like “The Away Anthem” but I question their passport in a very British Sea Power kind of way (insert stuffy accent here) on the opening self titled cut “Celeste Celeste” and then later on “Diamond Rough” – leave it to some Americans to give you incomplete song titles. Anyway, this comparison mostly has to do with the call and response vocals and drums on choruses and use of twangy guitars and effects. The band freely admits this so no harm done. This combo is going to bring the genre back into vogue as they present their case in a oversaturated market of internet bands who care more care about how cool their beards looks than the music. This well groomed Celeste Celeste EP shines a bright light on the genre where the bands were veering away from punk in order to be pop-stars and who did not quite survive the grunge era. In this case each cut has the naughty rock-n-roll bits re-exposed and re-examined and not in a lame Jim Morrison kind of way.
80’s Brit Alternative Pop: That’s Entertainment MP3 by The Wonder Stuff from Never Loved Elvis Another Town MP3 by The Railway Children Inside Out MP3 by The Mighty Lemon Drops (1988)
Bonus Cover: Paint It Black MP3 Stones cover by The Mighty Lemon Drops
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