Nerve City - Recordings 2007- 2008 LP

The first release I heard from Nerve City was the "hell" cassette which completely blew me away and not in a good way at first. The amount of fuzz was, at the time, too much for me. But as I continued to listen, the awesome pop aesthetic began to seep through all the fuzz. Like the chant of a shaman in a trance lost in the desert, Nerve City's voice echos and fades away leaving listeners in a similar mental state as the figurative shaman. This is pensive loner music - the kind of stuff that one would listen to on a contemplative night. The person behind this music has been featured on various record labels such as HoZac and Sweet Rot and has already built an impressive catalog of 7" singles and cassettes. My favorite release being the Catholic School demo. Must listen to songs on the latest LP include: Living Wage, The Creek, and Junkyard.

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New Work

Bad lighting on this one....its supposed to be grey with a weird hint of blue, not yellow. This is grandpa levinson who I only met once. Funny guy. I had a nice time painting and drawing him.
Paint, marker, ink, on canvas board.


This one is ink, paint, gesso, and newspaper. I did it for mothers day, I believe....or was it christmas? Anyway, my mother didn't enjoy it too much, so I'm hoping to sell it or something. I've been going in this direction with my paintings lately....mostly because I don't know how to technically paint...but it's visually appealing to me most of the time so I suppose it's a good thing.

Local Focus; MC Jumanji

I met this character about two years ago at a friends house and I've watched him grow from someone who simply enjoyed going to raves and parties, to a pretty prolific MC and the center point of most of the parties he used to attend. So, I scored an interview with my buddy here over wine and Mauro's Pizza.

Royal Jelly: When did you start your journey into the world of MCing?
Jumanji: I've been doing this shit since I was 7. It always starts young when you're really passionate about something

RJ: Who would you say are your biggest inspirations?

J: Growing up is was Jay-Z, but as I started getting into Electronic music it's been MC Fearless. I draw from a lot of different things, I dont want to focus too much on one music movement or scene.

RJ: How do you feel about the music down here in South Florida?
J: I love it! Drum and Bass, Dubstep - it's given me an outlet to properly express myself as an MC. As far as the Dubstep scene goes, I consider myself a pioneer for it down here in South Florida.

RJ: For those of us that don't know exactly what being an MC entails, please explain what goes on.
J: As an MC (Master of Ceremonies) you basically host, makes announcements, etc. You're the voice of the party. The art of being being an MC is tying the event to the music. You're the bridge between the music that's already been recorded (DJ's) and the live event via free styling over said music. The anatomy of an MC includes a big personality, a likeable voice (you dont wanna hear some annoying ass voice all night at a party) and talent.

RJ: Any perks you get from MCing all these parties?
J: Free drinks! Haha!

RJ: Do you see yourself doing this long-term?
J: Yeah, there's nothing more satisfying than being on stage a performing. I'd like to keep this up as long as possible.

Well, there you have it. MC Jumanji is going to be at Ultra Music Festival for his second time this year and you can catch him a Vagabond hosting "Get Low" and at Club Cinema hosting "Down".

Fantastic Magic - Witch Choir

Quite the treat for those of you who enjoy mind altering psychedelia!! I stumbled upon this release a while ago on Id Reverberations and I didn't really give it the listen this release deserves. I'm hooked. This cassette wavers from moments of anxious, schizophrenic jabbering to calm, peaceful surf pop influenced harmonizing. I listen to this when I want something relaxing but not mind numbingly boring. I'd recommend this to anyone to listen to while sober or on drugs. It's probably better while on drugs (specifically LSD) actually, but I wouldn't know.

A surprising tid-bit is that Nathan, mastermind behind Wavves, was a part of this, now defunct, band! Who knew he'd go from awesome, drone-y, psychedelic, folk pop to slightly mediocre (although catchy) lo-fi noise pop? Oh well....still a fan of both bands!

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New Posts Coming SOON!

I'm sorry to keep the people that follow this blog (all two of you) waiting for new posts. I've got an interview with a very prolific and up and coming MC in the works, however, I left my notepad at a friends...so that will have to wait...

I've also got an upload of the new Nerve City LP. Look forward to it!

JGR - Demos

My good Russian friend, Vlad, started a recording project named JGR a few months ago. I actually like a lot of the music he records, so I figured I'd make a post about it. We've known each other for quite some time, we've recorded music together, and we've spent nights together (wink wink). He records his music using just a guitar and his laptop, producing a lo-fi sound - which I enjoy. Songs range from anxious sonic warbling to fuzzy field recordings with guitar work layered over it. Very experimental, although I'm not sure how much is actually meant to be as such, as most of what I've heard are demos and pieces of songs. Perhaps I just have a strange taste in music. When Vlad and I record music, it stylistically leans more toward an acoustic Taking Back Sunday with tape hiss in the background and some sound collages/field recording in between songs.

Check his music out on myspace; http://www.myspace.com/jegara

Tocki

It's amazing what the internet can do. Two people, from completely opposite parts of a country, can actually communicate via little boxes called computers....ah... Anyway, I met Christina Tocki over a year ago on myspace when she added me with her music page. Since then we've been really close friends and so I thought I'd do a post about her music. Her music is appropriately dubbed "ache-oustic", in reference to her brutally honest lyrics about past relationships and friendships, and the fact that it's all acoustic. Guitar work is pretty standard (not that I'm complaining - I love it), but her voice is amazing! Kinda like.....Jeff Mangum if he knew how to sing. Speaking of Jeff, the tracks I'm going to share with you guys include Tocki's cover of April 8th! It's actually more solemn than the original version. Enjoy!

Post Script; she's got huge asian boobies!

April 8th
We've Got Art

Here's her myspace music page

Review: Endless Fields of Poppy

I wasn't sure what I'd expect when I took a listen to this album by The Curiously Strong Peppermints, but it's safe to say anyone that loves the Elephant 6 Collective will fall in love with this psychedelic pop band! It's like finding a new E6 band! The songs have a very close resemblance to early Olivia Tremor Control; classic Beatle-esque pop songs with a few hits of acid and some fuzz. Instrumentation is nice, I can hear a lot of fuzzy bass, some keys, guitar, reverb - everything you'd need on a musical, psychedelic journey.

Vocals remind me of early Marbles, fronted by Robert Schneider (of Apples in Stereo fame), very nasally and goofy, but fitting. The harmonizing on some tracks is really nice and brings back memories of 60's pop bands. Lyrics (on the tracks that stuck out to me) dealt with surreal subjects, math, and politics(?).

It was mentioned in my previous post that this album was recorded in various locales and it adds a lot of character to the production. No one really likes a super sleek production, or at least I'd like to hope not - it's too boring that way!! HEY, YOU SHITTY MAINSTREAM BANDS OUT THERE! ADD SOME FUZZ!!!!

Stand out tracks include; "Oh Me, Oh My", "Colorwheel", and "Our Princess Is In Another Castle".

All in all, I say it's worth a purchase of the physical release. If you'd like to hear a sample, simply go to my previous post about this band and click "try it". If you enjoy the album, please support the artists and purchase it!

Feature: The Curiously Strong Peppermints - Endless Fields of Poppy

The Curiously Strong Peppermints are a Minneapolis-based psychedelic acid-pop quintet. Their bio claims they sound like "Elliott Smith backed by The Flaming Lips playing The Beatles backwards," but that was written under suspicious circumstances involving a ferret, two buckets and a typewriter. What else is 'known' about the band may not be true: demos recorded from inside a box, using shoehorns and eggbeaters; concept albums about Lady Gaga's right testicle; pianos drenched in gallons of peach yogurt. Are there actually seventeen members of the band, but twelve of them play nothing and simply perform pantomime at their homes while the remaining five perform/record the music at a gig or studio?

What IS known is that their debut album "Endless Fields of Poppy" was self-released in the imaginary internet realm three months ago, with a physical release on the mysterious Sunshine Cortex Records. The album was apparently 6 years in the making, recorded by the band in living rooms, garages, basements and bedrooms. A mix of melodic pop, layers of reverbed sketchy vocals, fuzzy basses and backwards drums. Plus a plethora of instruments such as air organs, glockenspiels, theremins, toy pianos and a Hawaiian tremoloa. This is headphone music, people. If your ears could smile... well... you should really see a specialist for that.

Visit The Curiously Strong Peppermints online at www.myspace.com/cspm

Stay tuned for a review later this week!

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Not my work, rather, something I aspire to.

The Twerps - s/t cassette

One of my favorite releases from last year! The Twerps, an Australian Lo-Fi Pop band featuring hollow drums, jangly guitars and soft spoken vocals with a bit of emotional bite in the lyrics. They have a really melodramatic, introverted feel. Definitely better suited for nights when you're alone rather than on the way to some party. Simple guitar rhythms weave in and out over muffled vocals and tape hiss. Some songs, like "Dance Alone", evoke a completely different time period with lyrics revolving around asking girls to dances and punching kids named "joe" - not to mention the spoken word verses with a 50's/60's twang to them. It's as if Ponyboy started making music instead of saving kids from burning buildings and inadvertently killing his friend as a result.

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Art For The Eyes

Eugene Hütz!! This guy has so much style it's almost impossible to replicate it. I tried to really capture Eugene's style in this piece. I'm pretty happy with this drawing overall. I actually sold it.... Perhaps I'll do another one?

This particular one came to being in a time when I would lurk scene girls myspace profiles to find pictures for reference. Probably one of my best water color pieces to date. No technique involved, I just fooled around with the paint for awhile.

This watercolor piece I did on a whim. Browsing a friends photo album on facebook I come across this picture that's kinda sad and funny at the same time. Sad because it's someone getting their hair buzzed off for the Army; funny because of the dollop of hair they decided to take a picture of before shaving it all off. I played around with the colors on the face after realizing I'm not quite sure how to capture skin tone at times, but I'm pretty satisfied with the result.