Archive for July, 2011

Dog Days of Summer kicks off Friday night with a bang

Published by NOISE! Staff on July 30th, 2011 - in News



Jake Simmons and the Little Ghosts perform outside at Dog Days of Summer

The maiden voyage of the Dog Days of Summer Local Music Festival went off with a bang last night.

With 13 bands in the mix, hailing from everywhere from Chicago to Ann Arbor to right here in Kalamazoo, Old Dog Tavern featured two stages — one indoor, the other outdoor.

In addition to explosive performances from bands like Jake Simmons and the Little Ghosts, The Mushmen and STRDSTR, the night also featured an extended set by Fly Paper, the Micaela Kingslight-fronted bluesy rock band that released its new album and will now embark on a tour all the way out to California.

The first installment set a record for single-event attendance at Old Dog, but with the outdoor stage rocking, there is still plenty of room. And we’re doing it all over again tonight. So get on down to Old Dog Tavern and take in bands like Fishlips, Elm Street Riot, Three Cent Shorts, Wires and Lights and MANY more.

With album on the way in November, Four Finger Five to release single “B.S. And Greed” on Saturday

Published by NOISE! Staff on July 29th, 2011 - in Featured, News



Four Finger Five


Grand Rapids rock/pop/soul trio Four Finger Five is back on the scene after a writing hiatus. The trio is prepping its newest set of tracks for a November album release. The band hopes the album, dubbed “Soul in a Suitcase”, will usher in an ever-broader fan base, a lofty feat for a band with credits like Summer Celebration and Rothbury already on its list.

Fully independent, the group has launched a Kickstarter project (www.Kickstarter.com) to support radio promotions for the record, and plans to press it on vinyl as well as CD. But first,
fans can keep an eye out for a series of singles, a sparkly new website and a whole lot of swag.

With this latest set of category-defying tracks, “Soul in a Suitcase” launches Four Finger Five right past their Billboard Magazine title “Top 5 Up and Coming Festival Bands” into a realm both wider and more distinct. The first single, “B.S. and Greed”, drops July 30 and will be available as a free download at www.fourfingerfive.com. The single is a cleanly recorded pop track that’s deceivingly dark, both a testament to the band’s years of studio experience, and evidence of their commitment to pushing themselves musically and as showmen.

And they’re more polished than ever. These days the guys stroll out to the stage in suit and tie, commanding their sets with a bigger-than-three sound, expertly finessing a rapt audience of audiophiles and hipsters alike.

Alejandra O’Leary’s rock ‘n’ roll soul shines through in latest project; band to appear tomorrow in Kalamazoo

Published by NOISE! Staff on July 28th, 2011 - in Band Features, Featured



Alejandra O'Leary Rock n Roll Band

Even when it was just her and a guitar on stage, Alejandra O’Leary was driven to play rock ‘n’ roll music.

“When you look at artists like Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney, they do have a rock ‘n’ roll power even when they’re by themselves,” said O’Leary, an Ann Arbor resident. “You can’t scream or push it out, but you can let the audience into the song in a different way. I try to be a one-girl band.”

O’Leary doesn’t have to pull the weight of a band by herself anymore, as she is now apart of the Alejandra O’Leary Rock ‘n’ Roll band that has been together for about six months now. The group will make its second trip to Kalamazoo on Friday night, appearing at the Dog Days of Summer Local Music festival both inside and outside the Old Dog Tavern. They’ll open for Kalamazoo buddies Fly Paper, which will be releasing its album and kicking off a nationwide tour that night.

With the risk of making a crass generalization, O’Leary and her bands comes across with a similar sound as Blondie or old-school Cyndi Lauper. While this connection might be made solely because both acts are female-fronted, O’Leary said there’s validity in those claims.

“I love both of those bands,” she said. “Blondie is a huge influence. I think they managed to combine a sweetness and vulnerability with an aggressive and great pop sound. They have a lot of integrity to their pop and I love both bands.”

Still, being a frontwoman does come with some generalizations.

“I’ll have people ask me if I’m more like Nora Jones or Sheryl Crow,” O’Leary said. “I don’t want people to think music has to be so gendered. I think I’m more like Morrissey. I think he does a lot of things with his voice that I’ve tried to internalize and bring to my music. He does a lot of vocal solos.”

O’Leary has one album to her name, a disc called “Nothing Out Loud”, released in 2009. However, the band is working to promote its Sept. 3 release entitled “Broken Mirror Baby”. While the album packs a full-band rock ‘n’ roll sound, just O’Leary and her producer performed on the work.

The full band will contribute to the next recording.

“We don’t play the album note-for-note at shows,” O’Leary said. “With the full band playing, we’ve been reinventing the tunes a lot.”

Visit Alejandra and her crew on Facebook here.

Rant: Stop overprocessing your music

Published by Dwayne Hoover on July 27th, 2011 - in Featured, Opinion



Everybody has their own opinion on the importance of a local band’s recordings. Some bands could care less, devoting all of their time and energy into live performances. Others take a DIY approach, and will crank out an EP in about six hours while chugging PBRs in their basement. But what happens when you fork over your hard-earned cash to a recording studio? Do the “audio engineers” truly capture your sound, or do they squeeze out a digital turd?

 

I’ve already pointed out my opinion on auto-tune. It should be confiscated and burned in the style of a 16th century witch hunt, complete with raised pitchforks and a pissed-off lynch mob. Music is an art form, and pitch correction is just an unethical tool to use. It’s like those models and actresses on magazine covers, who only have perfect bodies and perfect skin because some Photoshop ninja made it so. Takes a bit of rigidity out of your dong, doesn’t it?

Look, not everyone sings as well as the next person, but that’s okay. It doesn’t always have to be perfect. You’re not a Nickelodeon pop star, and nobody expects you to sing like one. Lip syncing is frowned upon for a reason, and it’s because your fans actually want to hear your voice.

Another thing that’s being completely ruined by sound technicians is the dynamic range of audio recordings. There is something that’s happening right now called The Loudness War, in which songs are being mastered and remastered in order to increase their loudness while simultaneously decreasing the actual quality of the music. The idea is that the songs will “pop” more than those that haven’t been excessively compressed, resulting in not only a louder song, but one that is actually physically tiring to the ear because there is little difference between the loud and quiet parts. It’s even believed that this practice can contribute to hearing loss.

Seriously, just look at the three different releases of Michael Jackson’s Black or White. It’s the exact same song, “remastered” by someone with fancy equipment and a throbbing erection for how loud he can make something.

If this doesn’t piss you off, it should. Why? The theory is that if your song is louder than the next guy’s, it’ll be more noticeable, and thus, you’ll sell more albums. What nobody seems to give a shit about is that the actual dynamic integrity of the song is being compromised. I don’t know about you, but when I play part of a song quietly, I do so for a reason. And to hell with some tool factory who thinks he’s going to make my wave forms look like a goddamn blur. Save your marketing tricks for someone who gives a shit.

Studios and engineers need to do a better job of actually capturing the sound and feel of a band. I’m not saying they shouldn’t try to make it sound good, but the only thing overprocessing does is makes it fake. Auto-tune should be reserved for Rebecca Black, and The Loudness War should only be fought by obnoxious car salesmen on television commercials, not with our art.

Rant is a monthly column written by Dwayne Hoover, staff writer for West Michigan NOISE! and contributing writer for Cracked.com. He can be reached at dwayne@kzoonoise.com. More of his musings on life and music can be found at kzoonoise.com/hooverdamn.

Interview: Danny Brueck, the godfather of Fest Fest, which takes place Saturday

Published by NOISE! Staff on July 23rd, 2011 - in Featured, Interviews



One little dude is responsible for a BIG show.

We chatted with Danny Brueck, master mind of Fest Fest 3, which is taking place at the Muskegon County Fairgrounds on Saturday.The event features local, regional and national talent.

WEST MICHIGAN NOISE!: What’s the origins of this mysterious fig we all know as Fest Fest?

DANNY BRUECK: Fest Fest started out as an idea to do a day filled with music featuring the bands from the Muskegon area. We wanted to show people how great the scene was, and give bands a good crowd to play for. This year, we have some solid national acts playing, so were expecting people from all over the state. This will give the bands around here a chance to play for more people as well as share the stage with some awesome groups. That’s really what it’s all about is the local scene.

NOISE!: But even more than just a run-of-the-mill music festival, this doubles as a fundraiser, right?

BRUECK: It was basically me wanting to do a festival and wanting to help out a cause called Holton Cares. That’s where the charity aspect comes from. So I put together Fest Fest to try and help her raise money.

NOISE!: How were the first two installments accepted? I have to imagine this being your third go, it’s starting to catch on.

BRUECK: The first and second years were a great success. We had La Dispute as the headline the first year, which helped us draw big. When we did it the second time, the crowd was smaller but there was more variety in the bands. We had Victor! Fix The Sun headline that year. Both shows were great and we were able to raise money for some awesome organizations.

NOISE!: I see a lot of hardcore/metal bands in the mix. Is that the primary vibe of this festival?

BRUECK: I would definitely agree with this being based to a more heavy sound. But I tried my best to put in a mix so that people had a little bit of everything to see. The scene out here is predominately heavy, so it’s nice to give people a mix of something different.

NOISE!: The show is going to benefit Invisible Children. Tell us about your desire to raise money for them.

BRUECK: When I was in high school, my youth group had watched a video the Invisible Children put out showing some of the things going on in Africa. I was shocked at everything I saw and wanted to help in any way I could. Being the normal high school kid I had forgotten about it after a week or so. Then recently I went to one of the dates on the Resolve Tour and they showed more recent videos of child soldering in Africa. It reminded how strongly I had felt about it, and made me want to take a more serious approach to helping. For me, that was putting on a show to help raise awareness for what’s going on, and to also raise money to help put a stop to it.

NOISE!: Any bands you’re especially excited to have on board this year?

BRUECK: I’m excited about all of the bands really. But if I had to pick five that I am most excited to host, I would have to say: Inhale Exhale, The La Des Les, A Children’s Crusade, Stacey Koziel and probably Good Weather For Airstrikes.

NOISE! How hard is it coordinating a show with a zillion bands on it?

BRUECK: Well putting a show together with this many bands was harder than I thought. I had originally planned on just 25 bands. But we got submissions from so many bands to play that there was no way I was going to be able to do just that. I guess the hardest part was putting together a schedule that I thought gave the show a good flow. I had no idea I would have to work 42 groups into the schedule, though.

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