MISSING PERSONS: Dreaming

Missing Persons was such a big part of the early ’80s for me, with Dale Bozzio’s style, unique voice and the amazing songs…I was an instant fan. Of course, being a teenage boy, Dale was a big reason I loved the band…I did mention her style, right? Anyways, there is a new album out and let’s get to it.

You get twelve songs and three are originals with covers of The cars, The The, Joy Division and others. Starting off with the cover of “California Dreamin'” all I can say is wow! Her voice is amazing and the band keep the tempo down and it flows so well. New songs “Lipstick” and “Dreaming” are fantastic and I had to hit replay on them to hear them right away. So slinky, sexy and perfect. “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” made popular by The Animals is played slow and similar to the first song and is another cool version. “This Is The Day” originally by The The is a winner sounding as good as the original version and is very ’80s sounding. “Images In Heaven” by Peter Godwin is a peppy track that I really enjoyed and takes you back to the early ’80s with the sound of Missing Persons from back then. Strawberry Alarm Clock’s “Incense and Peppermints” is another fast-paced cover that really works and sounds like it could have come out in 1982.

All-in-all, a great return from an artist that I had hoped would put out something new after seeing her in concert last year for the first time ever. This will fit in perfectly with the earlier albums and will be one to play the hell out of. Great album, thank you for making my wish come true.

https://www.facebook.com/missingpersonsdalebozzio

https://missingpersonsdalebozzio.bandcamp.com/

http://cleorecs.com/home/

https://www.facebook.com/CleopatraRecords/

THE BASEMENT PAINTINGS: Antipodes

The Basement Paintings from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan got together in the winter of 2011 and quickly got to work recording a full-length debut album which was released in March of 2013. The follow-up EP, titled Time Lapse City was released in March of 2014, and their next release was Mystic. The band has a mix of progressive rock, metal, experimental, and post-rock sound that they manage to pull off quite well.

The songs are all instrumental and at times have a touch of Tool in sound, but never enough to make them a copyist, just like adding a touch of salt to your food; it seasons it enough to make it tasty. This band has a lot of talent, they play with such precision and with feeling that you can close your eyes and just nod your head along to the tracks and drift away. Not saying that there isn’t some metal crunch, but the songs just flow so beautifully that you get into a trance-like state listening to it. All of the tracks except one, are all over eight minutes long, the last track is a whopping fifteen minutes long, so make sure that you have the time for this.

With such lengthy tracks, the band has a chance to go places with the listener that they wouldn’t if they were cut shorter in time. Grab a drink, pull up a chair and go on a long journey with these guys and see where you land.

http://www.thebasementpaintings.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Basement-Paintings/140222956134635

https://thebasementpaintings.bandcamp.com/

THE KISS THAT TOOK A TRIP: Garlands

Formed in Madrid in 2006, The Kiss That Took A Trip is the brainchild of M.D. Trello, who stands as the sole member. Since its inception, He has been regularly putting out self-made releases, with the EP Dating Aphrodite (2008) and the albums, Worst Case Scenarios (2009), The Dummy Family (2011), How The Mighty Have Fallen (2012), Electroforest (2014), Electroforest (By Night) (2015), Happiness In The Presence Of Sadness (2016), and Punk Cathedral (2017). This is a mix of experimental, shoegaze, alternative rock and post rock and works together pretty well.

“Copernicus” starts things off with a cool shoegaze sound that really was a throwback to the ‘90s when that was popular, but didn’t sound retro at all. “Whoever Hurt You Has My Sympathy” is another great track that has a woman throughout fighting against someone. The track is a mid-paced groover that really stands out. “The Hays Code” is an overlong instrumental track that could be good if restraint was implemented.

All-in-all, not too bad of a collection of songs that vary from track to track, and will definitely catch your ears. I’m looking forward to checking out more of his music in the future.

http://www.thekissthattookatrip.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thekissthattookatrip/

DELYN GREY: Battle

 

Delyn Grey from Toronto, Ontario has released a new Alternative Rock single that made her dig down deep inside herself. “This one hurt,” she says earnestly. “The craziest part was discovering how much pain I was ignoring, and how I had accepted that as a norm. I couldn’t package this one up in pop chords and upbeat shit. It had to sound how I felt.” She continues to say, “Battle is me acknowledging that I was happily drowning in my self-deprecation. It filled this twisted void that ran deeper and deeper the more I gave in to it, but there was always this voice that fought against the heaviness. I eventually let it get louder, and I fought. Fighting gave me purpose, and this song granted me control of the uncontrollable. I wrote this song in the throes of it all. It helped me process all that was happening, and still happens, up in here “she says pointing to her head. As you can see, doing a song about depression can be hard, yet beautiful as well.

With the piano leading off the track and taking it by its throat, the song just gets deeper and more melancholy, yet beautiful due to the amazing voice of Grey. You can hear the rawness of her emotions come through loud and clear. The rest of the band comes in and just pushes the song into greatness as the vocals just overwhelm you. A very deep and sombre song that the pain just gets into your soul and as beautiful as it all is, it’s just so sad at the same time that people have to go through things this tough.

A fantastic track that the more that you listen to it, the better it gets and it just draws you in and sticks with you. I can’t wait to hear more from Grey and hopefully, this will help get some of the depression sorted for her.

http://delyngreyofficial.com/

https://www.facebook.com/itsdelyn/