The Elephant in the Room: The Collective and The Individual

Remember a while ago when I made that post about supporting bands that you love and believe in? Tonight’s review is a direct result of that KickStarter that I supported – and proof that it counts for something!

Through a KickStarter program, The Elephant In The Room were successfully able to fund the manifestation of their debut album, produced by Casey Crescenzo of The Dear Hunter. The result of a lot of hard work is an eleven-track disc that will leave you reeling when when you realize this is their debut CD.

The Collective and The Individual  begins with Left In The Dark, a song that instantly reminded me of The Mars Volta. The guitar work is so on point in this song, it will blow your mind.  Besides the beginning that left me with chill bumps, there’s a great breakdown with about a minute left in the song that deserves a cheer on its own.

Monsters follows this powerful first track with plenty of steam. The rhythm of this song reminds me of early AFI mixed with with The Mars Volta and that’s a mix I’ve never considered before this song. The vocals and the guitar heavily play off each other in this jam, each growing more and more frantic with energy until the chorus hits and breaks the spell.

Ghosts stands as my favorite song on the record. The guitar work has such a bouncy feel to it until the chorus comes down and then it’s time for everyone to jam together. I’ll walk through walls and I’ll talk to you in your sleep. I’ll keep you cold when the sun’s beating on your face. I’ll make you believe when I’m a ghost. The breakdown and subsequent group sing-along near the end practically makes me giddy. This is a jam you’re not going to be able to listen to on low volume. Trust me and go ahead and turn it up before it even comes on.

What You Don’t Know Won’t Hurt You is a close second for favorite song on the album. This one stays at a faster tempo the whole way through, differing from the songs directly encasing it and keeping things interesting. The bass guitar is the real spotlight of this song, coming on strong, keeping everything glued together and allowing itself some time to shine.

The beginning fifteen seconds of Never Believe What You’re Told is some of the best musical work I’ve heard from any album this year. Don’t get me wrong – the song itself is strong, but those first fifteen seconds. Unbelievable.

I’m particularly interested in the last track on the album. We Will Meet Again closes the album out in more than one way. It begins very slow, almost muted and hushed, almost like it’s hiding behind a curtain, with a barely-there pick up. The vocals are almost chant-like in nature which is almost thrown off balance by the obvious rock music tones in the background. Almost.

Self-professed progressive rock meets enjoyable pop, The Elephant in the Room comes out strong on their debut album. When I donated to their KickStarter campaign after a chance Tweet they sent me, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was so blown away with what they were producing before, I knew they deserved a chance to show what they really are made of. I eagerly awaited the KickStarter progress reports, and a few days ago when I received the album download link, I felt like Christmas had come early. This album truly is a great one, and one I will be listening to for a while. Do yourself a favor and take a peek.

Keep up with the band as they celebrate the release of the record and see what they’ll be up to in the months to come on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to hear this record (and believe me, you do) you can stream the album here and buy the album when it’s officially released tomorrow (October 29, 2013)! and stay tuned for an interview with the band.

Don’t forget to support the bands you love and believe in!

Recently, I had some exposure to Kickstarter as my place of employment launched and successfully funded an amazing project. It’s a great place for people to come together and support a goal – and how fun it is to see the project through after it’s funded!

I don’t usually do this here – in fact, this is a first. I rarely make posts that aren’t album reviews unless they’re little messages or updates, but this is something that just struck me.

I was jamming out to The Dear Hunter today while I was doing some graphic design at work and I happened to tweet about it. A couple of hours ago, I got a reply from a band who will be heading into the studio with Casey Crescenzo in May to record their first full length record.

The Elephant Room could use our help in funding this album through their Kickstarter campaign. It’s so important to support up and coming bands that you believe in. I can never stress that enough. That’s why here at Back to the Music, I really try to write about a mix of people you know and bands you may have never heard of.

With programs like Kickstarter, we’re able even more than ever to show these smaller bands that we believe in them. This band has until Sunday, April 7 to reach their goal. Believe me – go listen to their songs on Facebook and you’ll see why I didn’t hesitate to donate to this Kickstarter.

Click here to see their campaign page, watch a video from the band, and read a little bit about their goals.

 

Dirt Poor Robins: The Cage

When someone recommends me a female-fronted rock band, I’m eager to give them a spin. There is such a lack of female fronted bands in rock now that it’s almost sad. I saw a blurb about Dirt Poor Robins around the internet one day and I decided to check out what they had to offer on their latest album, The Cage.

I turned the music on before I began my band-investigation and immediately an Evanescence and Heart combination come to mind when Kate Robins opens her mouth and begins singing. The idea of that mix seems so odd, but works out really nicely. Eleanor Rigby and The Hollywood Song open the album with a positive first impression of the band. The vocals are enjoyable and the instrumentation is impressive.

This band is particularly interesting background wise. Kate and Neil Robins make up the band – a married couple from Louisville, Kentucky. Both began their musical journeys very early in life and came together when they were cast opposite each other as leads in an off Broadway play. It says on their official website that Neil thought he ‘needed that voice to sing with him forever’ when he heard her sing. Neil is nothing to brush off -he plays eight instruments and played 95% of the music on this album himself.

Neil takes more vocal roles in Great Vacation and it’s a lovely slower swaying song. Their voices intertwine so nicely.

My favorite track on the album is Rise Up. As the song continues on, it seems to pick up both more instruments and changes in tempo. The church-like chanting is fascinating, and Kate’s voice sounds like a controlled Amy Lee.

The album wraps up with the beautiful When All Is Said And Done. This is an upbeat and whimsical ending track with beautiful dancing guitars behind the Robins’ voices. I’m quite impressed with this band who seems to have a lot less attention than they should be receiving – especially for a band with this much talent. This album is definitely going on my To-Recommend list and you should definitely check this band out somewhere on the interwebz – Facebook or official site or something. Do it.

 

Key Tracks:
Rise Up (track 7)
When All Is Said and Done (track 10)
Elanor Rigby (track 1)