Bottom-End, Writings and Reviews from Music Producer Pete Strobl

Ah, the 50K question…seems I’ve stepped on a few toes with my last post so let me start by saying that I have no problem with any artist getting their hands on any amount of cash and making any type of recording they are able to in order to make this a more perfect world. Peace brothers and sisters, Peace.

However, I still firmly believe that the former standardized goal of $50,000 on Sellaband’s crowd sourcing music website had more in its favor than otherwise and here’s why I think this is the case:

First of all, some people seem to think that 50K is a lot of money. This is an erroneous assumption when it comes to producing, manufacturing and shipping a recording project. Let me try to put this in perspective as compared with the recordings one is accustomed to hearing in the mainstream media.

50K equals about one month of studio time at LA book rates. Very few hit albums are completed in such a short time frame.

50K will buy you the services of maybe four actual session players (musicians who make their living playing in the studio) for about ten days if you call in a few bigtime favors.

50K represents about one tenth the cash that would guarantee mainstream media placement. Think I’m joking? Here’s a challenge, give me $500K and I’ll get any Sellaband recording placed…and you can pick the artist.

Because of these factors, writing, producing, recording, manufacturing and attempting to promote a project for 50K is already an absurdity. Those who believe 50K to be excessive cite legendary productions or recordings that have achieved cult status which were accomplished on the cheap but most of these are exceptional artists who obviously knew what they were about. That is not at all to say that such an artist does not exist on Sellaband, but a system of standards should exist to serve the needs of a broad cross section of users and not the odd exception.

If I were to put into one sentence my first impression of Sellaband as it was when I first became involved, it would be this:

Sellaband provides previously unknown or unsigned artists an opportunity to interact with experienced producers in a professional environment for what may be their only opportunity at a real world studio experience.

What an artist makes of this opportunity is completely another matter. Perhaps all a band wants is a professional level recording which can be sold at club gigs, weddings and parties. Or a more career minded artist with eyes toward landing distribution on a higher level may wisely choose to record two to four examples of their very best material at the best possible quality that can be had for the budget.The reality that Sellaband does not have the resources to promote its own products renders any related discussion a futile exercise in wishful thinking. As my dear sweet grandmother liked to say, “Wish into one hand and shit in the other. Then tell me which one fills up first.”

Regardless of the motive, withholding cash from the production budget with thoughts of funding promotion is a mistake on two counts. First, the entire 50K wouldn’t serve to promote a whore house in prison. It just isn’t enough money to make anything meaningful happen. Second, for the more serious artist aiming at placement with a major, the production will require every cent of the budget if the recording has any hope at all of comparing favorably with the competition.

Finally, for the artist who has never “been there” so to speak, getting a chance to work on original material in a professional environment can be the culmination of hopes and dreams that once lived only in the realm of fantasy. If one takes the expensive idea of promotion off the menu and concentrates fully on the music, the process itself will be worth the tab. And if all you ever wanted to do was get into a studio and record your music for real, why would you sell yourself short? Why would you want to be in a hurry? Why wouldn’t you use every last dollar of that budget to buy yourself the fulfillment of those frustrating years twiddling at the old 4-track portastudio? Why wouldn’t you suck every drop of goodness out of that time and force them to drag you out of there with your fingernails clinging to the control room door jamb?

There are businessmen who drool when they think of the two weeks they will spend at an exclusive fantasy sports camp, a cushy African safari or an extreme but well-appointed sojourn among the Amazonian tribes. There are celebrities and rich bastards who have become addicted to a yearly stint in a luxury rehab facility. These experiences cost a ton of cash and the people who indulge themselves do so without much thought for the expense. Think about it. with the 50K budget model, musicians can avail themselves of an intense, real world recording experience…and the resulting product is not only debt free, but nobody gets hurt!

I know it’s a stupid question, but why would anyone sell themselves short just to get it done faster? Feel free to comment…this ought to be good. I can already hear the tomatoes smacking my computer screen.

When I was in my twenties I worshiped at the altar of funk. James Brown, Tower Of Power, Ohio Players…you get the picture. If they marketed action figures of funk musicians my toy box would have looked like the line-up at an Oakland barbeque and funk fest. From my perspective, country music was completely of, by and  for sequined, cowboy-hatted shit-kickers who lived in trailers with two cars parked on cement blocks in the front yard. If anyone had told me that The Ohio Players’ wardrobe was  as ridiculous as Porter Wagoner’s there would have been trouble.

But as a musician who earned the daily bread by making club crowds of many persuasions happy, I found myself in playing situations that didn’t always correspond with my personal tastes. That didn’t prevent me from being a smart ass and when a customer would request a country song, my witty answer would be, “Sure, what country?” Thankfully I grew out of my bias to discover that there was crappy music to be ridiculed in every genre and, as I gained further wisdom, great music to be cherished as well.

Over the years and during the time I managed The Band’s old haunt, Shangri La, I had the pleasure of getting to know and appreciate the work of some great rock musicians who had one foot planted firmly in a cowboy boot at some time in their career. I can also say that standing on the stage of the Grand Old Opry and playing to the 4,000 fans who fill the concert hall was one of the big thrills and chills of my playing career. Patsy Cline, Hank Williams and Johnny Cash have become as firmly ensconced in my iPod as my erstwhile funk gods and I feel no sense of disloyalty shuffling between What Is Hip and Your Cheating Heart.

Katie Thompson

There is an up and coming young country artist on Sellaband who answers my “Sure, what country?” dumb-ass question with a vengeance. Katie Thompson is a classic country singer/song writer from what is probably Nashville’s most remote satellite, New Zealand. Katie exhibits her own sense of style, opting for cocktail dresses over blue jeans as she leads her accomplished band through a repertoire of classic country tempered by her Kiwi upbringing.

Katie’s three original tracks on her Sellaband profile page indicate that she has the potential of becoming a household name not only in New Zealand but anywhere that hosts “Electric Slide” night. When she reaches the budgetary goal of $50,000 Katie will have the opportunity to go into the studio with the right people and the right toys to create an album worthy of her honest approach to writing and singing. Her vocal delivery is intimate in the vein of classic story tellers like Emmy Lou Harris and Patsy Cline. Katie doesn’t deal in pyrotechnics or phony gospel riffing. She just tells a story as if she were talking over the back fence and her fresh sincerity is her most engaging quality.

Tall Poppy is written and sung with the voice of a typical young person battling the slings and arrows of peer pressure as she develops a sense of self worth in a cruel world. The story, while common to anyone who hasn’t been raised by wolves, is nevertheless a persecution unique to each individual. Everyone coming of age in the world of schoolyard, fashion, teen dances and the required accoutrements associated with being “cool” has moments when they feel themselves too tall, too short, too skinny, too fat, too stupid or too smart to be considered acceptable by their peers. Katie’s angst laden lyrics ride over a deceptively cheerful rhythmic track but the darkness of the chord progression brings clearly into focus the pain of wanting to be accepted . The guitar playing on this as well as all three of Katie’s Sellaband tracks is not only well executed but tasteful and most importantly, relevant to the song.

Tall Poppy

Monteiths On Tap is a bit of fun and could very well be the hook that lands the big fish for Katie. One can quibble about product placement or the political correctness of glorifying the imbibement ( I think I just invented a word) all the way to the steps of their favorite house of worship, but what is a good old country song if not a paean of praise for either fast cars, faster trucks, loyal dogs and good beer? New Zealand’s Monteiths Brewery has stepped up to the plate in supporting Katie’s Sellaband journey and well they should. Who can say how many Monteiths empties land in the recycling bin the morning after one of Katie’s appearances at a pub pouring the “liquid gold?” Wonderful resonator guitar work on this track, while the feel of the rhythm section never strays from the “sawdust on the floor” vibe that just begs for another round.

The third track on Katie’s Sellaband profile is an introspectively dark recitativo of bittersweet goodbyes. The emotion of the song, as in the case of Tall Poppy, is one to which any listener can easily relate. I don’t like to repeat myself but here again the guitar work provides a perfect sense of yearning to Katie’s wrenching story. Katie’s song writing skills, while well down the path of becoming memorable, could do with a bit of soul searching here. She has great instincts and her topic choice is right on the money. But some of her lyrics, while not being brazenly cliche, could be more intimately powerful with a tweak here and there.

Song writing is an exercise in telling a story or conveying an emotion that can be related to by the broadest possible cross section of an audience. This is what makes a song popular, and why bother to put music before the public if popularity is not the desired result.The magic of masterful song writing lies in the ability of the writer to say something in a way that is familiar yet original. When Bob Dylan sings “The answer is blowin’ in the wind” we say to ourselves “Well of course it is. Who didn’t know that!” But inside we all know that we could never have come up with such a simple way to state the obvious. Economy and eloquence are bought and paid for in currency represented by reams of discarded lyric sheets.

Katie Thompson is deep in the process of honing her craft and this can be a critical phase in the development of a young writer. Staring at a page of lyrics with the unbiased eye of a supreme court justice and knowing what will go on an album and what will better serve as kindling for the grill is not a skill that comes easily. That process marks the difference between great songs that remain relevant for generations and about a gazillion MP3s on Myspace.

When Katie reaches her $50,000 budget on Sellaband, New Zealand, with a population of 4.3 million, will have cornered what might be the highest degree of success per capita on the internet crowd sourcing platform.  Katie Thompson’s success combined with Sellaband Hip-Hopper Maitreya will have made a strong showing for New Zealanders.  And with Katie’s Sellaband release, I’ll no longer be asking “Sure, what country?”

Skitzo Calypso has left the building. The popular rock band has left Sellaband to take up the crusade of garnering rock recognition elsewhere saying to the Sellaband community, “Instead of having a long mission statement, regarding our decision to leave, it can be summed up quickly – we don’t feel Sellaband is right for us. We are very appreciative of the support we were given. We made a lot of friends, along the way…”

Shift the scene to a blacktop basketball court a few years ago. My eldest son was struggling to master a bit of footwork that could give him the inside edge on an opponent. It was one of those subtle moves that seem so natural but require endless repetition before becoming habitual and automatic. After countless attempts and corrections he said…as only a teenager can, “SHIT! This is hard man.” I answered “Of course it is! If it was easy, anybody could do it and then you wouldn’t be anything special. Why would someone pay to watch somebody do something that they could do themselves?” It seems that this could be an axiom governing much of what happens in all things requiring extra effort so I will coin the phrase now…If it’s so goddamned easy, then anyone could do it.

Being successful at anything requires hard work and extra effort. Being a competent musician or songwriter requires much more than just playing the notes or rhyming every fourth line. At some point the music and lyrical content has to reach an elevated state that makes the public, fellow musicians included, appreciate and recognize the work as something more than what they could create on their own. As it was recently re-translated from the original clay tablets of Gilgamesh, “Neither multi-track recording software nor rhyming dictionary a competent minstrel doth make.” and further, “He who laboreth long all the days (and nights) of his life, though he standeth among chicks and beer even unto his knees, shall not become the Idol of the masses neither shall he signeth a record deal unless he playeth the game with fortitude and girded loins.”

Skitzo Calypso

Skitzo Calypso and Brad Cox are very good at what they do. They play well, write good songs, make high quality recordings and give their audience a memorable performance. In short, they have done the work that elevates them in the public eye in a way that makes those around them say “Man, I wish I could do that.” But success on Sellaband is another animal altogether. Success on Sellaband is measured by finding 5000 people to buy one album each, one person to buy 5000 albums, or any divisional permutation in between. Taking into account that the album on the auction block will not be produced until all units are sold, what seems at the outset to be a fairly simple proposition has become quite daunting for a number of artists who may have expected the process to be a painless one. Imagine being seated in a restaurant and the chef comes into the dining room saying, “If you will all please pay your checks now, I will take the money, run to the market to gather the finest ingredients, return to the kitchen and prepare a meal all of you will surely enjoy.” If the chef is unknown to you and the only criterion for being there is the word of a friend who had once eaten a sandwich at his house, well the whole thing becomes a matter of trust doesn’t it?

I’m sorry to see Skitzo Calypso leave again. Their first entry to Sellaband was accompanied by a flurry of investment and had they stayed the course their Sellaband album would certainly have been available for a matter of months already. It is impossible to say with certainty, but their second attempt on the internet crowd-sourcing platform may have been torpedoed by a combination of skepticism on the part of first time investors and the current economic climate. I know that the band has the good wishes of the Sellaband community and that Brad and the boys are very capable of the sort of work it will take to bring their artistic output before a larger audience.

There is no shortage of good rock bands on Sellaband. The departure of Skytzo Calypso, having been one of the more polished and radio-ready of the bunch, could send some interesting signals to some of the better bands in their class. It’s possible that some artists may see this as an opportunity and others might take their departure as an indicator of how hard it really is the get to the top of the Sellaband heap. Some bands without the time or support needed to generate proper interest on Sellaband might throw up their hands to say “Well Jesus, if a band like Skitzo Calypso can’t get it done then how can we?” and just give up the quest. Others might take this development as a kick in the ass to step up their efforts, increase their online presence, become more convincing to their non-Sellaband followers and realize an increase in investment.

The Bleed

Plowing the Sellaband roster for talent can be time consuming and I find that most of the artists of whom I am aware have been brought to my attention through communications with other investors, messages left on my profile and comments left on this site. One band that made themselves known to me through my website which I find of particular interest is an Australian group called The Bleed. Their music is straight forward, bare bones rock. They write good songs, record great sounding tracks, have really good group vocals and sound extremely radio friendly. After a period of inactivity they are back in action on Sellaband where time and their own efforts will decide if we are to hear a complete album from them. At present The Bleed has only one track posted on their profile page and without more to go on it wouldn’t be fair to offer an opinion on the wisdom of investing in their project. But those looking for a band to replace Skitzo Calypso in their portfolio would do well to check out The Bleed and ask them for more examples of their work.

And so, as the sun sets on another Los Angeles evening, Skitzo Calypso has left the building, The Bleed has re-entered the building and I will be adding another assignment to the homework of my private students. In addition to the usual scale exercises, they must now write 100 times, “If it’s so goddamned easy, anybody could do it.” Because making it, whatever that means, rarely happens unless one is prepared to become either Sisyphus or a dung beetle. Success always seems to include long bouts of pushing huge balls of shit up a very steep incline.

UPDATE: I am informed by both Maitreya and Sellaband head Johan Vosmeijer that introductions have indeed been made prior to the posting of this article. Apparently Mr. Vosmeijer’s inbox has been bombarded with emails lobbying for that which is in the works already. Kudos to Sellaband for jumping on this and I hope that his inbox is equally bombarded with supportive messages.

The recent press release from Sellaband may not, on the surface, be particularly significant for those artists on the Sellaband roster who toil away in genres other than Hip Hop. But looking at the development of Sellaband teaming up with Hip Hop icon Chuck D. and his BTN Eastlink company from a purely business-minded point of view should give every Sellaband artist pause to reflect on how this partnership can ultimately generate the interest in the Sellaband concept that will open the U.S. market to artists of all musical styles. The object of this exercise is to sell music as well as the concept.  Sellaband now finds itself perfectly positioned to bring this about.

Maitreya

Of the artists to have completed the process of raising a budget and completing an album, there is one who stands out head and shoulders as being the most logical laboratory rat for this experiment. Maitreya is a Hip Hop rapper from faraway New Zealand whose Sellaband journey has paralleled the company history. As the first and most prominent Hip Hop artist on the label, he is probably second only to Sellaband head Johan Vosmeijer in frequent flyer miles, having appeared on numerous Sellaband concerts and functions in Europe as well as recording his album Close To Home in London, New York and New Zealand.

A self-professed apostle of Chuck D. and Public Enemy, Maitreya is an evolutionary mutation that could only have occurred under specific environmental circumstances. Broadcast media brought Public Enemy to Maitreya in his formative years. Fairly recent developments in low budget/high quality recording made it possible for Maitreya to share his music in a way unthinkable ten years ago. The internet brought Maitreya before a worldwide audience which facilitated the budgeting of his album. And now Maitreya finds himself  just one degree of separation from having his music placed into the hands and ears of a company operated by his most respected mentor by proxy. All that remains to close the circle is for Johan Vosmeijer to say the words, “Maitreya, meet Chuck D.”

Why is this the right move for Sellaband to make and why should non Hip Hop Sellaband artists be lobbying heavily for Maitreya to carry the Sellaband banner into the U.S. market? Using Maitreya’s Close To Home as a battering ram to open the doors of the American public to Sellaband is not only a no-brainer, it is a win, win, win situation. Sellaband did not look to Los Angeles or Nashville, it looked to the icon of the New York Hip Hop world for its wedge. With a commitment in hand from Chuck D. to be the their U.S. ambassador, Sellaband, consciously or not, has taken a stand as to the direction the company will pursue at the onset of American involvement.

For a company to deem an artist worthy of development and exploitation, the artist must be special. Not only must the product be of high quality, there must be a hook, a story that makes an undeniable case for proceeding full steam ahead. Labels don’t push artists for any reason other than the potential of that artist to generate funds and interest in other artists on the label. Maitreya fits the mold as if the role were written with him in mind and the timing is perfect. Positive and diligent endorsement of his album from Chuck D’s company will do much to get Close To Home on American Radio and usage in other media.

Chuck D. has the opportunity of introducing a unique artist from the other side of the world to the American audience in a genre he has dominated for years. Sellaband has the opportunity to generate in Maitreya the breakout artist it desperately needs to become a major player in the industry. And when Close To Home becomes a household word, every Sellaband artist with a professional level package and a story to tell will be that much closer to getting attention from more than just the loyal fans who came together to finance their projects.

Maitreya

Can Sellaband make this happen? Undoubtedly. Will Sellaband make this happen? The answer to this question is what everyone in the Sellaband community should be lobbying for as the potential of this relationship could have a massive effect on hundreds of artists across genre delineations. Breaking an artist is not something to be taken lightly and if done without a high level of commitment can be an exercise in futility. The table is now set for Sellaband, BTN Eastlink and Maitreya to make a strong move in a direction that couldn’t be more mutually beneficial.

The exploitation of artistic content is the goal and the duty of a label and publishing entity. Making recordings is only the first step in a long process of which most young artists and the public in general remain ignorant. The landscape of today’s popular music scene is littered with more content than at any time in the history of recording. Winnowing through the haystacks for exploitable material is a gamble and heads roll when bad choices are made.

Maitreya’s Close To Home is a no-brainer for everyone involved. Making it happen will require follow through. Artists and believers in the Sellaband community need to understand the positive impact this could have on them and act accordingly in communicating with the powers that be. Chuck D. and BTN Eastlink need to see dollar signs in Maitreya’s album and act accordingly as well. Maitreya needs to be true to his well-developed roots and stand ready to kick the serious brand of ass that an endorsement from someone of Chuck D.’s stature would demand. And finally, Johan Vosmeijer needs to get the ball rolling and say the magic words, “Maitreya, meet Chuck D.”

There are now over 9000 artist profiles on Sellaband, each one representing the aspirations of unsigned and relatively unknown artists and their hopes of crowd-sourcing a recording budget through what comes down to a pre-sale of 5000 units. Music lovers looking for their next obsession can search the Sellaband website by genre but the the magnitude of the roster in combination with some artists designating themselves loosely under multiple genres can make finding new music daunting for users new to the site. Successful attention-getting is limited only by the promotional acumen of the artists themselves and, as in the wild, the competitors seduce, dress-up in colorful feathers, wave both arms in the air and offer all manner of incentives in luring that precious ten-dollar bill from the grasp of potential fans. Everything and anything goes but one tactic is either overlooked or is perhaps understandably beyond the abilities of many of the 9000.

As stated in my Sellaband Tribune article, sincerity can be the deciding factor in determining what is meaningful music. With only an audio file or youtube clip in evidence it is impossible to know an artist’s true motives or if the song and performance actually portray who that person was at the moment the record button was depressed. Many artists struggle through their developmental stages wondering if they should adapt to a target audience, create a financially beneficial persona or become the next (fill in the blank). The music resulting from these experiments might be executed with skill but the question of identity being left unanswered makes a sincere performance improbable. Lacking the ability to deliver the knockout punch with transparent honesty, many otherwise very capable artists are just not ready to be handed the studio keys…not just yet anyway.

Pleasure

Ariel is…ready that is. Ariel breaks a lot of rules. Who she is and what she has to say can be drastically different from track to track. One moment she is a disco queen, another a glam-rocker. She’ll belt a straight up rock song and follow it with a club dance track. She’s all over the genre spectrum and at first glance might give the impression that she’s not ready to commit to a specific character. But in every case, whether it’s the dance mix vibe of “Pleasure” the 80’s Brit-pop flavored “Play Me” or the sneering “Little Miss Hyperactive” Ariel is convincingly in the moment with fierce sincerity. She is more than a chameleon in that she doesn’t merely take on the appearance of her surroundings, she makes them convincingly her own.

Not everyone is cut out to be a star. Imagine your high school math teacher in Elvis’ peacock jump suit or your family doctor in full Bootsy Collins regalia. And what about the Pope’s get up? It takes brass balls to think you belong in that league…balls, hard work, commitment and the ability to convey your message with sincerity and not a hint of self-consciousness. Ariel’s public persona indicates that she has a strong belief in herself as a star and this is the secret ingredient that can’t be bought or taught.

I assume that Ariel’s Sellaband profile tracks are self-produced with home recording equipment. While the quality is understandably demo level, her vision goes beyond the capabilities of her home studio. Her thematic ideas, arrangements and orchestral sense is panoramic and elegant. She doesn’t overreach herself by attempting to make finished masters but her taste and artistic intent are obvious. Ariel has done well to let us hear her potential via strong singing and emotional delivery and leaves the heavyweight production hi-jinx for the day she hits the studio with her budget in the bank.

Ariel

Ariel’s strengths are most apparent as a performing artist. Her vocal ability approaches the qualities and skills of some of the best female singers. She has Ann Wilson’s knack for building a phrase to a point at which you wonder if she has the gas to follow through and then laying you out with a hard left to the ear. She has the impeccable enunciation and playful aristocratic gender bending twist of performers like Annie Lennox and David Bowie. The angst of a young Grace Slick and the wide-eyed poignancy of vintage Martha Davis are also apparent.  But Ariel’s skills don’t end when she steps away from the the microphone. Her self-made videos indicate that she has a strong sense of visual performance as well. She uses color, drama and seduction effectively in creating artistic images that can be sexy without being overt. Where other artists might fill the screen with the obvious cleavage and keester shots, Ariel’s minimalist approach gets the point across with her face and hands, a bit of body paint, some black lights and commitment to her character of the moment.

With the recording technology available today, many artists have taken upon their shoulders the responsibilities formerly shared by a production team made up of musicians, songwriters, arrangers, producers and engineers. With the advent of social networking, artists have added the positions of marketing director and promotions manager to their job descriptions. But just having the tools doesn’t necessarily mean one can actually execute a competently recorded product of merit and the internet is rammed full of mediocre low budget productions masquerading as music. Sellaband offers artists a forum to display their artistic potential via demo recordings and generate a recording budget to realize their potential by collaborating with professionals.

Of the 9000-plus artists on Sellaband, some are ready, some are developing fast and most are years away from becoming viable recording artists. Ariel gives the impression that she means what she says, no matter how she is dressed, what she is saying or how she says it. It’s no small feat to show star power with an mp3 and a youtube video but this is what Ariel has accomplished. Her tracks show curiousity, diversity, development and above all, sincerity. There is no doubt that, given a budget, great songs and a hip production team that shares her vision and intensity, she is ready to lead the way in creating a memorable album.

Francis Rodino’s album, Circles And Squares has been a long time coming but early fan reactions indicate that the native New Yorker’s London production was well worth the wait. Having written a few reviews of some notable Sellaband artists during their larval stages I am now saddling up to review a finished product which will be judged by the public in comparison to and in competition with the albums made by major recording artists.

Rodino scored a coup in enlisting producer Steve Bush (Corrine Bailey Rae, Stereophonics) for this recording which features Rodino’s excellent band in a program of well written, artistically arranged and emotionally charged songs. I wrote about the massive potential of the demo tracks Francis had posted on his Sellaband profile and must say that Circles And Squares lives up to the challenge put to Rodino by the 656 fans who invested in the album’s production through Sellaband.

The album pays due respect to traditional aspects of record making sometimes overlooked by new artists attempting to be completely original. Circles And Squares features meaningful song introductions, logical construction and endings that, for want of a better term, bring the stories full circle. From Rodino’s acoustic guitar to Matt George’s work on drums and everything in between, the impression is that this is a serious effort from musicians who play like men. Confidence and testosterone rule the day and there is no question that these are the sounds that this band intended to make. Nick Hollis is cast as Rodino’s Waddy Wachtel and plays solid rock guitar throughout. His parts, his tones and his solos are the work of a mature musician who understands exactly what a song requires. Bassist Allan Burls and Luke Juby round out a rhythm section that obviously has the ability to come up with faster, more difficult parts but has the taste and respect for Rodino’s songs not to.

There is little innovative or groundbreaking here but that is meant as a compliment. Circles and Squares succeeds in framing Rodino’s stories and images in a soundscape that rarely takes the listeners attention away from the plot. Francis’ dynamic voice, smoky, sensitive or stentorian when required is always at center stage. The only exceptions of note being the spinning synths and programmed percussion of Wonderful From Here. A more ethereal, ambient approach would have been more in character with the instrumental palette pervading the rest of the album.

Allan Burls

Any Day Now is an aggressive take on the rhythmic theme of Al Jarreau’s 1981 hit We’re In This Love Together. But while the Jarreau hit was super pop slick, Rodino’s song has grown a set of nards and demands to know “Well, Are we or Aren’t we? (in this love together)” Allan Burls shines on this track as does Nick Hollis with his guitar lines on the out chorus. I wish both were more prominent in the mix but more on that later.

Francis has the ability to use words in a way that causes one to say “Man, that’s so simple. I wish I would have said that.” In the song Blood, Francis claims emphatically that “It doesn’t hurt at all.” But anyone who has happened upon a photo of a lost love while cleaning out a desk drawer will recognize the eloquent lie we tell ourselves when we look for clarity in the face of nostalgic pain. This is Rodino’s artistic talent at work. He tells us what we already know, but in a context we couldn’t provide for ourselves…and that is why we buy albums like this.

Drink is the quintessential rocking pub song. This classic 2-beat rocker could have been sung by Robin Hood’s merry men under the canopy of the Sherwood Forest as they cracked open another keg of ale. The band puts it’s collective foot to the floor on this one. Drink might have come off trite or corny but there is no self-consciousness apparent in Rodino’s band and sheer confidence of delivery drives it home convincingly.

Nick Hollis

There is very little not to like about Circles And Squares and my main issue can probably be called more a symptom of the way things are done nowadays than a criticism of choices. We are past the transitory stages between analogue and digital recording and comparing one to the other is no longer relevant. There is no question that the technology allows us to record things that would have been impossible to cram into the grooves of a vinyl record. The huge bottom end hits in Science would likely have caused a mastering engineer to compensate heavily as he attempted to carve a disc master. Now that audio is just a pile of 1s and 0s mastering standards have become less of a concern when considering manufacturing and duplication. But as it is with taxes, once something goes up it rarely goes back down and overall audio level is no exception. When albums are tossed in a pile every disc fights for attention and sadly that attention can come down to which one shakes the cones out of the speakers first.

I would compare musical impact to standing in a crosswalk and being hit by a bus. It’s a momentary event that leaves an indelible impression. You’ll feel the results of the impact and will look out for the next one, but there is a time of healing in between, and that’s how peaks and valleys work. The track grooves along and BAM! a drum fill runs you over in the middle of the street, you get up, dust yourself off and strut along to the chorus section. Because of the competition for “World’s Hottest Audio Level” many recordings cheat themselves out of having meaningful peaks and valleys. Record companies perceive the average listener’s attention span to be measurable in nano-seconds so information is delivered like baby formula through a high-pressure fire hose. Consequently, instead being whacked by a bus now and then, we find ourselves strapped to the grill of that same bus with information pushed into our faces at 80 miles per hour for three minutes at a time. Instead of audio ebb and flow we have compressed air blowing our eyelids off and many beautiful musical details aren’t as apparent as they deserve to be.

Francis Rodino

I mentioned that I wanted to hear more of Burl’s bass and Hollis’ guitar in Any Day Now but it would be more accurate to say that I wanted to hear less of the audio information that masks the detail in those parts. The same can be said for all the instrumental tracks. The entire album is played, sung and recorded wonderfully but as with many modern recordings, there is little tease factor. You get all the information straight to your face immediately. This is not a criticism of Circle And Squares but a comment about the way things are done in order to compete with what have become accepted audio levels. Commercial recordings no longer let you catch your breath or give you a chance to look out and enjoy the scenery. It is as if the record company is sitting on your shoulder screaming “BUY ME NOW” into your ear. When audio information comes at you with that sort of velocity it can lose depth and become two dimensional.

Rodino’s album must compete with that mindset so whatever criticism I have concerning the album has to do with the zeitgeist of the industry, not the choices made in this production. Many of today’s hit records rely on production more than musical integrity and might not have held up to the way recordings were made thirty years ago. Circles And Squares is a well-crafted work created by people who knew what they were doing every step of the way. Thirty years ago, with the limitations and standards of that time, it might have had more air, more ebb and flow and perhaps more subtlety of detail. I’m confident it would have survived the test of time where many modern recordings of lesser musical merit would have fallen flat. As it stands, it is a hell of a debut album. Circles And Squares has hair, stands up on its hind legs and lets you know it’s here and to be dealt with. One would hope to hear it now and again thirty years from now.