Benjamin Verdoes: Troubadour For The Modern Times

I usually stumble hazardously into musicians previously unknown to me for the simple motif that i either like the title of an album or the album cover or a song title which pushes me into imagining how the music would sound like.

I know this seems devoid of rational criteria but who cares if this pays off? After all i bought my first Echo and Bunnymen only because i got fond of the "Heaven Up Here" album cover. And the same happened with Husker Du "Candy Apple Grey" and with so many others. In a word I trust the fine art of finding awesome music intuitively.

This made me discover Benjamin Verdoes work. Who is the guy? He was part of Seattle indie rockers Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band and Iska Dhaaf before he made the decision to pursue a solo career. The Evil Eye released on Brick Lane Records in January 2014 is Benjamin Verdoes spell bounding début solo album. One of the best musical legacies from last year according to INDIEVOTION.

The Evil Eye delivers emotional smooth gentle moody indie pop ranging from luminous sunbathing sceneries and joyful open spaces to darker closed confrontational ones layered with edgy guitars and incisive drumming filled with nostalgic keyboarding and vocals calling for longingness.

The experience of listening to Benjamin Verdoes sonic proposal triggered my aural memory to the work of Mark Mulcahy and Miracle Legion. There are so many poetic and atmospheric similarities between Benjamin and Mark that I’ll outrageously dare say that “Me and Mr. Ray” Miracle Legion's album might have subconsciously inspired Benjamin Verdoes to make his stunningly solo album sound almost like a love poem.

Springtime Carnivore: Dream Poppin'...

Springtime Carnivore is Greta Morgan's most recent music project. Once associated with Gold Motel and The Hush Sound she also toured as guitarist for the ex-Vivian Girls Katy Goodman's La Sera.

Springtime Carnivore released the first album last November and Greta Morgan whose lifetime dream would be living in some sort of a Beach Boys good vibrations state of mind forever more, unsurprisingly defines her music as some sort of Technicolor Daydream Pop.

Spanning her musical influences from The Beatles, Peter Paul and Mary to Nick Drake and Bob Dylan, she concedes that under such influence her songwriting structures turned out to be rather classic, balancing between poppy harmonies and less cheerful, though beautiful, folk balladeries.

Her songs are filled with shadowy fuzzy guitars, moving along drumming and 60s dreamy voicings that pushes you back to festive warm sunsets on the beach and to some happy feeling of longing for places, people and circumstances that are not there any more though they keep making you comfortably not numb which is why Greta Morgan Springtime Carnivore aims at making music against the zombiefication of the human spirit.

While you check out her North American Tour Dates take some time to watch Springtime Carnivore featured videos.

Darkher: Queen of Depths

Mostly inspired by her inner world, emotions and imagination, running in parallel to the outer world and interested in beautiful inspiring imagery, the former member of the neo folk band The Steals, the West Yorkshire (UK) singer-songwriter DARKHER whose real name is Jayn Wissenberg emerges as a thrilling talented musician.

DARKHER's music is filled with dense guitar thick drumming and sweet crystal water voice calling for ancient ages bewitching the listener into the deepest depths of unknown regressions questing for undiscovered inner territories.

Beyond any sort of comparison DARKHER's music pushes you almost inevitably to remind of Chelsea Wolfe, Marissa Nadler and Emily Jane White's work.

When one goes though DARKHER's The Kingdom Field there is a strong presence of Feral Love or We Hit a Wall dark visceral atmosphere but there is also the ghostly ambience of a nostalgic thrive so typical of Was it a Dream or Drive as well as one senses the creepy haunting vibes of Dark Undercoat or Wolves.

It somehow feels that DARKHER blends in her music the specific features of those singer-songwriters mentioned above plus in addition her own uniqueness. This goes without surprise considering that they all deal with a sugary darkness coated within a pantheistic feel evocative of bewildering natural spiritual energies.

INDIEVOTION awaits with high expectations DARKHER's debut LP due to be released during this year. Meanwhile, check out her magic in the above videos.

Cockatoo: A State of Mind

I’m still in a “cockatoo” state of deep astonishment since last week. I’ve clumsily stumbled upon some Cockatoo hailing from Edmonton, Canada. I’ve spent the last seven days massively injecting their début album “Present” into my eardrums.

My first impression was a mixed feeling between an aural hallucination and unexplained time travelling. I felt that I had been compulsively brought back to early 80s while I kept asking myself how could the Cockatoo’s come from Edmonton?

It was like existential doubt meets 21st century reality. It sounded so literally non possible that this seemingly very finest re-enactment of the post punk aesthetics could have been made miles and miles away from Bromley, London, Leeds, Manchester or Liverpool...

Unlike others that may feel much of Xmal Deutschland and Wolfgang Press influence in Cockatoo’s sonic statement I tend to sense a whole lot more of The Cure, Siouxsie and The Banshees, and Echo and The Bunnymen as well as some bits of The Sisters of Mercy.

Anyway if I'd had to define Cockatoo’s sound i’d say that they blend with gorgeous artistry the heritage of albums such like: “Seventeen Seconds”, “Pornography”; “Heaven Up Here”, “Porcupine” but also “Kiss in The Dream House” and “Hyena”.

Cockatoo has all the main features acknowledged to a purist post punk sound: a palette of torturing and textured bass lines defying some tribalist energized drumming tied in a fuzzy glass breaking 12 string guitar with a slight and sweet eastern flavour reminding of both Will Sargeant and John McGeoch guitar playing. All of it refurbished with haunting dreamy vocals in cascade.

Superbly WELL DONE Robyn, Rod, Robert and Rich!