inquiring mind,
mac,
nick gordon,
porches,
the glitterbox,
vwls
—
The Glitter Box is hosting a great little bill this evening, a perfect way to end your music week. The shallow West Side establishment will be hosting Porches, a five piece currently on tour from Brooklyn. Their dark and somber blend of indie rock, dubbed bummer pop (I like that term), is very Pedro the Lion-esque. Local support for tonight is a bit across the board: Bobby Griffith's droney and ambient VWLS project, laid back folkie Nick Gordon, and the debut live performance from the indie pop act, Inquiring Mind.
Music kicks off at 6pm. No cover is noted on the event page, but bring at few bucks to take care of the touring band.
~ Photo by Heather Craig
beekeeper,
dan,
inquiring mind,
steak and cake records
—
Local DIY record label Steak & Cake held a wonderful two-part show on Saturday where this split was supposed to be released, but unforeseen circumstances held it back (and prevented Inquiring Mind from performing). That's a whole other story; the point of this post is to talk about the digital release of this Steak & Cake split featuring Inquiring Mind and Beekeeper.
We've actually written about the first track, Inquiring Mind's "The Only Way" before, with Nick Sessanna calling it an "ultra-hip" mix between Pavement and Lorde. That's a fair comparison: the guitars sound charmingly detuned, but singer Jaz Frazier's voice comes through confidently. It's her persona that sets her apart from either act. "The Only Way" starts out playfully megalomaniacal, with Frazier singing that she never thought she'd find someone as "pretty" or "witty" as herself before she met her current match. But that gives way to the chorus: "Together forever, the stories say... together forever, it's the only way." There's an edge to the way she delivers that "only," especially as the song progresses, that underscores the storybook sentiment with a threat. Frazier's voice is lovely enough that we at first want to read her persona as "Manic Pixie Dream Girl," but we soon find that dropping "Pixie Dream" brings us closer to the truth. It's a good dynamic, preventing us from being totally taken in by Frazier and forcing us to listen more closely to the very strong three tracks that Inquiring Mind supplies to the split.
The other half features the piano-drive stylings of Beekeeper. To riff again off the words of another buffaBLOG contributor, our fearless leader Mac McGuire, Beekeeper sounds like Youth Lagoon meets early Broken Social Scene: hooks coated with noise, echo, and a hint of despair. I'll say this back to Mac: no matter what Trevor Powers of Youth Lagoon is singing about, his voice always struck me as a little cutesy. Beekeper's Eli Van Son doesn't have that problem. Far from it, in fact. These songs express a whole range of darker, more subdued emotions. The vocals are at times buried, at times garbled, at times distorted, but they always come through strong, like Van Son is crooning from the last piano bar in hell. The standout track is the album closer, "Come Back Home." Opening with the noise of a small gathering, suddenly Van Son is all alone, a distorted voice roaring out "We grow tall enough to fall" like the words are being ripped out with a fish hook. From there, the song builds, and drops, and builds. There's a new surprise around every corner, be it a head bobbing rhythm or a catchy-as-hell vocal riff or a lull into a lullaby-esque xylophone break before returning to the main, distorted theme. It ends with the line "The skies we saw don't make it easier at all/to punch the clock and come back home," as if all the beauty that preceded it was worth nothing at all.
Don't let that last downer fool you: all the beauty that preceded it on the entire split was actually quite impressive. It's awesome to see a split come out of Steak & Cake with two great acts that fit together so well, especially considering how varied Steak & Cake's roster is. Inquiring Mind brings us up to a manic pitch, Beekeeper brings us back to a contemplative lull, but by the end of the release, we feel recharged, ready to do it all over again.
inquiring mind,
new music,
Nick,
steak and cake
—
In some strange twist of fate, Buffalo's Inquiring Mind has discovered a way to mix Pavement and Lorde into some sort of ultra-hip, "Royals"-esque hybrid. The title of their song is "The Only Way," and the instrumentals have that out-of-tune slacker vibe without the out-of-tune ramblings of a frontman like Stephen Malkmus. In fact, frontwoman Jaz Frazier is quite the talented singer. If you don't believe me, feel free to listen below, or better yet, stop by the Steak & Cake 3 Year Anniversary show on February 15 - Inquiring Mind will be performing.
inquiring mind,
Jaz Frazier,
mac,
new music,
steak and cake records
—
Over the blog's near four year existence, we have had anywhere from the occasional contribution to regular staff writers come from a handful of Buffalo acts, including Merchants, the Tins, Early Attic, and Brother Keep. Yesterday, when Steak & Cake released the label's newest album, I Wrote This Song For You Fifty Years Ago, from new act Inquiring Mind, I realized we had another great musician on staff, that being one of our newest writers, Jaz Frazier. Now in all my talks with Jaz, she never once mentioned she was a musician, and in particular, that she had that voice. In hearing the recordings, though, I'm glad she kept this pet project to herself, as the surprise of the release was nearly as good as the release itself.
Looking at the contributor list on the album's bandcamp page, you pick up on sense of community behind the recordings. Some guitar tracks from a fellow local musician, lyrics from writing peers, and even vocals from some of Frazier's cohorts (including this sleepy guy) from Gate Circle Wine & Liquor, the shared "homebase" of fellow Steak & Cake artists Rackmastas, all are scattered over the album's 8 tracks. And over those 8 tracks, Frazier sure puts her broad musical taste out on the table. Punk, alt-country, electro pop, and other genres are all covered surprisingly well.
Now if you are frequent Steak & Cake listener, you can tell right away that this is a Brandon Schilia production. That is not meant to take anything away from the record, but Schilia has certain quirks, like signature writing and production, that you can't help but notice when listening to the label's ever growing catalog. What makes this stand out though is the strong vocal presence of Frazier, whether she is channeling her best Karen O on the Yeah Yeah Yeah like "Thomas versus Boo," or conjuring the smokey soul of Amy Milan on "Oliver at the Chinese Place."
That community vibe I touched on earlier is perfectly demonstrated on the album's closing track, "Pie versus Cake." The playful, group harmony led song, which recalls Kevin Drew's campfire singalong tune "When It Begins," could easily have been a silly throwaway tune, but rather had me thinking of how fun this project was for Frazier and crew.
I Wrote This Song For You Fifty Years Ago has proven its worth to be considered as one of 2013's stronger Buffalo releases, and we look forward to hearing future collaborations between Schlia and Frazier, and any other musicians that Gates may be employing for that matter.
