Honey Miller Stuck Outside S.L.O.T.H. Productions; 2010 There’s a reason you hear so much local talk about Honey Miller. Comprised of some talented musicians from various, now defunct projects, the Cocoa Beach-based quartet bring with them a solid reputation and the tunes to back it up. Describing their sound as “sideways surf” and the result of “the city and the country meeting the beach,” principal songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, and co-founder “Anywave”... [Read more...]
LOCAL 518 Sense of Urgency Self-released; 2009 I suppose I’m getting wistful with age, because I find myself wishing I had a certain stack of records I’d grown out of and sold before moving across the country a few years back. Stanley Clarke; Weather Report; Zappa; Tony Williams Lifetime; Mahavishnu Orchestra, Bill Laswell… They were all products of a brief though impressionable foray into jazz fusion and progressive rock. I can see their covers in my mind’s eye and can still... [Read more...]
Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Local CD Review
Forgotten Citizen Twenty Second Century EP Self-released; 2010 The music of Forgotten Citizen isn’t something we’re used to hearing here, at least in this locally produced form. You’re more likely to hear this kind of independent, underground sound in more metropolitan areas, places where electronic music either matches the mechanical rhythms of urban life or, in more ambient form, offers respite from the city’s unending din. Hearing Twenty Second Century, Forgotten Citizen’s... [Read more...]
Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Local CD Review
Quiet Science With/Without Self-released; 2010 Despite their soothing name, there’s something disquieting about Quiet Science’s sound, a sense of percolating rage hemmed in by a panel of circumspective, clipboard-weilding therapists. And their debut full-length, With/Without, is a case study on the evils of meticulous production. As arresting as the chiming, U2-like riff of opener “In the Company of Killers” is, the song quickly devolves into the kind of slick, radio-friendly... [Read more...]
JunkieRush Musica Self-released; 2009 Judging from Musica, their latest release, it’s no wonder JunkieRush have been hailed as one of the best bands to come out of the underground Orlando scene. Produced ably by Brett Hestla (Creed, Virgos Merlot, Dark New Day and producer of Tantric and Framing Hanley) Musica’s enthralling sound taps into several disparate genres — hard rock, Latin, funk and various Caribbean styles — and combines them in exciting and very original ways. Comprised... [Read more...]
By: Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Local CD Review
The Cook Trio Moonlight Self-released, 2009 Less academic than its predecessors — 2005′s Gypsy Jazz Guitare and 2007′s Villa Saïd — the latest release from acoustic gypsy jazz band the Cook Trio, Moonlight, taps into the inherent humor and playfulness at the heart of their preferred genre. Which is not to say that they’d ignored those carefree facets of jazz manouche before — far from it. But Moonlight, recorded some five years after their founding, finds the... [Read more...]
Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Local CD Review
Grumpy Al Just Another Day In Paradise Self-Released; 2009 To most locals, Al “Grumpy Al” Urezzio is simply the colorful character behind Melbourne landmark the Burger Inn, a place beloved by old-fashioned hamburger fans throughout the County. They’ve come to know and love him for his miraculous cooking skills and for his famously testy demeanor, but die-hard Grumpy Al devotees also know that he’s also one of the area’s best musicians, a highly talented one-man band whose hoard of original... [Read more...]
By: Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Local CD Review
Damion Suomi Needs A Little Water P Is For Panda; 2009 A fable attributed to Aesop tells of a vixen who proudly trotted her brood of young foxes in front of a lioness nursing her lone cub. “Is that all you have?” sneered the vixen. “Yes, only one,” replied the lioness. “But a lion.” Similarly, Needs A Little Water, Damion Suomi’s latest release, is a mere three tracks long — brief, by most recording standards, but a lion nonetheless. What Water lacks... [Read more...]
Vintage Welcome To Earth Self-released; 2009 Here’s a question: Is there anything more insidious than Amazon’s “If You Like” feature? You know, the one that suggests I buy Takin’ Care of Business: The Best of Bachmann-Turner Overdrive because I once purchased the Brandenburg Concertos? That same brilliant algorithm that assumes I’ll like Blink-156 because I bought The Story of The Clash many moons prior? My own knowledge of contemporary music is by no means comprehensive,... [Read more...]
Sunnyland Steve Demo’d Self-released; 2009 No disrespect to all the Parrotheads out there, but if you count yourself as a true Floridian and really want to follow a bard who reflects your laid-back, beachy lifestyle, you’re squawking up the wrong palm with this Jimmy Buffett character. What you really need is Sunnyland Steve, the real-life incarnation of Cocoa Beach musician Steve Burchfield, a singer/songwriter/guitarist who lays strong claim to the laureateship of the Sunshine State... [Read more...]
