Jed Davis - The Cutting Room Floor

Jed Davis - The Cutting Room Floor
2010, Eschatone Records

Longtime New York City singer/songwriter Jed Davis fled to Albany to write and record his most recent album, The Cutting Room Floor, which will finally see the light of day on September 21, 2010. Begun back in the dark days of 1999, The Cutting Room Floor was completed in 2006. Davis claims the album was doomed from the beginning, but some big names got involved and helped make it happen. T. Erdelyi (Tommy of the Ramones) helped produce some tracks, Brian Dewan (They Might Be Giants) pitched in for instrumental support and Tony Doogan (Belle And Sebastian) mixed all under the guiding hand of executive producer Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips/MGMT).

Jed Davis shows the anger and vitality of Ben Folds on The Cutting Room Floor, but comes from a darker place. Where early Folds displayed the anger of the oppressed suburbanite, Davis borders on the sort of disaffected sociopathy of suburbia that is the sociological progeny of cynicism. The Cutting Room Floor opens with the title track, sounding like the opening number to an off-off-Broadway production about the angst and loneliness of living in the modern age. Disaffection and separation from those around you are the driving forces here, where hermitage is the ultimate end of interconnectedness. "Before I Was Born" starts out with the opening of Bill Withers' "Lean On Me" played on an out-of-tune piano before opening into a vibrant garage rock tune that bemoans genetic pre-destination. It's a great tune with real punker energy in the chorus and is incredibly catchy. "Enough" is a catchy reminiscence of youth centered on the eye opening experiences that peers provide, much to the chagrin of parents. If Davis finds a way to make a song any catchier the CDC would have to get involved.

"Let Go" is the anthem of the eternal skeptic. It's an interesting tune, but would have been better off if Davis has omitted the distortion effect in the vocal line. "Denny's 3 A.M." is nominally a celebration of Denny's status as an all-night hangout, but is really a celebration of the idle time of youth and the magic that can happen while the rest of the world sleeps. Energetic and eclectic, the song sounds like something that might happen at an after-hours jam session involving Weezer and They Might Be Giants. "Interesting Times" is an angry diatribe about suburban life and the transition from youth to adulthood. Hope is lost here, but the music is great. On "Native Son", Davis sticks his thumb in the eye of every hometown acquaintance who failed to notice him during high school but now acts like his best friend when he returns home. The appeal of this tune is universal, and the angry tone that Davis strikes is both convincing and amusing. Davis winds down with "Queens Is Where You Go When You're Dead", a well-written pop/rock tune that's not likely going to a big hit in Flushing. Davis gets in his last licks with an untitled track that features some 3:00 AM conversation and a version of "Denny's 3 A.M." with a host of guest vocalists.

Jed Davis might not be for everyone, but it'd be hard to not find something to like on The Cutting Room Floor. The reference to things that have been left behind may be appropriate considering the time it's taken this album to come to light. But Davis proves that just because something is initially rejected or put away doesn't mean it has no value. One could argue that The Cutting Room Floor will become known as Davis' best and most vibrant work to date.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Jed Davis at http://www.jeddavis.com/ or www.myspace.com/jeddavis.  The Cutting Room Floor is available from Amazon.com as a CD, LP (Vinyl) or Download.  The Cutting Room Floor is also available from iTunes.

Blip Blip Bleep - Like Track Stars

Blip Blip Bleep - Like Track Stars
2010, Blip Blip Bleep

Blip Blip Bleep is Brooklyn producer Sean Han, with the artful assistance of Jojo Schwartz (drums) and Alexa Danner (vox/keyboards). Dancing on the delicate line between 1980's British New Wave and electro-dance styles, Blip Blip Bleep keeps growing their legend with each release. Out this week, Like Track Stars is Blip Blip Bleep's debut full-length album after two prior EPs. Like Track Stars starts out as a catchy affair, mining the undulations of electronic sound with a distinct pop sensibility and urgency before fading into a bland musical facade.

Like Track Stars opens with "Rock (Intro)", a musically intriguing but lyrically banal entr'acte that makes up for its repetitive nature with variegated rhythms and a musical wall-of-sound construction that engages listeners beyond the vocal line. "Freak You Out" is highly danceable electro-rock. While lyrically simplistic, this seems the most likely pop/dance hit on the album. "Already Pretty" raises the level of complexity of Han's songwriting a notch. The song has a driven feel and moves more to an alt-rock style/feel. The vocal harmonies here are very enjoyable, and the chorus is a solid attention grabber.

Blip Blip Bleep shows off its upbeat, high-energy dance music style on "Don't Forget" with a sound that fills your ears, making it easy to overlook the unsophisticated lyrical style of the band. Of course, they then turn around and serve up "Like Track Stars", a song about the urgency and freedom of youth or young adulthood, seen with the perspective and understanding of time. It's a poignant tune, perhaps a bit too busy with the electronics but well-wrought nevertheless. "Broken String" gets down to the 1980's Brit-pop style that seems to drive Blip Blip Bleep in a decent but too-busy tune. At this point it appears as if the band had run out of its best material but needed more material to fill out the album. "A Letter To Elise", "Rewrite The Scenes" and "Rock (Reprise)" simply don't live up to the energy or intensity of the rest of the album. Blip Blip Bleep then fills out the space with remixes of "Freak You Out" and "Rock", but both seem more like gimmicks to break into the club scene than artistic interpretations of the original versions.

Like Track Stars starts out fairly well but stumbles on the back stretch and limps home. This is one of those occasions when an album would better serve a band as an EP. That doesn't take anything away from Blip Blip Bleep. When they are on, Blip Blip Bleep is a very entertaining band with a sound that adeptly blends the sonic tempura of electronic music with the energy and urgency of rock music; they just reach a bit too far on Like Track Stars, filling in space with material that seems unworthy of its brethren. It's a solid 4 stars over the first six songs, but a bare 2 stars over the final five.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Blip Blip Bleep at http://www.blipblipbleep.com/ or www.myspace.com/blipblipbleep. Like Track Stars is available digitally from Amazon and iTunes.

Review: Press On Randy - Moths And Butterflies

Press On Randy - Moths And Butterflies
2009, Press On Randy

Press On Randy is Seattle based singer/songwriter Seamus Tompkins. Incorporating electronic music into his folk/pop songs has helped Tompkins create a special sound; you’d never think just one person is behind the sound of Press On Randy from just listening. Press On Randy’s debut EP, Moths And Butterflies is the culmination of nearly six years of travel and personal growth for Tompkins. With influences ranging from Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan to Postal Service and Bright Eyes, Press On Randy has the potential to appeal to a lot of people.

Press On Randy mixes acoustic, electric and electronic instrumentation with strong pop hooks, unforgettable melodies and a low key approach that makes for a delightful musical milieu. Moths And Butterflies opens with What It Takes To Be A Sailor, an energetic yet understated pop song with real commercial potential. This is one of those songs where the verse will stick in your head for days after hearing it once, and Press On Randy seems to understand how to balance the acoustic and electronic aspects of the arrangement so one does not overpower the other. Bullets And Beachballs seems to be about a relationship doomed not to work; the protagonist finds all sorts of metaphors for their ill-fated other half on the way to the realization that good things came out of the experience. The arrangement here is highly energetic in an understated fashion, and once again features a melody you'll have a hard time shaking.

Dogs Go Blind is something of a mystery for meaning; there's an esoteric and indecipherable thread in there that ties the song together, but the melodic construction is pure gold. The harmonies are gorgeous, and the instrumentation is comprised of pieces or progressions that at times seem like they shouldn't quite fit together but somehow do nonetheless. Moths And Butterflies, the title track, sounds like it might have it's origins in an old-school Casio arpeggio and works as an almost geek-pop piece ala Lisa Loeb. It's a song about breaking free from expectations and societal constraints and learning to live according to your own drummer's beat. Little Fish Are Not Your Friends is a quirky little angst-filled pop song that's so obscure I'm still not quite sure what it means. I've puzzled over this one for about a dozen listens and I'm no closer to an answer, but the same wonderful pop sensibility that's been evident from the beginning of Moths And Butterflies pervades this song. The album closes with My Castle Is Your Sand is perhaps an acknowledgement to nature that what we build is inconsequential in the grand scope of time. It may be playing on the "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" construct in a parable about each person's grand significance on a scale of time where our lives are a blink of time on the planet where we live.

Press On Randy is confounding. Tompkins will drive you a little bit nuts with his esoteric and sometimes bizarre lyrics, all wrapped up in these wonderfully contrived alt-pop confections that dig their hooks into you even as he twists your sense of what pop music is supposed to be. I can't say I was blown away by Press On Randy because he doesn't have that bombastic or magical sense about him. Instead, Press On Randy is a quiet musical philosopher weaving subtle magic wrapped in melodies you can't escape. You can puzzle over the lyrics while the music wraps you up and carries you along. Moths and Butterflies is brilliant.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Press On Randy at www.myspace.com/pressonrandy. You can purchase a copy of Moths And Butterflies at www.cdbaby.com/cd/pressonrandy.