Tuesday playlist: Tracks, ya dig!

Editor’s Note: Once again as part of our new reoccurring tuesday segment. We offer some tracks from Gainesville artists for your listening pleasure. Most of the songs I will post come from recordings that are free for download and also ones that have been made very recently. The idea behind Tuesday playlist is to give you an idea of what is happening in Gainesville’s recording industry. Suggestions are always welcome, enjoy!

“This Must Be The Place” (Talking Heads Cover) – Pseudo Kids

I’m posting this song because it’s one of my absolute favorites; not just by Talking Heads but anybody. Lyrically, it’s just as heartbreaking as any song Roy Orbison or Otis Redding ever wrote, but musically it makes you want to dance, bob your head or just move. It’s an interesting combo that Pseudo Kids seem to understand. This recording was made live at Rob McGregor’s Goldentone Studio in Gainesville, FL. Pseudo Kids realized the groove oriented nature of this song, leaving the drums and bass to carry most of the load, sprinkling in Rhodes piano and guitar to carry any melody left behind by the vocals. In terms of vulnerability these lyrics are stark naked, and Scott Kauffmann sings them like a newborn crawling for the first time; unsure, curious and brave. You can download the rest of the Live From Goldentone Studio recordings as well as the previously released Lost Year EP for free here.

“Old Black Shuck ” – Waylon Thornton and the Heavy Hands

Waylon Thornton and the Heavy Hands can claim a couple of things in the Gainesville music scene. First, the band is probably the only man and wife combo playing consistently in this town. And secondly, this isn’t some James Taylor/Carly Simon, Sonny/Cher type music. This is the stuff that’s born from wacky, sinister outlandish worlds better suited for a Todd McFarlane comic, not Gainesville. Thornton self describes the music as “what a sunburn feels like.” Although I’m typically against these analogies because they very often make sense, I couldn’t help but smile when listening to this track. It’s got a swampy, psychobilly strut to it. The scream in the beginning makes me think of a pasty, sunburnt beachgoer jumping into the shower after a long day in the sun and feeling that first sizzle of hot water on their skin. The rest of the album, Sixteen Dreams plays out in a similar fashion. It’s thirteen tracks of head-splitting guitar riffs with grimey reverb, chunky drum rhythms and fuzz-laiden vocals. To call it swamp rock would strip the music of its horrific charm. So rather than continue to find adjectives, I’ll just let you listen to the fucking songs. You can download them here for free.

“Little Devils” – Deputy

“Little Devils” is the kind of riff that girls get undressed to. It’s raunchy and it’s supposed to be. Maybe that’s why Chris Hillman, drummer for Morningbell and temporary side man for many other bands, is Gainesville’s sole purveyor of sleazerock. Deputy is the bedroom project that’s making sleazerock happen. He uses crunchy guitar tones, simple blues-oriented riffs and lots of attitude. After all, the difference between great rock n’ roll and the pretenders is attitude. Hillman eventually plans to take Deputy to the stage, but hasn’t found a bar divey enough to fit the music. A full length album from Deputy is also coming soon, so stay tuned.

Stay tuned for next week’s Tuesday playlist, and as always leave a comment!

A Tuesday playlist: 3 Hot Gainesville tracks

Here are some songs I’ve been grooving on lately from some Gainesville musicians. These songs are available on the Internet for free, so if you like what you hear, please follow the links and support these artists.

“Don’t Wait For Me”- The Boswellians

The Boswellians are a new band in town. They’ve been cutting their teeth at 1982 Bar and the Civic Media Center almost weekly for months, and the constant show experience is helping craft a jazzy, Gershwin-like pop style. Vocalist Amy Lobasso teamed up with pianist Ryan Backman, whose throwback style is a revelation for this music scene. Recently they added Fletcher Yancey and Scott Kauffmann on drums and bass respectively to help round out their sound. This track “Don’t Wait For Me” is from their self-released EP And How!

It is available for download here.

“Look On The Bright Side”- Levek

Levek is a Gainesville band leaving few musical stones unturned. The ambitious group lead by school bus driver David Levesque is traveling down uncharted territory for this town, exploring genres like soul, funk, indie pop and mixing those sounds with Hawaiian and West African influences. Levek is a difficult band to peg and listening to this track will give you some nomenclature-related headaches, but it will also transport you to a world that probably never existed. It’s like listening to the soundtrack to a blacksploitation film while trying to block out the noise of Sade singing in a lounge in Rio De Janeiro. I see big things for this band and I hope Levesque and company keep striving for greatness. You can download the full, 9-track Levek Demo here.

“Sister Prichard”- The Good King

There aren’t a lot of fantastic things coming out of the crop of singer/songwriters in this town. Of all the genres picking up like the indie and experimental scene, this one seems to have taken a step backward…or so I thought. The Good King is the project of James Kaufholz, a music critic and avid blogger. This song in particular reminds me of Sufjan Stevens, Colin Meloy of the Decemberists and Paul Simon getting together to write a song about an apocalyptic minded nun. Like his heroes Kaufholz sets out to tell stories, embracing the narrative side of folk music in a way that few are doing in Gainesville. He’s stripped the personality from himself and placed it into characters and I think it’s precisely that distinction that has won hearts. After all, sometimes we don’t want to hear about someone’s struggles over and over again, but give us a character to get behind and all of the sudden we have a connection. It’s a beautiful thing. You can download the I Will Have Done EP here.

A stroll down Ancient River

By: Tim Groves

A solitary figure is shrouded in smoke, head down with his sweaty hair covering his face as his fingers move ferociously across the neck of his guitar. In the background, all that is visible is the outline of a drum set, drumsticks flying every way as the thunderous rhythms dot the guitar riffs. Beneath the layered drum patterns and quick-fingered guitar play, is the thumping bass, bringing the song to life. The figures on stage seem lost in a trance. They seem hypnotized and emotionless, but in reality, they’re deep in concentration.

Gainesville’s psychedelic rock trio Ancient River consists of lead singer/guitarist Jamie (pronounced Hi-may) Barreto, drummer Chad Voight, and bassist Zach Veltheim. The three friends are all business on the stage, focusing solely on their music and performance at hand. It’s easy to get lost in their music, especially when the jams reach their chaotic peaks or fall into pools of ambient noise. However, once the show ends, the trio begins to look for the party. They are drawn by the wild nights, ridiculous stories, and overall good times of the rock n’ roll industry. They become apart of the crowd, a part of those wild tales that begin with “Dude, I can’t believe what happened last night.” It’s that sort of liberation that helps their exploratory music.

Their musical landscape draws listeners in with hot and heavy guitar work, dream like lyrics, crushing drums, and a smooth bass. Only a basic concept of their music can be ascertained from the recordings and Youtube clips available on the Internet. To truly understand what they are capable of is to experience a live show. Ancient River puts it all on the line during their performances. The staple of their shows is the prolonged sets of improvised music, melding together different influences from blues to jazz to psychedelia into a single song.

“That’s the real moment when you get to see musicians playing, yout know, on the spot. That’s when you see them create what you listen to on record and you are hearing them create it right in front of you,” Voight says while lounging in the group’s studio/home.

Voight and the crew take great pride in the music they have created over the years, and there’s lots of it. Ancient River has a catalog of dozens of songs that owe their inspiration to Black Sabbath, Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd.

“We have loud stuff, quiet stuff, fast stuff, slow stuff, long stuff. It’s one of our strengths,” argues lead singer Barreto.

Check Ancient River out at Durty Nelly’s in Gainesville.

Barreto and Voight at Austin Texas' Psych Fest.

Their shows have turned many fans, but none more important than a man who was absolutely floored after witnessing a live performance. After being blown away he agreed to help finance a full-length album, currently titled “Shiny Things” set for release in the spring. Their ability to put on a show has also led to interviews with online sites such as Break Through Radio and tour dates as far out as Austin, Texas for Austin’s Psych Fest 3 this past summer. However the band is also trying to reach fans face to face.

Ancient River DJs at LUX on Saturday nights, which gives them an opportunity to socialize, network, drink and spin a lot of fantastic vinyl.

“When we are at a show it’s hard to talk to people, it’s our chance to socialize with the fans,” Barreto said.

Unfortunately, Ancient River still has their share of problems when it comes to promotion. Living in Gainesville has presented unique challenges to the group. Unlike most major cities, Gainesville is and always will be a college town.

While a college town brings tons of new fans to the band each year, that same benefit can be a horrible curse. “We have already had people like become fans, come to shows, start bringing their friends to shows and then move away,” Baretto lamented during the interview. “It’s a transient town.”

The problem is compounded by their chosen genre of music. No one else in the Gainesville music scene is trying to compete for the psychedelic blues fan base, but psychedelic blues is an extremely niche genre. You won’t find a section for it at the local Target or Best Buy music sections, and you won’t find any radio stations dedicated to playing it 24/7. It can be loud, noisy and sometimes inaccessible. Although the basis of the genre is groove oriented, some people can’t look past the wilder side.

They hope that their live shows make the fans keep tuning in.

Jeff Lancaster, Ancient River's manager.

“They like to cut loose at live shows,” their newly minted manager Jeff Lancaster responded. “It’s a chance to get really, really loud with their equipment, and they have really nice loud equipment.” Ancient River is also constantly evolving, constantly tinkering with some aspect of their performance. “You won’t see the same song, the same set list, or the same performance of a song, you will hear new songs because we are a prolific band,” asserted Voight. “We usually present a song or two every time we play.”

They are beginning to put their enormous backlog of songs into physical music releases. Outside of the album Shiny Things, the band just sent off a two year, self-released anthology to be mastered. They hope to get it in the hands of their listeners soon, hopefully by the end of November. “Before the kids leave,” responded Lancaster. “Yeah then they all have something to give out as presents,” added Veltheim as the rest of the members chuckled along. They are also planning another self-released full-length album following the release of Shiny Things.

“We are always gonna wanna do what we want to do and what we like to do. It’s just fun to play music.”

Check out Ancient River at www.facebook.com/ancientrivermusic