What's This Music For?

Culture Shock, a band I was in 20 years ago, is reuniting for a show tomorrow evening at the Hangar Lounge in Wise, VA.  It’s very exciting, and I would never in a million years have predicted this when I quit the band in 1994.  If you want to read my version of the band’s story, it’s here:

http://brianhearl.com/culture_shock.html

Your local entertainment magazines or websites can be a good source of information about local music.  We have two that I’m aware of in our area of northeast Tennessee, The Loafer and GoTricities.  Both have weekly listings of what bands are playing at which venues, plus occasional articles spotlighting local talent.  However, the online presence of GoTricities, which is, of course, Gotricities.com, has quite a bit more to offer the music fan.  The music section on the site has several nice features.  One is a listing of local/regional bands, broken down by genre; each band on the site has a photo, blurb, and links to their own site(s).  Unfortunately, this list is not necessarily up-to-date or complete, which is understandable; as quickly as bands come and go, the staff maintaining the site have an almost impossible job of maintaining all the information themselves.  It’s ultimately up to each band to request that they be added to or removed from the site.  Within its limits, though, it’s a good birds-eye view of the local music scene.

Another feature of the site is Radio GoTricities, which features streaming audio of various bands’ material.  You can play all genres, a sampler, or only a specific genre.  This is a nice feature, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be updated very often, and I’m not sure how much it’s used.  It’s a shame, because it’s a nice feature.

And speaking of shames, GoTricities also hosts a set of forums, collectively called “The Buzz”, which has fallen into disuse.  At one time this was a good place to get the inside scoop on what was happening in the local music scene, but for whatever reason, posts are few and far between these days.  Additionally, there are sections containing music videos and reviews, but these also appear to be neglected these days.

Despite its shortcomings, and the air of abandon that hangs over parts of the site, GoTricities.com is still a valuable resource for those interested in our local music scene.

A number of years ago, I was in a band called Culture Shock.  If you’re interested in the history of the band, you can read it here.  Anyway, I thought I’d share what a couple of my former bandmates have been doing more recently; they’re both musicians of note and well worth a listen:

Will Henson – Everything I Can Do

Slow Motion Trio (featuring Jared Bentley on lead vocals) – I Bent Down

 

A little clarification before we get rolling on the reviews.  I’m not going to worry so much about when an album came out or even if the band that made it is still together; the intent is to introduce our blog readers to good independent music, whenever and by whomever it was made.  I’m going to try to only review albums that are obtainable in some form on the Internet, and will probably only review stuff I like.

Now then.  I saw 1971 perform live several times a few years ago and liked what I heard.  I stumbled upon their eponymous CD in my wife’s collection a while back, and thought it’d be fun to give it a listen.  It was like seeing old friends after a long absence; it’s a credit to lead singer/guitarist/drummer David Pope’s songwriting skill that many of the songs had fastened their hooks into my brain.  The album as a whole is acoustic-driven with the ambience of a back-porch pickin’ party, cohesive but with more emphasis on feel than technique.   Ably backed by the harmonies and instrumental skills of bassist Robert Peets and lead guitarist Brett Hale, Pope’s tales of heartbreak, hangover, religious anguish and family troubles are the perfect companions for world-weary late nights.  Standout track: “Hail Mary”.  The album is available for purchase on CDBaby.com.