Blips: Four Under The Radar Bands
The Brew
[Photo by Ashley Plante]
When the nominees for the New Groove Award were read at the recent Jammy Awards, Massachusetts’ The Brew got the biggest ovation from the crowd. After listening to their new album, Back To The Woods, I can understand why people are so into their music. The Brew has spent the last five years developing a unique songwriting style that combines flashy changes, beautiful lyrics and hooks you just can’t get out of your head. They also know how to kick out the jams behind Dave Drouin’s soaring guitar leads. 2008 looks to be the year that The Brew breaks into the bigtime. You can check ‘em out at moe.down or pretty much any decent sized city in the Northeast over the next few months. Keep your eyes on these guys, they are the real deal. – Scott Bernstein
READ ON for more on Pete Francis, Idan Reichel and the Weather Underground…
Pete Francis
When Dispatch broke up after ten successful years Pete Francis decided to embark on a solo career. Pete’s most recent album, Iron Sea and the Calvary, shows off his talents as a singer/songwriter capable of writing mellow rootsy songs that will have you tapping your toes along with the music. The album kinda reminds me of the best of The Wallflowers mixed with the energy of Cracker, a heady mix to this writer. Perhaps the best part of the album is the instrumentation, which features layers of B-3 organ, lap-steel guitar, mandolin, and a driving rhythm section backing Francis’ soulful delivery. You can catch Pete this summer at Mountain Jam, Wakarusa, Milwaukee’s Summerfest or at any of the numerous tour dates he’s planned. You won’t be sorry. – Scott Bernstein
The Idan Reichel Project
The Idan Reichel Project is a fascinating musical undertaking. To be clear, he is a Blip on our radar screen, but has a huge following in Israel, as well has a devout worldwide fan base amidst Israeli ex-pats and new discoverers. Idan Reichel is a 30-year born in Kfar Saba, Israel. Reichel produces and writes the Idan Reichel Project’s music as well as plays keyboards and accordion, while typically lending lead vocal duties to collaborators for all over the world. The shifting vocalist is most appealing, because it translates to each song soundly vastly different from the next. While the initial impression of a lot of the tunes is that they are perhaps excessively chipper and feel a bit too much like the end of a game show, but I’d ask you to let it settle in.
The various Middle Eastern string instruments add nice color and the positive vibe he creates for areas of the world where not everything is so positive, is inspiring. Ultimately, Reichel is succeeding in uniting people musically with a positive message across Israel, the Middle East, Africa, and beyond. As much as Michael Franti is going to hate us for saying this, Reichel really seems to have a musical revolution underway and we very well may be looking at the modern generation Bob Marley. – Rupert
The Weather Underground
I’m going to come clean here: the only reason I stumbled upon the music of The Weather Underground was just because I loved their name. How could you not want to check out a group named in honor of the ’60s radical group? Don’t expect this L.A. based band to sound anything the like the agro-political rock of the MC5 or Rage Against The Machine though. Their latest EP, Bird In The Hand (their third in less then a year), reminded me of the bombastic organ-drenched sound of The Walkman right off the bat. Lead singer Harley Prechtel-Cortez’s voice has a bit of Eddie Vedder’s warble in it – especially on the EP’s title track. The Weather Underground are playing bills with everyone from Dead Confederate to Matt Costa to the French Kicks, with stops at Bonnaroo and High Sierra mixed in. – Some Dude
February 10th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
[...] Blips act Red Cortez to support Morrissey on the East Coast (begins: [...]
November 4th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
[...] May we featured up and coming act The Weather Underground as one of our Blips artists to watch. The L.A. quartet had quite a six-month stretch – a cross country tour, stops at major music [...]
September 17th, 2008 at 11:00 am
[...] on HT: Blips – The Brew and Tour Diary – Umphrey’s McGee addthis_url = [...]
June 20th, 2008 at 11:31 am
[...] The Weather Underground @ The Merc Last night I trekked out to Brooklyn to catch former Blips artist The Weather Underground play their first ever New York show at Park Slope’s Union [...]
May 28th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
The lyrics, the composition, the live show! Everything about the Brew delivers. I first saw them in 2003 I think in Norridgewock, Maine and since then have been a loyal fan to these amazing musicians! From their very start you could hear the energy and force driving these guys and I can only hope more ears can be opened to the message they carry with them. If you’ve just got out of work, and you haven’t heard the Brew, do sit down and have a pint!!