REVIEW: Boardwalk - Boardwalk

LA-based Boardwalk has a great sound - it's a nice mixture of the shoegaze-inspired guitar rock sounds of Mike Edge, and Amber Quintero's sweet vocals. He skirts the edge of surf guitar with plenty of reverb, while she begins most of her vocal lines with a deep, almost heart-rending sigh. It's quite striking, yet at the same time very subdued. The name of the record, the time of year, and the reverb-soaked guitar - all fit in perfectly with the idea of an early fall walk by the ocean. And the waves of sound slowly wash ashore...

We've already written about them three times - and shared two advance tracks off the album, most recently here.



Here's a third track, "Crying" - with a chorus as sweet and sad as anything you'll hear this year. The harmony vocals are breathtaking:



Edge and Quintero met about a year ago, found instant chemistry together, and spent the intervening time putting together this record. He's the production genius, and to me his greatest triumph is building a sound that fits with and supports, yet never overwhelms, her dreamlike vocals - check out the cascading guitar lines over the last minute of "It's Over" or the fuzzy guitar lines overlaid with keyboards on "Some Things". There are a variety of treated guitar sounds, synths and a superb, understated rhythm section. This is a wonderful record, and we have the great folks at Stones Throw to thank.

Boardwalk at Stones Throw
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New Video from Boardwalk - "I'm To Blame"

We recently featured a track from new L.A. dream pop duo Boardwalk, who have been signed to Stones Throw and will be releasing an album in the fall. The song is "I'm To Blame", a hypnotic bit of reverb-drenched near-shoegaze with swirling guitars and otherworldly vocals, and this is the video they've released to go along with it. Fittingly, the video is gauzy, multicolored, oblique and pretty:





Broadway is Mike Edge and Amber Quintero, who met and formed the band last summer - we're really looking forward to the album.

Boardwalk on Stones Throw
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REVIEW: Dub Club - Foundation Come Again

We started seeing tracks from Tom Chasteen and Tippa Lee (operating as Dub Club) several months ago, as we shared the two dub version albums, Signs And Wonders in Dub (WYMA post here) and Bubble Dub (WYMA post here) with you. Well, the mother lode is finally here: Foundation Come Again is a wonderful collection of new tracks from some of the best Jamaican sound system vocalists that Chasteen and Lee have worked with. Chasteen started bringing these artists to LA to perform at his club, and the idea of creating an album featuring their still-strong vocals over the super-bottom-heavy tracks of the Dub Club All-Stars was born. Since not all were available to travel to LA, Lee went to Jamaica and captured vocals from many of them at Mixing Lab in Jamaica. There are 20 tracks on the album, each with a different vocalist or combination of them - including such giants of reggae as Prince Jazzbo, who contributes the foreboding "Black Shadow", and Big Youth, who sounds nearly as strong as ever on "Healing of the Nation" - just to name two.

Here's sound system legend Josey Wales with "Hard Time":



Artists like Wales, who has a direct line back to U Roy's sound system, bring a level of credibility to this record that is almost unbelievable. However, while authenticity and gravitas are good, the sound is the thing. And this all sounds tremendous.

Here's Tippa Lee's own "Mr. Big Man":



Sadly, three of the vocalists on here: Ranking Trevor, King Stitt, and Errol Scorcher all passed on after recording their tracks for this album. But they are captured in fine style. Perhaps the best track on the album is Trevor's opener, "Paper and Pen". Note the dedication on the back cover:

If you're a fan of 70's-80's Jamaican dancehall and dub music, you will be amazed at the quality and quantity of music on Foundation Come Again. This album works as a time capsule or historical document - truly, just to have one track by each of these Jamaican legends, it would be worth much more than the cost of the album. But it's also (and perhaps more importantly) a great reggae album - a test for your sound system's bottom end and an invitation to the neighbors to come over for a good time, if you live too far from Los Angeles to catch one of the weekly shows at the Dub Club.

1.    Ranking Trevor – Paper & Pen
2.    Josey Wales – Hard Time
3.    Little Harry – Revolution
4.    Ranking Joe & Tristan – Bring The Sensi Come
5.    Lone Ranger ­– Wicked Dem Come
6.    Danny Dread – Every Herbsman Is A Star
7.    Dillinger – Around The World
8.    Tippa Lee ­– Hey Mr. Big Man
9.    Trinity ­– Rolling Stone
10.  Tullo T – Can’t Stop The Ras
11.  Natty King & King Stitt – Gimmie Gimmie
12.  Jim Brown – Sensimilla
13.  Welton Irie – Chant Down Babylon
14.  Errol Schorcher ­– Ride Riddim
15.  Kojak – Hear Me Now Star
16.  Brigadier Jerry & Ranking Joe – Meditation Chant
17.  Prince Jazzbo ­– Black Shadow
18.  Pompidoo – Selassie I Rule
19.  Big Youth ­– Healing Of The Nation
20.  Robert Mystic ­– Satta

Foundation Come Again was released last week (July 16) on Stones Throw. Buy the album, individual tracks, or learn more at Stones Throw. Learn about the shows on Dub Club's Facebook page - both below.

Dub Club website on Stones Throw
Dub Club Facebook

Stones Throw Soul Tour - August West Coast dates

Great news for music fans out West - the Stones Throw Soul Tour is coming your way. This is the first time these Stones Throw artists have ever been on the road together. Label founder Peanut Butter Wolf will bring the DJ/video show, while Dam-Funk performs solo.

The Stepkids will perform tracks from their upcoming album Troubadour. Their smooth soul- and jazz-influenced stuff is, to me, fondly reminiscent of Steely Dan and The Crusaders, among others. Here's "The Lottery":

Myron & E (backed by The Stepkids) perform tracks from their debut Broadway, which we've just reviewed (WYMA review here). This is the perfect time to share another video of these guys:



I think there will be dancing, even if it's of the involuntary variety. These guys can play.

STONES THROW SOUL TOUR
Fri 8/16 POMONA CA - Glasshouse.
Sat 8/17 PHOENIX - Crescent Ballroom.
Sun 8/18 TUCSON - Club Congress.
Tues 8/20 DENVER CO - Casslemen's.
Wed 8/21 SALT LAKE CITY - Urban Lounge.
Fri 8/23 PORTLAND OR - Mississippi Studios.
Sat 8/24 SEATTLE - The Crocodile.
Tues 8/27 OAKLAND - The New Parish.

Stones Throw website

REVIEW: Myron & E (Featuring The Soul Investigators) - Broadway

We first heard of Myron & E with the Soul Investigators a few months back when they released the lead track from their new album Broadway - the album is on  Stones Throw and was released last week (July 2). It is sweet, sweet soul music through and through - simultaneously old school, and young and fresh. Myron Glasper is from LA, Eric "E da Boss" Cooke from New Jersey, but they met in the Bay Area, while working with Blackalicious. Cooke was the tour DJ, Glasper sang backup. They have fairly extensive music histories individually, but together they really shine.

Previously featured on WYMA (post here), "If I Gave You My Love" was the first track to be released from the latest sessions. That one's got some great horns, a Motown drum beat and their contrasting vocal styles.





The opening track is a soul ballad, "Turn Back", and they have great voices for a soul ballad - kind of along the sweet style of The Stylistics or Delfonics. This is one of those projects that makes so much sense when you listen to it, it's amazing to think of the coincidences and circumstances that led them, and the backing band, The Soul Investigators, to come together. Here's a live video of them performing album track "On Broadway":



As great as the vocals are, the band supplies the perfect basis for them - guitar lines and horns ride on top of a super-tight rhythm section. The drum and bass are so good, you may find yourself focusing on the drums or bass alone, on songs like "Everyday Love". Then again, there are terrific soul touches everywhere - the strings and flute on "I Can't Let You Get Away", the old-school soul guitar intro on "Cold Game" and the psychedelic guitar and keyboards on "Back N Forth". Here's a live performance of "I Can't Let You Get Away".



This album is wonderful, and we have Stones Throw to thank for bringing it to us. And courtesy of Stones Throw, here's a non-album track, "Clap Sing":



Learn more, listen and buy at Stones Throw and Myron & E's Facebook page. And stay tuned for more information about the upcoming Stones Throw Soul Tour, featuring these guys and other label acts like The Stepkids, Dam-Funk and label founder Peanut Butter Wolf.

Stones Throw website
Myron & E Facebook

New Reggae: Tippa Lee - "Mr. Big Man" from Foundation Come Again, out July 16 via Dub Club/Stones Throw

Via their recording studio and reggae showcase Dub Club, Tippa Lee and Tom Chasteen have been working on a series of stellar dub and reggae albums for release on Stones Throw. I can't recommend this stuff highly enough. We previously reviewed the two dub albums (Signs And Wonders In Dub - review here and Bubble Dub - review here), and we are eagerly looking forward to the full album Foundation Come Again, due out July 16. In advance, here's Lee on vocals, in a video filmed in Kingston, Jamaica for the album track "Mr. Big Man":



Read more at the Stones Throw Website.

More From Dub Club - Vol. 2, Bubble Dub

Our friends at Stones Throw and the Dub Club have done it again. We recently featured the excellent Vol. 1, Signs And Wonders in Dub from LA's Dub Club (WYMA post here). It was the first of three planned summer 2013 releases featuring Tom Chasteen, Tippa Lee and a host of Jamaica's finest singers, musicians and toasters. This week, the followup dub album Bubble Dub was released - a limited edition on vinyl and downloads.

These are dub versions of the tracks from the forthcoming Foundation Come Again (due out in July on Stones Throw), and they are plenty hot and heavy on their own. Really, this is an unbelievable treasure. It's true dub - Chasteen and Lee really know what they're doing and show a real love for this type of music. Opening track "Gimmie Dub" is a traditional-sounding dub version, and features the super-heavy bass with reverb-laden keyboards and DJ toasting. Several other cuts, including "Bring the Dub Again", "Hard Time Dub" and "Ain't Too Proud To Dub" (yes, it's a version of a cover of that one), feature some really tasty guitar licks.

Here's "Bring The Dub Again":



Read more, see the cover and buy at Stones Throw Records.

Stones Throw Website

New Reggae/Dub Discovery: Stones Throw & Dub Club - Signs & Wonders In Dub

On the heels of the wonderful Lions album This Generation, comes another full blast of Jamaican awesomeness, by way of LA, on Stones Throw Records. Stones Throw and the Los Angeles-based reggae club night Dub Club have joined forces to release a scorching compilation of all new recordings by Jamaican sound system legends entitled Dub Club: Foundation Come Again.

The man behind this project is Tom Chasteen, a Los Angeles club promoter, DJ and producer. It was a revelation for Chasteen when he discovered that the artists who made the classic reggae 45s he was playing each week were still out there and ready to perform. He started tracking them down and flying them in to Los Angeles to play at the Dub Club.

Chasteen, along with Jamaican artist Tippa Lee, jointly produced Foundation Come Again. In addition to (and preceding) the release of Foundation Come Again, Stones Throw will release two dub albums from Dub Club: Signs and Wonders in Dub and Bubble Dub. Both include dub versions of several tracks from Foundation Come Again and were mixed live to tape in one take by Chasteen.

Chasteen says, “Dub is not just a contest to create the heaviest ever bassline, but a subtle carving away at a piece of music. The dubs on this record also keep one foot in the dancehall, where dub where was born and raised."  Both Signs and Wonders in Dub and Bubble Dub are being released exclusively on vinyl with hand screen printed in various colors and limited quantities.

Here's "Beware Dub":





This is a tremendous record - if you like dub, dancehall or any variety of reggae at all, it is something you will be very happy to get your hands on.

More to come, as we get a chance to hear Bubble Dub and Foundation Come Again. You can learn more, including viewing pictures of the screen printed album covers, at Stones Throw's website.

Stones Throw Records

Free Stones Throw Download: Vex Ruffin - Eulogy EP

Vex Ruffin is a wildly creative artist, melding a variety of influences both strange and sublime... Bauhaus, Public Image Ltd., Joy Division, and probably a few I don't even know.

Check it out:



And go to the Stones Throw website to download.

Here's a video for "Losing Control", a single released in 2011:



Also appearing at the Stones Throw Showcase at SXSW (with Stones Throw founder Peanut Butter Wolf, among others):

If I was going to SXSW, this would be something I would not want to miss. Stones Throw is putting out an absolutely amazing variety of music... of course, very creative hip-hop, but also a great deal of stuff like Vex's which just smashes together a variety of influences, samples and styles - from indie rock to darkwave to grunge - to great effect. Spend a little time on their website after you download the EP, you won't regret it.