This weeks edition of “The Incomplete Discography” is dedicated, primarily, to independent artists. A few of my favorites, in fact. They’ve had similar beginnings, through the band This Day & Age. Since then, they’ve branched off into different musical journeys, which we’ve been able to experience through various projects. Talents of Jeff Martin and Steven Padin have never failed to catch my attention and my heart, and that continues on their new recordings. Neil Young & Crazy Horse play around with the past a bit on their new album and Flyleaf make me get a little teary. And now…the reviews…

Rest by Pompton Lakes

The great thing about watching Jeff Martin grow musically, is seeing how versatile he really is. He’s worn many hats under a few monikers, but he’s always been true to his musical vision and in sharing it with the world. In the latest installment, he’s backed by a wonderful band consisting of Dan Desrosiers, Isaac Strader, Vinnie Lupoli, and Denny Archer. Together, the band deliver a set of uplifting songs filled with hope, God, and redemption.

The first single, “Home,” embraces all three of those themes whole heatedly, as the narrator of the song proclaims, “Your arms are open, love has set me free.” From there the band get’s deep on the track “Searching” where finding God may not be as easy as it seems; “If i’m searching for God, should I look up toward the stars, and if I don’t see anything, does that change who you are?” The instrumentation on the track, “Merciful,” is enveloping; at times you can just feel it all around you, extending the song’s message and power through this beautiful acoustic/electric driven melody. It’s subtle and entirely beautiful. Rest ends on the highest note possible, a song called “Hope (Banjo Song).” This track does a great job wrapping up the album’s themes, while presenting a message for the future; “this is not the end, this is where we begin.” It’s Pompton Lakes’ beginning that has me in awe, being easily, one of the year’s best set of crafted songs. My only gripe is that it’s painfully short, but what is here is amazing. If there is any album I can “rest” in, it’s this one. And on the tenth play, I’ll still feel invited.

Album Rating: Buy It on CD or Vinyl

Listener Co-efficient: Active Listen

Out of the Silent Nest by Steven Padin

In 2010, Steven Padin teamed with former band mate, Jeff Martin, for a set of songs that showcased their individual talents for multi-instrumentation and songwriting. First Joke & Other Matters is a great album that shouldn’t work. It’s a trade off, track for track, between Martin and Padin, and it’s that album that laid the groundwork for Steven’s first solo album, Out of the Silent Nest.

Padin has a knack for writing down trodden lyrics with some of the most uplifting melodies you’ve ever heard, but mixed within are sweet laced tracks as well. He never seems hopeless, always hopeful, making that dark unique and bearable. This album is well balanced when it comes to song content, it doesn’t bring you down so long without lifting you back up again. Aside from a few drum, guitar, bass, piano, and violin spots, the majority of this album is performed by Padin. There are even a few guest spots from family, as his father performs bass on the track, “You,” and his sister is among songwriter credits on the last track of the album, “Bent.”

There are tracks that share themes through instrumentation; “He” and “Poorly Kept” concern the matters of mortality, God, and in navigating one’s way through the world. Both tracks have a dreamy-like, lullaby quality to them, kind of like “Farwell, the Company” on First Joke &  Other Matters.  The first two tracks, “Down Under and Out” and “2 Little Lovebirds” find their narrator’s in tough places, but optimistic.  “2 Little Birds,” for instance, “I guess that I’m a bird, who’s scared to build his nest, out of anything that means anything to me.” But ever the hopeful optimist:  “just know, in the end, you’re my friend.” Book themes  established on First Joke & Other Matters with tracks like “Perelandra” and  “Farewell, the Company” are continued here with  “Speaker for the Dead.”

The wide range of Padin’s themes are well wrapped in familiar instrumentation that doesn’t grow old or lose its magic.  Steven Padin is a rare talent, versatile, through a number of bands. And here, solo, it’s no surprise that he is successful on his own, but it’s a joy to be a part of it, to experience it, and to share it with the world.

Album Rating: Buy It on CD or Vinyl

Listener  Co-efficient: Active Listen

Psychedelic Pill by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

If you could describe Neil Young as any creature, it would have to be the shapeshifter. His ability to change on a dime is not so much music evolution as it is mythological, and stark in nature. He’s able to shed skins freely, but also make the new ones look so natural that  it’s hard to tell. With Psychedelic Pill, the second release from Young and his Crazy Horse companions this year, the group wears a number of skins in a number of styles. With the band’s folksy warm up album, Americana, released earlier this year, you got the sense they were a band, reconnecting, having fun again. With this album, the band’s experimenting with their own past, taking it apart to see how it works.

The album opens with the monster track “Driftin’ Back.” Clocking in at 27+ minutes, the song plays out like some trippy flasback sequence from 70’s Television while it stumbled into the album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. The song, though largely instrumental, touches on a number of issues; the writing of Young’s memoir for instance, Picasso, and his Pono mp3 format. It’s strange, but fun to get lost in for a while. I won’t argue that it could have been scaled back a bit. The title track has a new age “Cinnamon Girl/Free World” vibe going on to it as it funnels through different throbbing sonic effects. “Born In Ontario” and “Twisted Road” have a country frame work to play in, while the band just rock out, on the latter track espeically. “Ramada Inn” is a lament to all those years being on the road, and at 17 minutes plus, it justifies it’s length with “drunk-like” solos from Young and the regret that he feels.

In a way, these tracks feel more like frameworks on which to lay songs, more than songs themselves. This can be attributed to Young’s style more than anything, but here, the band plays with that idea a little more than usual. That’s not to say that its not meticulous in its crafting, the solo’s on “Ramada Inn” are a testament to that, but more so than usual, it takes a wide berth and freedom than we’re used to hearing with Neil Young. Though I prefer Americana, Young and the Crazies make a worthwhile record of shifting genres and experimenting ideals, one that shouldn’t be falling through the Neil Young discography anytime soon.

Album Rating: Stream It or Digitally Download It

Listener Co-efficient: Active Listen

New Horizons by Flyleaf

Prior to the release of New Horizons, it was announced that Lacey Sturm, lead singer of the band would be departing.  In doing so, the phrase “New Horizons” becomes something altogether different to this band. With Flyleaf’s 2010 release, Memento Mori, the band made a statement with the greatest album in their discography to date. Amidst a set of finely crafted songs, the message was clear: live life to the fullest. That expanded, totally, into the fiber of the songs making it a quasi concept album.  The difference between their first album and Memento Mori was in the songwriting, as the band evolved so did their songs, pushing past being just another derivative rock group.

On New Horizons, Flyleaf offer up an even more crafted and consistent set of tracks. While Mori had a little more filler than one would desire in an album, the albums concept pushed far beyond on that. The band improved in the area of song structure, shortening the length of their songs, allowing them to explore different genres and styles more easily than on their previous efforts. The opening track, “Fire Fire,” offers an aggressive beginning to the album. Its quiet intro leads into an explosive melody and chorus. Sturm almost sounds like she’s at the end of her tether as she sings, “fire, fire, fire, fire from the tongues of liars!” This song is the first example of Flyleaf’s skill in balancing the quite and loud moments, and the choir towards the end of the track makes for a nice, unexpected addition as well. The album’s first single, “New Horizon,” may be the band’s finest crafted single to date. Not only is this album better instrumentally, the lyrics are an event in their own right. “their is no such thing as time inside this moment, no sun rising.” “Cage on the Ground” is a nice quite moment for the band, as the song feels a bit like an epitaph for Sturm’s departure; “I’m gonna take my bow, and disappear into the sound.” “Green Heart” is a nice, almost thrash kind of track. “Broken Wings” is very much the bittersweet send off, that if viewed in the right light, will bring about tears.

The band have never sounded better and I can’t wait to see what’s next from  Sameer  Bhattacharya,  Jared Hartmann, James Culpepper, Pat Seals, and their new vocalist Kristen May. I will also miss Lacey immensely. I was fortunate enough to see the band headline  in Syracuse, NY a couple of years ago, and it was an absolute pleasure. Lacey was the first artist I ever felt connected to at a concert. In that moment, you experience a lot of things, but that connection is indescribable. For that and the music, Flyleaf holds a special place in my heart.

Album Rating: Buy It on CD or Vinyl

Listener Co-efficient: Active Listen

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