4/8/16 6:30AM Vinyl Preorder which includes some Vuvuzela tracks!
3/10/16
The Body Light is an upcoming new EP from Josh Benash, which he was kind of enough to send me to check out early, before the May 3rd, 2016 release date.
Josh's last record, Stasis, from 2014 I liked a good amount, along with his 1st solo record The Dismal; The Beautiful from 2012 I also enjoyed a number of songs from.
Quirky, experimental, humorous, extreme and bombastic. And genre-bending/blending are many of the elements of his previous work.
I'm just sampling some of this tonight, and will try and add more perhaps tomorrow. Some of this sounds rather soundtrack-like, which Josh actually has also done some soundtrack work actually (an independent horror film titled Bleeding Hearts for example, and a number of others are listed on his imdb page here), so that doesn't surprise me.
Also, among the many artists I've been trying to feature on YouTube, I likely will try and make a video about Kiss Kiss and Vuvuzela as well as his solo music hopefully soon. Perhaps around the time of the release date of this new EP on May 3rd, on Motor Oat Records.
I imagine it'll be posted for stream and download, likely on his bandcamp page and on soundcloud, so I'll have to bump and include those links when they show up as well.
edit: So I've checked this out a couple of times now and this among his best work, although not a huge departure as it has the quirky, waltzy, circus-like tones and sarcastic lyrics and vocal personality. There's some nice female vocals that contrast well with Josh's voice (on the last 2 tracks,"Swim in the Blood" for one, I wonder if the title is a reference to Elizabeth Bathory? and "Extinction on Our Lungs.").
A lot of use of vocal distortion on this EP, which Josh Benash's music certainly has used, but maybe more prominently here. The title track I'm thinking of namely.
The final song "Extintion on Our Lungs" is sublime at times. The both melancholy yet beautiful ending which many of his records seem to have.
1. a moon by my side 4:01
2. the body light 2:46
3. prelude to pitchforks 3:00
4. swim in the blood 2;14
5. extinction on our lungs 3:56
Per Neesh's post in Threedom Fighters, this album is coming out on June 21st. Which is a Tuesday, which is odd, but I'm not sure if it's released per https://joeyeppard.bandcamp.com/ if the Friday-only release dates really mean anything.
Regardless, should be great to hear. It's been 12 years as Neesh pointed out, since the release of Been to the Future.
No idea as far as stylistically, if this will be more acoustic-driven recordings like that record, or if it may include some other things like Orchestral stuff, maybe even with the assistance of Josh Benash, who I know is friends with Joey and Joey admires his work in many ways musically, namely the string arrangements with Kiss Kiss, Vuvuzela, and his solo music.
And it's been quite awhile since the last Three full-length album, being The Ghost You Gave to Me in 2011, so it'll be great to also just hear anything from Joey again. Although the 2014 Song of the Month project was cool, regardless.
Will bump when more info comes of course. I like the cover already.
Also it's probably worth passing along Altprogcore.blogspot.com was lucky to get to interview Mike and revealed some very good details about The Demon Joke, Oceansize and British Theatre, even mentioning that a BT album is in the works and very likely will differ even from the 2 EPs they released a few years ago.
You are also involved with Gambler (Richard Ingram) in the British Theatre project. After two EPs, are you thinking to creare a full length album? And, in your own opinion, what are the main differences between Oceanszie, British Theatre and Vennart?
It’s easy to diffrentiate between my album and what British Theatre’s forthcoming album, but then I’d have to start revealing what British Theatre is going to sound like, and I kinda want it to be a surprise. Suffice to say, it’s gonna be very different…Very different even to the previous EPs... With regard to how it compares to Oceansize - the basis difference is that I’m calling the shots here, and I don’t need to crowbar 100 different ideas into one song just to appease everyone. I’m proud of what Oceansize did, but sometimes it was just a little too showy, too clever for the sake of it.
Some stuff in that article mentions the retail release date of The Demon Joke being on June 22nd per Superball Music.
I actually agree with Mike's understandably biased comments about Operate, as it is heavy and catchy. Will it reach a wide/wider audience than Oceansize's most accessible tracks? Maybe if it received the right amount of promotion, but of course to expect that would be silly.
Yep, 89.3, The Needle Drop, Consequence of Sound, Pitchfork, Sound Opinions, All Songs Considered, etc and their trend-rock consumers could and very well would go for Operate and the rest of this record, but I might suspect I'd have a better chance inventing my own kind of ginger beer than that actually happening.
Regardless, Operate might very well be the catchiest most melodic song Mike's ever written and it certainly only adds to the optimism for this record coming to the pledgemusic backers in only a few weeks.
Looks like the CD comes on May 25th and Vinyl June 15th.
Title? "Divert Crisis" or something else? S/T?.kinda doubt it.
Also unclear about the actual "Goal" percentage as they typically show on Pledgemusic Campaigns. Maybe there is none? it just says 80 days left.
1/11/14 9:24AM Full length debut record coming soon. If you follow his his twitter page he's been talking about it for awhile. It looks like this record will be released on Vinyl too.
http://mikevennart.tumblr.com/ Divert Crisis Having spent nearly 5 years keeping myself occupied - and having a little too much fun - playing guitar for the beautiful Biffy Clyro, I’ve spent an awful lot of time working out exactly what kind of music I want to make. I’m happy to report that my first ‘solo’ record is on the way. Those inverted commas are important - an old friend has been of invaluable help in pushing these songs up the hill. Countless sketches were made in posh hotel rooms in every corner of the globe, and some were then given focus and cohesion in the form of vocal melodies written by my former Oceansize cohort, Steve Durose. We’re kind of like a weird-rock Elton and Bernie. The record also features keyboards from none other than Gambler, former Oceansize guy and my partner in British Theatre. Drums were beat with exceptional vigour by Dean ‘Denzel’ Pearson. His playing is so good it’s actually kind of hilarious. Upon the release of this full length album, I’ll be taking these songs - with these very men - on tour. Expect announcements of shows as and when we’re allowed to reveal them. It’s been a long journey, dreaming up even the impetus for much of this material. I’m glad i arrived at a point where i’m once again making music that i want to hear. The record itself? It is a beautiful, noisy, fuzzy, epic, heavy, stupid, annoying, confrontational journey. It is fucking ace. I can’t wait to get it out there. MJV x
2/7/14 10:29AM
New song/single from ex-Oceansize frontman Mike Vennart. I have no idea if this is his focus now, more than British Theatre, or if this will be like Josh Benash from Vuvuzela, where Mike will still be active doing British Theatre music and work on his own solo music. Granted, we haven't heard much if anything from British Theatre for over a year, which is puzzling and might suggest this solo work of his will be more of his focus, along with playing guitar with Biffy Clyro live in Europe.
The song itself is okay. Not blowing me away, but it's not bad, and may grow a bit.
edit: I'm digging this song a little more now. It reminds me a little of the music from Self Preserved..
1. And I'm Told 4:08
2. Soul Eyes 3:36
3. You Are Being Killed and We Do Not Care 0:59
4. For Two Weeks (You've Been Happy) 3:26
5. Will You Shine 3:11
6. Every Time I Close My Eyes All I Hear is Lil' Kim Screaming 0:47
7. Your Word 3:19
8. Holy Holy Holy; Round and Round and Round 5:34
I wanted to wait and give this album another listening or two before going into *initial* detail, but what the hell, my schedule is so screwed up and unreliable with time, I'll go ahead and do it now.
This album is being released on August 12th (Facebook), but I was lucky enough to be sent a copy early to review.
Josh Benash, who is known for not only his debut LP from 2012 The Dismal; The Beautiful , but also his great current band Vuvuzela and awesome ex-band Kiss Kiss, is back again with another crazy collection of tunes.
Some of my early favorites are "And I'm Told," "Soul Eyes" and especially "For Two Weeks (You've Been Happy)." That track is odd with the tempo and the way Josh goes from his sort of Alfalfa-style falsetto (in a good/charming way), to his deeper contrasting vocals. But it leads to some really nice, simplistic, dreamy sections that even leave an ear-worm that if it doesn't appeal to you right away, may grow on you. And I can't help but like and relate in a lot of ways to the line "All I Want to doooooooo, is WATCH MY TV!!!"
Electronics, layers of vocal chanting, ambient textures, manipulated speeds of vocal recording, quirky, humorous twists and dynamic mood changes happen throughout this album.
There's a fair amount of dreamy, almost hypnotic moments. There's also a bit of acoustic sections, even what may be harp which I probably think of Vuvuzela for of course.
I am getting a sense of maturity and less-is-more from this album. Although every record Josh seems to make is of the shorter length, but I guess given how much I found The Dismal; The Beautiful more hit and miss, this record seems to last almost the right length and I am getting the sense it's best heard all at once.
"Stasis" I suspect refers to being under stasis as a medical stasis. So, perhaps Josh wrote some if not all of the music here from the perspective of someone whose hospitalized or at least is more or less confined to being in one place, perhaps indefinitely. Which sounds potentially horrifying or at least sad potentially. But, with Josh's dark almost black sense of humor, it doesn't come across so bleak.
It's odd how with each thing Josh does, he seems to do new different things, yet still remind you its him.
This album is about 1/3 more straight forward songs, and maybe 1/3 more slow tempo, atmospheric mood pieces and 1/3 of his odd quirky numbers. But it still is rather cohesive.
I would say it's only issue could be it leaves me wanting more or even just rather curious what may come in the future from Josh. He has consistently impressed me, which is why I still regard him as one of my favorite songwriters actively writing and making music currently.
10/22/13 8:25AM
Funded. Nicer jacket. A day or 2 left to order one.
9/30/13 9:21PM
This is an incredible debut record that will sound all the more amazing on vinyl. And as Josh says, this will be a limited printing, and likely a 1-time only chance to put it out on vinyl.
And, I would imagine if it does succeed, the 2nd Kiss Kiss LP The Meek Shall Inherit What's Left may follow (and perhaps the Vuvuzela debut LP The Hollow Choir even at some point).
This campaign needs a little under $2K more in the next 3+ weeks.
Our hope is to re-release this 2007 Kiss Kiss cult classic "Reality vs the Optimist" on vinyl as was always our intention.
For those of you who do not know Kiss Kiss, or "Reality vs The Optimist" here is a bit of history.
Kiss Kiss was a NY based band comprising of violin, vintage synths, guitars, bass, drums, and vocals. We wrote pop songs with a sort of carnival like demented quality, using lots of odd time signatures, textures, and unique melodies. But in the context of all this weirdness we strove to write the catchiest songs possible.
"Reality vs. The Optimist" was our first full length album for Eyeball Records ( My Chemical Romance, Thursday, and Murder By Death). We started recording it with producer D. James Goodwin at The Clubhouse studios in Rhinebeck in the winter of 2006. It was released in 2007.
Even as this was a debut record we stretched ourselves as much as possible and arranged the record to have full string sections, horn sections, and even a chainsaw.
But for our fans who already know us, I know how special having your favorite album on vinyl can be. I am a music nerd/vinyl enthusiast myself.
On tour Kiss Kiss was always asked if we had vinyl, but alas we did not. With this kickstarter I want to remaster and re-release our cult classic "Reality vs. The Optimist" on vinyl for the first time and only time. For the fans that have been asking all these years, and for ourselves, who love music more then anything else in the world.
If this gets funded I will have the record fully remastered for wax, and pressed on 180 gram. And then mailed off to you with a smile.
Sincerely Josh and Kiss Kiss
Risks and challenges
Risks: None. Challenges: Money
Basically this is like a pre order. If we sell enough to cover the cost of pressing the vinyl will be made. If we fail to raise enough cash "Reality vs. The Optimist" will forever be stuck in the digital realm.
4/2/13 12:15AM
I was informed by a former member, Matt Luker of the band 100Ft Snowman about this project. 100ft Snowman sadly broke up I recall towards the end of 2009. But as I wrote back to Matt, I still often think about them and what could have been. They are definitely among the best groups who never got their shot. The 2 EPs they released showed a ton of potential.
But that is more or less water-under-the-bridge now, and this is a new project of Matt's along with some other musicians. Stylistically, I can only guess from hearing just a couple of tracks thus far per bandcamp below. Their sound sort of mixes progressive rock with space rock and tribal percussion along with emphasizing things like vocal harmonies.
I'm digging what I hear thus far, but of course need a lot more time. And in a nutshell, I wish I had or even made that time, but sadly have struggled to find it even more of late.
Hopefully some of it can be made up for that lost time in the coming weeks/months. Although the work I've been doing without headphones of late, may become my new job soon, so, who knows. And I feel guilty about that, but I also know, I am doing what is best for me. That of course does pay my bills. AllMediaReviews does not. If it did, I probably would go into becoming the music writing machine I at times strive to be.
Blech, so anyway, this sounds like a sweet new band, whose name may or may not be related to the Mew song "Zookeeper's Boy." But with some luck, more will be heard by me and then contributed in this entry about them. I love(d) 100Ft Snowman, the same could be true here (see Kiss Kiss/Vuvuzela as 1 example).
1. A Red Sky in Mourning 01:39
2. Grounded by the Air 04:31
3. Burn Together, Burn Forever 03:08
4. K(No)w Corrosion 04:41
5. Stop Signs 05:01
6. Perfect Picture 05:32
7. Nothing Left to Gain 05:40
8. Moments Like These 03:55
9. Final Heart Attack 04:42
10. Leaving You Lying Here 05:47
11. A Red Sky at Night 02:40
12. Bound to Dust 06:05
Interesting video, which sort of reminds me of if the kid from Where the Wild Things Are was fixating on Lord of the Rings or Camelot. I'm not sure if the kid could be Josh Benash as-a-kid? just guessing. But like most of Kiss Kiss's videos, there's always a humor and quirkiness to it. This though, doesn't seem so political.
Now the messages about the contest that just ended, are now moot because the contest did just end, and Vuvuzela just lost I think, to some band called Fashions. I'm not sure all what they would have won, other than more exposure and a few others things. But hey, the winners of American Idol have sucked compared to the Runner's Up. Even Bend Sinister only finished 3rd in the Peak Performance Contest back in 2009? but the bands who finished ahead of them? I wonder if they are doing as well as Bend Sinister have since, as they have seen more growth, exposure and success in the last couple of years (especially this year), as they ever have.
Perhaps finishing so close will garner some unexpected attention for Vuvuzela. Let's hope.
1 Our Ghosts 4:31
2 Star Shoes 2:50
3 Sylvia 2:54
4 Rings and Things 2:53
5 The New 4:30
6 Distracted Eyes 2:33
7 Like A Lion 3:10
8 The Hollow Choir 3:39
"Using a clever story Waltz/Prog band Vuvuzela announce the date for their upcoming release."
1 Our Ghosts 4:31. There's a Gradual building Harp and piano interplay that sets the tone for the album."This House Holds Our Ghosts" "Memories from out (past?).."
One thing that sticks out is there are a lot of very Clean Cymbals in this song, that are High in the Mix. 2 Star Shoes 2:50. The Opening piano sounds like The Dear Hunter track "Lillian" from the Violet EP off The Color Spectrum..Tempo/Time Change "The Stars in My Eyes..They know nothing"..Quiet then Heavy/Slammed Piano. 3 Sylvia 2:54..This one starts off dreamy, almost like Mew, with a sad, dark, beautiful, romantic theme in the melody. Which may be about a relationship that went bad. This piece crescendos to an odd rhythm where the piano gets slammed. 4 Rings and Things 2:53.."Repetition is Blameless". Waltzy/Cicusy Piano and Bass leads to a Wall of vocal layers and a bombastic interplay Between the drums, piano and harp. 5 The New 4:30. The Intro is rather dreamy, with some subtle piano. There are tempo changes back and forth between slow and fast.."turns dirt to sand"
the outro is gorgeous with the piano and synths layers and vocals. This is one of Josh Benash's best vocal lines ever. One line sounds like: "I don't care about the [ones?]..all I wanted. my one ..?" 6 Distracted Eyes 2:33..This piece feels almost like a segue song, but it is big and dreamy. 7 Like A Lion 3:10 This starts out dark with Screamy Vocals, then there's a Tempo change, the vocals are clean. Which is kind of Jekyl-and-Hyde thing in that sense. I love the way the bridge has a Circus-y/bombastic/dramatic twist to it. 8 The Hollow Choir 3:39 There's a lovely slow Intro with Harp and Piano. "We are born beneath the waves"
"We Don't need Anyone or Anything"
(female harmony vocals)
"Don't Speak of that please. Don't Speak""Son of man says he's gone. Says he's saved"
The gradual crescendo on this song is tremendous, which then leads to a quiet Harp Outro.
This record has highly impressed me. It has a lot of what I love about Kiss Kiss, while still being different. The dynamics and less-is-more approach to songwriting.
Kiss Kiss made a debut record that was 32 minutes long, this album is pretty close in length to that. It also *feels* longer than what it clocks in at.
Every track works in different ways, from gorgeous Harp layers, to infectious piano melodies, I really am getting a similar feeling when I first discovered my love for
Kiss Kiss 6 years ago.
Many of the songs have those sad parts that strike a strong amount of emotion. While Vuvuzela's sound is for the most part acoustic, it has enough textures and
instrumentation going on, it doesn't sound so stripped down.
I guess specifics after playing it only a couple of times, "Sylvia," "Rings and Things," "The New," "Star Shoes," and "The Hollow Choir" have my attention the most. But I'd say other than the screaming in "Like a Lion" every part of this record seems to fit.
4.5 stars and on par with both of the Kiss Kiss records.
1 Our Ghosts 4:31
2 Star Shoes 2:50
3 Sylvia 2:54
4 Rings and Things 2:53
5 The New 4:30
6 Distracted Eyes 2:33
7 Like A Lion 3:10
8 The Hollow Choir 3:39
(track list info is from a promo that Motor Oat Records kindly sent to me to review, which should come soon as I'm already enjoying this album a fair amount just streaming on my pc speakers)
"Rings and Things" is pretty sweet. Rather Kiss Kiss-like, but with piano and other chamber instruments. Damn, I'm a bit more intrigued by this album now.
What was going to be a debut EP, has become a full-length debut record from among others, Kiss Kiss /Solo artist Josh Benash.
This also of course was helped/supported by a successful Kickstarter campaign last August.
Stylistically, from hearing what I have (which is not a ton), they are somewhat of a Chamber/acoustic group, using minor keys, and featuring harp? and other strings. I'm not even sure how much vocals they use, but my memory of that is a little cloudy.
the Kickstarter campaign had a video with some of that, which can be viewed here.
more to add in due time. But I'm pretty excited to check this out, now after 9 or so months (or more, since I heard about them probably around the 2010 CMJ Festival).
Also to add the fact Josh's solo record is pretty sweet, and of course his past work with Kiss Kiss.
1 Sick of the Wreck
2 The Bodies of Trees
3 My Little Noose
4 The Pancake Song
5 A Million Spines
6 The Worst
7 Swarm
8 Asshole
9 Bury and Seethe
10 She Is Bad
11 I Like the Way You Sigh
12 ::::::::::::
yes yes yes, very cool! Josh Benash is the lead singer/guitarist of Kiss Kiss and and the upcoming Vuvuzela project, which by the way, I guess the process of mixing their debut EP is going quite well as they posted here on facebook the other day. 80% tracked.
But in the mean time for Josh/Kiss Kiss fans, we have this debut album to look forward to, as it's being released digitally next Tuesday February 7th.
Cool freaking beans! There's to stream/d/l with a pre-order sounds good, and makes me curious as to the electronic side to this album. "Shoegaze" and "Post Rock" are among the genres listed for this on the bandcamp page.
Kickstarter campaign is a Success! Sometimes, you can't be sure how unlikely $ may come in, even down the stretch. Can't frigging wait to hear their ep.
an updated video from the other day. 7 days left and about $1600 to go. Odds?
I guess I'm not sure if I understand the thinking or projections for some of these Kickstarter campaigns. The amount of $ I get, at least to a point. But the AMOUNT OF TIME I rarely follow. $2,100, while not an outrageous amount, in a few weeks or even a month, really is a bit high for such a short window of time. I suppose had they mentioned the kickstarter thing many times over the last few months, and then launched it on August 1st or whatever date they did recently, at least the pre-campaign campaign would have been done.
A few other campaigns that I tried to help out, that failed, ran into the same problem. Now one of them being Water & Bodies album, ended up being relaunched and lowering the goal, and was successful the 2nd time around. Perhaps if this initial Vuvuzela Kickstarter campaign isn't successful, they'll try again like Water & Bodies and have success the 2nd time around.
But in the mean time, perhaps a lot more help will come in down the stretch here over the next week. I guess we'll see.
just pledged $25 to their campaign. 5-8 songs they want to start recording on August 24th. They need $2,150 to reach their goal by the end of the 23rd. I hope a lot of the Kiss Kiss fans find out about this SOON.
4/19/11 10:59PM
Assuming they reach their goal for the campaign, this should have a chance to come out this year. New songs sound nice.
Hey Guys. Josh here. Been working on the Vuvuzela demos in order to prep for recording. Prog rock on Harp, Piano, Upright Bass, Drums and Accordion. Fuck yeah.
So, this is one of 3, 4, or maybe more projects from members of the on semi-hiatus band Kiss Kiss. A band I happen to be a huge fan of, and one of the 1st artists I ever wrote about in this blog (not the livejournal 2006-earlier) in fact.
But given Josh is a big part of the Kiss Kiss sound, being their singer and guitarist, this sample actually reminds me of Kiss Kiss.
But only along with James O'Keeffe on Upright Bass, they are not a group that includes the other members of Kiss Kiss, so, it's not Kiss Kiss still. Perhaps it may resemble them how Apparatjik resembled Mew to a point.
No matter, the sample sounds good, the stuff on their facebook page has me awfully curious. And if the next Kiss Kiss is still a ways away, this is certainly something to keep an eye on. Their debut release (EP or LP?)_may be coming this year in fact, so it's great to keep tabs on them as often as possible.
