Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Aaron Beamont: Wouldn't have it any other way!

With a newly-formed band and clear thrill for the stage, Aaron’s highly-textured instrumentation, introspective lyrics and animated presence hooked an impressively full Hotel Café audience on the 18th.

Knowing some of Aaron’s songs in advance of the show, it was gratifying to see a crowd of people who so visibly hung on each of his words: chuckling after all of the subtly humorous phrases, pausing at the intricate ones, wondering how it is possible for a musician’s hands to move so quickly along the piano and still leave him breath to sing, gently back-patting themselves for attending while crafting their “I knew him when...” stories in advance of the success that Aaron is so likely to achieve.

Between the ten songs from new album “nothing’s forever (Not Even Goodbye) and two well-chosen covers (Iron and Wine and Tom Waits), Aaron’s set-list wove a spectrum of many weights; from dreamy to vaudevillesque, to philosophical. Seaming this ambitious musical variety with notably witty stage banter (about purchasing goats for widows in emerging countries), Aaron painted himself as a romantic, a comedian and a modest philanthropist.

Somewhere in between these interludes, Aaron’s distinctive 20’s-inspired fashion, and the waltz-like tone of piano mixing with Celeste and bells, there was a charming formality to the show’s atmosphere; one that recalled simpler times when slower expectations let life and love unfold with the belief that a question can fulfill as much or more than an answer. Some of Aaron’s songs speak to this same notion. In “The Park Bench Song,” he reminds a girl that “Life is not a race, so take a breath-patience is the best way to arrive. In “Those Were the Days,” Aaron describes a time when “a word lasted forever and poverty made you rich with memories... [when] we could always remember the truth and forget the mistakes.”

After the show, many listeners noted that the sound Aaron created from his piano had the complexity that one would likely anticipate from several instruments. Equally impressive is how Aaron balances and aligns this intricate melodic texture with a lyrical density of the best kind. A clear appreciator of words, life and emotional intelligence, Aaron couples the insight that one might expect from someone many decades older with the optimism that is associated with someone early on their path. Such is exhibited in declarations like “risk aversion’s a lonely substitute for living. Will you ever learn it all takes place in the collisions.” From the song “The Time Will Come,” he adds “Its true, every leaf must fall for another to appear...love must blind us all or we’d never learn to hear...Its true, every sunrise is the front end of twilight...bad decisions are the way we get it right...so I’ll learn to love forgetting because it makes the world seem new.”

As a lover of both music and words, I felt alternately engaged and overwhelmed by a desire to drink every lyric and note throughout the show. Glad to have his CD in my possession for a closer examination later that night, I was struck by how the booklet of lyrics read like a work that could easily stand apart from the disc on its own literary merit. Following the words all the way through to the back cover with its statements of gratitude and then back to the beginning again, I read through slowly and kindly like I would a for novel whose end would require me to stop belonging to its characters and wisdom.

Visit Aaron’s beautiful music at www.myspace.com/aaronbeaumont and ask him how you can get your hands on a CD- it is worth clinging to.

Review by Bre Goldsmith (www.bregoldsmith.com

The Unstoppable Keaton Simons

Opening with "Good Things Get Better," the song whose optimistic beats and charismatic lyrics beg to define a movie soundtrack, Keaton stirred the cozily packed crowd at Hotel Café on 4/17.

It is widely known that as people consider their favorite songs, they mentally categorize them as tunes which encourage or counter a particular mood. For example, "I will listen to such-and-such song when I am _____ (lonely, ecstatic, heartbroken, furious, etc.) It occurs to me mid-first-song, as I file the track into my "best song for any mood" class, that it would be impossible to be anything other than fully charged, enthusiastic, while listening to it. Clearly written on a full heart/mind during which good things can only get better for two people, this song induces a state of beaming, shoulder-swaying, and the like. As someone who has spent most of her life creating things- strings of words, garments, recipes, very unacceptable songs – I have always felt that one of the greatest hopes an artist can have is for the receiver to feel, envision and actually live through the exact mindset under which the piece was crafted. This is how the artist knows that their visual, written or aural language has been truly heard. This is what has been achieved here.

Keaton's set list was well chosen in that it proved versatility by balancing acoustically-driven tracks with ones that startled the floor boards through intricate electric guitar solos. While the groove-worthy notes and harder vocals of the latter category confirm Keaton's understanding and appreciation of the blues genre, his gentler songs allow the listener to enjoy another equally notable talent: his gift for words.

In the song "Currently," Keaton proclaims love through an ocean motif which offers such memorable lyrics as "she is a song that the wave sings to the shore in the key of a gentle breeze...my undertow, caught in a riptide and I am currently in love with you." The song "Without Your Skin" tells of feeling so close to someone that you feel the vulnerability of nakedness when away from their skin, touch and kiss. The similarly affectionate song "Unstoppable" tells of a world in which right and wrong hardly matter when measured to the tender simplicity of a sun rising, a snow falling, a plane leaving and the invincible feeling of a new love.

In addition to his carefully chosen lyrics, Keaton has composed a three-member instrumental element which impresses listeners collectively and individually. He is proud to point that Joe Karnes (talented bass player of Pedestrian), Tommy King (who stunningly played two keyboards simultaneously throughout the show), and Michael Jerome (a drummer who regularly contributes to many artists' shows throughout the world, and who serves as the only non-curly-haired member of Keaton's band) all have notable solo projects.

From several feet away in the crowd, the top things you can know with certainty about Keaton is that he has a distinctive love for words, tattoos, the stage and life. After the set, stepping closer towards the unlikely rock star who will readily embrace every fan, you find an artist who seeps passion and has the whole world in his eyes. Among his eager resources are a new deal with CBS records, a network of artistically-prestigious friends, a soon-to-be-released album (June 10), a growing LA/national base of admirers and a smile that is, much like the music itself, contagious, transformative.

Review by Bre Goldsmith (www.bregoldsmith.com)
Check Keaton out at www.myspace.com/keatonsimons

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The Brendan Hines- A True Original

As many times as I write this sentence and try to devise the most flawless adjective for the artist who is undefineable at best, I rest on the word "humbling."

With honesty that soothes you into your chair and then knocks you far off it, Hines writes the kind of songs that many wish they could write if they had 150% more guts, 80 years of hindsight and 6 warmed up strings. I challenge even the most discriminating music critic to spend just five minutes listening to Hines and not be struck with the unyielding desire to know this person, to give him a drink and a chair and let him run his mouth about his hopes, loves and the innumerable corners of the world.

When asked about his influences, the ever-modest artist places wood floors and discarded photos at the top of his list. If this doesn't exactly make sense to you, it's all part of the plan/non-plan. To classify Hines' stylistic inspirations would limit him in the same way that it would to recount the themes of his songs; they derive from everything and are about everything. An instinctive and unconventional storyteller, Hines offers timeless wisdom, played out through humorous plots and relatable characters. Aside from brief references to Argyle street and taxicabs, it is easy to believe that these songs could have been sung 200 years ago to a campfire and an expansive land. Similarly, they could be taken to the moon many decades from now and be counted among the things that hold the same weight on both planets.

It is difficult to pick specific lyrics that are representative of his overall style or talent; while listening to Hines rants about "hard things...all the trouble they bring...the devil," my pen could not move quickly enough to transcribe even half of the memorable lines. In the humorous mal/tender-intentioned song "Guess What," Hines confesses: "I see you and I get ideas, your boyfriend should go outside. And I'll stay here and you'll stay here too, and we can pretend that he died."

In another song, Hines discusses a relationship that functions almost completely for the purpose of saving its partners from being alone. He explains: "She knows she's gorgeous and he knows she cheats. She'd rather wake up with a headache than a handful of sheets." These are intelligent songs, but not ones that the listener needs a thesaurus to get to the heart of. In "Top Shelf," Hines endures life between a rock and a hard place with the help of something hard on the rocks. "Broke and disgusted through the canyons of wealth, everything I swallow threatens my health. I'll stop one day, I promise to myself. I'll stretch until it hurts but I'll reach the top shelf."

While listening, it is difficult not to identify and think: "we have all been there, continue to crawl and grow in these tight crevices of the world and of the heart which serve as the great equalizers." So, yes, I suppose "humbling" is the right word after all, since these songs humble you to look at your own life with the same candor that Brendan sings of his. They humble you to grab a pen, a drink and a guitar, tell a story that leads nowhere and everywhere in the same breath.

Review by Bre Goldsmith
Check out Brendan at www.myspace.com/thebrendanhines

Greg Laswell's Hotel Cafe Show - 4/11

Accompanied by electric and acoustic guitars, bass, piano, percussion and one very dramatic trumpet, Greg Laswell packed the Hotel Café last night with both veteran and newbie admirers.

Starting the set with soon-to-be-favorite "What a Day," a song with a hopeful-tone and an invincible message, Greg's words "What a day to be alive...what a day to die trying" resonated with the interested ears. In general, Greg's lyrics are reflective but rarely border on complex. The songs with the most striking impact are often ones which repeat key phrases at various tones in order to create a beautiful layered effect. In this way, Greg weaves a meditation of sorts for audience members who stand silently, ready to be draped. In fact, I was struck by just how silent the crowd was during some songs, especially for "Embrace Me," throughout which people confirmed appreciation by refraining from speaking, answering texts or even refilling watered drinks.

Although songs on the new album "How the Day Sounds" cross from upbeat to a solemn tempo, "longing" seems to be a common theme; longing for the things we've lost and also for the things we already know but yearn to see in a new way. Demonstrative of this are "Embrace Me" lyrics which ask one to take steps away from where they are in order to take a new took at "the land that grounds [them.]" The EP with this disarming song will be available at Whole Foods Market in May.

Review by Bre Goldsmith
Check out Greg at www.myspace.com/greglaswell

Poem of the Day

For you

When the first breath rises from the bed's covers, I think of you
There are hours and acres between us, a continent perhaps
The rhapsody of snoring, working, running, keeps you from hearing me.
When I warm the November air with the exhale of finding slippers, I wonder if you too are cold.
When the shower stirs the day's tasks about my mind and I am tired before I'm awake-
When the soap graces my skin and leaves the memory of perfume, I wonder if Lavender is the thing that will lead you to me.
When I hold the mascara and make my eyes grow, I wonder if the lashes will need to wave for you this day-
do you need the help of glasses to see these brush strokes, the crevice of my cheek that smiles permanently?
When I stain the toast, sit with the coffee-
I know you in the same way I know this cup is full, that my tongue has been burned by its contents
although I have brewed nothing yet

When I greet the sun, the train, the feel of paper, the clock-
When I bear motion and sweat so the skirt button doesn't stress
It is for me, but it is also for you.
I learn the world because it is also your world
I race every corner because it is a half promise, a closed hand unfolding for the reveal
A road leading to a forgotten string that follows to your ear

When I fit and turn the key, hook the coat, touch the feet, say the evening prayer-
When the lashes bow, the cat purrs, the mind dreams
There is a home around the road's curve where the pulse outraces itself
A gasp of carbon that carries Lavender from the limbs and shows the world a new axis
I know this in the same way I know my heart thumps in my chest, that the moon fills, even though, at times
both are invisible.


Written by Bre Goldsmith- 4/08

Jackie Tohn's Show at Hotel Cafe on 3/25

Jackie's opening song which declares "anything's possible" seems alarmingly appropriate for an artist who manages to dance, sing, tell jokes, rap and enchant in the same breath.

With each determined flick of her hair or kick of her staple high-top adidas sneakers, you see that this is not only a performer, but a person that you wish to discover more of. Fortunately for the admirer, Jackie seems to have limitless potential and energy for the sharing. With bold lyrics which touch both the belly (through laughter) and the heart (through honesty), Jackie dares you to love her, and as a song late in the set challenges: "double dare[s] you to forget." As is custom for the beautiful singer who exhibits much strength and confidence, the most memorable set moments are the ones in which Jackie make the most compelling demands; to her audience for the purpose of song participation, and to the Better Business Bureau for the purpose of shutting down a hazardous man.

Overall though, there is no reason to fear for the male subjects of these songs; as Jackie reminds us, "Beguiling" is "a kind-hearted album," as expressive and warm as its creator. It presents 11 charming songs driven by sharp vocals, electric/acoustic guitar and rocked-out-percussion, and 1 song, "Me" which is offered up from a piano with "a skirt that is even shorter when sitting." Let yourself into Jackie's exciting world of colorful images and people, then linger for a bit, sing along, laugh and above all, be captivated.

Review by Bre Goldsmith
Check out Jackie at www.myspace.com/jackietohn or at www.jackietohn.com

Room 5 Show on March 11: Were you lucky enough to be there?

On Tuesday night at Room 5, a near-full-house of music enthusiasts quieted and leaned forward in their chairs as a series of uniquely talented artists graced the stage with their voices, guitars, piano, bass, accordion and xylophone.

David Hopkins, accompanied by Brett Simons, opened with layered tales of love and freedom: the losing, the winning and the sweet battles in between which confirm repeatedly that "love is all you need." After proving his talent on the guitar, Hopkins stepped stage right to gift a few wistful and lyrically-driven songs from the piano; carrying the engaged audience through dreamy melodies to the final dense chord.

Laura Jansen, who re-welcomed Brett Simons on bass, beamed throughout her entire set of playful, jazzy and soberingly touching tunes. With a voice that ranges from tickling to stunning, Jansen's highest and rawest note might sound, to a close-eyed listener, like a singing violin. A graceful performer, Jansen embraces the simplest ideas and refuses to shy away from the deep or challenging. Charming lyrics such as those of "Bells," which tell of waking in a heart-shaped world, are balanced with the chilling stories of "Pretty Me," which catalog Jansen's struggles as she spins from needing to be truly seen to truly seeing herself.

During the set, one could not help but feel as though instead of watching a show, one were watching an intimate dialogue between Jansen and the piano. And often, perhaps unintentionally, the singer would gently lower her head at a song's end, as if to honor the element which helped her tell her life's story, or to help the audience bow to the echo of the last note.

As the third major performer of the night, Joey Ryan greeted a warmed audience with the news that his ode to California, appropriately titled "California," will be featured on the upcoming regionally-aired commercial for Unicef's Tap Project, a nationwide campaign aiming to share the privilege of clean drinking water with children throughout the world. Additionally, all profits from the download of "California" during March 16-22 will be donated to the program. (So, if you don't already own this wonderful ballad, please wait three more days to purchase it!)

Joey Ryan's wholesome sound is reminiscent of an artist who could be comfortable strumming a guitar and telling stories to venues ranging from packed stadium seating to a bench of admirers on the beach; he certainly does not take his craft or his fans for granted. A truth-telling lyricist, Ryan's words are, at times, simple enough to beg for a sing-along, and at other times, candid enough to produce scornful looks towards audience members who dare to speak mid-song. Among the most memorable were from a love song which proclaimed "beautiful world...beautiful girl, let the rain forever battle with the sun, we've already won." Another song told of the Ryan's father's illness and near-death experience when the performer was only 7; the father's presence at the front table confirmed the song's hopeful conclusion.

Although this night of promising talent ended with all artists meeting their fans and expressing gratitude, I have a slightly different conclusion to offer. While I cannot speak for every Room 5 attendee, I can say that for me, the night continued for many hours, playing in my head and waking me the next morning with the urge to hum several newfound favorite melodies.

Review by Bre GoldsmithCheck out these artists at www.myspace.com/davidhopkinsmusic, www.myspace.com/laurajansenmusic and www.myspace.com/joeyryanband.