Good things are happening for Clear Soul Forces these days. Having just released their first LP back in March, and immediately thereafter making a successful and most promising trip to SxSW, yesterday Red Bull released the second installment of their Sound & Vision series – and guess who?
We’ll be premiering our own set of videos featuring Clear Soul Forces Saturday, but here’s a trailer in the meantime…
CLEAR SOUL FORCES: Trailer from SINGLE . BARREL . DETROIT on Vimeo.
If those 4 words in the title sound like a match made in hip hop heaven, then please allow us to break it down(backwards) for you.
Detroit Ca$h Mob (yes, you have to spell it with the cash money dolla bill sign every time!) is not a throwback record label in the vein of Suge Knight. Nope, it’s a grassroots initiative originated by Photographer David Lewinski to spur local support of cool small businesses in the city on a bi-weekly basis. And that’s where the records come in. The 5th annual Record Store Day is this Saturday and Detroit has two great neighborhood stores to feed your vinyl cravings, so we conspired with David to organize the latest Ca$h Mob event around this increasingly important musical holiday. The locales: Hello Records on Trumbull in Corktown and Record Graveyard on Caniff in Hamtramck. Both shops will be having deals that day, 1/2 off all used albums at Hello and a $2 record deal at Graveyard.
What about the rappers, you say? We’re guessing you’ll get the hint from the teaser below, but lots more on that tomorrow. Until then, please RSVP at the link below and let’s spin some records, Detroit!
https://www.facebook.com/events/281495298603073/
Loving the new Johnny Headband video for And Then Again co-Directed by John Anderson Beavers and David Dominic
If you popped your head into Facebook over the last couple days, chances are you caught the release of Phantasmagoria‘s first track off their upcoming LP Currents. The track is called “Dunes” and takes its inspiration from one of our favorite spots in the mitten. Have a listen and hear about how it came to be straight from Lianna & Chris.
Lianna: “Dunes” is about the irony of human beings being so disconnected from nature. The fact that most of us don’t get to explore and adapt to the beauty and obstacles of the natural earth is a sad realization, but it also makes us appreciate and long for it. The lyrics were inspired by my second trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes, MI. It’s only a five-hour drive from Detroit but most people I talk to have never been there, which is crazy to me.
The song may be one of our most upbeat songs but the meaning is actually kind of sad and nostalgic.
Chris: I made “Dunes” right after we’d gotten back from a camping trip with all our friends to Sleeping Bear Dunes. So naturally i think the song began to take shape based on some of those experiences. It sounded like ascending and descending through all planes of reality including the physical, such as climbing a Dune, or the auditory such as vibrations. Or simply finally reaching the peak and the momentary bliss and then relaxing, going for a nice swim.
Word is the album will drop in the summertime via Five Three, but until then, catch them on stage with Jr. Jr. at their Record Store Day show
*Artwork by Talon Wolf (<– click this!)
Here Lies the Lion is what Mick Bassett considers his “first true album” and we think it’s a fantastic sans-Marthas affair. We asked Mick to tell us about one of the more significant tracks on the long player and here’s what he had to say about “Savvy Again”:
“The #2 song on an album is a dangerous song to tangle with…it’s the radioactive yellow cake of the album and you have to pray to god you don’t drop that shit…you gotta get it right. usually people talk about the first song and grabbing attention and that’s true but if you can’t follow it up with a solid second you’ve wasted all your momentum – that’s why the #2 track might be even more important–it can solidify interest in the rest of the album or bring it crashing down. nobody wants to throw an album on just to skip the second track!
“Savvy” is the unofficial heart of Here Lies the Lion. It’s not a confessional declaration like an “On a Spaceship,” and isn’t overly concerned with real life but rather embodies the attitude of the album: that is a reclaiming of personality and swagger. I think of her as a kind of spirit that hangs over the album…she guides it through its catharsis until it’s ready to embark after “Fire and Wine” when that’s what you’re left with– an acceptance and completeness of the past and a hope for what will come. She is flawed but she moves with grace and she knows what she wants… she knows not everyone will agree but she’s accepted her truth and decides it’s time to take it. I’m not saying that’s me in any way, but i admire her and I think she can be learned from- that is the acceptance of one’s self and the audacity to pursue a vision fearlessly.”
~ Mick Bassett
** Catch Mick and a reunion of sorts with the Marthas as they play this year’s BLOWOUT on Saturday, 11:20PM @ The Painted Lady
**LIKE Mick here to stay in touch
