| Issue
#53 Sept.
'03
It’s nice to sit down with old
friends and talk, and reflect,
and dream, and just generally enjoy each other’s company.
Records can be like that
too; they can make the artist a friend, someone who you get to know on
a certain level
based on their songs, the way they are written, what they are written
about, how they are
presented, and ultimately how they “speak to you.”
Most artists begin
with the purpose of expressing themselves, and their style of
expression (as an artist) is
music, as opposed to painting, sculpture, or any number of creative
outlets. And, when
we’re really lucky, an artist doesn’t abandon his
vision, so over the course of
time we learn a lot about them, and if we connect with them, well then,
whenever we put on
their albums, it’s like we’re sitting down with an
old friend.
Now, let’s take it to the next
level. What if you know the artist? Or what if you
know the artist’s music so well that you think you know them?
This is when you want
to introduce them to your friends, when you want to sit down and listen
to the
artist’s music along with the people in your life whose
company you enjoy, because
you think that they would appreciate your friend the artist through his
music as much as
you do. After all, you’re friends, so you must share certain
common grounds, and if
music is one of them you can have a great time introducing everybody to
each other and the
music.
Meet my friend Matt Kjeldsen.
I’ve never personally met Matt, he
lives in Austin, TX quite a ways from Connecticut, but I did meet Matt
back in 1998
through IndepenDisc when he sent me a CD
by his band The Runes.
The CD is called “Lost
Songs,” and I
deemed it “Artistic Rock (not to be confused with Art
Rock).” It has artistic
styles of melodic pop, straight ahead rock, salsa/reggae, and acoustic
balladry, with
expertly constructed, various musical backgrounds for intelligent,
witty, thought
provoking, and sometimes humorous lyrics. It was part of our 3rd
Issue in Nov./Dec. of ’98. Then in Feb.
’02, we Featured in our IMC
‘Zine - Issue #34, The Runes’
2nd release “Dancing
with Ghosts,”
which immersed us in the mind set of a life long musician who has never
been able to make
a living off his art/passion and the conflicts and complications it
arises in his life.
Ultimately the album’s conclusion is drawn and based on the
joy, love, and happiness
that his musical expression brings to his being.
Now Matt has branched away from his band for
what is said to be a solo LP many years in
the making, yet called Gravity Jacket to
acknowledge the help of Mac
McNabb (guitars/bass guitars, organs, and percussion) and Ian Bailey
(drums). Hangin’
on the Edge picks up where “Dancing
with Ghosts”
leaves off lyrically - Reelin’,
Up To You,
100 Guitars,
Hangin’
on the Edge, Out of
Touch, I
Can’t Complain, and Same
Old This –
dealing with the hardships of creating an art form that goes unheard,
unacknowledged, and
wondering if it is even worth continuing on with. Of course it is, but
that doesn’t
mean there can’t be any crisis to endure and overcome,
because ultimately the joy of
doing such lies in the music itself. Yes, we can appreciate the irony
that the one thing
that gives the most frustration is the same thing that surmounts it.
The CD also reaches back to the influences
of “Lost Songs”
with witty, intelligent, and twisted humorous lyrics – Something
in the
Attic gives us a horror tale of a spider like
creature that lives in the
narrator’s attic and eventually prepares him for dinner. Pile
of
Crocodiles, with it obscure message of total
indifference is a damn lot of
fun, and I
Deny That offers us a
staunch, thickheaded, semi-hung over denial of everything
that’s worth rejecting
blame for.
But most of all, it’s the fun
loving, good-time-had-by-all style of music that
puts this CD in the player and makes me want to share it with my
friends. With every pop
hook, guitar run, chord change, arrangement refinement, genre blending
style, lyric
sensitive song, Matt sits down with us as Gravity Jacket
brings forth the
musical finesse of Crosby, Stills, & Nash, topped with a vocal
that lends itself to
James Taylor. I don’t know how else to describe it…
Matt may never get the chance to sit down
with you and talk, and reflect, and dream,
and just generally enjoy your company, as he has never done with me.
But, you can sit down
with Gravity Jacket and listen to the
music along with the people in your
life whose company you enjoy. This is what I’m doing; this is
what IndepenDisc
is doing, because we think that you would appreciate our friend Matt
and the other artists
from the IndepenDisc
Catalogue
through their music as much as we do. After all, we share certain
common grounds, and
music is one of them, so we can all have a great time introducing
everybody to each other
and the music.
We hope you have enjoyed the past 5 years
and discovered as much independent music as
we have, and we hope you will continue to join us for the upcoming
years.
Check out Gravity Jacket.
It’s good to have friends like
this.
Gravity
Jacket - Hangin' on the Edge
is available now for: $8.98 +s/h*
View
Shopping Cart / Checkout
Accepting Credit Cards and PayPal
*Shipping
&
Handling charges:
USA - $3.00
for the first 2 CDs
ordered,
Add $1.50 per each CD after.
Canada - $5.00 for the
first
CD ordered,
Add $2.00 per each CD after.
Everywhere else -$7.00
for the
first CD ordered,
Add $3.00 per each CD after.
|
