Posts Tagged ‘Sonny and the Sunsets’

Sonny & The Sunsets // The Hypnotist [b/w] Stranded 7″

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

For those who haven’t heard any of Sonny Smith‘s prior material, this 7”, released on Future Stress Recordings, is a pretty good summary of a singer-songwriter who has been releasing material the better part of ten years. With charming lyrics and relaxed instrumentation, this record would make a good soundtrack to any chilled-out Sunday morning.

On the A-side, “The Hypnotist” makes good use of a tried-and-true folk guitar lick (you know the type: bobbing up and down on every beat). Equipped with Andy Griffin-like whistling and harmonizing hums, an uninitiated Sonny listener could very easily place the track as being recorded in the 1930s rather than the 2010s. A pleasant enough song, “Mondrian” strips life down into easily distinguishable elements (“spare and square and simple” ) and colors (“red and yellow and blue”) with its lyrics while echoing the simplistic sentiment with its guitar accompaniment.

As great as the A-side is, the B-side is where Sonny shines. “Stranded” — the only full band arrangement in the bunch — gives a great taste of Sonny & Co. for people who have yet to hear his recent amazing full length Tomorrow Is Alright. Recorded with fellow San Franciscans Tahlia Harbour (The Dry Spells), Shayde Sartin (The Fresh & Onlys/Ty Segall), and Raphi Gottismen (The Fisherman Three), the song sounds like a casual impromptu jam session which happened to get recorded. This sort of intimate aspect of Sonny’s recordings boosts its sing-along appeal, making you feel like you’re part of the chorus when you belt out the lyrics with him. The second song on the A-side is the slightly off-kilter “Girl of the Streets”. Similar to what Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson does in tracks like “Buriedfed”, the song teeters on the edge of collapsing on itself by using misaligned vocal harmonies (kind of like the audio version of stereopsis). This effect gives the track much more weight, allowing the listener to think there is a lot more instrumentation than just a guy and his guitar.

I’ve got a copy of the 7” on black vinyl to give away complete with a digital download code for the record as well as a small comic flip-book illustrated by Sonny himself. If you want to win this, all you have to do is retweet this or, for those non-tweeters, leave a comment below (be sure to include a valid address in the e-mail field) and I’ll pick a winner at random in the coming days (sorry, US residents only). And if you’re not the lucky one chosen, you can also buy the record from the Future Stress Recordings shop here. [EDIT: Contest is closed]

To whet your appetite, here is an mp3 of the track “Girl of the Streets” as well as a live video of Sonny with The Sunsets performing “Stranded”:

Sonny & The Sunsets // Girl of the Streets

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Posted in 7'' Series, Musical Musings, Track Reviews, Youtube Finds | 5 Comments »

PT Music Mixxx // Groovvve Bloom

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

I don’t care what Punxsutawney Phil says, it’s freaking springtime in Portland RIGHT NOW! To celebrate the handful of sunny days we’ve had this past month (my standard for declaring a season change is pretty damn low), I put this mix together while boxing up my SAD lamp and dusting off my sunglasses. Ah spring: summer’s warm-up act.

You can download the hour-long mix here (92.5Mb). As for the tracklist, it’s mostly new(er) stuff with some sprinklings of old favorites here and there:

  • RxRy // Baulkn Slihts
  • Ducktails // Oh, Magnolia Tree
  • Sonny and The Sunsets // Too Young to Burn
  • King Tuff // Sun Medallion
  • Memoryhouse // Foreground (Grizzly Bear Cover)
  • Cibelle // Lightworks
  • Javelin // Mossy Woodland
  • El Rego et ses Commandose // E Nan Mian Nuku
  • Dominant Legs // Clawing Out at the Walls
  • Efterklang // Modern Drift
  • The Sandwitches // Grey Wizard
  • Julian Lynch // Banana Jam Pt. 1
  • Primary 1 // Foaming (Memory Tapes Remix)
  • El Guicho // Prez Lagarto
  • Tamaryn // Light Shadows

Also, if you like this mix, you might also enjoy some of the other ones I put together in the past.

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Posted in Mixxx, Musical Musings | 1 Comment »

Orca Team // “And She Knows”

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Although I’ve been in Portland for about six months now, I still feel that I haven’t gotten a firm handle on the widespread musical landscape the city is known for. Sure there are the major players I’m acutely aware of, but when it comes to knowledge of more underground bands, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m green behind the ears.

Enter: Orca Team. Of the two sites I follow most closely that cover the “Portland scene” best, both had glowing things to say about this 60s surf-pop trio. “Blurring the lines between Buddy Holly-esque ’50s pop and Avengers VI ’60s surf rock” is how the local newspaper the Portland Mercury described them recently — and from a guy who has lived and breathed Mr. Holly and The Crickets due to my hometown’s constant fawning, I feel the comparison is apt.

Where some look to old-timey acts for similiarities, I see a more modern resemblance with the San Francisco band Sonny & The Sunsets. Both groups are rooted in nostalgia and have that sunshine sheen to them, but where Orca Team differs most from their coastal contemporary is in the complexity of the songs. Where Sonny Smith opts for a jam-band type feel to his tracks, bringing in a vast array of SoCal artists for his recordings, Orca Team strips it down to a nice basic guitar/bass/drums threesome — nothing more, nothing less. In a time where music seems to be judged based on the amount of layers that are incorporated, Orca Team’s simplistic take on music is refreshing to say the least.

On the stellar track “And She Knows”, the band sounds like each member is placed on the vertices of a large triangle with the microphone recording at the center, making it easy to separate and distinguish all elements in the song while leaving the vocals of Leif Anders the task of loosely tying up the pieces. Opening with some smooth “ooOOoohhs” that are the noise-less equivalent to the intro of Wavves’s “To the Dregs” before diving right into the song’s meaning with the line “Love her / Love her to death / And she knows”, the track is a sweet blend of easy-listening and catchy that is sure to make you sing-along by the second listen.

Thanks to the band, you can check out the track below, and if you’re lucky enough to be on the West Coast, they’ll be swinging by your place in the next couple of weeks. Also, they are currently recording for their first release (on SoHiTek records), so be on the lookout in the coming months!

Orca Team // And She Knows

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Posted in Can't Get Enough, Musical Musings, Track Reviews | 3 Comments »

Sonny and the Sunsets // “Too Young to Burn”

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Not entirely too surprising, but I guess I have a love affair with San Francisco bands as of late. Sonny and the Sunsets are the latest Golden Gate group to mesmerize me with their music, creating some great beach tunes that aren’t drenched in fuzz and reverb like those newfangled “glo-fi”ers. More Kumbaya around the fire pit than sandy acid-trip, Sonny Smith effortlessly weaves together dual vocal harmonies with easy-going guitar like he’s been doing it all his life (which a look at his discography shows that he pretty much has).

Other than a from-what-I-heard stellar 7” released on Soft Abuse Records — one that is unfortunately sold-out — his LP entitled Tomorrow Is Alright is his first compete effort with his backing band The Sunsets. Reading as a sort-of “who’s who” of the up-and-coming San Fran scene, The Sunsets are composed of members from The Fresh & Onlys, The Dry Spells, and PT Music favorites The Sandwitches. No doubt the inclusion of equally strong musicians have only helped Smith, as Tomorrow is arguably his best work to date. Even after only a cursory listen to the opening track “Too Young to Burn”, it’s enough to warrant scouting out the LP in your local record store, hoping to find one of the 500 copies that were printed.

When listening to “To Young to Burn” you can’t help but realize the communal effort it took to produce the record. Everything from the background “Oooohs and Aaaaahs” to the handclap percussion reeks of collaborative creativity that only a round table discussion of “wouldn’t it be cool if we did this…” could produce. Also, I can imagine when performing live that this collective nature of Smith’s music is sure to yield wonderful audience participation — encouraging sing alongs and claps to the beat like no other band. He’s coming to Portland the 23rd of January, so I’ll be sure to check it out and report back!

But until then, here is an mp3 of “Too Young to Burn” as well as a live video of another one of Sonny and the Sunset’s songs “Stranded”.

Sonny and the Sunset // Too Young to Burn

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Posted in Musical Musings, Track Reviews, Youtube Finds | 3 Comments »