Was it really meant to be monthly?

Guess so. 

Embarking on the eternal conundrum, love to get some feedback from whomever might stray this way. 

I'm getting generous requests for coffeehouse gigs and other opportunities that involve me strappin' on a box of wood and standing in front of people.  

Two boxes of wood are looming.  

One, the new heir apparent to The New Acoustidom, Taylor. Probably an 814ce, like so (only natural, not sunburst): 

The other, the old guard, one of the nicest guitars I ever played before I played the taylor, the Martin HD-28:

It's time. I've played long enough. I'm good enough. I deserve a guitar a nice as the next twit on stage with songs. In light of that, what say all of you, whomever you are?  I play fingerstyle (think Sam Beam type, simple patterns to support melody, NOT "jazz fingerstylist") but I also like to strum, and sometimes fairly aggressively. I'm open to wood types, though obviously I'm in a spruce/rosewood frame of mind.  I want gloss top at least, and I want the guitar to be loud enough to play for singalongs with my kids at home, which I believe the 814 would be. The only bummer about Taylor used to be bass response, but it's my understanding they have fixed that, especially with rosewood. It still won't boom like the HD, but I don't need that. I don't want the guitar to be muddy live. 

The cutaway would be fine if I had it, but not necessary.

I know these are two different guitars, different sizes, styles, etc. Don't bother to mention it.  

Other woods I should be considering? Other brands? Gibson isn't listed here, as I need full 25 1/2 inch scale on the neck.  Any others with this level of power/versatility?  

Thanks for reading and for any responses you all have time for. It will be a chunk of change, but with the demos finally ready and more opportunities to play, this instrument will get a LOT of use.  Besides, I've already spent $600 a dozen times over on different instruments. Time to send it in. 

Cheers,

C

Anchorage from above: Boy Genius reviewed

Boy Genius is about to pull the wool over your eyes...

okay finally getting things moving around here, and as usual, not under my own steam, but feeling rather inspired.  I never have trouble writing a song after seeing a great film or finishing a great book. Recently, great albums seem to generate blog posts.  I know they have been getting plenty of attention, but I thought I'd add my voice to the din, as someone who has a little different history with at least one member of the band in question.  

Anchorage is the first full-length release from Brooklyn's Boy Genius, and I am hooked.  

Why hooked? Well, I thought for sure that nothing was going to unseat the mould album I've been fixating on for the last month or so, but this was the unexpected one that came along on myspace courtesy Jason K.  I don't remember if he found me or I found him on there, but regardless: the meeting has the happy effect of me finding out about this album via their announcement of the release on there. Just when I had given up on myspace as anything worth stopping by for anymore...and NO, I'm not going to fbook.  

Full disclosure: I became aware of the existence of one Jason K. (singer, guitarist, etc.) almost fifteen(!) years ago when he was managing bands around Southeastern Connecticut. I knew him not as a player or a musician, but as a fan. Of course, it's always the real fans that wind up making the best music. So yes, I have known him and of him for a while. But I would be writing the same review whether I knew him or not, and that's what makes this such an easter egg of an album. I don't know the other fine folks in this outfit, though I'm sure they are all swell human beings. 

So why the wooly eyes? It starts with Radio Silence, where these guys perpetrate the crime: they want you to think they have all just learned how to write music and are going to rely on the simple hooks that carry "Radio Silence" along at such a bouyant rise. Harmonica that swells into the vocal line almost thrown away, twee but not too, a rolling keyboard to lead in the lady vocal, it all sounds so...perfect, and simple, and easy. Effortless, actually.  In a way that you almost miss the artistry of the horn in the back of the first chorus.  That harmonica: Jason isn't going to win awards for it in and of itself, but I don't believe I've ever heard a harmonica used as a percussion instrument before, and on that level, it helps extend the ruse.  "Oh, look, what's this thing? What are these holes for? Just blow here? Okay, I'll try it..." And it lulls you that way, so that you look past the understated bass, the smooth keys and great drumming.  What's happening, though, is that your toe is starting to move, and then your foot, and then your head, and before you know it, it's too late.  What sounded initially like a sort of goofy pop song has drilled the hooks in without really letting on.

 Clever? You don't know the half of it yet.  Because then "No Beginning" starts in with more understated guitar, and you think you're still on the same ride. Not so! Again, the ghostly backing vocals, the cast-off delivery (which doesn't understate, just takes it all in stride). Again, the spot-on drumming. But things are getting a little more complicated. There is a little more depth this time, in the lyrics especially, with pictures unfolding, and "as we live and breathe, our days keep looking forward to themselves."  

By the time you learn they "have always been in love," all you can say is: of course! It's irrefutable, because it was so lovingly crafted to bring you to that point.  What you thought was such an innocent ride has turned out to be quite carefully put together after all.  It's not disingenuous though, because boy genius means every perfect pop hook.  It comes from knowing that the melody is king, and that every other moment of the song pushes into that payoff. 

"Eureka" starts out catchy, but when you get to the "one if by land, two if by sea, just send me a sign when you're ready for me," you're in sugary pop heaven. This is what you wish the radio sounded like; this is what I wished Sufjan sounded like, this is what I wanted to listen to when I finally found that perfect stretch of highway and the car stereo was blaring and I was on 95 north bound for home.  

Title track "Anchorage" is lilting and lovely, but it's the joyous pounding of "Failing Gravity" that seems to keep me and my three-year old daughter jumping around the kitchen, throwing plastic cups around and trying to outdo each other in who can look the goofiest.  And I still can't get past that first line: "forever after, I'm raising high the rafters..." Instant classic.  The funniest part of this one i that I am one of those who NEVER likes brass in his rock.  What can you say? When it serves the song, when it's served up with a brilliant melody, it all works. Especially the Madness-era transition line.  If you're looking for your summer anthem, it just arrived early. Barring some cataclysm, "Failing Gravity" is...yep, I'll say it: the feel good hit of the summer.  "The sky is falling, I'm head over heels." Why yes I am!

It doesn't let up there, but I don't want to go too overboard and scare you off (ha).  "Tied in Two" wraps it all up perfectly. I love rising lines at the end of an album. It gives you the sense that the next song is just around the corner.  By the time this great closer comes, you realize that the cuteness  in the beginning was in large measure to pave the way for the hooks throughout. And you remember that most bands tip their hand too quickly, and don't keep you guessing. You also realize that most bands don't choose their names very wisely. But Boy Genius might just be the most aptly-named band in rock. 

Don't miss out.  

C