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The Sometime Boys and their new album: Riverbed

The Sometime Boys have released a new album called, Riverbed and it is excellent.

It is a mix of traditional folk honesty and ear-tingling innovation.

Without a doubt, Riverbed has traveled into new areas beyond previous albums such as Ice and Blood and Any Day Now. The band has a level of cohesion and fullness that sustains throughout the entire album. There aren’t any songs that split up the vibe. Riverbed takes the listener through a forty-eight minute joyride through elation and wonder with songs like “Modern Age”…and melancholy triumphantocity with “The Great Escape”.

In these busy days, it’s easy to get caught up in material desires and goals without limits. But music is the great equalizer of life. It takes us back to moments that connect us to our emotions. Tiny points in our lives create the latticework of who we really are…and Riverbed makes those connections peaceful, gutsy and joyous.

Pete O’Connell (bass) and Kurt Leege (guitar) transcended all limits of folk music with their work in, “A Life Worth Living”.  The song has guitar and bass movements that cleanly mesh the casual sound into a sine-wave/mind-opening conduit for interleaved melodies and counter-melodies. Sounds like these with live instruments are similar to the experimental mnemonic rock patterns of Ashra in their 1970’s album Blackouts.

To say there is a singer in Riverbed would be a falsehood. Sarah Mucho does not simply sing with or over a band in this album. She is the wind that breathes a coherent life-message which both ties the album together but also lifts it to great heights. In the song, “The Bird House” she sings, “Oh, my heart breaks with each passing spring…” and there is absolutely no way to not be pulled into the music. Her voice is beautiful. It’s as if it’s a reverse-anchor that makes the mind fly.

One would be surprised to find out that there is only one violinist for The Sometime Boys. Rebecca Weiner Tompkins (violin) meshes so well with Jay Cowit (percussion) that it feels like there is a larger yet subtle orchestral section. They create an audio fullness that is simply amazing on headphones and I can’t wait to hear the album in my car. Audio delight would be an understatement.

Riverbed is available now on iTunes and other major audio outlets. Click HERE to check out Riverbed by The Sometime Boys on iTunes, as usual iTunes lets users listen to parts of the songs and you can try before you buy.

Happy listening!

-Tyler

The Greening playing live at Slim’s

On Friday, March 7th, 2014 Slim’s had a 3 band special. A patron could purchase a ticket for dinner and all Band-Access. I had heard that the food at Slim’s was good. The dinner consisted of a 2+ 1/2 course meal. The meal started with a salad, and I had the choice of a few entrees.

The best-sounding entree was the tri-tip. I ordered the tri-tip with medium-rare with horse radish on the side. It included potatoes, broccoli and a few other fixings and sauce. I was eating the tri-tip through the 8PM pre-band period and about halfway into the first act. The first musical act was a band called the, “Chariot” and they were high-quality and energetic folkish-rock with classic rock overtones. Chariot didn’t have an opening act feel, they were very professional, and highly skilled and really set the tone for an outstanding evening.

One of the nine aspects of purchasing the dinner ticket/music combo pass was that I had reserved seating in the booth. Since the meal was prix-fixe (one price for salad, entree and desert but not including drinks) I had an easy time. I only had the wait in line a little while to get my ticket from will-call and the waitress was very attentive and attractive.

For desert I ordered cheesecake with strawberry sauce. It tasted great and was a good follow up to the tri-tip deliciousness. The servers paced asked if I wanted to pace out the desert and that was very thoughtful of them. By the time that I left a tip and finished with my cheesecake the band, “Everyone is Dirty” was partially done with their set.

Everyone is Dirty definitely had a different sound with their singer having an electric violin. My favorite part of Everyone is Dirty’s set was the last three songs. These songs had a deep progressive and almost warping tunnel-like sound that provided a strong contract to the punk-atonal beginning of their set. It added a level of musical intrigue and risk-taking that was worthy of San Francisco’s music scene.

The final set by the headliners, “The Greening” was outstanding. Although I’ve seen The Greening several times before at Grant & Green and other venues, this one was different. The sound system at Slim’s was good enough to push the vocal harmonies by Will and Karl into the spotlight. Nick’s drumming was clear and crisp and the audience danced with a youthful ferocity to the beat. Adam played bass and the sound was rich and creamy.

Easily the best part of The Greening’s performance was the introduction of new material from their latest album, Eon vs. Aeon. These songs had sizzling hot melodies that everyone perked up to in the crowd. It was so refreshing to hear chords and lick’s that haven’t been used in the mundane music that’s constantly played in most restaurants and markets these days. Karl introduced keyboard vamps that are

Overall, the music at Slim’s in combination with their Prix-Fixe dinner was over 3 hours of entertainment and good times. I’d recommend it to anyone who is a food or music lover or is looking for something fun to do in the Bay Area.

-Tyler