“Not Gonna Wait Around” by Whoa Sequoia – A Song Feature

 

      The riff-heavy single from Whoa Sequoia features three occurrences during which the vocals temporarily step aside and allow guitars to flex their muscles. For music enthusiasts who favor songs that include an instrumental bridge sandwiched between appealing vocals, “Not Gonna Wait Around” commands attention. And the guitar-driven intro further contributes to the appeal. The three mid-song occurrences are at 1:16, 2:20, and 3:12 on the Bandcamp stream. The first bridge bears similarities to the intro, but the second and third bridges follow a different path than the first.
 
     Whoa Sequoia is the musical moniker of Philadelphia-based guitarist, producer and multi-instrumentalist Brandon Meyer. “Not Gonna Wait Around” is the latest single from his album, “Monoplane,” which is scheduled for release on March 15, 2024. On the release date, Whoa Sequoia will perform at The Gem in Spring City, Pennsylvania.
 
     The spacesuit-featured official video for “Not Gonna Wait Around,” is included in this post. While explaining the song, Meyer said: “Ever felt a twinge of anxiety while standing in line at the DMV? Waiting to get into a club? Were you ever in a standstill relationship where you felt you had to leave? This song is about all of those feelings.”  Also interesting is his description of some individual contributions to the track - a driving drumbeat, big synths, a huge chorus, and a guitar breakdown reminiscent of 80's dance-pop.
 
     During 2019, Brandon Meyer lived in Southern California, where he initially started Whoa Sequoia as an experimental home recording project for some new “lead guitar, synth and vocals-focused” material he had been working on. However, almost 50 new songs later, Meyer has found his sound - a unique blend of blistering guitar solos, punchy synth lines and soft, layered vocals - which at points harken to bands like The Flaming Lips, Dire Straits, My Morning Jacket, Ween, the Grateful Dead and more.

     The first few seconds of “Not Gonna Wait Around” “harken” to another comparison, namely Van Halen. The songs quickly head in different directions after a few notes, but the Whoa Sequoia guitar shares characteristics with that in “Ain’t Talking ‘Bout Love.” A self-taught guitarist, Meyer cites some of his many influences: Jerry Garcia, Al Di Meola, Mark Knopfler, Carlos Santana, Trey Anastasio, Vernon Reid, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Wayne Krantz and “hundreds of others.”
 
     “Not Gonna Wait Around” by Whoa Sequoia

Website: https://www.whoasequoia.com/

Bandcamp: https://whoasequoia.bandcamp.com/
Accessibility options: https://linktr.ee/whoasequoia

Lyrics of “Not Gonna Wait Around” by Whoa Sequoia
I said I’m not gonna wait around
I’m said I’m not gonna wait
Not gonna wait around
Not gonna wait
Won’t throw my weight around
I’ll run away
 
Since I’ve flown around
And swam these oceans of time
Had to change, and I’m better off now
I just needed some time to run and hide
 
Instead of the complicated things
I won’t stay around, I’ll run away
Won’t throw my weight around
Won’t throw my weight
Won’t throw my weight around
I’ll run away
 
Since I’ve flown around
And swam these oceans of time
I’ve changed, I’m better off now
I just need some time to run and hide
 
I said I’m not gonna wait around
I’m said I’m not gonna wait
Not gonna wait around
Not gonna wait
Won’t throw my weight around
I’ll run away
 
I said I’m not gonna wait around
I said I’m I’m not gonna wait
Not gonna wait around
Not gonna wait
Not gonna wait around

“Signs Of Life” by Every Move A Picture – A Song Feature

 

    It is appropriate that a song titled “Signs of Life" has a space-age sound to its intro. The futuristic synth reemerges at various points of the single from Every Move A Picture, but in a reduced role and sounding more like a warning siren. The guitar-drive and vocals dictate the direction of the body of “Signs of Life.”
 
      The band explains that this and other releases were “trapped in distribution purgatory” while control over the discography was decided. The full story, which is both interesting and somewhat mournful, is included at the bottom of this post. There was a positive outcome, allowing us to feature the 19-year-old “Signs of “Life” as a recent release.  
 
     The credits for "Signs of Life" identify Brent Messenger (vocals, guitar), Allen Davis (guitar, keys), Joey Fredrick (bass), and Dan Aquino (drums). Davis is from Portland, Oregon, while the other three have direct ties to the San Francisco Bay Area.
 
      “Signs Of Life” by Every Move A Picture

Lyrics of “Signs Of Life” by Every Move A Picture

Come on out
Come on out in this light
Satellites can't see what's inside
 
Unlock the door
It won't save you anymore
Governments can't fight what's inside
 
Show some signs of life
Show some signs of life
Show some signs of life
 
Come on down
Come on down from these heights
Others bled to give you the right
 
Understand the choice
They don't even hear your voice
But governments can't fight what's inside
What's inside?
 
Show some signs of life
Show some signs of life
Show some signs of life
 
And come down
And put your heart in this fight
Ah, come on
And make your stand tonight
 
Show some signs of life
Show some signs of life
Show some signs of life
Show some signs of life
Show some signs of life
Show some signs of life
Show some signs of life
 
And come down
And put your heart in this fight
Ah, come on
And make your stand tonight
 
Pasted from the story of Every Move A Picture:
     If you were a DJ, a record label executive, or an indie clubgoer in San Francisco, LA, New York, or London in the early 2000s—working or frequenting the spots that launched artists like Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys, LCD Soundsystem, and The Killers—you likely heard Every Move A Picture. And if you believed the buzz swirling around the San Francisco four-piece, you might have even thought they were about to be famous. Such was the world of independent music at the height of the peer-to-peer music-sharing orgy and the resulting record label die-off it helped accelerate. What seemed inevitable could vanish in the blink of an eye, and Every Move A Picture did almost exactly that in late-2006.
 
     Still, few unsigned artists are lucky enough to experience a run like Every Move A Picture had before the crash. Between 2004 - 2005, on the strength of several self-recorded demos and an endless string of sweaty sold-out shows up and down the West Coast, the unsigned post-punk outfit had amassed an army of influential supporters. 
 
      Well before Every Move A Picture signed a contract with V2 Records in late 2005, their demos—and in particular the standout single "Signs Of Life"— had earned airplay on commercial radio stations KROQ in LA and Live105 in San Francisco, KEXP in Seattle, and BBC 6 Music in the UK. Their gritty home recording, full of audio artifacts, angular guitars, and pulsing analog synths, had led to a breakout set at SXSW; scored fawning coverage in the notoriously acerbic UK music mag, NME; yielded a high-visibility slot at the iconic Leeds & Reading Festivals in the UK; and got them invited to perform a live prime-time set in the John Peel Studio at BBC Radio 1 as the guest of another iconic DJ—Steve Lemacq.
 
      Amid the frenzy, a self-released vinyl 7" single of "Signs Of Life" even landed on the UK Independent Singles chart and sold out the same week. It's no wonder the band's eventual contract with V2 Records only granted the label temporary control of the demo recordings, requiring that all rights be returned to the band after five years—a contractual agreement that would be violated repeatedly by numerous record labels over a 14-year period ending last month, in January of 2024.
 
     So how could a band with so much momentum in 2005 all but disappear by the end of 2006? The first clue lies with their label, V2 Records, which was on the brink of a financial collapse even as they signed the band to a multi-record contract.
 
     Every Move Picture was on tour supporting the official release of their debut full-length in June of 2006 when the phones at V2 Records North America headquarters stopped working, leaving the band stuck on the road with no support and mounting tour expenses.
 
     By mid-2006, barely a year after signing Every Move A Picture, V2 Records North America, the largest and most successful independent record label in the United States, was gone. And their catalog—including Every Move A Picture, The White Stripes, Grandaddy, Moby, Bloc Party, and others—was sold to the highest bidder. 
 
      The new owners, essentially a holding company, merged some of the music into their catalog, sold what they didn't want, and seemingly gave away the rest. Miraculously, the ever-powerful Universal Music Group emerged from the morass holding the Every Move A Picture recordings in late 2007. However, UMG quickly sold them to a Belgian company called PIAS, only to reacquire them at a deep discount several years later.
 
     Across the yearslong shell game, Every Move A Picture's recordings were trapped in distribution purgatory, never making their way to the insurgent digital streaming services that were rapidly remaking the industry. The labels and various legal entities controlling the music had no interest in promoting it, and the band could not share, license, or otherwise market their original demos without being subject to takedown orders and threats of legal action—despite their contractual right to the recordings beginning in 2010.
 
      For over a decade, Every Move A Picture's attempts to regain control of their original recordings were stonewalled by record labels and companies who had no knowledge of the contract they bought, no interest in the music they controlled, no curiosity about the band's story, and no consideration for the musicians on the other side— who had been robbed of their intellectual property, saddled with debt from an aborted tour, and virtually erased from the music industry landscape in the process. 

“Tear Me Apart” by lotusbliss – A Song Feature

 

     The lead vocals in “Tear Me Apart” comfortably and seemingly effortlessly command the upper register. But beyond showcasing the vocal prowess of lotusbliss, the track serves as a platform for the exceptional musicianship and composition talent of the three brothers from Canterbury, UK.  
 
     The high-energy instrumental intro of “Tear Me Apart” bursts into a mini wall of sound, which leads to the entrance of the vocals passionately presenting the first verse (the lyrics are at the bottom of this post). The instrumental presence is reduced at the start of the verse, which isn’t unusual for a song. However, lotusbliss reverses the standard approach of revitalizing the energy upon reaching the chorus, thereby drawing listeners further into the song. Instead, the pre-chorus and chorus slow the tempo. This deserves a tip of the cap, since diverging from the norm requires artistic courageousness.
 
     Toward the end to the chorus, heartbeat drumming leads the way for an energy return into the second verse. The intensity remains dynamic throughout “Tear Me Apart.” Slightly beyond the 2:30 mark, the instrumental bridge is explosive. In comparison, the outro has a tranquility.  
 
     The three brothers who form lotusbliss are Seth, Josh, and Adam Gauto. “Tear Me Apart is the first single from an upcoming mini-album. They describe the song as being “about finding the resolve to not let the obstacles define you but instead be the making of you.” The band’s sound is a identified as a marriage of “ambient soundscapes, high-octane guitar, raw lyricism and infectious melodies, whilst also taking advantage of the vocal similarity of siblings to blend their voices in and out of unison and harmony.”
 
      “Tear Me Apart” by lotusbliss

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lotusblissband/

Website: https://www.lotusbliss.co.uk/

Lyrics of Tear Me Apart” by lotusbliss
There's no secrets tonight
Only hearts open wide
In the face of denial
Promise I’ll never tire, cos
 
I won't let this be what tears me apart
I won't let this be what…
 
Passion grows high and low
Build it slowly
Give it away, don't give it away now
Fire to tame
Brave or foolish, I never know
In each case
Give it away, don't give it away now
 
Tongues like knives sharpen up
What we had turned to rust
I will not fly away
Concrete set all around, cos
 
I won't let this be what tears me apart
I won't let this be what…
 
Passion grows high and low
Build it slowly
Give it away, don't give it away now
Fire to tame
Brave or foolish, I never know
In each case
Give it away, don't give it away now
 
I won't let this be what tears me apart
I won't let this be what tears me apart
I won't let this be what tears me apart
I won't let this be what…
 
Passion grows high and low
Build it slowly
Give it away, don't give it away now
Fire to tame
Brave or foolish, we never know
In each case
Give it away, don't give it away now
 
I won't let this be what tears me apart
I won't let this be what tears me apart
 

“mercury in retrograde” by Baula – A Song Feature

 

     Baula, a Swedish/Icelandic duo, may not garner as much attention as Avril Lavigne or Sturgill Simpson, but they unquestionably claim the top spot in our ranking of the surprisingly large number of songs with the title "Mercury in Retrograde" (only Baula shuns the use of capital letters in the title). Mercury in retrograde refers to the optical illusion in which the planet appears to move backward in its orbit when observed from Earth.
 
     In astrology, Mercury is identified as the planet of communication and internal monologue. Baula's explanation of “mercury in retrograde” is fitting:
   “The song dives into the psyche of a person so lonely and desperate for community that they are led into the jaws of extremism. Something that is equally frightening and sad.”
 
     The lyrics of the song are included in this post. The chorus advises: “You never wanna feel alone  // You’re never gonna be alright // You never wanna feel alone // Nothing seems right.”
 
     The members of Baula are Karolina Thunberg and Ísak Ásgeirsson. They released their debut EP, “Drought,” in 2019. The album is characterized by its somber tones of Nordic melancholy. In contrast, “mercury in retrograde” hits the ground running with invigorating power percussion by Ásgeirsson. The alluring vocals from Thunberg soon join, and the song never relents. Around the 1:13 mark, a more relaxed synth enters, but the drumming continues to drive the song at a frenetic pace. There is a darkness to “mercury in retrograde,” but the vehicle isn’t careful as it maneuvers through that darkness.
 
     The duo is heading toward the release of an album. According to the Baula website, the album will be “an exploration of inner destruction and how it can manifest, in relation to oneself, to one’s loved ones, and to complete strangers.”
 
     “mercury in retrograde” by Baula

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/baulatheband
Website: https://baula.se/

“mercury in retrograde” by Baula
Living fast, dying slow
Reading up, all alone
Everything makes sense
This will not end well
 
On the screen, in your mind
Overwhelm, modify
Words that somehow devastate
Steadily unmake
 
You never wanna feel alone
You’re never gonna be alright
You never wanna feel alone
Nothing seems right
You never wanna feel alone
There’s never anyone around
You never wanna feel alone
Nothing seems right
 
Living life in total silence
 
In a daze, on repeat
You devise, and commit
Speech is silver, silence gold
So the thoughts take hold
All the same, out of time
Resolute, electrified
Mercury in retrograde
It cannot end well
 
You never wanna feel alone
You’re never gonna be alright
You never wanna feel alone
Nothing seems right

You never wanna feel alone
There’s never anyone around
You never wanna feel alone
Nothing seems right

You never wanna feel alone
You’re never gonna be alright
You never wanna feel alone
Nothing seems right

You never wanna feel alone
There’s never anyone around
You never wanna feel alone
 

“Lady Luck” by The Howlers – A Song Feature

 

     The Howlers self-identify their genre as Desert Rock. That sent us scurrying for a better understanding of the genre. Turns out that the birthplace of the genre is credited as being Palm Desert in California, which is adjacent to the home of the Coachella Music Festival. Desert Rock began with free-form jamming and has become a combination of heavy metal, psychedelia, blues, punk, and grunge. We have no basis for knowing, but the band name seems appropriate in view of the coyote howling that is familiar in the area around Palm Desert.
 
     On the other hand, The Howlers are a London-based band. The trio is sharing songs as they approach the May 17 release of their debut album “What You've Got to Lose to Win It All.” We particularly enjoy “Lady Luck,” although “El Dorado” is also appealing. Both songs are embedded in this post. The members are Adam Young (vocals, guitar), Guus Ter Braak (bass), and Tom Riggs (drums).
 
     The Howlers note that “Lady Luck” isn’t a true newborn. For years, the song existed as a orphaned riff, never quite finding its full form. They explain:
  “’Lady Luck’ is one of those tracks that never really quite had a place, Adam had the main riff for years often playing it during soundcheck or rehearsals but it never had a song round it, multiple attempts to write a song around it always came out missing the mark by miles and for a long time it was this problem child, Guus would often say ‘Just leave it now’ but Adam knew there was something in it, he just couldn't see it yet. Eventually the song as it is today came into being by chopping up multiple other songs in similar states of limbo for verses and a chorus and smashing them together, sort of like a Frankenstein’s monster of a track made up of all the best bits of other songs, and now it's one of our favourite songs to play live.”
 
     “Lady Luck” by The Howlers

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehowlersuk/
Website: https://www.thehowlers.co.uk/

Lyrics of “Lady Luck” by The Howlers
I tried to tell you where I stand.
But you never want to know.
 
I know we don’t see eye to eye.
If you said jump, I'd say “How high?”
 
All I need is all I wanted,
And I’m losing my mind just to find.
It ain't easy to be honest,
When the truth hurts more than a lie.
 
I know it never goes to plan.
You said I never understand.
 
So I'll sit here by the phone.
Wondering when you might call.
 
All I need is all I wanted,
And I'm losing my mind just to find.
It ain't easy to be honest,
When the truth hurts more than a lie.
 
Well time keeps passing you by.
If you blink then you’ll miss it, and I
Feel like we're passing ships in the night,
But I don’t think you realise.
 
All I need is all I wanted,
And I'm losing my mind just to find.
It ain't easy to be honest,
When the truth hurts more than a lie.

     The story behind the single “El Dorado” is less positive:
  “‘El Dorado’, the single released earlier this year, hinted at what was to come from the trio; glorious, expansive songs that conjure up cinematic landscapes a long, long way from London’s East End. Escapism, perhaps, but entirely understandable and justified given what frontman Adam has experienced over the last two years. Two life changing strokes in the course of two months, the loss of four family members and two close friends and the following immeasurable grief have all played a huge part in the creation of the album, the devoted bond between bandmates and the unique connection between the band and their fanbase.”
 
          “El Dorado” by The Howlers

Lyrics of “El Dorado” by The Howlers
In the city, you will find
You’re not the only one
Who wants their name in lights
 
Five days a week, barely getting by
But no man can choose
To be born with a silver spoon
 
For every stranger knows
What you’ve got to lose for you to win it all
 
But one day, you will find, El Dorado
On the way, you will beg, steal and borrow
But one day, you will find, El Dorado
What you find is yours and yours alone
 
In the city you will shine
Like a diamond
Set in starry sky
 
For everybody’s on the grind
But one man's greed
Makes him bite the hand that feeds
 
For every stranger knows
What you’ve got to lose for you to win it all
 
But one day, you will find, El Dorado
On the way, you will beg, steal and borrow
But one day, you will find, El Dorado
What you find is yours and yours alone
 
But one day, you will find, El Dorado
On the way, you will beg steal and borrow
But one day, you will find, El Dorado
What you find is yours and yours alone