Life after "Monsoon Twilight": Checking in with Forest Fallows

[Repost from Nick Prevenas, via Substack; November 13, 2024]

If you want to get a sense of whether “Sound Tucson” is your kind of music book, give this 2023 essay a read. It’ll take you about 6-8 minutes (maybe longer if you choose to listen to the song embedded in the Bandcamp CMS). We’ll be here when you get back: Monsoon Twilight Amid a Wave of Destruction: Forest Fallows’s “Lightly Down”.

In late 2022, the fine folks at Bandcamp solicited pitches for Resonance, the site’s series of personal essays “exploring our emotional relationship with music.” If there was a Venn diagram comparing the tone/feel of these essays with the tone/feel of my book, it would be an overlapping circle. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to write about one of my favorite songs (Lightly Down) from one of my favorite local records (At Home) by one of my favorite local bands (Forest Fallows).

Even though the album is about 10 years old at this point, it still sounds every bit as fresh and exciting as it did when I first heard it. There is an unstuck-in-time quality to the kinds of songs Alex Morton and Mike Barnett write together. There are no production tricks or trend-chasing tendencies that would tie their music to any specific moment. In the essay, I wrote that Forest Fallows has “the wooziness of a Kurt Vile record was superimposed on top of Real Estate’s jangly hooks.” I assumed for years that “At Home” would be a one-and-done experience – one pristine record from a band that comes and goes as intermittently as a gentle breeze.

But then came “Palisades”.

The Bandcamp piece got back to Alex, Mike, and James at Fort Lowell Records. Their kind words about my essay really struck a chord in me. Music – and the appreciation of it – can be a two-way street. If someone creates something that matters to you – particularly independent creators – try to find a way to communicate that to them.

They were eager to let me know that they were close to completing the “At Home” follow-up that had been nearly a decade in the making. They sent me an early copy with hopes that I would review it, but the words escaped me. I truly, honestly didn’t know what to say. What if “Palisades” didn’t hit me the same way “At Home” did? I am a completely different person in 2024 than I was when I first heard this band in 2014-2015. What if I couldn’t muster the same kind of enthusiasm? I didn’t want to let them down.

It can be hard to look back on the person you used to be. The vast majority of “Sound Tucson” was written several years ago – pre-fatherhood, pre-COVID, pre-everything. You ever glance at an old high school yearbook photo and think “who WAS that person?” You ever listen to an old mixtape/mix-CD/playlist and wonder what the hell you were thinking? The future can be terrifying because of the unknown, but the past can be equally terrifying because of everything you now know about yourself.

But you have to get over it.

I finally listened to “Palisades.” Again and again. It doesn’t pack the same wallop “At Home” did for me, but that hardly matters. I came into it knowing (mostly) what to expect. “Palisades” is more playful than it’s predecessor (check out those cheeky synths on “Saturday Rose”) but it is still a woozy/jangly delight. This music is a warm blanket and two hands around a warm mug of hot chocolate.

I’m listening to it as I review the “Sound Tucson” manuscript to update references, dates, double-check name spellings – you know, the fun stuff. I was worried this process would have the same “yearbook photo” quality and I would delete the Word doc from my hard drive in a fit of embarrassment. I’m thrilled to tell you that I’m having the opposite reaction. I can’t wait for people to read it.

JPW & Dad Weed - Two Against Nurture

[Repost for If It's Too Loud; by Ken Sears, November 6, 2024]

JPW & Dad Weed is the collaboration between Phoenix songwriters Zachary "Dad Weed" Toporek and Jason P. Woodbury. The duo just released a three song EP titled Two Against Nurture. The three songs comprising the EP are this glorious mix of the more mainstream side of early 90's alt-rock such as Gin Blossoms and R.E.M. alongside the more experimental sounds of Polaris and The Flaming Lips. Despite it not sounding like a complete 90's throwback, songs like "Everybody's Talking (Again)" and "When I Get Lonesome" are going to hit a nostalgia button you didn't even know you had. Plus, the songs are just a load of fun and have a sunny side that is necessary here in New England when it's getting dark at 4:30 in the afternoon. "Big Wave" closes out the EP, and goes in a completely different, more early country infused Wilco meets Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Wilco. Two Against Nurture is made up of three perfect singles.

You can listen to Two Against Nurture below. The EP is out now via Fort Lowell Records, and is available via Bandcamp. For more on JPW & Dad Weed, check out Jason P. Woodbury's website. Dad Weed can be found on Instagram here.

Red Dwarf Star: Ex-Patriot

[Repost from Here Comes The Flood; by Hans Werksman, November 4, 2024]

Maserati guitarist Coley Dennis put his voice through 80s technoloy for Ex-Patriot, the new single by his solo project Red Dwarf Star project. It could be mistaken for the theme song of a dystopian Sci-Fi series, albeit that in this case humankind has not blown up the planet yet - they have come pretty close though.

Dennis is obviously seriously worried about what the fuck is going on his home country and from the safety of his current place of residency Lausanne he has a bird's eye view on US politics. It is a scary mess and being a proud American is not a viable option right now.

Ex-Patriot is released via Fort Lowell Records.

» Red Dwarf Star on Instagram

HCTF review of Lady Aurora Borealis.

Meet Andrew Gardner (of La Cerca)

Andrew Gardner of La Cerca; photo by Akasia Oberly

[Repost from CanvasRebel; November 3, 2024]

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Andrew Gardner [of the band La Cerca]. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Andrew below.

Andrew, appreciate you joining us today. Do you have an agent or someone (or a team) that helps you secure opportunities and compensation for your creative work? How did you meet you, why did you decide to work with them, why do you think they decided to work with you?

At the current moment, I am La Cerca’s agent. I have decided to stay this way for the time being for many reasons. This is not to say that I don’t want an agent. I am waiting for the right person. An agent is someone who can better your situation with opportunities but can potentially hurt the band. A booking agent works on a percentage. We are still building our awareness and draw everywhere. Some places we play are small or without built in audiences. While we do our best to promote our shows, sometimes the compensation is barely enough to pay our costs. A booking agent would be taking a lesser amount and the band could be at a loss for that amount we pay. We build our shows in each city and return to play more shows and slowly our shows become bigger and compensation builds. Our reputation for being an excellent live band is spread with our tours. The downside is that it takes up a large amount of time. Booking shows becomes a hefty part time job and there is no pay, except that you keep 100% of what you make as a band. An upside is that you get to build your community with new people you meet and the relationship can be unique to you. You may find opportunities your booking agent may not have for you. You will want an agent who will want the best for you. Booking shows is a chore and it deserves compensation. A booking agent who is compensated well will be looking out for you. You as an agent will have your best interest in mind. A well paying show may not always be the right show. I’ve tried out a couple of agents and I was pleased to not send as many emails dealing with details, At times I wish I had the details or knew what put us in the situation. In both cases, I could have done a better job because I cared more about my band than the agents I hired to help us book tours. I’m trying to keep working with people who love the music and want to see La Cerca grow.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a guitarist, singer – songwriter and band leader for the band La Cerca. We have been a band for 24 years. For the first three years and the last ten years we have been pursuing music on a professional level. We have released 5 albums with a 6th album to be released next year. I’ve been playing music since I was young. In my teen years, I started playing shows and occasionally providing a place for traveling musicians to stay, which then turned into promoting shows and then operating a music space to do all of those things again. I started building my community right away, not just with out of town touring bands but people who went to see shows, other musicians, and other people doing the same thing. I partnered with people who were into the same Do-it-Yourself philosophies. I learned a lot from artist Steven Eye, who also ran all ages performance spaces and Solar Culture Gallery. When there was no music venue available or interested, I would find a record store, bookstore, art gallery or carwash and tell as many people as possible and set up the PA for the show. We were no strangers to the blossoming music scene of Tucson, Arizona. La Cerca is about playing to as many people as we can and sharing our music far and wide. We set our sights high with a small independent label, released our first album called “Goodbye Phantom Engineer” (2001) and we booked our own tours. Very slowly our name started getting out and we build a reputation of putting on exciting shows. Members of the band would come and go and I would draft friends and musicians who wanted to tour. We slept on couches, in our van, in the park and wherever we could feel comfortable for a little sleep so we could continue on to the next town to play shows. It wasn’t’t so much of a career but a way of life. That lifestyle came to sputtering halt I loved it so much that it was bring me to a place of poverty. I started rebuilding the band and finding members who were more committed than we previously had in our band. We stayed local as we reconfigured and building the confidence and the wherewithal to continue our mission. Once we were rolling again with our 3rd album Sunrise For Everyone (2014) it was now an even more advanced game, but I was learning the industry inside out. I put more promoting, booking and sound engineer experiences into our band. Meanwhile, I made friends with people who were willing to help La Cerca. James Tritten of Fort Lowell Records was a former booking agent, a publicist and musician for Tracy Shedd. And also from promoting and booking shows, I met Steve Kille of the band Dead Meadow and Xemu Records, Steve Kille became our manager and signed us to his label he co-ran with Cevin Soling. Steve was not the typical manager who was looking for a piece of pie or take from our publishing. He was altruistic. His guidance helped the band build our business even further, which would help his label. He recorded and produced our 4th album Night Bloom (2018). Steve passed away in April 2024. He was a great friend, but an inspiration to La Cerca.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Society needs to understand that being an artist / musician is not easy. I play guitar, sing, remember lyrics, tap dance on a pedal board, dance and sway to the music and project to each audience member, all at the same time. There are years upon thousands of hours of practice and experience put into each show, each note played and recorded and each lyric written. A song is a feat in itself. An album is like a novel or at least a gathering of short stories. We do this because we love what we do but also because it has become part of our personality. Our design is to bring people together and share our expression. Art and music need a higher value, but it must stay affordable to everyone.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

It’s exciting when someone is expressing interest in the next album. But often times a fan who maybe a non-creative is expecting the turnaround to be quick. Making an album is not just putting ten songs together and releasing. There is a lot of thought and integrity going into the project. Say you have those ten songs and you have already fleshed them out with your bandmates and made demos. You choose a studio that is the right situation for the project and the right engineer whom you all get along. Then there is a matter of scheduling the time for the sessions, but you will have to schedule that time for your musicians. Many musicians have other jobs, family and commitments to work around, but it is imperative to have each persons in the right place to perform their best and that means well rested and not in rush to do something else. This is more complicated than you can imagine. Sometimes someone is not performing well, sometimes performances are fantastic. However, usually within four to six hours, everyone has run out of their ability to do their best. Not every time do you have the ability to record consecutive days in a row. It works great when that happens, but there may not be that time available of the studio or your bandmates. Also, you have to bear in mind that a decent studio can be very costly. I find that the best situation is for the artist to own the recording being made and not have to owe anyone or allow someone to own the recording for you so that you are then in debt after the recording leaves the studio and goes into production, making your profit more difficult to reach because you are paying off the loan. So you have studio bills to keep up with and now there are overdubs, vocal tracks and other production ideas to help create that record and make it special. I struggle with vocal tracks for different reasons. Sometimes it has to do with barometric pressure and cloudy days, but I struggle to hit the notes confidently. Keeping your health in top form is important. Allergies, colds, grogginess and not being mentally fit to sings is a possibility for not having a great performance. Then once you have the tracking complete you have to mix the recording. This can take a lot of time depending on how picky you are. At this stage, there is many things to try and there is also a lot of time spent listening in a very meticulous manner. Then you arrive with a final mix and your album is sent to a mastering studio. After the mastering engineer has done his work and you approve the master, it can be sent into production. At this point all of your artwork has to be decided upon and designed for Digital, CD and vinyl. If you are pressing vinyl, there may be many more delays ahead. It also a good idea to have a few extra tracks available as single releases to share with the audience so they do not lose their interest.

LET'S VOTE

If you are in Wilmington NC today (Nov 5), join Fort Lowell Records' owner James Tritten at the polls as he will be spinning vinyl records as a part of DJs at the Polls!  Join Fort Lowell Records at these locations: 

• MORNING SHIFT:
  7:00-11:00am
  CFCC Health Sciences Building
  415 2nd Street N., Wilmington NC 28401
  
  
• AFTERNOON SHIFT:
  11:30am-2:30pm
  MLK Center
  401 8th Street S., Wilmington NC 28401

JPW & Dad Weed: Two Against Nurture

[Repost by Here Comes the Flood; by Hans Werksman, October 29, 2024]

Phoenix, AZ based musicians Jason P. Woodbury and Zachary Toporek themselves JPW & Dad Weed for their debut EP Two Against Nurture. The three tracks were recorded in fits and starts over the years, but they share the same framework: free-flowing, gnarly power pop that mixes the Byrds with unhinged 90s grunge.

Never mind the stoned teenagers having a laugh name for their duo. This is very much a release for music geeks, who will have a field day dissecting all the references Woodbury and Toporek managed to sneak in.

Two Against Nurture is released via Fort Lowell Records.

Tracks:

1. Everybody's Talking (Again)
2. When I Get Lonesome
3. Big Wave

James Tritten: Building Community Through Music | CreativeMornings, Wilmington

CreativeMornings is a free monthly breakfast lecture series designed for creative communities across the world. James Tritten of Fort Lowell Records was asked to speak on the topic of 'Reflection' for the inaugural event of the Wilmington, North Carolina local chapter that took place on Friday, September 27th at Thalian Hall.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO NOW

National group to set up 'DJs at the Polls' in Wilmington to entertain, drive turnout

Lingam James (AKA: Infinite Spins)

[Repost from StarNews; by John Staton, October 25, 2024]

If you plan on voting in the Wilmington area Nov. 5, casting your ballot might come with a sweet soundtrack.

DJs at the Polls, a national, non-partisan get-out-the-vote group, said it will have paid, professional DJs spinning tunes outside of about 85 polling places in New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties on Election Day.

Chris Suggs, a state project manager in North Carolina for DJs at the Polls, said the group plans to have DJs at 1,365 voting sites around the state.

It will be the group's first time placing DJs at polling sites in the Wilmington area. Suggs said DJs at the Polls ran a "pilot project" in North Carolina in 2022 and 2023, but that "the level of coordination is definitely new this year. This is the first year we've reached this level of engagement."

The idea, Suggs said, "is to make election day a fun and enjoyable event," thereby increasing voter participation, which is the group's primary goal.

"We don't care how people vote," Suggs said. "We just want them to get out and vote."

As for the polling sites where DJs at the Polls will be set up, "Some are random," Suggs said, while other are picked because the precincts have high numbers of voters the group targets. Suggs said these include young voters, Black and brown communities, and what Suggs called "low-propensity voters" who vote sometimes but not always.

Suggs said some voters in the Wilmington area will be getting postcards letting them know a DJ will be at their polling site.

According to the DJs at the Polls website, the group's founder, Anton Moore of Philadelphia, started placing DJs at polling locations throughout Pennsylvania in 2008. Moore "helped design and implement DJs 4 Obama" in 2012, and later started DJs at the Polls as a non-partisan group.

The group's website said it "was founded on the belief that voting is something to be celebrated. It was expanded on evidence that having DJs play polling places measurably increases voter turnout."

The group cites a "2022 randomized control trial in Philadelphia at polling sites where our DJs performed." At those sites, "voter turnout increased 3%" over previous years. DJs at the Polls said it targets "densely populated urban areas with large numbers of underrepresented voters."

Nancy Friedman, deputy director of DJs at the Polls, said the group will have DJs outside some seven dozen polling places in New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties, including the Career Readiness Academy at Mosely PLC in Wilmington, Lincoln Elementary School in Leland, and North Topsail Elementary School in Hampstead.

A full list of participating DJs in the Wilmington area wasn't immediately provided to the StarNews.

Friedman said "we haven't yet completed the matching process of DJs to locations, but we will have all of that completed by the end of the week."

Wilmington DJ James Tritten of Fort Lowell Records said he will be spinning on Election Day, though he said he hasn't yet been told where.

Another Wilmington DJ you might see at the polls is Lingam James, who DJs under the handle Infinite Spins. You can catch him spinning vinyl every Wednesday evening at Mad Mole Brewing off Oleander Drive as well as at other locations, including Satellite, Palate, and various spots in the Cargo District.

[Lingam] James said that DJs at the Polls reached out to him about participating, and that it was something he wanted to do because "it would open me up to another audience, and hopefully improve the mood" at the polls, he said. "Voting is something we're tasked with as Americans, so I'm glad I can do my part to hopefully make it a more pleasant experience."

[Lingam] James said he already cast his vote early, and that "it was a little tense in line. This will definitely help cut the tension."

If you see Infinite Spins at your polling place, he said you can expect to hear "a lot of funk, soul, disco, jazz, hip-hop, just some upbeat stuff that anyone can chill to." He said he also imports a lot of rare vinyl records into his digital set-up, and looks forward to playing those as well.

According to DJs at the Polls, DJs are paid $500 per four-hour set. Sites will host between one and three four-hour DJ sets, with some DJs performing multiple sets.

Suggs said "we are very intentional about the DJs we recruit." The group targets professional DJs who gig regularly. Some might work on local radio while others are what Suggs called "celebrity DJs."

The DJs "know their communities best," Suggs said, including what kind of music their communities want to hear. The group just asks that they play "family friendly" music that is "respectful" to the polling place, which might be at a school or church.

Suggs said DJs at the Polls is funded by many different private donors and foundations, including Focus for Democracy, a nonprofit, non-partisan civic engagement group that its website says is "dedicated to empowering donors to make the most impactful contributions possible to strengthen democracy."

So far, the group will be placing DJs in "13 states and counting," Suggs said.

Some states, like Georgia, have passed laws restricting activity near polling sites. In that state, for example, it's illegal to even give food or water to people waiting in line to vote.

In North Carolina, Suggs said, "we've been very well-received" by everyone from politicians to community organizers and "we haven't run into any issues at all" with local boards of elections.

"They realize this is a non-partisan activity," he said. "In my work of doing this, there are always critics, but we've not run into any opposition that would make us stop what we're doing."

OUT NOW: JPW & Dad Weed 'Two Against Nurture' [Digital EP]

The dark is arriving earlier each passing evening. The veil between the spirit world and the land of the living grows thin. Into the glooming emerge Phoenix songwriters Zachary “Dad Weed” Toporek and Jason P. Woodbury, aka JPW, noted podcaster, liner notes author, and songwriter, bearing a bag of autumnal psych pop. Recorded in Toporek’s backyard studio between 2021-2024, these three tracks showcase the birth of a songwriting partnership between these longtime friends and collaborators. Operating like an ersatz Becker and Fagan, handling singing, writing, arranging, and production in a 50/50 split, these songs indulge their taste for ragged power pop, chiming folk rock, and even semi-improvised jams. Opener “Everybody’s Talkin’ (Again)” pairs suburban Arizona ennui with “summer of ‘99” alt-pop. Driven by Woodbury’s muted bass rumble and Zach Toporek’s exalted breakbeats, the song finds the duo abstracting and stretching out childhood memories, reflecting on the often occulted logic that drives the process of belief and self propulsion. Drawing from early Halloween memories and the spirit of magical possibility that marks the shift from summer to fall, the song’s earnest message urges living in the here and now: “Everybody’s talking about moving away/you think you’ll be sticking around.” ”When I Get Lonesome” continues the thread of ‘90s pop influence, pairing Byrds-inspired jangle pop with scuzzed-out guitars. Closing number “Big Wave” is built on a loose, mostly improvised session, which finds Toporek reflecting on climate dread while Woodbury twists a Telecaster into an open tuning and channels his inner Neil Young. Two Against Nurture opens up the vortex and beckons you to enter. Don’t delay.

—

JPW & Dad Weed Two Against Nurture is now available everywhere.

LISTEN TO DIGITAL EP HERE

OUT NOW: Red Dwarf Star "Ex-Patriot" [Digital Single]

Red Dwarf Star is Coley Dennis of Maserati, featuring Kellii Scott of Failure on drums.  "Ex-Patriot" is their second digital single to be released ahead of their highly anticipated debut album (due out next year), and it is available now everywhere.

For fans of Cloakroom, The Cure, Deftones, Drop Nineteens, Fearless, Flyying Colours, The Fucking Champs, Gleemer, Holy Fawn, Holy Fuck, HUM, Ides of Space, Killing Joke, Loathe, Maserati, Mercury Rev, No Joy, Nothing, Pink Floyd, Quicksand, Shellac, Shiner, Slowdive, Starflyer 59, Swirlies, Trans Am, Wednesday, and Whirr.

LISTEN NOW

OUT NOW: MindsOne & Tink_Musik ft. DJ Iron "Why We Do This" [Digital Single]

MindsOne has been offering their listeners innovative lyrics, heart pounding instrumentals, precise cuts, and intense live shows since 2002. Their music embodies the spirit of independent hip hop culture and pays homage to those boom bap masters and others who came before. MindsOne have consistently delivered powerful and inspirational music over the years, and have continued to perfect their sound with each project.

The second digital single "Why We Do This" with Tink_Musik, featuring DJ Iron, off MindsOne's new double album titled Stages (due out next year) is now available on all music platforms as of today.

LISTEN NOW | PRE-ORDER VINYL RECORD

JPW 'Raw Action On Route'

[Repost from Foxy Digitalis; by Brad Rose]

The Capsule Garden Vol 3.19: September 25, 2024

There’s a call being broadcast from beyond the cosmos, hypnotizing our focus into the deepest reaches of space. Hazy memories snake through inner starfields like a mantra beckoning us to go back to reality. JPW’s voice crackles at the crests of slinking guitar leads, all with a wry smile buried in resonant hollows. Simple rhythms underscore the melancholy as if our hearts beat in unison across different stories in different times. Raw Action On Route sings in space-age shadows, adrift on lackadaisical waves while hanging heavy in the golden gravitational pull of future dreams.

On a mission to inspire, national 'Creative' organization opens Wilmington chapter

[Repost from StarNews; by John Staton, October 12, 2024]

As the outer bands of Hurricane Helene blew through Wilmington on Sept. 27, about 75 people assembled in the ballroom of historic Thalian Hall for what would be the inaugural gathering of national organization Creative Mornings' brand-new Wilmington chapter.

The crowd, which included musicians, actors, visual artists, arts administrators and even a few people who claimed not to have a creative bone in their bodies, was lively despite the stormy weather and the 8:30 a.m. hour, chatting as they enjoyed free coffee and doughnuts, and commenting on each others' answers to a question on a name tag handed out when they arrived: "What advice would you give to your younger self?"

After 30 minutes of socializing and opening remarks by Creative Mornings chapter host Kerry Skiles and Thalian Hall director Shane Fernando, it was time for the main event: A Ted Talk-like presentation by James Tritten of Wilmington label Fort Lowell Records on the topic of "reflection."

"People in creative fields or who are doing creative projects, there's always something you can learn from them," Skiles said during an interview a week or so after Creative Mornings made its Wilmington debut. "It's really about just connecting with people in the community. We want this to reflect what the community needs."

The Creative Mornings motto? "Everyone is creative."

Skiles, a native of Edenton, lived in Wilmington in the early 2000s before moving to Raleigh, where she lived for about two decades before returning to Wilmington a couple of years ago.

During her time in Raleigh she attended monthly Creative Mornings meet-ups for close to a decade, and "every time I left one, I was like, 'I'm so inspired,'" she said.

When she looked for a Wilmington chapter of Creative Mornings and found there wasn't one, she decided to start her own. Founded in Brooklyn in 2008, Creative Mornings now boasts some 238 chapters in 69 countries. According to its website, about 70,000 people attend a Creative Mornings event worldwide each month.

Events are typically held on the last Friday morning of the month, with all chapters hosting a speaker who expounds on a common theme. In September, it was "reflection."

Aside from a minor technical glitch that cropped up when slides she had prepared didn't project properly, the inaugural event seemed to go swimmingly.

"It became bigger than we expected," Skiles said, "And that was just from word of mouth."

September's speaker, James Tritten of Fort Lowell Records, told the story of how the label he runs with wife, the singer Tracy Shedd, started in Tuscon, Arizona, and responded to a tragic shooting there in 2011 by trying to put positive energy back into the community via a compilation album of local bands that raised money for anti-violence causes.

The label has released 76 albums since its founding 2009, the majority of them since Tritten and Shedd moved to Wilmington in 2018. In 2020, inspired by the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter protests, Fort Lowell released a compilation album of Wilmington bands called "GROW" that has funded scholarships for a half-dozen students through the Wilmington chapter of the NAACP.

That project, Tritten said, "helped us realize the beauty of what was here," and he also talked about the label's "This Water Is Life" series of albums that pairs Wilmington indie rockers with local hip-hop artists to raise money for environmental causes.

"We took it as an opportunity to share the story of Fort Lowell. To reflect back, but also creating this idea of, 'I just want to shed light on the things around me,'" Tritten said. "I went at it wanting to ensure that there was an opportunity for inspiration to be had."

In talking with people after his talk and "having people tell me, 'That really was inspiring,' I definitely left feeling good," Tritten said.

When Skiles first asked him to speak at Creative Mornings, Tritten said, "My first question was, 'Where's the money?' If anyone was making money off this, I was going to have a problem with it. I quickly recognized Kerry is doing exactly what I'm doing, which is trying to shed light on our peers and our community."

After talking with her, he said, "I realized, I have to be involved with this."

Skiles said that Creative Mornings meet-ups are required by the national organization to be free, with volunteer labor and meeting space, food and coffee all donated.

"That's kind of the beauty of it," Skiles said. "Chapters aren't run as profit-making machines, and there's not this underbelly of having to raise money."

The idea is for the meet-up to be in a new place each month, at least at first, though Skiles said it might evolve into having "a go-to place sprinkled in with other locations."

Wilmington's second Creative Mornings meet-up will be 8:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 25 at the Cameron Art Museum and feature filmmaker Christopher Everett, director of the 1898 documentary "Wilmington on Fire" and co-founder of Wilmington's Three Chambers Festival, which has a combined focus on film, hip-hop and martial arts.

"I've always been a fan of Creative Mornings. It's like Ted Talk for creatives," Everett said. "I plan on talking about creating a vision for a creative future. This story is important to me."

Skiles said that, as speakers, Tritten and Everett "appealed to me in different ways. They had an idea and they wanted to bring it to life, and that's just inspiring."

OUT NOW: Al Foul 'Come Back a Dog' [Final LP]

When Al Foul left this world in the twilight hours of May 25, 2022, he roared like a lion. His arms were stick-straight, precisely parallel to his body, fists clenched and holding a posture not unlike a daredevil diver heading feet first into some sort of otherworldly, aquatic abyss. It was a frightening, beautiful, and fully fitting exit for a man and musician who had already been described as a living legend long before he was diagnosed with the laryngeal cancer that took his life. Over his 50 years on this mortal coil, Alan Lewis Curtis overcame a bleakly violent, impoverished childhood in Hyde Park, Boston and went on to live a richly adventurous, extraordinary life, primarily under his stage name, Al Foul. After forays into punk rock, mostly with his Tucson-based band Al Foul and The Shakes, he settled into a solo configuration, occasionally augmented with various players from Tucson and always with his reputation for charming showmanship and ribald humor intact. The joyous mayhem of his delivery made his performances memorable and eventually underground iconic. He toured Europe for decades and gained a particularly devoted following in France and Germany where his shows took on a more Lynchian quality with the input of his touring partner, DJ Laurent Allinger ( a.k.a. “The French Tourist”), who added surreal samples and textures that echoed Foul’s chosen Southwest home. Whether he was playing biker festivals in tiny villages or sharing larger stages with King Khan and The Shrines or The BellRays, Al was always utterly unforgettable. During the pandemic, Foul was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer and was cared for by his wife, KXCI DJ Hannah Levin, until his death in 2022. Al’s battle and their love story was chronicled by local PBS station AZPM and in 2024 the resulting documentary “Al & Hannah” won the Edward R. Murrow award for Best News Documentary. Come Back a Dog is Al Foul's final album, a combination of originals and covers that were fan favorite staples of his live sets. From the starkly prophetic title track and his gleeful take on the Muscle Shoals’ staple “Six Days on the Road” to the neo-noir spin on the American traditional murder ballad “Frankie & Johnny” and the haunting atmospherics of “Darker Shade of Blue”, Foul sketches a gritty-yet-compassionate portrait of raw Americana that could sit comfortably on a shelf between a Raymond Carver anthology and a Tom Waits’ boxed set.

Al Foul Come Back a Dog is out now and available everywhere as of today.

LISTEN TO FULL ALBUM | VINYL SOLD OUT

Is the protest anthem a lost art, or has the sound of revolution switched political sides?

[Repost from KJZZ 91.5FM Phoenix; by Sam Dingman, September 27, 2024]

As a summer of political chaos draws to a close, the wars and policy debates that have prompted violence and upheaval remain. Some pundits are saying it feels like the late '60s all over again. But when it comes to music, things don't quite sound the same.

Jason Woodbury, musician and podcaster on Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions, has been documenting the fluctuations of the music industry for years on his podcast and he joined The Show to talk about how things have changed since the golden age of the protest anthem.

Full conversation

JASON WOODBURY: The late ‘60s, early ‘’70s really are the time when a number of factors, the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement produced a sort of cultural consciousness that crossed over into the pop realm.

You've got songs like Creedence Clearwater Revival's “Fortunate Son,” an anti-war song that hit number 14 on the Billboard hot 100. Also in 1969, John Lennon's “Give Peace a chance.” Pretty blatant outright lyric there that also hit number 14. Not only is this stuff really conveying a, a point of view and a message, but it's also achieving mainstream success.

SAM DINGMAN: I think one of the interesting phenomena about the success of these songs is that it makes us look back at that time, kind of through the lens of the popularity of the songs, if that makes sense. Like, because of the widespread resonance of those songs, it becomes very easy to look back at that time and think like, well, everybody hated the Vietnam War, when of course, the reality is that those things were the subject of very intense debate.

WOODBURY: Yeah, I almost feel like the pop culture element of it allows for a sort of retrofitting, right? Like, oh, yeah, everybody must have been on board because I mean, listen to how, how good this song is. It's easier to paint a slightly rosier picture maybe if you're just going by the sort of artistic breakouts of that time.

DINGMAN: Yeah. Well, and I'm curious to know what you think about this idea, too, that maybe another reason that it's easier to paint with a bit of a broad brush in terms of memory using these songs is that they were by and large channeling a kind of sentiment rather than a specific message against one particular party.

You know, obviously there was probably, you know, some implicit messaging against say the Nixon administration, but it's not like, it, it, it seemed like it was more about channeling a general spirit amongst the people rather than taking a firm stance on one side of the aisle or the other.

WOODBURY: Yeah, that's actually really interesting to think about. You know, I think about the, the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song “Ohio,” which was written about the Kent State massacre. And it specifically says, you know, “Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming.” But I think it's that next line that almost speaks to what you're saying. You know, he says, “we're finally on our own.” That speaks a lot more to the spirit of a thing and, and sort of a general feeling than actually saying, you know, you can only listen to this song if you're against the Vietnam War.

In the ‘80s and ‘90s, you get into stuff that actually probably was far more aligned with the actual very, very radical stuff from that counterculture, stuff like Public Enemy, NWA. These were artists that were speaking about very bleak realities and often accompanying them with really controversial statements, you know. And that remains popular music. When you think about news anchors freaking out over NWA lyrics, it's like a reminder that like, that's the mainstream, paying attention to this, this stuff.

And I think that that continues on for a while, you know, in the early 2000s, you also had stuff like Green Day with “American Idiot” or the Dixie Chicks, now just the Chicks, but at the time, the Dixie Chicks, who spoke out against the war in Iraq and really faced like a very, very intense backlash from the Nashville establishment. And I think that after that point, say in the early 2000s, you really do start to see the kind popular protest song, not completely go away but certainly lessen in, in frequency.

DINGMAN: Yeah. But I think it is really interesting that, that point you're making about the Chicks, I mean, obviously the Chicks still have their fans, but at the time that they made that statement, they were one of the, the biggest acts in popular music, right?

WOODBURY: That's right. And I mean, I think that when you even think about just sort of the strange way that political ideology ebbs and flows in relation to culture, you look at the, the Chicks, who were taking this stance and were speaking out against the George Bush administration and people like Dick Cheney. You think about that in context of 2024 and you've got like Dick Cheney saying that you should vote for Kamala Harris, you know, the quote unquote progressive person on the ticket.

And I think that speaks to just how weird and sort of complicated these things have become and how it's become increasingly difficult to sort of take a coherent stance in certain ways. And, and to some degree or another, most protest music requires that kind of specificity that's become maybe a little bit more elusive in a time where people are like, well, hang on. What, what exactly, where do I align, you know, is there an anti-war, you know, candidate or whatever things like that?

When you look at some of the stuff that has broken through in more recent time, there's a MAGA rapper, Forgiato Blow, who managed to score a really big hit with his song “Boycott Target.” That Oliver Anthony's super viral “Rich Men North of Richmond,” which debuted at number one.

Like now you might actually have more of a chance of scoring like a protest hit if you're sort of saying something very different than what you might hear more progressive artists saying. And those are both examples I think that sort of show how this has changed quite a bit.

DINGMAN: Yeah. Well, it certainly feels like we've come a long way from “Give Peace a Chance.”

WOODBURY: I mean, I like that one still. I, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a John and Yoko stan. So plenty of protest music in their cannon to to, to return to.

OUT NOW: Al Foul "Memphis" [Digital Single]

The third single "Memphis" from Al Foul's (1971-2022) final album Come Back a Dog — a combination of originals and covers that sketch a gritty-yet-compassionate portrait of raw Americana — is available now on all digital music platforms.  

For fans of Hasil Adkins, Bloodshot Bill, Johnny Burnette, Johnny Cash, Raymond Carver, Nick Cave, Eddie Cochran, The Cramps, Dave Dudley, Elvis, Charlie Feathers, Howe Gelb, Earl Green, PJ Harvey, Richard Hawley, Trini Lopez, Carl Perkins, Reverend Horton Heat, Dex Romweber, Nick Shoulders, Jon Spencer, Mark Sultan, Kip Tyler, Gene Vincent, Tom Waits, Link Wray.

LISTEN NOW | PRE-ORDER VINYL LP NOW

“Welcome to Jaxxonville” Episode 9: James Tritten from Fortlowell Records

Hip-Hop artist, local resident of Wilmington NC, and Iron Maiden fanatic Fuzz Jaxx interviews yours truly on Episode 9 of Welcome to Jaxxonville. Watch now: https://youtu.be/StnR_V63xhU?si=zkAPGBu82pr2Rl0B

OUT NOW: This Water is Life, Vol. IV ft. Fuzz Jaxx & CoolOutSessions + Tercel

This Water is Life is a self-sustained and ongoing series of split EPs with two express purposes: to highlight new hip-hop / indie rock music from Southeastern North Carolina, as well as to provide a platform for Cape Fear River Watch and Coastal Plain Conservation Group to deliver up-to-date authoritative reports on the health of the Cape Fear River Basin for both human beings and wildlife.

Volume IV features Fuzz Jaxx & CoolOutSessions and Tercel, and is out now everywhere!

Hip-Hop: Fuzz Jaxx & CoolOutSessions

These two hip hop heads Fuzz Jaxx and CoolOutSessions are a force to be reckoned with. Hailing from Georgia (FJ) and North Carolina (COS) the love and knowledge they have for the music and culture is astonishing. Fuzz had bars beyond the average emcee and a stage presence to match. The smooth melodic tones that CoolOutSessions provides compliments Fuzz’s voice and lyrics. The two are creating a different sound that is slowly but surely grabbing ears. Also, the production is far beyond the watered down versions of what hip hop is today. Their sound is a definite throwback and tribute to J Dilla and Native Tongues vibes. 

Indie Rock: Tercel

Hailing from The Cape Fear region, the Tercel sound carries reverence for its homeland. The lyricism of Robin and Savannah Wood pull from the beliefs of climate activism, societal collapse, and the ennui of existence in the modern world. But Tercel is fun. Tercel is joyous. These are heavy words, lightly thrown. Wall-of-noise guitars in alternate tunings, the give-and-take singing between the vocalists, Chris Vinopal’s pedal steel in all its brightness, Taylor Salvetti’s driving drum beats to accent the changes: Tercel knows the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And in this, we are all smothered in the green glow of existence. Go outside. Enjoy the light.

LISTEN TO FULL EP | ORDER VINYL RECORD

In partnership with: - Cape Fear River Watch

- Coastal Plain Conservation Group This Water is Life is brought to you buy: - Dock Street Printing - Fortis Builders - Gravity Records - Persephone's Farm

- Satellite Bar & Lounge

CreativeMornings launches in Wilmington, first event happening Friday

[Repost from WWAY TV; by Matt Bennett, September 24, 2024]

WILMINGTON, NC — CreativeMornings, a global breakfast speaker series for the creative community, has officially arrived in Wilmington, bringing together artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, and other creative professionals.

Kerry Skiles, the host for the Wilmington chapter, says she used to attend events in Raleigh before relocating to southeastern NC.

“When I moved to Wilmington, there wasn’t a chapter here, so I applied to open one with a group of creative friends,” she said. “We wanted to provide something for the creative community to dig into on a monthly basis.”

CreativeMornings meetings are designed to foster a welcoming environment for everyone, regardless of their professional background.

“We think everyone is creative, and everyone is welcome,” Skiles said. Each event features speakers who share their experiences and projects, encouraging attendees to connect and collaborate.

The inaugural event is scheduled for Friday, with James Tritten from Fort Lowell Records set to be the featured speaker. Tritten, along with his wife, Tracy, operates a record label that focuses on indie rock and hip-hop artists. They are also working on a benefit record titled This Water is Life, aimed at supporting water safety in the region.

For those interested in attending, Skiles says all events are free, including attendance, coffee, breakfast, and ideas. “It’s a great collaboration and networking opportunity,” she said. The meetings typically start with socializing, followed by the speaker presentation, and wrap up by 10 a.m., allowing attendees to return to their daily routines.

The inaugural meeting will take place on Friday at 8:30 a.m. at Thalian Hall.

Click here for more information, and to register for the event: https://creativemornings.com/talks/james-tritten