Still Flyin' - On A Bedroom Wall - Printable Version +- Music Discussion (https://www.music-discussion.com) +-- Forum: Music Discussion (https://www.music-discussion.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=4) +--- Forum: Alternative (https://www.music-discussion.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=11) +--- Thread: Still Flyin' - On A Bedroom Wall (/showthread.php?tid=7043)

Still Flyin' - On A Bedroom Wall - Music Head - 24-05-2012 online listen Band Of Horses vocally but it stops there poppy music, not that kind a little too much synth like the vocals though just misses the list 1.6 from me and a converted 2.4 from the pros at allmusic from the album - Travelin' Man http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J2_sxYI1JA released May 22nd, 2012 Bio - from allmusic Starting as more of a collective than an actual rock band, Still Flyin' is the brainchild of singer/songwriter and member of indie pop group Masters of the Hemisphere Sean Rawls, who formed it in late 2004 in San Francisco after relocating there from Athens, Georgia, in 2003. Rawls was inspired to put the group together by a song he had written while a member of Je Suis France, "Never Gonna Touch the Ground." To jam on the song, he invited a wide range of friends to rehearse, resulting in an ever-shifting personnel of upwards of 15 musicians and singers at a time, performing locally. The Still Flyin' press biography lists Yoshi Nakamoto (of the Aislers Set), Drew Cramer, Zach Moran, Gabe Saucedo (of Red Pony Clock, Rafter, and Half-Handed Cloud), Frank Jordan (of the Bright Lights), Mindy Schweitzer, Brian Girgus (of Track Star and Lowercase), Becky Barron (of the Bright Lights and Poundsign), Phil Horan (of Maserati), Lizeth Santos (of Red Pony Clock), Alicia Vanden Heuvel (of the Aisler Set and Poundsign), Marjan Esfandiari, Jaime Knight (of Dear Nora and Poundsign), and Bren Mead (of Masters of the Hemisphere) as members of the group, which has been augmented live by Wyatt Cusick (of the Aislers Set and Track Star), Josephine Olausson (of Love Is All), Jens Lekman, Tara Shackell (of Architecture in Helsinki), Isobel Knowles (of Architecture in Helsinki), Mark Monnone (of the Lucksmiths), Richard Baluyut (of Versus), and Terese Nordstrom (of the Jens Lekman band). In April 2005, Still Flyin' organized the Mind Zap Festival at McLaren Park in San Francisco, after which the band embarked on a West Coast tour opening for Architecture in Helsinki. Antenna Farm Records signed Still Flyin' and released the group's debut EP (or "EJ," as the label put it, for "extended jam"), Time Wrinkle, on June 13, 2006. A second EP, Za Cloud, followed on April 24, 2007. In 2008 the band released its first album, Never Gonna Touch the Ground, for the Ernest Jenning label. It found them branching out into more traditional indie pop along with reggae and jam band influences. By the time of the 2010 EP A Party in Motion, the band pared down its lineup to a core group led by Rawls and ditched all the reggae and Dead in favor of a synthy, indie pop sound with strong elements of '80s pop and '70s German rock running through it. The 2012 album by Still Flyin', On a Bedroom Wall, retained this approach and refined it, making for their best album to date. Album Review - from allmusic From their start as a kind of joke reggae-meets-the-Grateful Dead mega-band (up to 16 members at one point with more joining them on-stage at times), it would have been easy to write Still Flyin' off as a kind of misguided attempt at filling a niche no one would ever want filled. Oddly though, even their first records were good in a kind of weird way thanks to the cheerful spirit and leader Sean Rawls' way with a catchy tune. Once the group began to shed members and change direction, things got more interesting. They left behind the good-time grooves of their early records, and on their 2010 EP, Party in Motion, added uptempo dance beats, more classically concise song structures, Motorik rhythms, and some welcome melancholy. By the time of 2012's On a Bedroom Wall, there were no traces of the group's early days left and instead they sound like the house band at John Hughes' night at the local all-ages club. The songs wrap their warm heat in icy synths, the bass guitar thunders like Peter Hook's did, the songs are twitchily danceable, two people are credited with playing rototoms, and the production walks the fine line between slickly chilly and openly warm. Rawls and the cast of singers match the setting with vocals that sound innocent and earnest but with a slight sense of detachment that only true melancholy can provide. There are no jokes left to be told, no light-hearted silliness; On a Bedroom Wall is a serious album about heartbreak and sadness that's only occasionally bright. That being said, it's still a fun album to listen to, since Rawls has a way with a catchy melody and there are plenty of hooks. And while most of the songs hang in that moody area between ballad and dancefloor filler, some of them have some bounce. "Spirits" has a punchy beat and singalong chorus perfect for singing as you dance, "Cleat Talking" has a stutter-step groove that probably comes from Rawls checking out some Afro-pop (and Matthew Wilder), "Travelin' Man" has a driving beat that is a nice expansion of their Neu! fixation. Mostly though, Rawls and his large group of musicians stick to the middle ground where beats are a little sad and the choruses swell majestically, then fade out in a jangle of single-note guitar lines, keyboard swoops, and teardrops. On a Bedroom Wall is an impressive record from a "joke" band, full of emotion and hooks, which should get them taken seriously by lovers of '80s-influenced sounds done in a thoroughly modern manner. Track Listing 1. Elsie Dormer 2. Travelin' Man 3. Big Trouble in Little Alabama 4. Spirits 5. Cleat Talking 6. Surrender to Me 7. Camouflage Detection 8. Take These Streets 9. Candlemaker 10. Jacket in July