In an age when even the most discerning music fan is drowning in an endless torrent of songs, all elbowing each other for a moment of your attention (and, let’s be honest, your wallet too), finding the good stuff can feel like a full-time job. Choice is a beautiful thing, but who’s got the hours to dig through all the musical chaff to get to the sonic wheat?
That’s where Bongo Boy‘s Rock ‘n’ Roll TV show steps in, they cut to the chase and pre-sort, pre-load, and pre-sent…I mean, present, the best sonic sampler of all the happening artists you need in your life. And if you’re an artist who thinks you should be joining such illustrious music makers, then they are waiting to hear from you at: submit@bongoboyrecords.com.
Right, that’s the introductions and admin out of the way, all we need to do is drop the virtual needle on the digital disc and see what great music is waiting for us.
As if to remind us that this is a rock ‘n’ roll show, Scott McDonald kicks off with the gritty, groovy, staccato “Kiss The Earth Goodbye,” a song with bite and, pardon the expression…balls. It’s a song forged in the crucible of classic rock and roll, something that bands such as Bad Company would have been just as happy to have in the set as more modern guardians of the groove, such as Dirty Honey.
Calming things down a bit, but no less powerful, but in more soulful and sophisticated ways, Lyia Meta gives us “Slumber,” a song that builds its impact on the dynamic interplay of space and shards of raw guitar. And this ebb and flow of sonics acts as the perfect ocean for her powerful and poised voice to work its magic. This is soul music that has learnt a trick or two from the alt-rock fraternity, or is that the other way around? Kick-ass rock ‘n’ soul, let’s just go with that.
Monique Grimme keeps things understated with the unique blend of polished balladic rock and more elemental folk urges that is “When A Butterfly Alights,” her latest collaboration with Sapphire Star Studios. Again, turning to the imagery of nature as a metaphor for more complex and human emotions, it is a song that floats and flits like its titular Lepidoptera on a summer breeze.
Bridging the divide between balladic country music and more spacious chamber-pop, “My True Companion” sees Willow Layne at her most heartfelt and perhaps vulnerable, a celebration of someone who came along when she was at her lowest and made her whole again. It’s pop sensibility with a country soul, a song that wraps its accessibility in a warm, heartfelt embrace.
“Ameri’cans” (not Ameri’cants) is a song of healing, something that country needs right now. Dorian Sean‘s latest song comes along as a timely reminder that many have made the ultimate sacrifice to make America what it is, and it is in their name that a solution to the current woes should be sought. A suitably celebratory, yet occasionally starkly poignant video, paired with a rousing chorus, gets the job done.
“Pounding Pavements” is a wonderful mix of the grand and graceful, the accessible and the elegant. STUDEO creates an interesting lilt here, an almost Eastern European rhythm soaked in Euro-pop sonics, a perfect blend of past music traditions and recent styles woven together into a cutting-edge, forward-thinking sound.
David Becker has the honor of playing us out, and “Gravitationally Bound” is a neat instrumental jazz-pop infusion, with tasteful guitar lines taking the place of vocals but every bit as communicative and eloquent as the best lyrics —a song to rival even Steely Dan’s mellifluous magnificence.
Another brilliant Bongo Boy Records sonic lucky dip, but a lucky dip where everything you pull from the bag makes you feel like a winner. How great is that?