Been working fairly regularly these days. By regularly I mean I get pulled in for these 5 day edit sessions where you spend 20 hours of every day in a small room tweaking a 4 minutes video that will be seen by a total of 15 people. But that’s all right by me. It’s collaborative work and I enjoy it. After days like that though, I like to come home and just kick back. Things are different this time around. Normally I come home and there is a bevy of activity going on. This is the first time in a very long time that I can remember coming home to nothing. My girlfriend is on vacation and I am left to my own devices. Those devices being ice cold white wine and blaring music, which are pretty nice. I get to sit back and really get into some new music. Really listen to it, ya know? Like at the end of Dazed and Confused when the kid who keeps pinching the bridge of his nose comes home after his big night out and throws the headphones on and starts vibing to Slow Ride. That’s what I’ve been doing with this week’s artist of the week. Some new rock that really brings it back to the good old days. ARTIST OF THE WEEK: The Rotaries. Let’s kick things off with first song off their only LP Before Leaving titled Tomorrow’s Game.
The sound is warm. It reminds me of the first half of a Dr. Dog song, before they go a trippy. The Rotaries stay right in the sweet spot of indie-rock without ever drifting too far into pop. The band consists of three fine New York fellows.
Bernard Casserly: Bass
Danny Nosonowitz: Drums
James Rapp: Guitar/ Vocals
The music is familiar and catchy. Even though these guys are a newer band, when I first heard their 2012 LP Before Leaving, I got that sense that I had when I was a kid and I’d drive around with my dad while listening to classic rock radio. I may have been hearing the songs for the first time, yet I found them familiar and comforting. I’m not trying to blow expectations out of the water here, but the songs seem to come from a bygone era of pick up trucks and warm beer rather than the blogosphere (I fucking hate that word so much).
They have a brand new EP coming out shortly titled On The Outs. And I can’t wait. I want to hear more from these guys. Their music is something I can see myself kicking back to for the foreseeable future. Let’s go out with their track Problems For Sale. I know it has a ukulele in it which is an instrument so over used in indie bands that at times I want to puke in my mouth when I hear it, but in this instance it’s pretty okay. Rapp’s voice really sells it.
Big Hugs,
Kelly McDermid
https://www.facebook.com/therotaries