Coral Z On the Making Of “Americano”
How does "Americano" reflect your musical journey and growth as an artist?
This song actually witnessed my biggest transition from country style to a bit more rock style. I wrote the song in 2018 when I was in California, and I met my best music buddies Sean and Nathan, where we would have some weekly practice sessions playing music together in a garage within our college. With their additions on electric guitars, bass, and drums, my songs gained many more layers and tastes from the simple acoustic accompaniment which I would’ve done myself. In particular, “Americano” was the first song we started playing together as a band. The punk-ish strumming for the chorus, suggested by Sean, has been kept until now as you can hear in the final release.
Were there any challenges or breakthrough moments during the songwriting process for "Americano?"
Not really. I write my songs as a way to express my own emotions, normally anger, sadness, emptiness, loneliness – the negative ones. When I’m so swamped by those negative emotions, I’d feel a strong urge to find an outlet, and some melodies and lyrics will just start forming in my head simultaneously, and thus the whole songwriting process, for each of my songs (or at least most of them), will only take less than 20 minutes I’d say. Then it’s done.
Were there any memorable or standout moments during the recording sessions for "Americano?"
Not exactly during the recording session, but I think the hardest part was in fact knowing that I could actually initiate this process myself (I’ve always thought that getting your song recorded and released is impossible before you’re discovered by some record labels and are signed or are famous already) and how to find a studio. The song arrangement and vocal recording all moved along pretty smoothly, but mixing was what took the longest time.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started in music?
I started learning piano at the age of 5, then picked up guitar and a little bit of drums in high school; I started writing songs in middle school, then gradually learned how to translate them better to fit the chords and tempos after having learned guitar. And as mentioned before, I enjoy playing music with others and thus started forming bands over time.
Can you share a memorable experience from a collaboration that enriched your music?
There were lots of good memories playing music with others, from playing casually with other peer musicians in California to playing with another singer/songwriter friend in college dorms in upstate NY (I transferred), then now I’m playing with my band in Cambridge – especially gigging around has always been fun! I think the most fascinating part, besides these people who I played with regularly, is to be able to jam with someone at some events/parties I just randomly met, as well as having other friends all gathered around to be our initial audience. It’s always a good way to connect.
Marshall Fassino On the Making Of “Promised Land”
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind "Promised Land" and the story it tells?
I like to say it’s a not-so-loving ode to the struggles of trying to live in our current world and reconciling the choices that got us to where we are now. It seems like these days if you aren’t a tech billionaire or an Instagram influencer the cards are really stacked against you and a lot of the time we feel like crap because of it. “Promised Land” is sort of my way of dealing with that notion. Life certainly knows how to kick you when you’re down, and it seems like the only explanation we’re ever offered is that “nothing’s promised.” So we just have to learn to cope in our own ways. Some of us are better at it than others but at the end of the day, the best policy seems to be simply making peace with all the scars we accumulate along our journey and plugging along head first into the void. It may not be a hopeful song, but I don’t want it to feel hopeless either.
Can you talk about the recording and production process for "Promised Land?"
The recording process was quite simple but tells a lot about my album that’s about to come out. I actually recorded, produced, performed, and mixed these songs entirely in my home studio. On this particular song (along with a couple of others from the record) I did have help with writing from my former roommates Keyler Matthews and Candace Brown (who performs as Candace in Wonderland). They also contributed harmonies to the final track as well.
When I first started these songs I was considering them nothing more than demos. Some of the material is almost 4 years old at this point. But after sitting on them for so long I came to the realization that I had put a lot more work into these than what normally encompasses the scope of a demo. With most every project I’ve been a part of in the past, the mentality was if we didn’t go into a full studio and record them the “proper” way with an engineer and/or producer then they shouldn’t see the light of day. This time around I decided that didn’t matter. Putting these songs out has been my way of affirming that I am capable of doing this on my own, which has been both scary and rewarding all in the same breath.
What do you like the best about this track?
The lyrics really shine on this song. I’m a big lyrics guy in general and I feel these are some of the best on the record. With so much of today’s music, the lyrical content seems almost like an afterthought. I grew up idolizing artists who really used their words to add a deep level of emotion to their storytelling. I’m a firm believer in the transformative power of music and quality lyrics play such a huge role in that. I read somewhere once that most of today’s top charting songs read at a 3rd-grade level. I’m not Leonard Cohen, but I’d like to think I’m hitting at least a 6th-grade reading level with mine.
Also, I dig the guitar solo I played on this one. Kind of reminds me of Neil Young.
What inspired you to pursue a career in music
Probably that feeling I got the first time I ever took the stage in a band and had a whole room of people feeling the same joy and elation I was feeling. Once you get that first taste it’s a hard one to shake. But then you keep going. You develop and hone your craft. You get better at being a performer. You write music you hope will resonate with people. You strive to put good art out into the world. That’s the stuff that fans the flames and keeps the fire alive. But for me it always comes back to being on stage, everything clicking with the people you’re playing with, and the audience reciprocating all that energy and enthusiasm. There’s no other feeling quite like it. I don’t know if I’ve got it in me to be a road warrior like great rock bands once were, but I certainly can understand the appeal.
Who are some of your biggest musical influences, and how have they impacted your own sound?
My taste in music is pretty wide-ranging. There isn’t much I don’t like or that I can’t pull inspiration from. About the only stuff I’m not big on is (most) mainstream Pop and Bro-Country, which is tough because I live in Nashville. I went through my punk and emo phase in high school. I was enamored with the golden age of Indie Rock in the mid-2000s. I like Rap and EDM stuff too. All that lives inside me. But as I’ve gotten older I tend to gravitate towards the stuff I guess you’d consider “classic” nowadays. I think the names most people would throw out when deciphering my influences are Tom Petty, Wilco, and the Replacements. My dad is a massive Tom Petty guy so that one seeped in pretty early on. Then as a young man finding his way through the world in and just out of college, Wilco really struck a chord with me. I’m a massive fan of Jeff Tweedy’s writing and that emotional weight he’s so good at throwing around. Later on, like any self-respecting music snob does, I dug deep into finding all the cool stuff I missed as a young person and quickly fell in love with the work of Paul Westerberg and the Replacements. To me…they are the perfect kind of band. Messy but profound in so many ways. And not afraid to take the piss out of any situation that wasn’t up to snuff for them. Like repeating a line in a song about taking pills over and over again on national television even after they had been explicitly told not to. There are so many other influences I could list but I think those ones are a pretty good distillation of what I’m trying to accomplish with my sound. There’s a pretty famous quote about only needing “three chords and the truth” to write a good song and I think that’s an excellent rule to live by when it comes to music. I’d like to think Tom, Wilco, and the Replacements would all echo that same sentiment.
CMON CMON ‘The Crack and The Light’
Good music rarely needs a description. Once it hits your ears, you’d know that it had something special. The Crack and The Light is a game changer for CMON CMON, not that their previous self-released EP wasn’t. The album has won many hearts in the industry, including Grammy-award winning producers, labels and industry veteran managers. The Crack and The Light is addictive, but essentially, it goes back to the bitter and sweet in life.
All stories in the record are based on real life people and events. CMON CMON takes the aesthetic of art to its origin. Inspired by life and written about life, the songs are always in conversation of “the crack” and “the light.”
“The Summers We Missed” introduces listeners to an euphoric, early-Lemonheads lusciousness and jangly soundscapes. A laid-back vibe in reflection and nostalgia of first love. There was a real party, a real pool and a real girl called Julie in the summer of 1995. Two teenagers who were close but were never together. The thoughts of what could have been are intertwined with youth and the natural progression of things. Melancholia underneath the sweet, wonderful feeling of love.
CMON CMON covers manny themes in this record. Some bear a bleak and dark undertone, but they always make something out of it and lift you up. The resilience and hope is what you comes back for, but all the dark and twisted, is what makes you feel less alone.
Lewis Knaggs “Third Eye”
Some people run away from pain. Some people inflict pain upon pain, but Lewis Knaggs is here to transcend heartbreak and grief. In the memory of Knaggs’ late grandfather, who is also a great influence, “Third Eye” continues his path of articulating humanly relatable experiences in life through meaningful storytelling.
“Third Eye” is about the words of wisdom passed on from generations and those around. A way of giving back and joining the cycle of life and the world. Intimate and empowering. Knaggs’ deep and torn vocal draws you in and pulls your heartstrings. “Third Eye” follows the release of “My Father,” a song that was in honor of his late father.
Driven by Creativity and guided by heart, Knaggs’ music can rarely be defined through the envelopes of genres. Each of his songs take on a life of its own and sees an eclectic sonic palette painting in freeform inspiring soundscapes. Writing from the place of the keenest and most intense feelings, his music is both emotional and introspection, often filled with wisdom and keen observation of life. It’s songs like these that brings us closer and keeps us grounded.
Shai Rose “Overthinking”
“Overthinking” marks the first puzzle piece from Shia Rose’s debut album, The Road. The song revolves around the experience of starting a new chapter of a new beginning, however bittersweet that might be. It was at the time when Rose has just glued herself back from the initial heartbreak. She fell in love with a friend, but ended up being heartbroken all over again. The feelings of being lost rushed back again, she found herself trapped in overthinking, just like many did and many are.
“Not every love will set you free, not every love was meant to be.” She journals what she felt into the lyrics. Charged with immense feelings but transformed by music, these lines, sang through her soft but powerful voice became the glue that mends the broken hearts. Everyone can find a piece of themselves in Rose’s song.
The Road is about the first time of heartbreak, facing one’s inner self inside a half-imagined world, somewhere between heart and mind, navigating disillusioned realization of loneliness and heartache and finding light at the end of the tunnel. Rose weaves those intricate, tender and hardening feelings into poignant soundscapes, bringing a diverse musical influences taking hints from Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Bon Iver, Coldplay, Lana del Rey, Adele and Brittany Howard. With lyrics that read like a poem and a diary, she takes listeners on a journey with no destination but a new beginning.
"Without the dark the sun won't have a reason to rise and the moon won't shine without the light of the sun." — “Alone” from The Road.
Slim Loris “Sticky Toffee Pudding”
Slim Loris came bearing gifts. The Stockholm-based indie rock band is gearing up for a new album. The first single will be released in the early 2023. Before then, they offered an update on their pre new album sound. “Sticky Toffee Pudding” sees the band embracing their universal sound in a hauntingly mesmerizing sing-along. A speck of Swedish melancholia played into the catchiness of britpop and authentic garage rock aesthetic.
The track opens with a moody guitar riff, mending the undertone of a haunting melody into chord progression. Lead singer Mattias Cederstam counters it with wit. “Sticky Toffee Pudding,” just like the deliciously mysterious title, sweetness and optimism with a pinch of grittiness, like a nuanced bittersweet, with spirit-lifting sweetness being the dominating taste.
But the undertone of melancholia and moodiness does play into the core of their music. It’s just a hint, not so much. The more you listen to Slim Loris, the more you begin to understand their spirited, almost humorous way of life, creating good memories and uplift souls. The music video of “Sticky Toffee Pudding,” for example, plays very much into a very likable, creatively articulated humor. Maybe the darker undertone, like a hint of bitterness in a toffee pudding, is essential to the perception of sweetness. It makes it all more precious and meaningful.
One thing that Slim Loris has been known for, giving that they have been in the music scene quite some time, is the relatability of a universal sound. They draws the same energy from the classic tear-jerking, stadium-filling moments while creating their sing-along momentums. It’s hard not to get worked up by the rich vibe and appeal they naturally have in their melodies and progressions.