You are most cordially invited to Rock Proper’s Summer House Party at the Gallery Cabaret (2020 N Oakley, Chicago) for a sweet rock show featuring Jitney, Nervous Parts (a new Steve Walters / Jason Frederick / Jason Grey project) and Chris Burney (of The Sun).
The show will get rolling around 10pm.
Admission is FREE. There will also be FREE Arturos Tacos served.
Jitney is a four piece rock band, headed up by Rock Proper founder, Casey Meehan. Listen to our music here: Jitney Band
Nervous Parts is a new improv / experimental project which includes legendary Chicago screen-printer, Steve Walters (founder of Screwball Press) teaming up with the prolific Chicago illustrator / musician Jason Frederick and drummer Jason Grey.
Chris Burney founded a band called The Sun who’s recent Rock Proper release was recorded with Mike McCarthy (producer of many Spoon records).
We are very excited to announce Rock Proper’s new partnership with Chicago band, Jonny Rumble.
These boys come to us by way of Michigan, Florida and the altered state of Blam Studios where they have been huddled for the past several months, living on pop-corn and sweet-tarts, risking it all to create one of the best albums I have heard in years.
The record, JR, starts with the immediately accessible, Cox Road. The hooks and ear candy here make it hard to deny. However, by the time you get to the breakdown of the third tune, BRZRKR it becomes quite evident that this is much more than a slick pop record. It is an all out psychedelic journey reminiscent of one of Rock Proper’s original hit downloads, Where the Moon Came From’s Twin of Pangaea.
The record release show will be held June 25th at Beat Kitchen (Chicago).
Like a stressed out, half-drunken, under-stimulated waste of a wage-slave with a sexual dysfunction, summer is finally coming. And with this happy release from our heads, our apartments, and, for some of us, our jobs, comes an even greater release—a release from the long night of winter music. In the depths of winter, covered in snow, a song may come on (or a whole album even) that you feel could only be experienced in the hot, sunshiney summer; at any other time, listening to even one or two of these songs feels like cheating. Now we can throw off the mantle of guilt—burn it!—and use these songs from Chicago-based online hit-delivering machine rockproper.com to welcome back the summer and its bright rays of rock.
It may seem strange for a city that limps through 8 months of winter to produce these surprisingly summery songs. Jason Frederick’s vocals in “Perfect” (Love Story in Blood Red) have the sound of someone who has been drinking for hours at a sunny barbeque, and the shimmery sounds of the cymbals behind them waver like a mirage in a desert. Cruise down a hot, lonely road with “Something’s Watching” (Andy Wagner, Horse Year), peering through heat waves at what’s to come. “Locusts” by Go Home Robot uses a wiped clean guitar and precise, full-band breaks, recalling the trees and phone lines sliding past the open sunroof.
Summer is a time for change, for a change in your playlists, for a change in your hair, clothes, attitudes. You can wear that flappy red dress, or those loafers with no socks, if you dare. And you do dare, because it’s summer, and everyone is carefree. You can strut around to “Who will be saved?” (Casey Meehan, Violet) and let the sun burn stripes in your skin. The smashing assertions of “Rabblerouser” (Where the Moon Came From, Twin of Pangaea) are just right for a day so bright that singing can only be done right with sunglasses on. Brother Truck’s “Sex Wax” reminds us that summer is also a time for surfing, or trips to the lake, or, if you’re stuck in the city, throwing water balloons off the porch down at someone. The mood, like a hot and hectic day settling into a steamy night, has just a touch of uneasiness about it, just a hint of subcutaneous troublemaking.
Steve Eck, recording from the lethal humidity of New Orleans, has an edge up on all the rest of the rockproper bands (in respect to heat), as the summers in that steamy city are at least three months longer than anywhere else. When the nights race away from us as summer elongates the day, we often don’t realize that we’ve been at a party for hours and hours, that the bars might be closing soon, that, although an orange burn is still in the sky, it’s time to go home. Then a song like “Just let us rest” comes over the speakers and the spell is broken, and we know it’s late, and it’s been a long night.
Author Anika Balaconis makes up one third of the tremendous trio, Brother Truck.
Hello all, Are you ready for it? The new song this month is called “September Gurls” It comes with a bittersweet twinge of loss.
>>September Gurls<< (left click to listen, right click “save” to download)
As some of you may be aware, Alex Chilton passed away in New Orleans last month at the young age of 59. He was always one of my rock n’ roll heroes. As I grew up playing music myself in New Orleans, I always admired the way that he lived his life. He was simple, unassuming, humble, and a downright undercover rock legend. A lot of people don’t even know that he lived in New Orleans, but he did, and he loved it. You would always hear stories about him like: “Yea, man, dat dude’s cool, he washes dishes at my uncle’s restaurant” “you’d never know he was a bonafide rockstar” “dat’s da dude from Big Star, …..man….” On and on……
I had the pleasure of meeting him a couple of times on random occasions. He was genuinely happy to know that someone knew his music. I challenge each person I know, to seek out his music. He was a huge inspiration for me, and as a tribute, I humbly have recorded one of his classics, “September Gurls” In the immortal words of Wayne and Garth, “I’m not worthy!!!”
Please check out all of the other amazing records on Rock Proper
My new website is: www.samuelstiles.bandcamp.com There is more free music of mine on this website and it will change every month with the new song.
Let me know what you think, and most importantly, Thanks for listening! To Alex Chilton with Love R.I.P. ~Samuel Stiles a.k.a—————Matt Martin
My wife asked me for slippers for x-mas this year.
Instead, I got her a flight in a high performance aerobatic plane.
This all went down on on April 10th 2010.
Watch It Now:
Hint: Be sure to click the 4 arrows under the YouTube logo on the bottom right of the screen to see it in full screen mode, it’s like being in the cockpit! (Well, not at all really, but it is better)
This offered a great opportunity for a video featuring one of my favorite songs by The Sun, “Cocaine and Tunes”.
Happy St. Patrick’s day! The second of many tracks to come this year. This song is one of my favorite originals. It was originally written and intended as music for a film.
>>New York 1927<< (left click to listen, right click “save” to download)
Credits:
Released 17 March 2010 on RockProper Produced, recorded, and mixed by Joshua Eustis.
Samuel Stiles: vox, guitars, mellotron, keyboards, bass, drums, and percussion.
Andy Wagner: backing vox, electric guitar, fender rhodes
Beautiful imagery created by: Laura Lee Gulledge
I told myself that I wanted to start this new project where I release a new song every month. So far so good.
Rock proper is a wonderful home for great music, and I am thrilled to contribute more to the amazing content that already exists here.
Please check out my other album ”A Love Tragedy“ available on Rock Proper.
Ladies and gentlemen, it has come to my attention that around 12 years ago, your friend and mine, principal singer and songwriter for Love Story in Blood Red and Cool Devices, Jason Wyatt Frederick, appeared on the Ricki Lake show. The topic of this show? Obese Strippers.
To actually receive an email that contains a link to an actual real video of someone you have known for years, who you have heard talk about strippers for years, on a national talk show addressing the topic of obese strippers is a joy I am guessing I will never have again.
Make sure to forward about 30 seconds into the video. The real magic happens when Jason’s disgruntled face appears in a small pink box (lower right) while his “friend” performs a spontaneous striptease for the Ricki Lake audience.
This is clearly an instance of the real life being more strangely beautiful than fiction could ever be.
I have been really enjoying an album called “In Chains”.
This mellow set of songs has been putting me in a the same mood that my initial listens to Eliot Smith’s “Either/Or” did. The recording might be a bit too “clean” for my usual tastes but the sounds and mix are quite masterful. The the lyrics and harmonies complement each other in subtle and interesting ways; “Halfway Gone” has a nice T-Rex vibe going for it (like a little hint of hot sauce in your mac n’ cheese).
I think they are getting a few things right that a ton of bands are getting wrong these days. Numero uno, a good sounding record. Just because you can make a record in your bedroom, doesn’t always mean that you should… Well perhaps you should, but you should be discerning in who you play it for. Don’t get me wrong, I love a record that is a little rough around the edges BUT it has to be rough in an interesting way, not in a cheap “look ma! I made a record!”. The internet, world is full of these crappy sounding records. Thanks DHB for not making another.
The other thing this band has nailed is a strong sense of composition. The arrangements and song structures are rock solid. They use simple elements in innovative ways. This album is not jarring but keeps you guessing.
The band’s site says they have a new record in the works for 2010. Give their EP a whirl.
Dave tells a great story about one of our friends, Jay Bennett. It made me think of the day when we were helping Jay move the studio (Pieholden) from Chicago to downstate Illinois.
We all arrived pretty early that day, Jay showed up a little later. Soon we all began deliberating about how to accomplish such a monumental task. There was literally tons and tons of gear and instruments crammed into every corner of the loft space.
After we had all paced around smoking cigarettes and throwing out ideas for nearly three hours, Jay exclaimed that he had the plan. The “Two-Pile Plan” to be exact. Everything in the studio would be put into one of two piles. Pile #1 would go to Champaign and pile #2…. would be tossed out the window into the dumpster below.
This plan was both hilarious and an effective. We put our our cigarettes and started hauling some of the best (and by best I mean heaviest) analog recoding equipment down three flights of stairs.
Later that day, due to a faulty freight elevator, we all narrowly escaped being trapped in the dankest, darkest, creepiest basement in the Midwest. A whole other story indeed.
The muscles in my lower back still seize up when I think about that day, but it was one of the best of my life.
Here is a recent video of Bobby Bare Jr and Dave at Schubas on New Years Eve.
Quite a good time, with Dan Duffy working the tap! This video also features the infamous Mr. Jimmy that David speaks about in this interview. Mr. Jimmy is playing keys, percussion (on a beer bottle) and singing.
We are all excited to hear what these dudes are working on down in Nashville. I’m sure I’ll have a post about it sometime soon.
Rock Proper provides free album downloads from a select group of indie rock artists. We embrace the technology of today in order to connect our music to the largest possible audience. Please also visit: The Jay Bennett Foundation and Pieholden Suite Sound
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