Such is the case with Nick Baker, a Youngstown, an Ohio MC who got his start playing in punk rock bands. Now while this might not be a surprise to some that Baker would end up writing verses (punks have a lot on their minds), I think he surprised himself. With a FREE album release show coming up this Friday, March 29 at Greyland Gallery in Youngstown (BYOB; donations will be accepted, too), I thought it’d be cool to check in with the rapper who happens to be a fellow journalism graduate from Kent State.

Baker’s album, BAKED, will drop on Friday and includes guest spots from Nasty Fancy favorite, Freeze-Tag, and others including Richard Elmsworth a.k.a. Ultimate Donny from the now defunct Gil Mantera’s Party Dream, Bernadette Lim and TreaZon. Both will be performing with Baker at the show, along with some other surprise guests.

Now let’s talk a little bit about the album. First off, the artwork was done by Eric Allerman.

When I heard Baker’s first track off his debut full-length album, Flu Game featuring Freeze-Tag, I thought it was an interesting choice of a single. Baker said he was really lucky to have hooked up with Freeze-Tag for the track because he ended up producing half of the album along with Brad Puette, a producer/engineer for Field Day Recordings and Lava Room Recording in Cleveland. Baker said he loved Marcus Ward’s (Freeze-Tag) demo he had given him a while back because he has a unique and almost sort of vintage sound, so that was another reason he was stoked on working with him.

“We had Marcus in mind for a different song, but we were in the studio one day and I laid down the vocals for Flu Game and he had some ideas,” Baker said. “He ended up adding some harmonic vocals along with the hook, and you might hear those vocals or you might have thought it was a synth, but it’s actually him doing three-part harmonies. It ended up being one of my favorites.”

Baker went on to explain how the song was very personal for him, but to keep it light we won’t go there. The one website that featured it, DJ Booth, gave the song mixed reviews, but Baker said it was probably because it wasn’t a very “hip hop” song. Baker added that it was intentionally crafted as a pop song, and as a stand alone song it might not have been the best decision because it fits better in the context of the album, but he doesn’t regret releasing it first. Baker said if he could do it over, he would probably drop a Head Full of Dynamite first which features Richard Elmsworth from Party Dream. He said it’s definitely the single off the album. Baker described the sound as similar to a Freeze-Tag song, so I’m starting to see a pattern here. And I like it.

It’s interesting to see an artist who started as a teen writing more aggressive, political punk songs develop into this chill, hip hop artist. That’s the best way to describe Baker, whose favorite artists range from Del the Funky Homosapien to Black Flag, Aesop Rock and the Freestyle Fellowship. But Baker made it clear that he doesn’t write music as a “character”. He just writes as himself, which means while these artists inspire him, lyrics are best written from a personal standpoint.

Baker didn’t get his start in hip hop until he started going to school at Kent State University where he met a close friend/mentor of his, MC Homeless. MC Homeless lived in Kent and would often have Baker and his friends over for a little underage drinking and vinyl listening. It was MC Homeless who really got Baker into lots of underground hip hop such as Freestyle Fellowship and Shapeshifters.

“I never knew there was so much depth to hip hop,” Baker said.

After spending some time getting to know the hip hop scene, Baker started writing some verses and once he had about six songs written, MC Homeless ended up taking him on tour. This was the first time he ever performed his music for others and he said he really liked it. This tour and working at the Lemon Grove in Youngstown doing some part time marketing really helped Baker build up a network of folks who could help him tour the east coast one day, which is what he plans to do with this full length. Nothing has been solidified yet, but lots of stops are in the works Baker said.

In the mean time, head to Greyland Gallery in Youngstown for what’s sure to be one hell of a party this Friday. Show starts at 10 p.m. and is BYOB.

The band is touring in support of their sixth studio album, Desperate Ground, which will be released on April 16 and is their first record since signing to Saddle Creek Records. The band’s sound has taken a curious trajectory, often jumping back and forth from darker, lo-fi garage to sugary sweet pop punk. Lead singer/guitarist Hutch Harris specializes in crafting some catchy melodies behind some dark lyrics.

Check out a live performance of “When I Died” from 2009′s excellent Now We Can See.

Brooks’ sound is heavily steeped in folk and jazz rhythm guitars, with influences that range from John Legend to The Roots. This particular album is just Brooks’ voice and his guitar, recorded live. This method has it’s ups and downs.

The upside: Brooks has plenty to show off in this stripped down setting. He knows his way around the fretboard, with some interesting rhythms and plentiful chord changes, especially evident on opening track “Silver Lining” and “Upside Down.” He also has a strong voice for this type of music, soulfully expressive to go along with the jazz leanings of the guitar. Brooks soulful vibe serves slower tracks like “Taxi Cab” and “Mending” well, with light tremolo and distortion on the guitar in the latter adding great atmosphere.

There are downsides to such a vulnerable recording approach, as well. The most obvious on the album is volume control. Brooks’ voice, during long notes, nearly drops out completely. The guitar’s place in the mix makes it tough to really catch the intricacies of what’s going on, as well. The song that suffers the most is also the song that has the potential to be the strongest on this short album, “Upside Down.” Upon closer inspection with a pair of headphones, the guitar playing is at a near-manic level, and Brooks’ voice is just barely audible at the end of some lines.

All in all, despite the shortcoming of the recording technique, this is a strong set of songs from a talented guy. The album comes out in April, and he has a couple of shows coming up, listed below. Also, check out a live performance of the closing track on Alibi, “Canary.”

3/23 – Lil’ Paws Winery (Youngstown)

3/25 – Uncorked (Akron)

4/19 – Uncorked (Akron) – Album Release Show

Ohio Sky
Leah Lou & 2 Left Shoes
Moon High
Freeze-Tag
ShiSho

The show costs $10 and all proceeds will go toward helping fund this year’s installment of the WMC fest. Festival founder Jeff Finley said organizers hope the show and silent print auction will generate five to 10 percent of the festival’s $175,000 budget. Here are a couple of videos to get you excited about the show:

Filed under: Uncategorized, Upcoming Shows Tagged: Cleveland, Freeze-Tag, Inner Sanctum, Jeff Finley, Lea Lou & 2 Left Shoes, Moon High, ohio sky, ShiSho, Weapons of Mass Creation Festival ]]> http://nastyfancy.com/2013/03/21/weapons-of-mass-creation-benefit-show-tomorrow-at-beachland/feed/ 0 Beachland sammielou 12452352-large http://nastyfancy.com/2013/03/20/featured-band-if-these-trees-could-talk/ http://nastyfancy.com/2013/03/20/featured-band-if-these-trees-could-talk/#comments Wed, 20 Mar 2013 16:39:42 +0000 Kyle http://nastyfancy.com/?p=6159 Read more]]>

There is no shortage of post-rock bands these days. I would never claim to be an expert on the genre, but I’m continuously amazed by the diversity of sound among groups like The Appleseed Cast, The Octopus Project, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mogwai, and their common ability to craft intricate music, often without ever uttering a word.

Though If These Trees Could Talk has built up plenty of steam since 2006 through three independent releases that each received astounding reviews, I was oblivious to this Akron five-piece’s existence until about three months ago when they opened for Mr. Gnome to a sold-out Beachland Ballroom crowd.

I became transfixed within the timespan of the opening tune. Guitarists Jeff Kalal, Mike Socrates and Cody Kelly, bass player Tom Fihe and drummer Zack Kelly work together to create complex tunes that carry the ferocity and heaviness of Tool, dressed up with the beautiful intricacies of Explosions in the Sky. A few songs into the set, I couldn’t help but close my eyes and feel the elevating, echoing guitars before the band punched, with perfect transition, into smashing distortion accompanied by screaming high notes. It was definitely better to be somewhat behind the times than to miss the boat in this case.

Last month, ITTCT, minus drummer Zack Kelly, sat down with me to talk about the band.

“We’re a heaver shade of post-rock, definitely,” guitarist Kalal said, comparing the band to others within the genre.

Instrumental post-rock tunes often stretch for long time lengths, and though a handful of ITTCT’s songs break the seven minute mark, most of the band’s repertoire tends to hang around five minutes.

“We like immediacy and punch,” Socrates said. “We like to rock and like it to be groovy and something you can bang your head to.”

Crafting tunes and balancing three guitars can prove to be tricky at times.

“Sometimes we’ll just have three parts without any definition of who’s actually doing it,” Socrates said. “It’s justa matter of melding them all together and figuring out how we’re going to do it live.”

Typically, Kelly and Kalal take lead guitar roles while Socrates works on rhythm but Fihe said roles can jump around a bit.

“We tend to try and take up different frequency ranges,” Fihe said. “One guitar is at the low end and Cody is normally ripping some high notes.”

The band’s members go pretty far back with each other, and played in multiple projects together throughout middle school and high school before emerging as the thunderous post-rock outfit they are today. As the band has developed and its members have adopted full-time day jobs, they’ve taken a weekend-warrior approach to playing shows.

Socrates said the routine can take its toll, and occasionally the band finds itself showing up to a shitty gig questioning the decision, but it’s also learned to calculate its moves and take plenty of downtime in between.

“We’ve gotten to the point where we try not to play shows that we know are going to make us say, ‘What the fuck are we doing here?’” he said.

Kelly added that ITTCT finds itself venturing out for a few weekends and taking a couple months off before reconvening to practice and write new material.

“We take a break, cram practices, play shows and then take off for two more,” Kelly said.

After ITTCT dropped its self-titled EP in 2006, and before the post-rock scene filled to its current point, Socrates said people began to pick up on the sound pretty quickly.

The band began playing shows across Ohio, and branched out to Chicago, Detroit and beyond. Two full-lengths followed, Above The Earth, Below The Sky in 2009 and Red Forest in 2012, and both were met with increasingly warm reception.

Last April, ITTCT ventured across the Atlantic Ocean for its first European tour, a two-week endeavor that led them through Belgium, Germany, Poland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Russia, Hungary and Austria.

“It was terrifying, but awesome at the same time,” Kelly said.

But, because of a post-rock scene that is much larger in scale compared to the U.S., the band holds a decent oversees following, crowds of 400 or more people turned out for some of the shows. Even people unfamiliar with ITTCT showed up to hear a U.S. band playing post-rock jams.

“Our agent kept telling me throughout the booking process, ‘I don’t think you understand how many people like you guys over there,” Socrates said. “The popularity of it over here compared to here is just nuts.”

Tomorrow, March 21, ITTCT opens up for  Caspian at the Grog Shop to cap off a small run. Native and The Black Atlantic are on the bill as well.

Kelly said the band will hit a few shows in Canada next month, but they plan to take a break to work out new material, which is currently in the incubating stage.

Image courtesy of 87.7 FM The Sound (http://www.877cleveland.com/)

Rare is the occasion you get to boogie to some famous classic rock and support your local music scene at the same time — but the Cleveland Agora is offering such an opportunity this week! The legendary Agora Ballroom located in Cleveland’s Metropolitan Theatre on Euclid Avenue is hitting the century mark, and to celebrate, the complex is throwing a bash being dubbed by radio station 87.7 FM The Sound as the “biggest birthday party of the year.”

This Friday’s “Thank Hank” event features a honoring/roasting of the founder of the building’s current incarnation, Henry (Hank) LoConti to be followed by a concert fronted by famous ’70s British rockers Foghat. LoConti donated the Agora to neighborhood non-profit MidTown Cleveland Inc. in December 2011 so the revitalization-minded group could focus on sprucing up the facilities while pursuing rental opportunities for small-business tenants on the upper floors. LoConti, who is in his mid 80s, is still involved with managing the aging theater, and this Friday will serve as not only a celebration of the Agora’s birthday and the efforts of its founder but will also support the building itself as all net proceeds will benefit the concert hall itself.

And as if a roast and benefit for the Agora wasn’t enough to get you excited, the event will cap off with what’s being called by a “never before seen or heard” concert event featuring Foghat, Glass Harp, members if the James Gang, Freddie Salem (formerly of The Outlaws), Jimmy Ley, Alan Greene Band, Bootsy Collins and Unsaid Fate with other special guests rumored as well. At almost $50 a ticket, this event isn’t your typical spontaneous local show, but the money is undoubtedly going to a great cause: the support of America’s rock ‘n’ roll history. The show starts around 8:30 p.m. March 22, with the honoring of LoConti preceding the concert. For more details on the show or tickets, check out the Agora’s website.

Seems like The Floorwalkers were MVPs of The Brite Winter Festival this year, receiving favorable reviews all around. These guys practically call Beachland home, and the show is sure to be a soulful good time. Check out their video for “Three Wishes” below.

Thaddeus Anna Greene is a big up-and-comer in the area, and they’ll be debuting some new songs at the show. Take a look at the Nasty Fancy-produced live video of Greene’s release show for Directory of Thieves at Bad Racket Studios.

Tom Evanchuck and The Old Money have been an active presence around Cleveland over the past couple years with their attention-grabbing folk-infused blues. Have a listen to a live performance of “Get By” at the V107.3 Studios:

Throughout Rusted Earth, the second full-length effort by Hive Robbers, the Kent four piece shows off an outstanding effort of channeling mountain twang, folk and country ballads and gospel blues.

From back to front, Rusted Earth, has the grit it’s title implies, but it’s presented in catchy fashion. On first listen, I instantly tuned in to the band’s groovy combo of banjo and mandolin twang with bass guitar. A couple listens later, and I’m singing along with sometimes sweet, sometimes howling vocals that Aidan Bailley Williams and Jimmy Dykes share.

With a bluesy rock jam that kicks the door down, Hive Robbers waste no time putting things in motion with Rusted Earth’s lead-in track, ”Light Off,” before easing into the steady grooves of “Roll On” and ”Fertile Ground,” a tune that, with its a simple chorus of “Ohio’s ours,” will make a perfect addition to any road trip playlist while travelling across this great state.

Rusted Earth switches gears four songs in with the lonesome country ballad “Second Start,” sung with the strife of a man seeking a change of heart from his woeful ways, but conceding that the change ain’t likely to come.

On “Rust,” a soulful call and response, and “Bated Breath,” a splendidly folky 2.5-minute instrumental interlude, Hive Robbers showcase their ability to break out of the gritty, groovy Americana blues tunes that make up most of the album.

Ultimately though, it’s tought to pick a handful of highlights from Rusted Earth‘s 14 tracks. There’s never a dull moment, and each song bleeds to the next with flowing narratives of freedom, self-discovery, doubt and love from a midwest mindset.

On a side note, the energy Hive Robbers put out on Rusted Earth goes even further in a live setting. The band has two upcoming shows: March 21 at Around the Corner in Lakewood, and a headliner gig at the Grog Shop March 24.

Don’t forget Cleveland natives and masked-metal maniacs Mushroomhead are making a stop in Kent tonight at JB’s Concert Club, where things are sure to get rowdy. The group, which has been around since 1993, is currently working on their seventh studio album and prepping for some big shows down south.

The band has undergone a slew of lineup changes over the years, with two new masked faces taking over for former members “Pig Benis” and “Gravy.” So, this could be and interesting opportunity to hear how the current crew sounds together — you can bet there will be some new songs promo’d. Things get going around 7 p.m. a with openers Wixor, Gemini Syndrome, Final Trigger and Society’s Plague. Despite tix going for $25 at the door, I imagine JB’S is going to be packed to the brim and pretty insane, so don’t miss you chance to get in on the action!

By the way, the video below is not for the squeamish. Enjoy!

In 2011, De Leon started a collaborative project under The Lyle Machine name, sending off demos to other musicians for additional tracks, and eventually recording those fully-realized demos with Joe Boyer (Cloud Nothings, Chomp, Total Babes) on drums and Antoine Henderson (Clovers) on bass. The result is Man Made Mountains.

Man Made Mountains has all the ingredients of a great alt-rock album straight out of the 90s. One that didn’t age as poorly as some. There’s the scuzzy guitar sounds straight out of the garage, synths and organs that would make Matt Sharp a happy camper, all on top of some majorly catchy pop rock melodies and upbeat rhythms.

The first track, also the title track, could work as an opener or a closer, with the grandiose horn section and extended “our instruments are falling apart” ending. It somehow segues gracefully into the infectious “Digital Age.” The song is an onslaught of sugary organs, and man is it catchy. The next track, “A Song for Lilly” is a highlight, an ode to care-free summers that borders on a bit of a somber tone.

De Leon has a penchant for creating intros that get you hooked. Songs like “Laki 1783″ and “Another Weekend” would probably stand up just fine on their own as straight-forward rock songs, but the atmosphere created by the echoes and tape effects bring it them to another level. “Fluidity” takes a similar approach, though that track remains low-key, completely propelled by different synth sounds and tribal drums.

“Backup for My Backup” is an unfortunate momentum killer right in the middle of the album. The electric piano and swelling bass sound nice, but the whimpery vocals with social media references (though probably tongue-in-cheek) are a buzzkill.  ”Unacceptable” picks it right back up again with some scorching guitar work.

The rest of the album showcases the heavy influences of bands like Weezer and The Rentals — but this isn’t 90s cover band hour. De Leon crafts some killer synth-driven alt rock songs as seen on “Don’t Fake It (Go Crazy)” and “The Boy Who Cried Brooklyn,” almost always catchy, great dynamics, and bombastic only when necessary. Closer “Where We Grew Up” is almost a sequel to “A Song For Lilly,” at least in tone. It makes you really long for sunny summer days.

You can check the entire album out for free on The Lyle Machine’s website, and check out the rest of Jason De Leon’s projects while you’re at it. Below is the video for “The Digital Age.”