Deering and Down — Know Rhyme Know Reason (BAA Music Group)
The long-standing duo known as Deering and Down have been teasing a new album to their fan base for quite some time. The initial announcement came over a year ago in the form of a music video directed by Matteo Servente for the dreamy song “You’re the One.” After a few months, a second video appeared on YouTube, this time for the song “River City.” Then, in December, a video for “Pick a Knee” was released.
Finally, a year later, Deering and Down’s latest album, Know Rhyme Know Reason, is out. Sort of. Lahna Deering and Neil Down played the Galloway House last weekend and made 100 limited-edition CDs for everyone in attendance. The show marked the end of the “soft-release” schedule planned for the album by BAA Music Group, which gets its official release in August.
Recorded by Doug Easley, Know Rhyme Know Reason is Deering and Down’s boldest statement yet. Dave Shouse (the Grifters, Man Control) is featured as a special guest on the song “We Took a Walk,” adding just the right amount of weird to Deering and Down’s brand of spacey indie rock.
The three songs that got the music video treatment are definitely the highlights of Know Rhyme Know Reason, but the record still has some gems on it, specifically the tracks “Spaced out Like an Astronaut” and “Honey if I Ring You.” If you missed out on the release show at the Galloway House, word is that the band will have a release show at Bar DKDC on Thursday, August 4th.
Recommended Song: “We Took a Walk”
Mister Adams — To Drift Is Human
(self-released)
Adam Holton and company might not have set out to record a summer album of the contemporary-rock persuasion, but that’s what we get from To Drift Is Human, the first full length from his band Mister Adams. To Drift Is Human features 10 songs of carefree contemporary rock that would make as much sense live on Beale Street as it would in Otherlands.
The vocals on To Drift Is Human are reminiscent of Dave Matthews, but the Memphis twang in the guitars assure the listener that this record was, in fact, created in the Bluff City. Holton’s main lyrical focus is love, but the song titles “Everyday Love,” “Lovin’ Hand,” and “Let Yourself Love Again” don’t exactly fit with the melancholy, borderline existential title for the band’s debut.
Despite it being their first album, Mister Adams has definitely found a groove that they’re comfortable with, and while To Drift Is Human won’t present the listener with anything they haven’t heard before, it’s the perfect album for front porch beer drinking or a weekend trip out of town. See what Mister Adams is all about when they play a record release show at Wiseacre on Saturday, July 16th.
Recommended Song: “Lovin’ Hand”
Faux Killas — Time in Between (self-released)
Faux Killas are self-described as a punk/R&B/soul band, but they have more in common with Mister Adams then they do, say, the Oblivians. Album opener “Amazing” almost seems like a fake-out track and sounds something like early U2 put through a modern indie-rock filter. Things only get weirder from there. Track two is more of a straight-up rocker than “Amazing,” and features the falsetto vocals of singer Jeremiah Jones.
Track three, “Love Life,” features more falsetto from Jones, and you can bet that he probably had a Darkness CD rolling around his car at some point in his life. Shortly after recovering from the weirdness of the title track, comes the song “Shimmer,” a full-force burner with gravelly vocals and a simple but immediately recognizable Memphis garage-rock riff. Now we’re getting somewhere. The rest of Time in Between flits between the two types of songs introduced at the start of the album. There are equal parts memorable and “what the hell” moments on this 11-track album, but the song “Maurice” seems to reveal the true spirit that Faux Killas and Jeremiah Jones can conjure, and is without a doubt the album highlight.
On Time in Between, Faux Killas show the promise of a new-ish band that’s starting to find their sound. There are still a few kinks to be worked out, but that could be the biggest asset the band has going forward.
Recommended Track: “Maurice.”
