by rudyards | August 21st, 2013
Adam Bricks (Houston, TX)
https://adambricks.tumblr.com/
If you’re not familiar with the work of Adam Bricks, it’s not your fault; he can’t sit still for long. This Houston songwriter has been chasing answers for most of his life, spending years around the south crafting a voice he went on to use throughout New York and as far afield as Tel Aviv. A certain connection with the people and places of the world can be found at the core of his songs, universal truths meandering throughout lyrical observations. For all the miles traveled on his journey toward finding this songwriting voice, greater still were the amount of hours spent on nights crafting his talent among the numbers of his ilk. Years of immersion amongst New York’s anti-folk scene and Sidewalk Cafe’s historic open mic nights propelled him through three EP’s of his early material. An increasing desire to spread his wings, and the distinct realization that there was more to be written about his roots, brought him from the burrows of Brooklyn back home to Houston.
The result is ‘City Songs,’ a sweetly scored track-record of life thus far. Houston had its first substantial taste of Bricks when the single Kristmas was released over the winter. Its understated arrangement is a testament to feel of the resulting full length … . the performances are front and center on full display, letting Brick’s lyrics speak directly to you. The time he spent sewing his songwriting seeds is apparent from the first track of acoustic guitar layered goodness; you hear shades of Dylan-esque story telling throughout, from the tight opening arrangements to the jangly loose ‘On Your Doorstep.’ There’s even the plodding thump recalling Jeff Tweedy on ‘Waiter’s Song,’ an honest ode to the working folk just trying to get by and make things happen. Bricks has put a lot of miles and plenty of work into what has become his debut full length offering, and he’s making a strong argument for membership to the league of modern American songwriters. - Aaron Echegaray
“Adam Bricks looks like another heir to Houston’s tradition of talented storytellers packing acoustic guitars. City Songs, the Bellaire High School grad’s brand-new full-length album, is a ramshackle yet tuneful suite of songs dedicated to Houston itself, and flashes bits of rootsy charm and pop smarts.” - Chris Gray (Houston Press)
Adam Bricks has a fascinating voice. Not a “pretty” voice, mind you. It’s casual and conversational but not lacking color. He sometimes sings a bit behind the beat, which gives his songs a sauntering feeling that is warm and inviting. He has a brilliant collection of new tunes called “City Songs” that puts that voice and his lyrics in a roomy setting that never once leans toward excess, even when he dials in the brass. He’s bright with a lyric, too, and more than occasionally funny as well as poignant as he is in one of my favorite lines: “I’ve been as lonely as a fish in a tank.” - Andrew Dansby (Houston Chronicle)
Walker Lukens (Austin, TX)
https://www.walkerlukens.com/
Austin, Texas by way of Brooklyn (NY,) Georgetown (TX,) Toulouse (France,) and Houston (TX,) singer-songwriter Walker Lukens has called a few places home in the past couple years. He’s visited even more in the last twelve months alone: two east coast tours, two jaunts through the south, a short European tour, a month-long residency at New York’s Lower East Side fixture, Pianos, and a smattering of one-off dates around the US, including opening for R. Stevie Moore.
Voraciously criss-crossing the country is not something that he learned to do as a musician, “I grew up traveling a lot with my family. Before I was 10, I’d driven all over the country visiting my aunts and uncles. I don’t get restless in a car. It feels meditative.” Listeners can easily deduce this after spending time with his latest EP, Year of the Dog. “I didn’t realize all these songs dealt with moving around until we were almost done making it. I briefly considered calling this EP ‘Drunk Driving’ but was strongly urged by friends that this was a terrible, terrible idea. They were right.”
Year of the Dog is an unexpected collage of electronic fuzz, breathy vocal samples, and primordial guitar riffs. One of the real pleasures in listening to the release is hearing Lukens layer the beginning of the tracks with various combinations of these building blocks. The result is more than a little counterintuitive: painstakingly calculated compositions that feel organic and mechanic, as Lukens literally breathes (and sometimes coughs and wheezes) them into existence with is Electronharmonix 2880 loop station. Think Jamie Lidell, but steeped in blues and folk, instead of R&B/Soul. Think Tom Waits but imagine he was reared on Pavement and Wilco. While only 5 songs in length, Year of the Dog covers lots of ground, managing to put a Hank Williams song (“Ramblin’ Man”) and a chopped-and-screwed, blues send-up to Kayne West and Jay-Z (“What I Need (I Can’t Get)”) in the same sonic universe.
Traveling and exploring new ground, both musically and literally, is a recurring theme on Year of the Dog.” The title track, “Year of the Dog,” is an excellent example of the two past-times existing in harmony. The gasping, acapella beat punctuated by crunchy guitar strums perfectly reinforces the restless aesthetic embodied in the lyrics. It’s as though Lukens is scoring the kind of archetypal road-trip movies that play out in our heads as summer unfolds before us. By the time the guitar hook returns just after the chant of “My God, Amen,” you’re already singing along and thinking Amen, indeed.
Though it is a departure from the more traditional folk-rock sounds of Duty, under the moniker The Brood, and on 2011’s split Are We Gonna Folk or Duet? with Austin-based Grand Child, fans of Lukens’ will recognize his trademark mix of whimsy, nostalgia, and genre subversion in Year of the Dog. “I was tired of being the guy with the acoustic guitar. I started to feel irrelevant, I felt like I was writing good songs but I didn’t really want to perform them,” says Walker Lukens. “ Although I never wanted to be the guy who loops his guitar over and over, I bought an Electroharmonix [2880 loop station]… It caused me to think more about rhythm than I had before….with the loop station the beat and the hook had to be stronger because you can’t really change it mid-song without killing the flow. It caused me to use my voice differently. I could build a song using only my voice.” Indeed, Year of the Dog includes two tracks, ‘Lover’ and ‘Robert Moses,’ which are built solely on vocal loops.
Using only a loop station, a Gretsch Tennessee Rose, and an array of bodily noises, Lukens’ live performances are quickly gaining a reputation around the US. One will hear the Year of the Dog tracks next to an assortment of covers from The Pixies, Howlin’ Wolf, Son House, Carly Rae Jepsen and other top 40 princesses. His full-length album, Devoted, will be released on April 2, 2013. Lukens has also put together a bigger line up for the live show. They’re called The Side Arms. He’ll probably be playing in your town soon, but if you just can’t wait, check out the YouTube.
Ancient Cat Society (Houston, TX)
https://www.facebook.com/ancientcatsociety
Steered by Buxton front man Sergio Trevino, flanked by bandmates Austin Sepulvado (guitar) and Haley Barnes(keyboards/vocals), the Cat Society has already been a big hit at Leon’s Lounge, where their bare-bones spirituals of faith, doubt and discovery have drawn droves of roots-minded, reverent hipsters to several installments of the repurposed Midtown dive since the group’s debut earlier this spring.
