Rehya Stevens’ ” This Time It’s Over”.

Thank god I’ve been in a Mariah Carey pop mood; I usually don’t sit down to these songs longer than 30 seconds. But this piano acoustic ballad by Rehya Stevens does hit the mark on decent songwriting and singing. I still wait for her to hit the high notes; it can be a tease since her voice sounds really strong.

Rehya Stevens’ page on Ourstage.

Doyle & Debbie : Country Duo With a Hilarious Edge

Doyle & Debbie: Marriage of Melodic Perfection

I think I am done writing today, but I will leave you with the country parody duo Doyle & Debbie. I had seen them on Conan O’Brien a few months back. I thought these guys were at least getting somewhere in the Flight of the Concords popularity, but they are still pretty much underground.

Watching it I thought it was weird, since they were arguing and he kept talking about her being “his third singer” (since it is a husband/wife duo, I guess you can get the hint from there). Great singing, and it ended up being really funny. Reminds me a lot of Ween’s country album, but its way more wacky.

Screwin’ Other Women is a great song to start off to. Check out their Myspace page here.

Shot in The Dark: Red Knife Lottery

Ashley Chapman and Dan Yingling of Red Knife Lottery

When I first listened to Red Knife Lottery, they actually were a random album download from a friend. I didn’t really know what it was, and probably left it there for about a year before it came time to start throwing away shitty albums. Going through my music, I usually give albums a few seconds listen before the recycle bin needs to be fed.

The album, So Much Drama (2005), was on the chopping block of the soon-to-be-disappeared albums from my squeezed hard drive. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks!

Bam! ( Writer falls to the ground. He is shaken, but not stirred)

“What was the thing that hit you, writer of this blog?” says the Rhetorical Question! He just doesn’t get his existence in the world, does he?

“Why, a fucking ton of bricks! Weren’t you reading the former part?”

RQ – ” But, I don’t see any bricks. I am confused; I am looking around and all I s…”

It’s a joke RQ. Actually, it really was the first goddamn song on the album! Now Rhetoric, go sit down over there while I talk. I might need you in the future. Does this count as Gonzo literature?

The band is fronted ( guessing from the MySpace page) by the very beautiful Ashley Chapman ( hey, look who updates his blog!). Listening to it at first, you think it is good but have that feeling that its going to soon bore you with the same Noise and Alt. Hardcore ( think: At The Drive In ) that it pushed on you in the beginning of the album.

But somehow her vocals, along with the clash of the high-toned guitars ( sometimes a little to high on the hertz, but I can take some earbleeding), pushes you into listening to each siong over and over again.

Nicole’s voice reminds me of the Yea Yea Yeahs, but if only the reminder could be embellished with Karen O and the gang doing a shitload of coke, playing a gig pretending to make a genre called neo-Emo, but actually doing a hell of a job at it. Their time-signatures change around a lot, but they have that decent pop-punk speed and 2 minute song structure that keeps you head-banging from one track to the next.

Their MySpace page has some newer stuff. Starting this blog made me think of them. After all this time, I am still surprised this band is still off the radar ( Their main site, www.RedKnifeLottery.com, doesn’t work; they have 2 youtube vids). But as my first post of a Shot in the Dark, I am happy to give this band the inaugural award.

You can check out their Myspace page here. I think So Much Drama might be their best song from what I’ve heard. This is one of those bands that are probably really good live. If anyone has been to any of their live shows, pass it by me.

 

 

Ourstage Band – Jason Eddens “Letter”

Photo: Jason Eddens

Well, I’m a little pissed now because the whole fucking page is centered and not just the photo. Sometimes, I can’t stand WordPress. Anyways, I heard this guy’s song on Ourstage.com and was blown away on how catchy it was. It is worth listening to, the competition on the site placed him so low; who the hell is voting on this site? People not like me I presume; maybe I’m the idiot here?

Listening to this song has that High School movie ending feel to it, or that High School movie scene when everything has gone wrong, and the protagonist ( Yay, first time I used that word this year!) is walking down a lonely street. I can tell a random person that this song was the last song on Dawson’s Creek’s Season Finale and they would believe me.

 

Since I never watched the show ( or did I?) it would be doubly fun to see how they think this song is somehow famous.

It isn’t in the least bit. But it is catchy, and wouldn’t be surprised if this kid gets gigs or a record deal in the future. Great song.

 

Listen to his song “The Letter” here.

Help him make money. Buy the song off of Ourstage.