(photo: Mysapce)

Last week I introduced you to The Jet Rodriguez from Michigan who independently released Seven Hour Night Shifts last week.  Cameron Navetta is the one-man band behind The Jet Rodriguez, and he agreed to undergo a little QBiM cross-examination about his debut album, his musical beginnings, and a few odds and sods along the way.  At only 18, Navetta has already developed into quite the musical triple threat:  he wrote, performed and produced Seven Hour Night Shifts on his own, and it sounds absolutely fantastic.

Q: State your name, band name, and for the record, tell us the who/what/when of your record.

A: Cameron Navetta of The Jet Rodriguez. The record is called “Seven Hour Night Shifts” and all songs were written, performed, and produced by me.

Q: Where’s your base of operations?

A: My bedroom in New Baltimore, MI. 30 miles northeast of The D.

Q: How long has all this music stuff being going on?

A: Since I was 12 basically. But I’ve been pursuing a professional career for about 6 months now.

Q: Without direct musical references, describe for us what your music sounds like.

A: Well, I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s very “chill”.  Melancholy would be the more concrete musical term, I think.  I definitely have plans to explore a more energetic style down the line. We’ll see.

Q: What musician/artist has left an endearing mark on your development as an artist?

A: If I could think of one artist that has made a mark on not only my music, but my life, it would be the legend known as Sufjan Stevens.  I look up to him as a musician and a person.  He’s the single artist that made me want to explore folk music.

Q: In your opinion what has been the greatest invention of all time?

A: Probably the wheel, just because it got the ball rolling… so to speak.

Q: Where does the name “The Jet Rodriguez” come from?

A: It’s a reference to the movie The Sandlot.  It’s pretty cool because the people that know the movie instantly relate, and the people that don’t seem to like it too. It’s funny though, because I’ll get some people that greet me like “Hey Jet!” or “It’s Cameron The Jet Rodriguez” thinking that’s what I want to be called or that it’s my last name. I get a kick out of that.

Q: What’s the most exciting aspect of making music right now?

Probably the prospect of one day making better music. I’m only 18 years old, fresh out of high school.  Sometimes I’ll listen to my songs and they’re not where I want them to be, but I know I’m still maturing as a person and as a songwriter and it allows me to take a step back and be patient with myself. I’ll never use that as a crutch though.

Q: What’s the greatest difficulty facing you as an artist right now?

A: Ironically, it’s the same thing.  Being that I am young and inexperienced, I find that I can write a good amount of stinkers, as they say.

Q: The Beatles or Wings?

A: Being that I’m from Detroit, I think I’d have to go with the Wings, even considering them coming off a Stanley Cup Finals loss.  Are the Beatles like a new expansion team or something?  Never heard of ‘em… But seriously. The Beatles.

Q: What song do you wish you could lay claim to having written?

A: Oh wow. I would have to say “Flume” by Bon Iver. I love the harmonies in that song. I love the arrangement of that song. I love that song.

Q: Is there a song or cover song you love to play live, and why?

A: I like playing this new song that we have called “Hold Your Footing, Back Down” because it usually gets the crowd going.  It’s a departure from the usual “chill” stuff.

Q: What’s the last album you listened to?

A: I streamed the Dodos new album of their website today. I thought there last album was good. This new one, “Time to Die” is great.

Q: A year from now, where do you think you’ll be?

A: Hopefully I’ll get a chance to be touring a little bit. I hoped to have released another album and an EP.

Q: If I let you curate your own music festival, who would be the five bands you would put on the bill?

A: 1. Sufjan, of course, 2. Bon Iver, 3. Fleet Foxes, 4. Frieve (she’s new, but she’s amazing. Check her out. www.myspace.com/frieve), 5. Grizzly Bear.  I don’t think anybody would go to that though… How about you?

Q: What’s been the weirdest reaction you’ve gotten from an audience?

A: Last Tuesday, I was at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, MI, and after the first song, I explained to the crowd that none of my friends came because they all went to see the new Harry Potter movie. Then I proceeded to thank the crowd for their presence.  After about the 5th song, someone shouted “EFF THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE!”  That was pretty special for me. It’ made me laugh.

Q: If we went back in time to visit you in grade school would we recognize the younger you?

A: Probably.  A quirky, obnoxious, music loving 5th grader. Yep, I act pretty much the same now!

Q: What influences you the most when writing songs:  personal experiences, the experiences of others, or art from other mediums (movies, literature etc.)?

A: Mostly personal experience with lyrics. Recently I’ve been trying to explore lyrical inspiration from movies and books and such like you said. When it comes to the music though, I take a heavy influence from good movie scores. I find myself really trying to inspire some of the emotion in my music in the way soundtracks tend to do.

Q: Anything else to declare?

A: Just this:

MP3: The Jet Rodriguez “Marathon”
Myspace: The Jet Rodriguez
Buy: The Jet Rodriguez Seven Hour Night Shifts

album art detail (photo: James 'J Ro' Robinson)

It is with some regret and embarrassment that I have to report my failure to acknowledge that Quick Before It Melts turned 3 on Friday, July 24, 2009.  I’m usually pretty good at keeping my sights on milestones like that, but I guess sometimes these things slip by in the hustle of life.  It wasn’t until I started listening to The First Days of Spring, the brand new Noah And The Whale album that it realized the anniversary date had passed, because it was just after last year’s birthday that I first mentioned the band on here.  The release of their debut album Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down was a few months away, but their jaunty single “Five Years Time” really was a great accompaniment to lazy summer days in the sun.  Now, almost one year on, The First Days of Spring is set to be the perfect accompaniment to grey, overcast summer days more prone to rain than rays.  Season-referencing title aside, this new album revolves around a winter of discontent, documenting and referencing the end of a relationship throughout its 11 tracks.

Even though I’ve only really had a single day to absorb it, I’m compelled enough to bring this imminent release (August 31 according to the band’s website, but I haven’t confirmed whether that is the same date in the UK and North America) to your attention, as it’s just about the most intoxicating album I’ve heard all year.  The folkiness and quirkiness of last year’s album has evaporated, leaving behind a distilled sense of mournful, maudlin melody.  Read:  no sophomore slump happening here.  I think about how many fantastic debut albums I’ve reviewed here over the last three years, and how many of them have been followed up with something lacklustre and disappointing, and realize how rare it is to see musical progression on this scale.  I liked their first album well enough, but I’m loving The First Days of Spring, and am certain that you will, too.

MP3: Noah & The Whale “The First Days of Spring”
Myspace: Noah & The Whale

(photo: Myspace)

I was pleasantly surprised to get word about new music from Young Galaxy the other day.  The Montreal band are setting their sites on the August 25 release date for Invisible Republic, the band’s sophomore disc.  In a recent post on CHARTattack, band founder Stephen Ramsay explains why this album isn’t coming out on Arts & Crafts:  “Getting signed to Arts & Crafts really early in our career had its advantages.  There was a bit of a built-in audience, which was amazing, but also a bit scary once we started to play live.  It worked out very much to our advantage and now, with a second album completed, the focus is finding a label that’s going to stand behind us, allow us to tour and really complement what we’re trying to do here.”

What they’re doing is moving forward from the dreamy pop sounds of their debut and forging a tighter band sound that hints at New Order influences with more guitar work and less studio tinkering.  The album’s first single, “Destroyer”, is streaming at the band’s Myspace page now, and they’re offering up “Long Live the Fallen World” as a free download to entice us in.  Both tracks are pretty different from the somewhat airy sounds of their self-titled debut, and the tighter sound is a welcome change.  I loved the first album, but its extended jams and mid-tempo pace sometimes became a bit too monotonous.

Invisible Republic will find its home on Fontana North.

MP3: Young Galaxy “Long Live the Fallen World”
Myspace: Young Galaxy
Facebook: Young Galaxy

(photo: Chelle)

The last three weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind for me, as I’ve been knee-deep in professional development for my real job and so some things at home have sort of piled up.  And by “some things” I mean “my desk”.  And by “piled up” I mean “Holy crap, where’d all this junk come from?”

One thing that fell on my desk that is most definitely not junk is Kestrels‘ Primary Colours, the band’s debut album.  It’s released by Noyes Records, a small indie label based in the band’s home province of Nova Scotia, and it’s certainly been worth the wait for the full album.  Already high on my list of favourite songs for ‘09 is “Sailed On” and “Our Velocity”, tracks one and two respectively, both impressively blending Sloan’s sense of pop-rock timing and My Bloody Valentine’s guitar drones (albeit at slightly lower volumes and with more instrumentation).  The Sloan comparison is a very interesting one, as these fellow Nova Scotians evoke Smeared-era Sloan, whose post-grunge sound lasted for all of that one album before turning to indie pop.  You wouldn’t hear anything as overtly rock-orientated on that firs Sloan album as the guitar solo midway through “Plastic Trees”, though.  It’s a crazy little riff that could have come straight off a Guns ‘N Roses ballad; it’s not the best–or oddest–thing about the song, though.  That title goes to the sweet violin solo that closes the track.  Again, not an obvious choice, but one that works nonetheless.

And that is Primary Colours and Kestrels in a nutshell:  indie rock music that doesn’t always make the obvious choices.  There are times when it doesn’t work, like on the slow-tempo chorus to  “Houdini”,  which feels a bit too heavy-handed and pretty much slows any momentum the song builds up to a crawl.  Things pick up again a few tracks later with the album’s title track and keeps going to the end of the 10-song debut.  As an opening statement of intent, Primary Colours passes the Canadian-rock litmus test with, er, the flying variety of its titular hues.

That brings us to the details of today’s contest!  Thanks to the good folk at Noyes Records, we have 4 copies of Primary Colours to give away to the good people who read QBiM, and you get to choose whether you want a VINYL copy or a COMPACT DISC copy!  All you have to do to get yourself in the game is send an email to CONTESTS [AT] QUICKBEFOREITMELTS [DOT] COM with your name, mailing address, and format preference (CD or vinyl)  in the body, and–SKILL TESTING QUESTION TIME–the three primary colours (in any order) listed in the subject line.  Contest will close at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, August 4, 2009, but why wait?

MP3: Kestrels “Sailed On”
MP3: Kestrels “Our Velocity”
Mysapce: Kestrels
Preorder: Kestrels Primary Colours

(photo: clasmusic.com)

In last week’s Polaris Shortlist review post I asked, “Where to start with Elliott Brood?”  I hate to sound like a broken record, but the sentiment fits this week’s review like a glove.

Where to start with Fucked Up?

Before The Chemistry of Common Life entered my musical orbit, I’d never given the Toronto hardcore punk band any real thought or consideration.  Their thing is not my thing, you know?  It doesn’t scare me; it just doesn’t do anything for me.  I’m nothing if not an equal opportunist, so once I started giving the disc a spin for Polaris consideration, I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard and my reaction to it.  Like I said back on 25 June, The Chemistry of Common Life is actually a very melodic album that channels its punk intensity.   Penultimate track “Looking For God” is able to steadily build in intensity and power with just one repeated bar that gets powerful without having to get louder.  It’s menacing and grizzly, and very evocative of the rest of the music on offer.  The power is in the its songs rather than it’s screams.  That it’s an instrumental track is a telltale sign of my biggest criticism with Fucked Up.

In a nutshell, I hate the vocals.  There I said it.  Sue me.  Pink Eyes (aka Damian Abraham) has something interesting to say, I’m sure, but there’s something about his screaming growls that push me away from truly appreciating what they have to say.  Nice singing is not what hardcore punk is about, I get it.  I’m not asking for Josh Groban here.  I guess my pop sensibilities are more in tune with what a band like, say Alexisonfire does with the same formula.  George Pettit (who occasionally does some guitar work for Fucked Up) has managed to harness that intensity and razor blade delivery of hardcore punk and still deliver a truly dynamic vocal performance.  Pink eyes just seems to have one mode:  angry/shouty.  That’s hard to take over 52-plus minutes.

I really want to love the Chemistry of Common Life, because it really has some excellent musical moments on it.  “Crooked Head” and “No Epiphany” are just a couple examples of the musical complexity and sophistication Fucked Up can deliver.  Son The Father” has all the markings of a great album opener–how many hardcore albums do you know start with a flute solo??  It’s bloody brilliant, as is the rest of the song.  I actually don’t mind Pink Eyes’ performance on that track; it’s just as the album progresses, his static delivery overshadows that flashes of brilliance that are backing him up.

The chemistry is there for a fantastic album, but Fucked Up have to rework the formula to get the balance right.  Maybe next time?

MP3: Fucked Up “Crooked Head”
Buy: Fucked Up The Chemistry of Common Life