Grand Vapids
Guarantees
Independent (2015)
Athens, Georgia has a long history of producing some great musicians and music, known for being the birthplace of groups like the B-52’s and R.E.M. as well as the adopted home of the Elephant Six Collective. One of the latest bands to emerge from the storied Athens scene is Grand Vapids, a quartet whose 2015 debut Guarantees features ten tracks of Pavement-like, laid-back guitar rock. There’s also something about this album that recalls for me the more melancholic music by Minus the Bear, but while that band seemed to delight in throwing listener expectations out the window, Guarantees is remarkably consistent in terms of what it provides for the listener. It’s also almost soothing, with plenty of downright sleepy songs scattered among the more driving, loud and gnawing tracks. Opener “Secret Sin” is one of the latter, with a crisp, punchy drum rhythm and a chugging main guitar riff complimented by a resonant baritone vocal. Brief additions of background sound – a twinkling secondary melody here, a distortion-heavy passage there – accentuate the song’s tight composition and offer some variety alongside the omnipresent drone of the main instrumental parts. “Adequate” continues in much the same way, with a burpy, grinding … Read more
Sergio Mendes
Magic
Okeh (2014)
Sergio Mendes is a Brazilian legend. His name might not be a big draw here at Scene Point Blank, where … Read more
Franz Nicolay
To Us, the Beautiful
Silver Sprocket (2015)
Franz Nicolay is often billed as an ex-member of The Hold Steady, an ex-member of The World/Inferno Friendship Society, or … Read more
