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Stone Garwood – Magenta Placenta

CD Review by Brooke Mason

Stone Garwood is self described as alternative rock and his music is all original improv. His influences include Garuda, PFunk, Melanie Safka, Billy Preston and specifically 100% Acid Jazz. If you like acid jazz you may get a kick out of Magenta Placenta. The Hoodlimp of Limriosity sounds like an experiment in track editing. It reminded me of the movie Contact; floating through space hearing tons of radio transmissions traveling through time. Playing with multi-tracks on single tracks seems to be a good option for getting all your little ditties recorded and has also been done by the likes of They Might Be Giants on their album Apollo 13.

Garwood’s lead guitar instrumentals sound as though they are being played as a recording is playing in the background on Barking Moon Shadows and Hunt-kun Leviathan The Hungry Last Dinosaur. The reason for this is Steve has recorded all of these songs with audio tapes and Garageband! All of the instrumental tracks, vocals and lyrics are improvised. Prone Drone, Block Serve 3 and the title track are definitely trippy, with dissonant chords and stream of consciousness verse somehow reminiscent of the watered out vocals of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s Lady of the Island. Lyrically, Threeandropold is the most successful freeform verse. They are open to interpretation but seem to be about the love for a woman who is either physically or mentally too short to reach the storyteller for a kiss and the willingness of the storyteller to wait for the time when she is able to reach. It is in this same song that the Celts are amusingly referred to as being a short race, seemingly an allusion to leprechauns.

Garwood does not have any formal training nor can he afford his own instruments, but he does have a passion that is apparent from this compilation. Wind plays with the speaker sound going back and forth so there is some mixing experimentation here, and this one is well done. If We and Threeandropold sounded like reversed tracks and are psychedelic to be sure. Sungun makes nice use of guitar filters. Amofromun and San Miguel could benefit from being recorded again to get better sound levels. The melody lines are promising and cleaned up I could see them as being very evocative background music for film or television.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/stevegarwood

Album: http://amiestreet.com/music/steve-garwood/NlwaVDL6v4kx/

Linda Bonadies – Karma

CD Review By Brooke Mason

Songsalive! member Linda Bonadies’ latest album Karma is her second release following her 2004 debut No Regret. The upbeat title track sucks you in with a joyful message of becoming a self fulfilling prophecy by putting positive energy out into the universe. Also what stands out here, and throughout this album, is Linda’s gift of composition garnered at Bucknell University and Hartt School of Music. Linda’s musical knowledge comes through in her breakdown structures on songs like Karma and The Flow. My favorite track on this album is Stir Crazy with its highly skilled minor chord compositions that fit the lyrical theme.

Vocally I would compare Bonadies more to Carly Simon than Carole King. Linda’s vocal delivery is consistent throughout the album. Lyrically as well, I find the comparisons more akin to the emotional rawness of Carly Simon’s Itsy Bitsy Spider. Linda’s lyrics allude to a lifetime of garnered wisdom on songs like Lead With Your Heart and Take Nothing For Granted. The best representation of Linda’s writing skills on this album is The Flow.  After comparing a fish swimming against a river and a bird flying against the wind as a metaphor for the struggle of humanity and acceptance of the nature of life, Bonadies assures us that, “There’s no need to fight because the flow will take you through your life…”

Runaway Train, Hold Me and The Way It Is definitely have that Been to Canaan style percussion. Male harmonizing is used to great effect on songs like Lead With Your Heart and You, a sassy little jazz number somehow reminiscent of Millie Small.

Website: http://www.lindabonadies.com/

Myspace: www.myspace.com/lindabonadies

Read the interview

Read her Member of the Month post

Read her official press release

 Details of the release

More about Mark Stortvedt

Songsalive! member, Australian artist Yolanda Thomas, has hit the top 40 Aria Charts and had her song LEFT ME DOING TIME chart at number 31. Congrats Yolanda!

I kept thinking Vanessa Williams. Borden has a very classic voice and on songs like Do Again, a beautiful piano driven ballad, I could imagine Borden going on to write and sing romantic movie soundtrack numbers. Yes, she sounds that good and as a songwriter she knows how to cater to an audience and the radio. For example, her track Louis Vuitton is chock-full of pop culture references which would market well in the modern country era of bands like Big & Rich. She could also hold her own against Carrie Underwood’s hit Before He Cheats with her angst driven spurned love song Kissed Me Goodbye and her “Dear John” ballad It Never Crossed My Mind. Borden definitely has an understanding of the current country market and how to appeal to this patriotic fan base; Shine is about a soldier.

American Skies is more in the Bruce Springsteen vein, starting in with some harmonica and accordion, with lyrics about farming in Nebraska. Borden knows how to pull all those emotional heart strings a lah Loretta Lynn with her tender understanding of the human condition on songs like the piano based empty nest ballad Cherished One and Sam, about a homeless man in Vegas down on his luck. Here is where you really see Borden’s lyrical prowess come through strongest: “When neon diamonds shine on him tonight/make him feel invincible again/last roll of the dice/one more card/one last vice/fate can deal a lousy hand/just like Sam.”

These are very radio friendly songs and Borden is definitely doing it right by collaborating and marketing her material. The singer/songwriter believes A Songwriter's Collage will help her make a better pitch for her songs. Borden says, "It includes a lot of variety. Even though my first love is country I have these pop and rock and Christian songs too, so I have a lot of variety in my writing." Christian, pop and country? It worked for Amy Grant!

CJ Borden has performed at the Tennessee State Fair and the world-famous Bluebird Café and resides in Las Vegas where she continues to write pop, country and rock, and is currently looking for performing opportunities.

CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/cjborden

Website: http://www.cjborden.com

Label: Mesa Sand Music/RPJ