Key Track: "Kilmarnock" Why: The trio reimagines "Amazing Grace" as a Scottish ballad. As the band says in its bio, "This certainly isn't the first time Scottish tunes sailed westward and woke up speaking Y'all." But Cummings, Sutherland and Kolodner have managed to find a charming blend of traditional tunes and make it their own. And Brad Kolodner's banjo brings just the right amount of Americana to the mix. Pete Sutherland's fiddle injects something of the New World into the European folk. Tim Cummings gives the record a heavily Gaelic feel with his pipe playing. In it, three Vermont musicians play traditional Scottish Highlands music, with a few twists. Take a trip back in time to the days of sharing tunes around candlelight - or campfires on the Appalachian Trail - with The Birds' Flight. Where: Cognitive thinning by Los Microbios Tim Cummings, Pete Sutherland and Brad Kolodner, The Birds' Flight Key Track: "A city is not science" Why: It was the only track that didn't make me feel like someone had plugged my ears with cotton. It's a peculiar record that tonally sounds like it's coming from another room in a very large house. Over it all, Jones sings in an awkward baritone reminiscent of late Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. Musically, it's a strange mix of droning synths, jittery blips of noise and washed-out percussion. The noise-punk-sort-of-experimental-maybe-garage-rock act is the brainchild of Lance Jones, who wrote and performed almost all of Cognitive Thinning, save for the odd (and I do mean odd) Rolling Stones and John Lennon covers. Which is saying something, if you listen to some of the records we review.
Hailing from Ira, Los Microbios have managed to submit one of the weirdest albums of the year. Key Track: "I Made One Mistake" Why: Blodgett pushes into quirky indie-rock territory with a song of love and regret Where: Los Microbios, Cognitive Thinning Flash forward almost 60 years, and Blodgett is still writing clever rock songs. The band was picking up heat in the Northeast until Blodgett was caught playing rock and roll records over a church loudspeaker in Stowe and was summarily sent back to school by his mother, ending the band. Blodgett first started writing and performing music in the early '60s with Mike & the Ravens.
Quicksand visuals new full#
On Winooski Calling, the elder statesman of Vermont rock crafts a record full of wry reflections and psychedelic observations. Burlington's cool little brother holds a special place in my heart, and by the sounds of it, Steve Blodgett's heart, as well. Where: At Least Its An Ethos by Robot Rights Steve Blodgett, Winooski Callingįull disclosure: I'm partial to music that shouts out the City of Winooski. Key Track: "You and I" Why: The song plays like a lost Memory Tapes track. I made an album during quarantine and I like it, so I thought I'd share it." Sounds like something a robot would say. Its only response to Seven Days' inquiry was a terse email saying, "I'm a Vermont artist. Adding to the mystery of Robot Rights, the "band" has no credited human creator. The glitched-out record is full of fist-pumping beats and anthemic melodies, as well as bits of almost indecipherable digital dissonance. Robot Rights' At Least It's An Ethos is an electro-pop romp, a high-energy mixtape for androids looking to get laid. Thus far, the machine music has been unimpressive, but hearing a human impression of what an AI might create is far more interesting. I keep reading about people programing AI to write pop music. Anyway, here are six Vermont records that might have slipped under the radar in 2021.
It's almost like they were forced to stay inside with their instruments or something.
Long story short, Vermont musicians have been busy this year. Your friendly neighborhood music editor is sinking in album submissions like a hapless jungle explorer, clawing to escape the quicksand.