{"id":524,"date":"2016-02-18T02:46:07","date_gmt":"2016-02-18T02:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=524"},"modified":"2016-02-18T02:58:56","modified_gmt":"2016-02-18T02:58:56","slug":"ftv-the-young-revelators-all-i-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=524","title":{"rendered":"FTV: The Young Revelators – All I See"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0There are eternal questions that beg for answers. \u00a0Why is the sky blue? \u00a0Why does gravity always pull down? \u00a0What is a record producer? \u00a0Okay, in my line of work, I can answer the first two but it has taken years of listening to records and making acquaintances to get a handle on the last one. \u00a0The bigger an album hits, the more one hears about the producer and there are some legendary names that even casual music fans recognize: \u00a0<\/span>Don Was<\/b>, <\/span>Phil Spector<\/b>, <\/span>Rick Rubin<\/b>, <\/span>Jeff Lynn<\/b>, <\/span>Mutt Lange<\/b>, <\/span>Rick Derringer<\/b>, <\/span>George Martin<\/b>, <\/span>Alan Parson<\/b>s – this is truly a list that spans the entire history of recorded music. \u00a0My short list doesn\u2019t even scratch the surface, but you get the idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I have been lucky enough to correspond with, and in some cases, sit down and chat with, some very talented folks who would be best described as \u2018producers\u2019 or \u2018artist – producers\u2019 (musicians who have also served as producers). \u00a0Whether they are producing themselves or other musicians, hearing the likes of <\/span>Al Jacquez<\/b> and <\/span>Mark Tomorski<\/b> (<\/span>Measured Chaos<\/b>, <\/span>Savage Grace<\/b>) or <\/span>Lindsay Tomasic<\/b> (<\/span>Trees<\/b>) talk about the magical process of making a record album is fascinating. \u00a0Some find their way to the producer\u2019s chair directly, but more often than not, they work their way there from either the performing musician end or recording engineer end of the studio spectrum. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Reading <\/span>Petty: \u00a0The Biography<\/i><\/b> by Warren Zanes introduced me to <\/span>Denny Cordell<\/b>. \u00a0<\/span>Cordell<\/b> and <\/span>Leon Russell<\/b> founded <\/span>Shelter Records<\/b> together although it eventually became Cordell\u2019s baby. \u00a0Hearing both Petty and Cordell explain in minute detail how Petty\u2019s earlier band <\/span>Mudcrutch<\/b> evolved into <\/span>Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers <\/b>answered a lot of my own questions about the role a producer can play in guiding a band into the big time. \u00a0Cordell comes off pretty close to a \u201c5\u201d compared to some of his contemporaries who can range from \u2018genius\u2019 (\u201c1\u201d) to \u2018nutjob\u2019 (\u201c10\u201d) \u00a0on the old normality meter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In 2014, I was introduced to <\/span>Gary Tanin<\/b> of <\/span>Daystorm Music<\/b> via one of my favorite CDs of that year, <\/span>Sam Llanas\u2019 <\/b>The Whole Nite Thru<\/i><\/b>. \u00a0<\/span><\/i>When I sent Gary the review I wrote for a <\/span>From The Vaults<\/i><\/b> article, he asked if he could use some of it on their web site and I said, \u201cSure, knock yourself out.\u201d I did a little information mining and found out that Tanin cut his teeth both as a musician and recording studio apprentice while attending the University of Wisconsin – \u00a0Milwaukee in the early 1970s. \u00a0In the 1980s, Tanin began a lifelong journey marrying studio and computer technology with his passion for music, which in my mind says, \u201cInnovator, not a follower.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Credentials, you ask? \u00a0Not only has he won <\/span>Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMIs) Producer of \u00a0the Year Awards<\/b> in<\/span> 2003, 2004, 2005,<\/b> and <\/span>2010<\/b>, he has produced albums for <\/span>Sam Llanas<\/b> (formerly of the <\/span>BoDean<\/b>s<\/span>,<\/b> now carrying on with his own band), and <\/span>Daryl Stuermer<\/b> (Milwaukee’s contribution to<\/span> Genesis<\/b> and <\/span>Phil Collins<\/b> solo work, but also a well known Wisconsin music legend in his own right). \u00a0These are just the tip of the iceberg. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The list of albums he has mastered for artists like Stuermer and ex-<\/span>Violent Femmes<\/b> drummer <\/span>Victor DeLorenzo<\/b> is also long. \u00a0I was so impressed with his work with Llanas, that none of this came as a surprize. \u00a0He also labors as a freelance writer, consultant, and driving force for his new partnership <\/span>Planet Green Productions<\/b> with partner <\/span>Ric Probst<\/b> (who is the consummate recording engineer with a major label pedigree).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I got an email from Gary recently asking if I had received a copy of the CD he recently produced for a Milwaukee band called <\/span>The Young Revelators<\/b>. \u00a0I had to admit that I have been trying to cure our latest round of website server ills for a couple of weeks and ended up with a very large box of mail sitting in the studio. \u00a0I concluded that more than likely, it was somewhere in that box, but I promised him I would get right on it and get back to him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I sat down to open mail and take a listen to <\/span>All I See<\/i><\/b> and I got so caught up in the music, that is all I got done in that sitting. \u00a0When I popped the CD out of the case, I buried the cover and the artist promo sheet that came with it. \u00a0I tend to listen to a CD before I read up on the band. \u00a0I am not sure why I started this little routine, but in that I don\u2019t multitask all that well, it forces me to listen to the music without distraction. \u00a0It took one listen for me to write Gary back and tell him, \u201cYou have another great CD in your pocket\u201d. \u00a0Once I read up on the band and checked them out on YouTube, I was more impressed with <\/span>The Young Revelators<\/b> than ever.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first thing that popped out at me was the crunch of the guitars. \u00a0Gritty lines and rhythms dominate the tracks. \u00a0The song structure, vocals, and arrangements made me think of <\/span>Mato Ninji\u2019s<\/b> work with<\/span> Indigenous<\/b> and the Garzas brothers of <\/span>Los Lonely Boys<\/b>. \u00a0They reminded me of a lot of blues based bands I have liked over the years (<\/span>Foghat, Free, Savoy Brown, Peter Green<\/b> era <\/span>Fleetwood Mac<\/b>) but they aren\u2019t just a copycat band. \u00a0The sound is familiar, yet very original. \u00a0Classic guitar tones and vocals permeate the album. \u00a0I went so far as to dig out some Foghat live tracks and found that although singer-guitarist <\/span>Alejandro Martinez\u2019s<\/b> vocal range is a bit higher, his voice and phrasing remind me a lot of the late <\/span>Lonesome Dave Peverett <\/b>with a dash of <\/span>Free\u2019s<\/b> Paul Rodgers<\/b> mixed in. \u00a0The guitar reaches back a bit farther and offers up some psychedelic tones to color the crunchy rhythms.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The opening track <\/span>Worms<\/i><\/b> got my attention and by the end of the second (<\/span>Times is Hard<\/i><\/b>) I was grooving to the solid bass-drums bed that <\/span>Benjamin Michalski<\/b> and <\/span>Frankie Martinez<\/b> were laying down. \u00a0They don\u2019t sound like a three piece band on this record and I made a mental note to find some YouTube clips to see if the same could be said about them playing live. \u00a0I pressed on and the title track (<\/span>All I See<\/i><\/b>) changed the pace a bit with a rollicking beat and lyrics that transcend the <\/span>Baby Baby Baby<\/span><\/i> school of blues rock. \u00a0<\/span>Just A While<\/i><\/b> brings back the guitar crunch and <\/span>I\u2019m a Fool<\/i><\/b> evokes the slide boogie of <\/span>Rod Price<\/b> and <\/span>Kim Simmonds<\/b>. \u00a0If Todd from the WOAS-FM west coast bureau in Eugene had sent me this CD on an unlabeled disk and said it was the new <\/span>Noel Gallagher<\/b> and the <\/span>High Flying Birds<\/b> album, \u00a0the strum and lyrics of <\/span>Here for the Rid<\/i><\/b>e <\/span><\/i>would have made perfect sense to me. \u00a0The <\/span>Los Lonely Boys<\/b> like arrangement and vocal vibe reappears on <\/span>\u00a0<\/b>Sausalito<\/i><\/b>.<\/span><\/i> \u00a0<\/span>Night After Night<\/i><\/b> gets right back into the soulful Lonesome Dave vocal and the Rod Price type of slide boogie that makes you want to get up and dance. \u00a0<\/span>The Young Revelators<\/b> touch a lot of bases here but the track ordering just feels and sounds good. \u00a0Each track makes you wonder what is coming next and you are never left with that, \u201cHo Hum, same old, same old\u201d vibe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0About the time I thought I had them pegged, the instrumental track <\/span>Martin<\/i><\/b> came up and I had to ask myself, \u201cWho ARE these guys?\u201d \u00a0If you can take prog rock and fuse it with poppy jazz, then it would come out sounding like <\/span>Martin<\/i><\/b>, <\/span><\/i>not unlike some of the jazzy excursions that <\/span>Alex Liefson<\/b> and <\/span>Geddy Lee<\/b> take with<\/span> Rush<\/b> from time to time. \u00a0\u00a0The Garzas brothers couldn\u2019t groove any better than the Martinez brothers do on <\/span>Lend Me Your Ear<\/i><\/b>. \u00a0<\/span><\/i>Lookin\u2019 <\/i><\/b>is vocally a nice country-funk ride that lets you sit back and catch your breath. \u00a0It moves along and the keys and background vocals drive the song along with <\/span>Gary Tanin<\/b> adding \u2018organ\u2019 to his other list of talents.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The CD concludes with <\/span>Killin Time<\/i><\/b> and <\/span>Tired of Love Songs<\/i><\/b>.<\/span><\/i> \u00a0Neither of these tracks would be out of place on a <\/span>Gary Clark, Jr<\/b> album. \u00a0The last tracks bookend the album in such a way that you feel like you are back home where you started this whole bluesy, funky adventure. \u00a0<\/span>The Young Revelators<\/b> have a great sound and will make waves in the music industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I have had the pleasure of hearing Gary Tanin\u2019s last two albums and I am already excited about what he will do next with <\/span>Daystorm <\/b>and <\/span>Planet Green Productions<\/b>. \u00a0The last eternal question I have is this: \u00a0How long will it take before we see <\/span>The Young Revelators <\/b>up north? \u00a0They would be a wonderful band to see at the <\/span>Porcupine Mountain Music Festival<\/b> next August.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>