Video of The Day

Video of The Day: Nicholas Johnson – New Vampire

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Nicholas Johnson has not only released a new incredible record, Shady Pines Vol. 2, but played an incredible record release show at Urban Artifact in Cincinnati that we were able to see! Damn, what a good show. The celebration of new music from Nicholas included stellar sets from The New Old-Fashioned’s David Payne and Kent Montgomery (longtime listeners of the show will know that TNOF is a big fave of YTAA) and The Pinkerton Raid. He is coming back to Dayton on Thursday, March 23rd at Blind Bob’s and you should make plans now to catch that show (again with The Pinkerton Raid and Dayton alt-country heroes, Age Nowhere joining the bill).

I cannot pick a favorite song from Shady Pines Vol. 2 but the latest video from Mr. Johnson is a standout on the record. New Vampire is lyrically deep and musically rich. The song is propelled with a gravity of its own that explores the idea of how we experience evenings. The rhythms on this song are deceptively seductive. Nicholas does not have to scream to create an inescapable emotional impact. When he sings “The west is calling, the west is falling” — you believe him because you have felt the same way.

To say that he has a gift with a clever turn of phrase is a sincere moment of understatement. Nicholas takes the anomie and alienation that swells around us that feels like we are being pulled under the surface by a current of our own creation and makes it a statement that does not have the hollow ring of melancholy. The words reveal the power and passion of inescapable frenzy and yet surprisingly tantalizing prospect of loneliness of the current age in which we find ourselves:

Premonition and the prophet screams
Rage into the void of a restless dream
Phone screen burns like man makes fire
Ushers in the age of the new vampire

New skin
Paper thin
Don’t you feel the new age dawning
I can feel it move through my bones
All the places I call home
Yeah we crawl into the unknown
Ah the west is calling
The west is calling
The west is falling

Video of The Day: Quiet Signals – Quiet Signals

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Quiet Signals is Dayton Musician, Guitarist, and accomplished songwriter Nick Kizirnis has joined forces with Lung‘s Kate Wakefield for a lovely and haunting collaboration on guitar and cello. The instrumental music is dreamy, swirling, and yet gentle with an embrace of familiarity and kinship. The song takes an unexpected turn around a little before the four-minute mark and feels heavy, sinister burdened with dark intent that the listener was not expecting in the previous three minutes. The song ends on an aural cliffhanger leaving the journey unresolved.

Clearly, the duo’s previous work on Kizirnis‘ The Distance, while quite different than the current project, has allowed these two gifted musicians to generate their own sonic language. And Quiet Signals is in so many ways soft and tumultuous. We look forward to more music from them in the future.

Nick Kizirnis – guitar
Kate Wakefield – cello

from the album “Quiet Signals” released February 17, 2023.
Nick Kizirnis/Nicky Kay Music BMI

@NickKizirnis (YouTube channel)
@katewakefield1637 (YouTube channel)

https://quietsignals.bandcamp.com
https://nickkizirnis.bandcamp.com
https://katewakefield.bandcamp.com
https://lunglunglung.bandcamp.com

Video of The Day: Matt Derda & The High Watts

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Matt Derda & The High Watts are making some of the most compelling music in a year full of great music! The video is their official music video for ‘Life You Didn’t Know.’ This is the latest single from the Chicago band’s upcoming EP ‘You Didn’t Know?‘ which came out on 11/12/2022.

‘You Didn’t Know?’ from Matt Derda & The High Watts is a picture postcard from a pure sonic territory that reflects the intersection of indie rock, power pop, and alt-country. The semi-title track ‘Life You Didn’t Know’ feels like a driving Replacements song from ‘Pleased to Meet Me’ written by Uncle Tupelo era Jeff Tweedy. Derda’s lead vocal is always spot-on. This is a mighty trio that tackles the feel of each song as if their lives depended upon it.

Video Premier: No One Sphere – Ceiling Fan

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Indie rockers No One Sphere – Dave Mann’s post-Mittenfields project – is certainly picking up steam in early 2022. Later this month (March 18th to be precise), the group releases their debut full length ‘Isn’t Everything About Something‘ on the Broken Sound Tapes label out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The album was recorded with Jarrett Nicolay at Mix Tape Studios in Alexandria, VA. To say that Jarrett contributed to the sound of this project would be a vast understatement. Jarrett not only lent his production skills to the effort, he played all of the instruments as well. Mann and Nicolay together crafted a unique sonic vision.

The band’s album captures the diverse musical influences of Mann’s kaleidoscopic and encyclopedic sonic grasp. The arrival of No One Sphere fills a need for an indie rocker that is not a statement about something, a song that is not pretentious or precious. The single Ceiling Fan manages to create a chantlike chaos of melodic deconstruction that is similar to the musical heart of Wilco’s experimental period. The slinky stagger of the bass line moves along a jazzy rhythm that would not be out of place on a funk record. The lyrics sway from meaningful self disclosure to deliberate non-sensical rhyming. In that way, the song feels akin to Wilco’s deconstruction era of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born. Yet the jangly indie rock center of the song has a Pixies-like gravity.

Ceiling Fan pulls from many classic independent influences in its barely over three minute length. Listeners hear elements of Wire, Gang of Four, mid-’90s era R.E.M., the before mentioned Pixies, Half Japanese and The Replacements.

If the music industry were a fair minded affair, No One Sphere would be at the top of everyone’s new album recommendations. You can follow No One Sphere on Twitter and Instagram. We also recommend that you keep an eye out on their YouTube channel!

RIYL: Wire, Gang of Four, The Pixies, Half Japanese, R.E.M., The dbs, and The Replacements

Video of the Day: Molly Nilsson – Sweet Smell of Success

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This concept video for ‘Sweet Smell of Success’ from German musician Molly Nilsson‘s latest album ‘Extreme‘ just out on January 15, 2022 is our latest video of the day. The melancholy of this song is built around powerful guitars and a swirling mix that continues the evolution of sound away from the neo-synth of her previous music. The song holds a heavy ‘almost’ shoegaze feel. Combining elements of pop, indie, shoegaze and synth, Nilsson sings about a begrudging optimism delivered in her impassive vocals that deliver emotion without having direct statements about love, shame or anger. The chorus will become stuck in your head for days. Check out her other music on bandcamp.

Video of The Day: The Typical Johnsons – Optimistic Nihilism

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The first single from The Typical Johnsons‘ December release is here now. And what a welcome return this is for us music fans. Choosing an advance single is always tricky work. As they always do, The Typical Johnsons have chosen well. ‘Optimistic Nihilism’ works that magic space that all Typically Johnson songs inhabit. It’s real. It brings you along to face the fact that you may be your own worst enemy and that is ok because understanding that is part of how you change it. We cannot wait for the full album!

This is also the first song we will play on the program today! Remember to tune in from 3-6pm eastern time so set the ‘ol clocks. Listen online at http://listen.streamon.fm/wudr

Video of the Day: The Nautical Theme – Somewhere Just Ok (But Not Alright)

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The modern folk-rock duo from Dayton known as The Nautical Theme have released their latest video from their recently released EP ‘Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed‘ entitled ‘Somewhere Just Ok (But Not Alright)’. The EP includes this new song, plus an older song and a Jimmy Eat World cover. The lifting arrangement carries lyrics that are profoundly felt and universally shared by all of us. Keyboardist, vocalist Tesia Mallory and guitarist, vocalist Matt Shetler formed the group in 2017. When you listen to them sing you will feel as if they were born to sing together. The harmonies between them can send shivers down your spine.

The EP can be found everywhere you stream and download music. We highly recommend grabbing the music from TNT’s bandcamp page! Those of us in the Dayton area can see them play St. Anne’s Hill Porchfest on August 21, 2021 at 4pm.

Video of The Day: The Connells – Steadman’s Wake

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Returning after twenty years since their last record (‘Old School Dropouts’), The Connells have just released a lyric video for the title track from their new record ‘Steadman’s Wake.’ The song captures social commentary on the opioid epidemic and more. With a build that leads to a rousing chorus and stunning guitar solo, this song captures many challenges in the current zeitgeist without leading listeners to predetermined conclusions. If the rest of the album is as captivating as the early singles ‘Really Great‘ and ‘Steadman’s Wake‘ suggest then the band in on most solid terra firma.

The album releases on September 24th and we could not be more excited.

Preorder Steadman’s Wake https://found.ee/v4M1 For more information about The Connells, visit theconnells.com

Video of The Day – illuminati hotties – Pool Hopping

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‘Pool Hopping’ the second recent sing from illuminati hotties (the first was “MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA” which came out in April) is from the forthcoming album ‘Let Me Do One More,’ expected on October 1 on Snack Shack Tracks/Hopeless Records. The video by Katie Neuhof shows Sarah Tudzin in pools with and without water. The lyrics and the video capture a free sense of summer fun. The band is a side project of producer, engineer, mixer Tudzin.

Video of the Day: Izzy True – You’re Mad at Me

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Our video of the day comes courtesy of Izzy True (they/them) The band formed in upstate New York in 2015, currently based in Chicago, IL. The project has gone through many lineups over the years, always led by Izzy Reidy (guitar, vocals). These days, Reidy is joined by their friends Sam Goldstein (drums) and Curtis Oren (bass, sax, flute). The slow buildup of this song captures a feeling and sensibility around trying to understand the reasons that someone is upset. The music sways and swirls around that idea of wanting to know the reason that someone is angry.

Video of The Day: Oh Condor – Colors Collapse

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Our fine city of Dayton, Ohio, US not only has a storied history of music with Brainiac, The Breeders, Guided By Voices, Shrug not to mention all of the funk music legends, but it is also home to some of the most exciting music being made today! Adding to that musical legacy is Oh Condor. The post-punk quartet has an exciting new record for you! Equal parts indie, noise rock, math rock, alternative — this is a band that quite rightly defies labels.

Out since May 21, Emergency Psychic is the band’s first Blind Rage Records release and the group’s most recent since 2012’s Reflector. We encourage you to take a trip through the band’s catalog.

You can read about the song courtesy of the fine folks at Punk Rock Theory!

You can follow Oh Condor on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Video of the Day: The Connells – Seven

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The video for ‘Seven’ has been around since the release of The Connells‘ first album Darker Days. The album has recently been released digitally for the first time by the group on their bandcamp page! Tim Harper, the band’s long time soundman re-mastered the album this year. The name of the song ‘seven’ harkens back to a time when Mike Connell, the main songwriter at the time, numbered songs as he wrote them.

The Don Dixon, Dave Adams, Steve Gronback and Rod Dash-produced album was first released in 1985 on the band’s independent label Black Park Records in the United States, and on Elvis Costello’s Demon Records in the UK and Europe. The Black Park and Demon versions of the record are quite unique with different cover art and running order. Most significant is the substitution of “In My Head” for the instrumental “Dial It”, and several tracks were remixed. The Black Park version of the album was re-released in 1987 on TVT Records after the band signed with that label which they would be with until the end of the 1990s. The last record for TVT was 1998’s Still Life. The Connells released Old School Dropouts on their Black Park Records in 2001.

The Connells are preparing to release their latest record ‘Steadman’s Wake’ later this year.