New Stuff from Hodera, The Skullers, Mr. Payday, and Glazer

Hodera released a new single this week.

Beach Friday

CoolMom and CoolDaughter #1 are continuing their Southeast Asian adventure in Thailand and Cambodia. CoolDaugter #2 is getting ready to head to Maine with CoolGrandma. She had a big week of activities, but this was our one, free day. We headed down to the beach for a pretty glorious and cool early afternoon. I'll be on my own for a few days come Sunday, but I did want to send you into what is a huge weekend around here with a few new things from some of our New Jersey paisanos.

Hodera, "North Dakota"

There really isn't any artifice when it comes to Hodera. All you have to do is go to one of their live shows to see that they lay everything out there. Their sound features the lyricism and instrumentation of Americana with the energy of pop punk.

Hodera will be releasing First Things First on October 20th via Take This To Heart records; and, earlier this week, they shared the album's first single, "North Dakota." The song contrasts the freedom of lying, dreaming in a cornfield with those things in real life that drag us down.



The Skullers, "Meet Me in Memphis"

Jack Skuller released his first single at the age of 14. He followed that with a Radio Disney-sponsored, 15-city tour. In 2014, The Songwriters Hall of Fame gave him the [Buddy] Holly Prize, which recognizes "an exceptionally talented and inspired young musician /singer / songwriter whose work exhibits the qualities of Holly's music: true, great and original."

Skuller now fronts rock and roll three-piece, The Skullers. The band will be releasing Meet The Skullers with Mint 400 Records on September 22nd. This week, they gave us single "Meet Me in Memphis."

The Skullers worked with producer Joel Hamilton (The Black Keys, Highly Suspect, The Pretty Lights, Tom Waits) on the EP, and the collaboration results in a bluesy, high-energy introduction to the next chapter in Skuller's musical journey.



Mr. Payday, Welcome to the Modern World

Mr. Payday singer / guitarist, Doug Vizthum, turns 56 today. What better way to celebrate than by releasing his band's third album? Welcome to the Modern World is loud, tight power pop that draws influences from as far back as The Rolling Stones all the way to Bob Mould.

The album opens with "Club Test" which asks, appropriately, "Are you ready for some rock and roll?" "Now and Forever" is simultaneously crushingly loud -- Nick D'Amore's drumming is relentless -- and catchy, the vocal harmonies contrasting with some huge guitar sounds. "Set to Automatic" has a new-wave feel; while "Written in Stone" is more melodic and wide-open as it features keyboardist, Caroline Feinman, on lead vocals. "Sun Shine Down" is a countrified garage-rocker, and "Double Barrel" is careening hard rock / punk.

The title track closes things out in winding, driving-down-the-highway style. The song feels like it could have been written and recorded in the last week or so as it goes through some of the features of our modern world: climate change, hatred, Donald Trump.

Welcome to the Modern World weaves its way in and out of many of the sub-genres of rock music over the course of its 10 tracks. It's all rock and roll, though, so things hang together well.

Mr. Payday celebrate the release of Welcome to the Modern World tomorrow, 8/26, at Pino's in Highland Park. Joining them for that are Dentist, Atom Driver, and Sux. You can pick up a copy of the album there or via Mr. Payday's Bandcamp page.



Glazer, On a Prairie, Live in the Dirt

New Brunswick's Glazer are a band who have been on my radar since the first time I saw them a couple of years ago at one of only two New Brunswick Basement shows I've ever been to as a middle-aged dad. Guitarist / singer Phil Connor engineered the band's latest release, On a Prairie, Live in the Dirt, at his In The West Studio in New Brunswick; and he managed to capture one of the most interesting guitar-based rock records I've heard in a while.

On a Prairie, Live in the Dirt is that kind of off-kilter guitar rock I always love. Songs like "Disaster Footage" and "People's Monument" feature elements of both the slackery indie rock of the mid-90s and the metal-inspired grunge that came before that. "Amplified Mind" does as well; but, rather than blending those sounds throughout the song, it breaks them up into a few distinct parts.

"Trim Yr Limbs" transitions from an epic, noisy intro into angular noise pop. "Pollution" goes from plodding to racing over the course if its 5 minutes. Similarly, album-closer "Will You Be Here Tomorrow?" moves through stages of quiet twang and buzzsaw noise.

All of this is to say that there is tons of weird and interesting stuff happening here -- more than I can really cover in a capsule-type review -- but there's always something, some structure for a listener to grab onto. I love it when things work out that way.

On a Prairie, Live in the Dirt is out now on State Champion Records.

dollys Kicked off Their Fall Tour at Asbury Lanes with Hodera, The Cold Seas, Goodbye Tiger, and Bradley Cooper, 9/23/15

Local Freak

Back when I started CoolDad Music, last night would have been a no-brainer for me. I would have gone to the big show featuring the international touring band at The Stone Pony. While I never spent much time listening to Ride, I am an absolute shoegaze nerdling; and I've been meaning to check them out on this tour. Choices have gotten more difficult for me, though, as I've become aware of all of the great local music we've got around here.

I love dollys. They put out, maybe, my favorite record of the year so far; and they keep cranking out solid pop tune after solid pop tune. They were releasing two more of those at Asbury Lanes last night with help from some other really good bands in The Cold Seas, Goodbye Tiger, Hodera, and Bradley Cooper. dollys were also about to embark on a 3-week tour, and this was their send-off party. I made the decision to skip Ride and head to Asbury Lanes pretty much in the car on my way down to Asbury Park. Someone did call me a local freak for choosing the Lanes, but I have no regrets.

Bradley Cooper, featuring members of Deal Casino and dollys opened things up. Billed as a "hard rock" act, they fell more into just the "rock" category as far as I was concerned. They turned in an extremely fun set, their first in a long time apparently, as several people in the crowd were particularly excited for the band's return. At the end of their set, frontman JoeP said that it would probably be at least five years or so before we saw Bradley Copper again.

Goodbye Tiger have been busy lately. I feel like I've seen them on some bill almost every week. The constant playing pays off in the form of a tight and cohesive set of their somewhere between groove and prog experimental sound. They featured songs from their recent The Pixelated Soul.

Asbury Park's The Cold Seas had just released their Afterglow EP prior to last night's show. The band have a sound that's retro and modern at the same time. They play in that psychedelic, indie rock space of bands like Tame Impala; and I've really enjoyed them every time I've been able to catch a show. The fog machine was in full effect last night; and, while it swamped drummer Nash Breen a couple of times, it worked well with The Cold Seas' vibe.

A few months ago, I reviewed Hodera's 2014 Reset To Default. In that review I said, "The entire set gives the impression that a Hodera live show could be a pretty impressive experience." I'm just gonna say, I know my stuff. I'd missed a bunch of chances to see Hodera live before, so last night was my first time. Even with frontman Matt Smith recovering from an illness, the band tore through an ultra high-energy set that touched on that 2014 EP as well as the band's current release, United By Birdcalls.

I'm not sure what else to say about dollys at this point. They're just really incredible every time. From Jeff Lane's guitar work, to Erik Romero's bass, to Natalie Newbold's joyous drumming and vocals, they just consistently bring it. My one complaint might be that their sets always seem too short, but that's the mark of a band that knows how not to overstay its welcome and always leave them wanting more, I guess. The two new songs that dollys released yesterday -- "I Know" and "Imitator" -- sounded great live and fit in seamlessly with the rest of the band's set.

There is no doubt in my mind that Ride put on a great show and that I would have loved every minute of it. But I can't imagine its being any better than last night's show at Asbury Lanes. That's not a knock on anyone. It's just an observation about how incredibly lucky we are to live in such close proximity to so much great music.

Pics from every set are up at Flickr. You can click the links below to check them out.

dollys

Hodera

The Cold Seas

Goodbye Tiger

Bradley Cooper

Hodera, Reset to Default, 2014

EP Review

Northern NJ's Hodera, fronted by singer / guitarist Matthew Smith, released Reset to Default last spring. The band toured for the record throughout the summer. Lately, they've been on a bit of a hiatus as they prepare to record their next release; but this weekend, they head to New Brunswick's Empire.

Reset to Default combines the introspective style of the singer / songwriter with the harder edge of alternative rock. Opener "Just My Instinct" starts out with acoustic guitar but quickly ramps up to a bigger sound as Smith sings the chorus. Similarly, the title track starts out sounding almost folk-punk before adding in some electric guitars as Smith sums up the collection by admitting he "can't reset to default." Growing up and moving forward sometimes mean you can never go home again.

"She Knows Because She Read It in a Book Once" is a cathartic, emotional rocker that gives way to a quieter, lower-fi "hidden" track that showcases a bit of Smith's Bon Iver-ish side.

The entire set gives the impression that a Hodera live show could be a pretty impressive experience. You can see for yourself when Hodera play The Empire in New Brunswick (Ask a punk) with The Antics, Shadowplay, and Debt League on Saturday 2/21.

You can stream Reset to Default at Hodera's Bandcamp page where it's available as a Name Your Price download.