Nov 07

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Sacred Hills EP is a short, sweet snapshot of the long and winding journey of a man named Matt Costa. The E.P. has four tracks; two unpolished (but superior) classics hidden in the middle surrounded on either end by more sing-along, bigger produced songs. In other words the intro/outro tracks are nice, but like a geode, the gems are in the middle.

The single and opener, “Good Times” is a large celebratory sound reminiscent of the The Beatles, with colorful horns and that happy folk-rock feel, but the lyrics are somber, speaking of a return to hard times…a return to truth, to “the man I once was.” Back to reality. Matt is clever here, offering an economically timely piece. Roundabout the second chorus you get this feeling of, “Aha! I see what you’re doing here!”

The second track, “Never Change”, is the stand-alone classic.  It could have come from the past 80 years of music. The soundscape is reminiscent of Donovan or even an old Woody Guthrie ballad. Costa’s tired voice hinges on the feeling of a theme song or the ending credits to an old Western.  It’s almost got a smirk to it though…actually the whole album does. While the album spins, especially during “Never Change,” you feel a satisfactory buzz and when it ends, you wish it hadn’t.

matt

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Oct 30

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Right now, as I write this, sitting next to me are two of my acoustic guitars. My new Martin sits by my desk, its warm, rich mahogany gleaming in the low light. I can almost smell it from here. On the neck a rare and beautiful rosewood from East India is laid where my fingers go, along with solid Black Ebony and Sitka Spruce details. And then there’s my Taylor. The top is a crispy crackling Sitka Spruce, making it loud and bright. Indian Rosewood runs across the back and sides of my instrument, and this fingerboard is a solid piece of ebony, a deep, durable but extremely rare wood.

So let’s get this straight…in my room right now, I have mahogany, rosewood, ebony, and Sitka Spruce. Common sense makes it seem wrong. In most countries, these are illegal to harvest. In fact, ebony can now only be found from one country in bulk, the small Eastern African country of Cameroon. But still, when a well-versed guitar player walks into a guitar shop, he or she will insist on therarest woods on the planet. Why?

Back in the 1930’s C.F. Martin & Co. was producing instruments of mahogany, Brazilian Rosewood, and other high-quality tonal woods from all over the world with free reign.

marc

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May 31

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SFD Review:

Any Port In A Storm DIRTY HEADS Review by Marc B.

Huntington Beach natives The Dirty Heads have a new album out, and they want you to hear it. They pulled out their bag of tricks for this one, and the end result is a colorful mix of heavy, pissed off hip-hop and light, acoustic barefoot jams.

The obvious, breakthrough hit-and-a-half is the catchy love story “Lay Me Down” featuring Rome of Sublime. According to my father, “Rome was the only one with any talent.” I disagree. They’ve all got talent. The Dirty Heads have that raw, barefoot, pissed off talent that’s harder to see than Rome’s smooth, vanilla ice-cream vocals.

The album’s harder edge is exposed on tracks like “Hip-Hop Misfits” and “Sails to the Wind,” both with an almost Eminem quality. They’ve got the hard stuff down, ready to go. But it’s important to remember that most of these songs come from barefoot, latenight jams. This sound is well documented and really comes out on tracks like “Stand Tall” and “Rains it Pours.”

My personal favorite is their opening track, “Neigborhood.” (Listen to it in the player below!) It’s a screaming theme song for the southern California beach bum. Combine that with the remake of their original hit that made them local favorites, “I Got No Time,” and you’ve got Core fans will be pleased to know that it sounds just like the original, just better in all the right ways. New listeners will find this track incredibly catchy, and funny. “You say you get more pussy than a gynecologist”.

Dirty Heads’ album “Any Port in a Storm” combines genres into a surprisingly pleasing recording throughout, its worth a listen. Have a listen. Do it.

You can scope the album on iTunes or Amazon.

Check out some tracks from the album:


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