“Shake them bones you’ll feel no sorrow / you may end up in a grave tomorrow”
The
more I listen to the rock albums of my comrade in West Coast Avenging,
Calmfixup, the more I feel like his singer-songwriter journey is a story of
building emotional armor. His first album The Last Time I Start Over is this naked cry of the last moments of youth
saying I’m still confused, I’m still figuring life out but I’m gonna be
confident about it going forward.
His
new record Invisible Misery is like
Tony Stark built his armor – the lyrics are less nakedly vulnerable than the
last album but they’re still honest, just with more craft. Meneses (the alter
ego secret identity of Calmfixup) is a great singer who never falters but
something I keep hearing from people is they want the vocals on these records
louder.
Sonically,
TLTISO reminds one of Smashing
Pumpkins and Nirvana while IM reminds
me of the Beths and A Perfect Circle. Listening to his singer-songwriter arc
over the years, Calmfix is like a petri dish of rock paradigms – it sounds to
me like he has all the styles mastered and he gets to deploy them to express
his own particular brand of thoughtful and plaintive poetry. The sound is
bigger and more confident than ever before. The songs are catchy as hell from “Dubious”
to the chill and hypnotic “Belle”. “Tad” is ominous, “Fell” is wonderfully
poppy. The whole album is that strong albeit a bit brief – it’s a melodic tour
de force with smart rhythm as ballast : witness the misery.
Tristan "Tanjint Wiggy" Acker is a staff writer for Zus
Entertainment, a Jooseboxx and Untapped Hip-Hop contributor, and member of the
Inland Empire, California based nerdcore hip-hop group the West Coast Avengers
JooseBoxx.com caught up with the Guardian of the I.E. and JooseBoxx.com
contributor Tanjint Wiggy Woo, at this year's The Happiness of Pursuit
Festival in Ontario California. We also get a bonus of having the one
and only CalmFixUp too! Check it out!
If Peace of Cake found Noa James shedding his growl for a spacy strange proclamation of his love for all life on earh, Gnarly Orca finds him making those ideas sound familiar over incredibly effective and infectious bleeding edge new hip-hop in collaboration with one of the Inland Empire's parallel Buddhas, Cam Gnarly, a favorite of mine from these parts.
The quality of the production of this album can't be overstated, every synth shines, every drum crisp and every melody links flawlessly with Gnarly's clever sung refrains and James' enlightened earnest baritone. Noa sings throughout as well, perhaps most notably on the EP's closer "My Folks" where the duo establish a new shout-out anthem.
Gnarly sounds as confident as ever and at home on spacy smooth stony melodic chillers such as each track here. "Lifting Me Up" has him with his classic cadence and a chorus, like most here, that could double as a mantra of self-improvement and manifesting one's most majestic desires.
Both of these artists have espoused the spirituality of posi-waves for years now. There was never any doubt that their content could mesh well in that way. What is a delightful if not shocking surprise was how perfect the project would be musically as well. The lyrics are original and life-affirming and barsy as they need to be to do the beats justice but are more focused on connecting with earth-beings at their most vulnerable and chillactimous. The mood the album strikes, the tones it hits in its short but substantial 5 tracks, the sincere and musical way in which our stars use their voices to share with you their good news about existence all comes together to make one of the year's most delicious delights and just in time before the year's final quarter is out! Chill to this record, you won't regret it.
The elusive multi-instrumentalist, performer and studio wizard for the West Coast Avengers (my) crew has shocked WCA's followers by dropping a complete hard rock and singer-songwriter guitar song filled album. Calmfix displays a hilarious and self-deprecating awareness in his lyrics, an original but warm and familiar sense of melody, pop sensibility for days and indefatigable rock chops. Every part of this record is by Calmfixup- from every instrument to the vocals to the engineering, mastering and album art. The album has echoes of alt-rock legends like Stone Temple Pilots and Nirvana but there's also a refreshing and clean modernity that makes this album ready made for any mood- like the man himself, the songs traverse trivial topic matter, depressing realities about humanity and lots of thoughtful yet animated navel-gazing observations in between perhaps best summarized by Fix's proclamation, "I calculate every little thing 'cept everything I probly should". Groove to the guitar ballads and rock out to the thrashers, particularly my favorite "Habit". After this air tight debut, Calmfixup shouldn't have to start over again any time soon but when he does, I'll be here for it- you should too!
Tristan "Tanjint Wiggy" Acker is a staff writer for JooseBoxx, youth hip-hop writing instructor with CHORDS Enrichment Youth program (chordseyp.org) and member of the Inland Empire nerdcore hip-hop group the West Coast Avengers. Catch more of their work at westcoastavengers.com, follow Tristan on Twitter @Tanjint or e-mail him at tristanacker@gmail.com
From October of last year through February of this year when people would ask me, "who is that artist dude in your garage?" I would show them this video I loved this video then but even now as Brandon Bailey operates under new monikers such as Gandalf the Black, B. The Wizard, part of Bass Shamans and more, it seems more apparent than ever that this song and piece showcase a lot of the themes that would be and are still important to this creative force.
#upc #urbanpoetscrew #gtb #reborn #megazord
4.
Fatfinger – Collard Green Linguinees ft. King Dice
FatFinger and Dice come ill over a ridiculously mean Fatfinger production; check out this track and FatFinger’s diverse, funky and nerd-tinged bangers on his page linked below!
Dope recent video by the Chico-based, Pomona-originated homie Nsmokiee during a visit to So Cal.
*****************************************************Tristan “Tanjint Wiggy” Acker is a staff writer for JooseBoxx and member of the Inland Empire’s West Coast Avengers. Catch more of their work at westcoastavengers.com, follow Tristan on twitter @Wiggism or e-mail him at tristanacker@gmail.com.
