“60 Years On…” 05-01-25 playlist Hr.2
*Gravity Jacket – Up To You
*Gravity Jacket – I Deny That
*Gravity Jacket – 100 Guitars
Ray LaMontagne – Drive in Movies
Crosby, Stills & Nash – Just A Song Before I Go
Yusuf / Cat Stevens – Hard Headed Woman
Elvis Costello – Spooky Girlfriend
David Bowie – Rebel Rebel
The Ocean Blue – All The Way Blue
Mekons – You’re Not Singing Anymore
The Who – Bargain
The Sawtelles – Crash 23
The Alarm – Chimera
* IMC ‘Zine #53 Sept. ’03 Feature CD – Gravity Jacket “Hangin’ on the Edge”
26.5 years ago on Sept. 1, 1998 I founded IndepenDisc Music Club.
To Celebrate, during hour #2, we will revisit all the IndepenDisc Monthly Feature CDs/Artists from 1998 – 2013.
Issue #53 Sept. ’03
Gravity Jacket – Hangin’ on the Edge
It’s nice to sit down with old friends and talk, and reflect, and dream, and just generally enjoy each other’s company. Records can be like that too; they can make the artist a friend, someone who you get to know on a certain level based on their songs, the way they are written, what they are written about, how they are presented, and ultimately how they “speak to you.” Most artists begin with the purpose of expressing themselves, and their style of expression (as an artist) is music, as opposed to painting, sculpture, or any number of creative outlets. And, when we’re really lucky, an artist doesn’t abandon his vision, so over the course of time we learn a lot about them, and if we connect with them, well then, whenever we put on their albums, it’s like we’re sitting down with an old friend.
Now, let’s take it to the next level. What if you know the artist? Or what if you know the artist’s music so well that you think you know them? This is when you want to introduce them to your friends, when you want to sit down and listen to the artist’s music along with the people in your life whose company you enjoy, because you think that they would appreciate your friend the artist through his music as much as you do. After all, you’re friends, so you must share certain common grounds, and if music is one of them you can have a great time introducing everybody to each other and the music.
Meet my friend Matt Kjeldsen. I’ve never personally met Matt, he lives in Austin, TX quite a ways from Connecticut, but I did meet Matt back in 1998 through IndepenDisc when he sent me a CD by his band The Runes. The CD is called “Lost Songs,” and I deemed it “Artistic Rock (not to be confused with Art Rock).” It has artistic styles of melodic pop, straight ahead rock, salsa/reggae, and acoustic balladry, with expertly constructed, various musical backgrounds for intelligent, witty, thought provoking, and sometimes humorous lyrics. It was part of our 3rd Issue in Nov./Dec. of ’98. Then in Feb. ’02, we Featured in our IMC ‘Zine – Issue #34, The Runes’ 2nd release “Dancing with Ghosts,” which immersed us in the mind set of a life long musician who has never been able to make a living off his art/passion and the conflicts and complications it arises in his life. Ultimately the album’s conclusion is drawn and based on the joy, love, and happiness that his musical expression brings to his being.
Now Matt has branched away from his band for what is said to be a solo LP many years in the making, yet called Gravity Jacket to acknowledge the help of Mac McNabb (guitars/bass guitars, organs, and percussion) and Ian Bailey (drums). Hangin’ on the Edge picks up where “Dancing with Ghosts” leaves off lyrically – Reelin’, Up To You, 100 Guitars, Hangin’ on the Edge, Out of Touch, I Can’t Complain, and Same Old This – dealing with the hardships of creating an art form that goes unheard, unacknowledged, and wondering if it is even worth continuing on with. Of course it is, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be any crisis to endure and overcome, because ultimately the joy of doing such lies in the music itself. Yes, we can appreciate the irony that the one thing that gives the most frustration is the same thing that surmounts it.
The CD also reaches back to the influences of “Lost Songs” with witty, intelligent, and twisted humorous lyrics – Something in the Attic gives us a horror tale of a spider like creature that lives in the narrator’s attic and eventually prepares him for dinner. Pile of Crocodiles, with it obscure message of total indifference is a damn lot of fun, and I Deny That offers us a staunch, thickheaded, semi-hung over denial of everything that’s worth rejecting blame for.
But most of all, it’s the fun loving, good-time-had-by-all style of music that puts this CD in the player and makes me want to share it with my friends. With every pop hook, guitar run, chord change, arrangement refinement, genre blending style, lyric sensitive song, Matt sits down with us as Gravity Jacket brings forth the musical finesse of Crosby, Stills, & Nash, topped with a vocal that lends itself to James Taylor. I don’t know how else to describe it…
Matt may never get the chance to sit down with you and talk, and reflect, and dream, and just generally enjoy your company, as he has never done with me. But, you can sit down with Gravity Jacket and listen to the music along with the people in your life whose company you enjoy. This is what I’m doing; this is what IndepenDisc is doing, because we think that you would appreciate our friend Matt and the other artists from the IndepenDisc Catalogue through their music as much as we do. After all, we share certain common grounds, and music is one of them, so we can all have a great time introducing everybody to each other and the music.
We hope you have enjoyed the past 5 years and discovered as much independent music as we have, and we hope you will continue to join us for the upcoming years.
Check out Gravity Jacket.
It’s good to have friends like this.
– G.Gone
