The Bedrooms
The Bedrooms
(independent)
Bedrooms drummer Jack Burg recently described the local trio’s approach to recording as a loose and casual “fuck it” kind of thing. There’s nothing slack about the melodies and rock grooves on this six-song collection, however. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by bassist Ash Hopkins at Rebellion Road Studios, it’s one of the year’s local highlights. Lead-off song “Admiral’s Tune” is a jangly romp, upbeat, clanging with slightly distorted guitar chords, ringing cymbals, maracas, and harmonica. “Some Girls ” (no, not the Stones tune) has more of a straightforward, Strokes/GBV indie-rock sound, only with more percussive flourishes from Burg and a tight rave-up in the bridge. Guitarist/vocalist and main songwriter Danny Cassady sounds like he’s crooning on an A.M. radio show in the lengthy intro to the anxious folkie anthem “Maggie.” “Lavender Room” and “Problems” swing with a Kinks-y rhythm and sneer (and all those triplets!). Job well done. –TBL
Yates Dew
The Day. The Dog. The Girl.
(independent)
Known best in Charleston for his work as a musician with rock bands The Secret Knock and Triple-X  and as the former club owner/manager with the Music Farm  upstate S.C. songwriter Yates Dew has found his sound on his latest nine-song collection. Lyrically, he contemplates the romantic side of life’s routines and various curious love affairs. Musically, Dew mixes some tidy power-pop basics with bits of contemporary rock radio with strong results. The twangy anthem “Want Ad” could easily have been just another soggy “adult-contemporary” hit, but he sounds too damn sincere to come off as a sap. The syncopated acoustic funk feel of “You Bring It All” compares well to the polite grooves of Jack Johnson or the Wallflowers. A bit more rockin’ and straight-ahead are “Once” and “Bind,” both of which demonstrate some subtle but effective production moves (a bit of extra percussion here, a touch of piano and keys there, some brass inbetween). A little too gooey might be the “chocolate-covered kisses …fondue all over you” lyrics of “Into This.” The lush atmospherics of album-closer “Letter,” however, sound more like the work of a mature songwriter in the middle of a smart recording session than an artificially sweetened wannabe. –TBL
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