OxBlood Artists
Stemming from former bands like The Black Water, Sky Burial, Sister Mary Rotten Crotch among others, American Catastrophe explores the americana, the rural grit, the murderer and the romantic. A world of the seedy where one can die choking on the dove of peace or be beaten to death with a bouquet of roses.
Ghosty
Lawrence, KS
Their new record Answers showcases a band devoted to songcraft, from songwriter Andrew Connor’s poison-tipped narratives to the melodic interplays and textural flourishes of bassist Mike Nolte, keyboardist David Wetzel, guitarist Jake Blanton, and drummer Josh Adams. Answers is filled with mercurial and melodic twists and turns, especially in songs like “You Are A Big Screen” with it’s stormy build-ups and placid verses, and “Like A Bad Lie”, all polished counterpoints crashing together like cymbals. Having garnered positive reviews for their distinct sound in both the New York Times and the Washington Post, Ghosty is giving cause for more attention with Answers, in form and function, in every gleaming hook.
The ultimate result: ‘The Pedaljets’ was birthed long before it was finished. Fans seemed to like it, but a few critics noticed something was amiss.
In retrospect, they were correct. This summer the Pedaljets will release that third album, sort of. Earlier this year the band gathered in a Kansas City studio with the old tapes from those ‘Pedaljets’ sessions. Their intent was to remix the old album. Instead, with help from producer Paul Malinowski, they produced a brighter, more dynamic version of the original.
In 1988 the Pedaljets were a seasoned band from Lawrence that was getting plenty of praise from writers and peers. They toured with bands like Husker DU, the Replacements and Soul Asylum. The Trouser Press Record Guide had this to say about ‘Today Today,’ the band’s debut on Twilight Records: ‘an intriguing sound — Byrds-like harmonies and punky Replacement rawness …’
In 2007, they decided to revive ‘The Pedaljets.’ At the time, the band’s ambitions were fairly modest: Repair it and polish it. Ultimately the project turned into something else: a mulligan, a do-over.
‘The mental block we had was whether we were finishing the album or remixing it. At one point, Paul said, ‘Why don’t you just make this into the record you always wanted to make?’
With assistance from Malinowski, the band finished the album, leaving in most of the original sounds but embellishing (read: burying) some of the old ones.
If there are any grandiose plans in the future, no one’s divulging them.
Instead, this version of the Pedaljets seem happy to be talking to each other again, even happier to be playing together again, and satisfied knowing that, though they couldn’t reverse time, they have repaired a slice of their own fate.