Web Beat: Codename: Carter, Whetherman, The Crunchy Jams Duet, TTT, THOUGHTPILOT and Roo

Codename: Carter specializes in “manipulating the musical code for espionage and international intrigue” and providing “the soundtrack to the spy movie in your head.” The production focuses on reverb-heavy guitar, strong surf-style percussion, keyboard harmonization and a prominent vocal track. The whole package is very heavily influenced by 60’s pop and jam band auditory, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be stated that the song “Time Bomb” could be edited to be perfectly comfortable in the next big Bond trailer. Everybody’s own little Spy vs. Spy episode in musical form.

Boulder’s Whetherman (aka Nicholas Williams) plans on releasing Seeds for Harvest at the end of April, but until then he treats listeners with a look behind the veil with “Seemed to Be”, the only song available from the album currently online. While it remains to be seen what the rest of the album has in store, “Seemed to Be” is a lovely and peaceful ballad focused on Williams’ heavenly voice framed by soft guitar strum and banjo which play off each other eloquently. On the album’s online credits Williams boasts his contribution of “Vocals, Guitars, Harmonica, Banjo, Ukulele, Kalimba, Native American Flute, Sitar and Electric Bass”… and that’s just his role. Keep an eye out for the full release soon.

Wyatt Leonard and David Gervais of Denver comprise the two-piece “garage rock revival” group known as The Crunchy Jams Duet. “Sore After Midnight” progressively layers more and more noise on top of a basic southern rock-influenced backbone and as the intensity ramps up so does the volume. It’s hard to believe two dudes could be responsible for so much sound, but the same could be said about the likes of the Black Keys. It’s fast, it’s unfocused, it’s dirty, it’s rock – and that’s certainly not a bad thing.

TTT’s newest single “Sometimes” is quite the shocking discovery. Clocking in at just over two minutes, there’s a lot going on in this deceptively simple-sounding song. Driven by drum and bass, the guitar takes a back seat to layered vocal harmonies with a muted strum which sounds washed out and mottled. The lyrics are great; with the word “sometimes” being mentioned no less than probably about 30 times it might be fair to think the piece to be boring and repetitive, but with the right treatment as well as the progression in story that couldn’t be further from the truth. Will Colorado be treated to a full length release following TTT’s previous EP and single? Only time will tell (unless anybody wants to enlighten us otherwise).

THOUGHTPILOT’s upcoming EP will feature “Perspectives”, a collaboration between the group and Jason LeBaron of Dead for Denver. New to the production is the usage of live drums which the group sights as a feature unique to the track. The many different vocal treatments work very well at complimenting both the booming sound and each other as driving metal riffs progress the song through several different stages of presentation. The song is deep, but still very accessible and the instrumental work is certainly top-knotch. The new EP will be THOUGHTPILOT’s sophomore release following Rewoven Patterns summer 2014 release. Breath in the progressive death metal, in a sea of pop, indie, and folk artists it’s always nice to find offerings like this.

Colorado Springs’ Roo just hopes “to make people dance around the world and eat burgers.” Yum! Crump comes off the five-track EP Wood Type Field released earlier this month and features a slathering of electronically-programmed instrumental voices which round out very nicely as an entertaining and dance-friendly tune. The melodies are catchy and memorable, while still seeming to progress as the song plays onward. Each song on the EP is very different, but instruments sometimes find themselves wandering from track to track which helps to lend familiarity and brand to Roo’s treatment. Now please, it’s time to wrap this up and grab a burger!