| Kelley Stoltz — Natural Causes (May 11, 2018) |
Kelley Stoltz — Natural Causes (May 11, 2018)
♠•♠ San Francisco singer~songwriter and longtime purveyor of melodic, lo~fi indie pop.
Born: 1971 in Detroit, Michigan
Location: San Francisco, California
Styles: Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock, New Wave/Post~Punk Revival, Neo~Psychedelia
Album release: May 11, 2018
Record Label: Banana & Louie Records (Madrid, Spain)
Duration: 31:01
Tracks:
1. Natural Causes 2:52
2. My Friend 3:06
3. Static Electricity 3:30
4. Where You Will 3:31
5. Decisions Decisions 3:48
6. How Psychedelic Of You 4:03
7. Are You An Optimist 3:40
8. Our Modern World 3:12
9. A Rolling Tambourine 3:19
Credits:
• Written & recorded At Electric Duck Studios (San Francisco, California) by Kelley Stoltz
• All Instruments Kelley Stoltz
• Mastered by Mikey Young
Description:
• Picture yourself in front of your record collection, deciding which one you’ll listen to next. You finally choose ‘Kilimanjaro’ by Teardrop Explodes; you haven’t listened to it for a long time. In that moment, you notice that your partner placed your ‘Face to Face’ copy in an incorrect slot. It goes with you to the record player too. A few minutes later, you corroborate that both Cope and Davies made prevailing, lucid and brilliant records. And you dream thinking how would they sound together, in an hypotetic alloy that feels almost impossible straight away.There are only fourteen years away from one record to the other, but they seem made in different centuries, different planets.
• We find the answer at the Electric Duck studios in San Francisco, Kelley Stoltz’s base of operations. A Detroit~native, Kelley was an adolescent moved by post~punk and English new~age, and became an adult falling in love with the extensive pop legacy from the 60s. Both references define one of the strongest, most talented discographies of the last years. Filtering and tying those sounds together with freshness and distinction is what makes Kelley an unique composer. Stoltz gets ostentation and histrionics out of the best 80s pop and supplies it with outstanding melodies and sense of humor. What Julian Cope doing a cover by Kinks’s “Sunny Afternoon” would feel like.
Review
by Ljubinko Zivkovic; Rating: 8
• Yes, natural causes indeed! Kelley Stoltz has grown into a true archivist/musicologist who channels all his musical inspirations and constantly comes up with album after album that varies from pure adoration for the musical source, (his track by track workout of Echo & The Bunnymen’s Crocodiles) or a detailed, intricate combination of the original sources (most of his other albums).
• Natural Causes, his latest venture is no exception, and again the results are up there with the high standards he has set himself already with his previous releases. Somehow, he again shows that American artists can get to the essence of basically a European vision of rock music and channel it into something of their own.
• Stoltz though seems to be concentrated on the 80s interpretations of the 60s, with a few touches in between. The title track again shows how close Echo & The Bunnymen are to his heart and why he is currently a touring member of the band. But then, there’s obvious love for Julian Cope, as a solo artist and as the force behind Teardrop Explodes on “How Psychedelic of You”, without skipping on the electronic side of the 80s through Human League or OMD, for that matter on “My Friend” or direct quote of Kraftwerk and their influence, “Static Electricity”.
• The 60s visions come through the eyes of the paramount figure of Ray Davies, “Decisions, Decisions” — as seen through the eyes of R. Stevie Moore, and “Our Modern World” with a touch of Syd Barrett in a duo with Davies, “A Rolling Tambourine” thrown in for a good measure. Still, all of this is done with a distinctive personal touch that shows he has assimilated his encyclopaedic musical knowledge into one ear~pleasing bundle, particularly exemplified in “Where You Will” and “Are You An Optimist”, tracks where all those ideas mould into something completely personal, yet still identifiable.
• With Natural Causes Stoltz has yet again shown that relying on musical influences requires not only a vast knowledge but also a deep understanding of your sources, making that the only way your own music can transcend its sources and come up with something, as Captain Beefheart would say, strictly personal. • https://soundblab.com/
Bandcamp: https://bananaandlouierecords.bandcamp.com/album/natural-causes
Website: http://www.kelleystoltz.com/
MySpace: https://myspace.com/kelleystoltz
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/kelley-stoltz
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| Kelley Stoltz — Natural Causes (May 11, 2018) |
Born: 1971 in Detroit, Michigan
Location: San Francisco, California
Styles: Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock, New Wave/Post~Punk Revival, Neo~Psychedelia
Album release: May 11, 2018
Record Label: Banana & Louie Records (Madrid, Spain)
Duration: 31:01
Tracks:
1. Natural Causes 2:52
2. My Friend 3:06
3. Static Electricity 3:30
4. Where You Will 3:31
5. Decisions Decisions 3:48
6. How Psychedelic Of You 4:03
7. Are You An Optimist 3:40
8. Our Modern World 3:12
9. A Rolling Tambourine 3:19
Credits:
• Written & recorded At Electric Duck Studios (San Francisco, California) by Kelley Stoltz
• All Instruments Kelley Stoltz
• Mastered by Mikey Young
Description:
• Picture yourself in front of your record collection, deciding which one you’ll listen to next. You finally choose ‘Kilimanjaro’ by Teardrop Explodes; you haven’t listened to it for a long time. In that moment, you notice that your partner placed your ‘Face to Face’ copy in an incorrect slot. It goes with you to the record player too. A few minutes later, you corroborate that both Cope and Davies made prevailing, lucid and brilliant records. And you dream thinking how would they sound together, in an hypotetic alloy that feels almost impossible straight away.There are only fourteen years away from one record to the other, but they seem made in different centuries, different planets.
• We find the answer at the Electric Duck studios in San Francisco, Kelley Stoltz’s base of operations. A Detroit~native, Kelley was an adolescent moved by post~punk and English new~age, and became an adult falling in love with the extensive pop legacy from the 60s. Both references define one of the strongest, most talented discographies of the last years. Filtering and tying those sounds together with freshness and distinction is what makes Kelley an unique composer. Stoltz gets ostentation and histrionics out of the best 80s pop and supplies it with outstanding melodies and sense of humor. What Julian Cope doing a cover by Kinks’s “Sunny Afternoon” would feel like.
Review
by Ljubinko Zivkovic; Rating: 8
• Yes, natural causes indeed! Kelley Stoltz has grown into a true archivist/musicologist who channels all his musical inspirations and constantly comes up with album after album that varies from pure adoration for the musical source, (his track by track workout of Echo & The Bunnymen’s Crocodiles) or a detailed, intricate combination of the original sources (most of his other albums).
• Natural Causes, his latest venture is no exception, and again the results are up there with the high standards he has set himself already with his previous releases. Somehow, he again shows that American artists can get to the essence of basically a European vision of rock music and channel it into something of their own.
• Stoltz though seems to be concentrated on the 80s interpretations of the 60s, with a few touches in between. The title track again shows how close Echo & The Bunnymen are to his heart and why he is currently a touring member of the band. But then, there’s obvious love for Julian Cope, as a solo artist and as the force behind Teardrop Explodes on “How Psychedelic of You”, without skipping on the electronic side of the 80s through Human League or OMD, for that matter on “My Friend” or direct quote of Kraftwerk and their influence, “Static Electricity”.
• The 60s visions come through the eyes of the paramount figure of Ray Davies, “Decisions, Decisions” — as seen through the eyes of R. Stevie Moore, and “Our Modern World” with a touch of Syd Barrett in a duo with Davies, “A Rolling Tambourine” thrown in for a good measure. Still, all of this is done with a distinctive personal touch that shows he has assimilated his encyclopaedic musical knowledge into one ear~pleasing bundle, particularly exemplified in “Where You Will” and “Are You An Optimist”, tracks where all those ideas mould into something completely personal, yet still identifiable.
• With Natural Causes Stoltz has yet again shown that relying on musical influences requires not only a vast knowledge but also a deep understanding of your sources, making that the only way your own music can transcend its sources and come up with something, as Captain Beefheart would say, strictly personal. • https://soundblab.com/
Bandcamp: https://bananaandlouierecords.bandcamp.com/album/natural-causes
Website: http://www.kelleystoltz.com/
MySpace: https://myspace.com/kelleystoltz
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/kelley-stoltz
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