So full disclosure I run a record label and I’ve come to an agreement with Blood Makes Noise to let me promote releases every week. The idea is every week I will present a playlist with some new Mint 400 Records music and what I think inspired our songwriters. This week we have so many new tracks mostly due to the double disc Michael W. Nestor Retrospective that has 20 years of bands from his current project Underlined Passages to past projects like Lowell, The Seldon Plan and Pupa’s Window. In addition Sink Tapes has a brand new 2 song Indie Folk single which eventually will be showing up on the Sink Tapes singles collection and Ben Didsbury of the Boston band Coo & Howl offers up his side project r|verghsxt which is a collection of instrumental tracks. Because of the volume of songs we are just presenting a selected playlist of them instead of also adding in outside artists.
With Michael W. Nestor’s collection of over 30 songs there is a lot to unpack so I made it easy by choosing a song or two from each of the bands that are presented here. In all you can hear the cohesiveness and how Nestor was the driving force in all of these bands. For a span of 20 years it’s very consistent and sounds almost like it could easily be the same band, although the later material from Underlined Passages is by far the most polished and drummer Jamaal Turner adds a catchiness to the rhythms that was not present in the earlier material which leans a little more aggressive musically. Whether it’s Nestor’s older material with Lowell or The Seldon Plan or his newer material with Underlined Passages, it all harkens back to some very 90’s influences. I hear a mix of Smashing Pumpkins, Failure and other Seattle bits and pieces from Alice In Chains to Soundgarden but it’s like all of that stuff is thrown in a blender with mellow indie influences like Nada Surf or Death Cab For Cutie. The music unmistakably the distinct sound that Nestor has fleshed out for these projects starting with his cadence and approach to vocals which is often slow and haunting and never barked. The amazing thing is it’s like Nestor figured out his exact style right from the beginning and continued to expand on it for the past 20 years. I think if you enjoy any of the bands I mentioned you’ll find something in this release that you’ll enjoy.
Sink Tapes has been one of the more prolific NJ bands over the past decade and as Gabe Chiarello continues to create under the Sink Tapes name he often takes risks and is not afraid to try new and different things. On this single he scales back and tries out some very stripped down acoustic only songs. Over the past year Sink Tapes has been building towards a single collection, which will be out before the end of the year and it spans a good amount of styles all within the indie realm. Sink Tapes common thread throughout all of their releases is the vocals, which are unique and gives the music its vintage quality. These tracks fit nicely with the direction of this series of Sink Tapes singles.
- Neil Sabatino, BMN Contributor