Daily Loaf

Bay area singer-songwriter David New picked up guitar as a kid, but never really got serious about being a musician until he was in his mid-20s.

“At the time, I was bored, hating my job really bad and just kind of searching for something else,” New told me last week when we chatted at the St. Pete Beach loft apartment-cum-recording space where his band, The Hip Abduction, spends much of their time. Bassist Chris Powers actually lives there, but the rest of the band members reap the benefits of the place, likely getting much inspiration for their vibrant tropical sounds from the scenic view of the Gulf off the third-floor porch.

Back then, New was working as an environmental scientist and it wasn’t anything like he’d imagined. “I thought I was gonna be green and save the world straight out of college, but it ended up that I was working for the oil company and standing up for big oil, which was awful. Writing took me somewhere else.” New says he endured it for about two years before he bailed. Then he spent a few years soaking up the sounds and culture of the Caribbean. “I ran a sailing program and taught marine biology and diving on the side. A lot of my lyrics come from what I experienced there. I grew up in Virginia, so I never listened to reggae very much. Then I really, really got into it down there and I’ve never been able to shake it.” Read the rest of this entry »

Given props by Kanye West and Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste in January, featured on NPR this past August, Blind Man’s Colour is the new hip unknown and they happen to hail from right here in St. Petersburg. Co-visionaries Kyle Wyss (guitar and lead vocals) and Orhan Chettri (keys, laptop and back-up vocals, both pictured at right) are some damn talented kids who front an experimental foursome most often compared to Animal Collective. But the duo relies more on organic instrumentation rather than sonicboards and synthesizers to get their driving sound, and are joined by a bassist and drummer to bring the low end throb and punchy dance beats to their songs. BMC also relies very little on grandiose washes of sound and aimless barrages of noise so beloved by experimental acts, instead focusing on the delicacies of melody with ’60s pop-inspired vocal harmonies reminiscent of The Beach Boys, sweet and high and charming, and a driving electromagnetic sound with just enough psychedelia, ambient trance and moments of tropical hop to keep things interesting. myspace.com/weareblindmanscolour.

For a complete list of Best of the Bay winners, click here.

Mogul Street Reserve pictured at right; all photos by Phil Bardi.

Despite being bone-weary and mentally exhausted, I slagged my tired ass down to Ybor City and made it to Summer Jam 5 just before sunset to enjoy the mini-fest’s variety of musical offerings, a huge roster of quality local acts as well as the few necessary nationals (The Honorary Title, Cory Branan, Carter Hulsey) to round things out.

We cruised into Crowbar just in time to see Blind Man’s Colour (pictured after the jump), a new experimental outfit made up of some young and green but super skilled musicians who are so hot that Kanye West gave the little known St. Petersburg outfit some love with a “Some Dope Shit for My Apartment” post on his blog this past January, and Grizzly Bear’s Edward Droste followed suit with a tweet about the band around the same time. BMC was also featured recently on NPR’s All Things Considered for a “Music from the Sublime to the Old Time” artist spotlight a few weeks ago, so it appears like they’re on the upswing. Read the rest of this entry »