Released just in time for the Xmas holiday, this wonderful gift of music features the talents of former Foreign Exchange road warrior Carlitta Durand on the vocals and the rock solid production work of Vaughn Garcia from M1 Platoon. I’m glad to see that this EP has been getting a lot of buzz over the past week or so since its release. You can download a copy here.
Now usually that’s where the post would end, but I feel compelled to make a statement regarding something that I believe is the most important aspect about this music. As I was listening to the set, what stood out to me most is not that this music is free as in I don’t have to pay for it, but free in the way that music should be: artists making the statement that they want to make.
The reason that I make this pronouncement is because of the distinct feeling that I got while listening to the music that Carlitta and Vaughn were having fun while making this EP. That is the most important criteria that I look for no matter what musical hat I’m wearing: Are we having fun yet?
I could not be more serious when I say that I feel that is one of the biggest elements missing in music today. Realizing that “fun” comes in many forms, I think that the connection to the audience is a lot more genuine when you can hear that the artists are enjoying themselves in one form or the other.
The EP is funny, experimental and sequenced very well. One of the standouts for me is that sonically the music does not stay in the sterile halls of 96K and above. If art is supposed to imitate life isn’t there ambient noise in our daily lives? I love the realness of a ‘lil noise and knock. I hope you do too!
Ivan Orr is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, performer, and writer. A native of Charlottesville, Virginia Ivan was involved with the forming and nascent days of The Music Resource Center as its first Program Director. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Music, Ivan currently resides in Richmond, VA where he maintains an active performance and production schedule while serving as the Music Editor for Grown Folks Music, a position he has held since 2010.
