Maps and his Mothball Fleet “Fighting Season”
Maps & His Mothball Fleet is the musical alias of Philadelphia musician Matt Wanamaker. After being deployed to Afghanistan in 2013, he wrote and recorded the rough demos of 50 songs to send back and forth home to friends. Then it was cropped down to 15 where it became the album Fighting Season with indie folk pop at its core, starting with the Belle & Sebastian-like “Trust The Teahouse.” But the best track here is “A Lot Becomes A Little” with its catchy call-and-response chorus.
“Walk With Me Madeline” is a comforting pedal steel guitar melody, you hear the echos of Matt’s war experiences in “Great Game Fields” and “From A Closing FOB.” Unfortunately these songs are pretty forgettable, the tempo comes back on the rhythmic gem “Private Planes Of The Old West” with some nice harmonies. Other standouts include “Blue-Eyed Jesus” and “Nothing Against Dover.” Check it out.
The Jeremy Band “Hit You With A Flower”
Latest LP from Jeremy Morris and company aka The Jeremy Band. “Hit You With A Flower” starts with a rhythm similar to ELO’s “Do Ya” and runs off into a deep jangling chorus. “Get It Right First Time” and “Love is Everywhere” are very typical Jeremy’ jangle pop, but “Big Black Bike” mixes a little prog rock, like The Move’s “Brontosaurus“ and it seriously kicks ass.
The fantastic guitar work continues on “Watch What You’re Doing” with some brilliant fuzz drenched riffs, more Zepplinesque rock than pop. Really hard to come up with more accolades, let’s just quote David Bash of IPO who said “Jeremy Morris is one of the greatest human beings I’ve ever met; a Man Of God, a music teacher, label owner, and guitar hero, and his band is made up of family and friends, kinda like a particular legendary band we know. Long may they live, and long may they rock!” Amen, brother.
Jam Records (exclusive)
Note: Song played in the video is not on the album, but you get a good idea of what The Jeremy Band sounds like.