Seeds of Healing

Amorphous - Having no definite form, pattern or structure. 

That's what the dictionary says about the title of the latest album by Icon For Hire. If that is true, perhaps Ariel is referring to chaotic emotions, but since the entire album is about these emotions, that is in itself a pattern.  

Bursting onto the rock scene in 2011 with Scripted, they immediately came into focus here at Night Beat HQ as we are quite the fans of King Midas (aka Brandon Ebel of Tooth and Nail Records). Things were rocky for the band partly due to the distribution deal with EMI which ended in 2013. A number of bands decided to strike out on their own in the ensuing chaos over licensing.

Amorphous builds on the previous two releases (You Can't Kill Us, Still Can't Kill Us) in that all 3 albums are a heavy dose of emotional therapy at a fraction of the cost of a psychiatrist. Keep Breathing, Don't Lose Focus, Your alive, not a diagnosis. While I haven't been put into a nice box by the mental health profession, the medical community made a mess of my childhood, but thank you Jesus for his healing power at age 10. 

I would describe the album as Metal, with a heavy dose of rap thrown in for good measure (especially panic attack which channels NF to a T). Speaking of Mental Health, Hazmat Suit Wednesdays seems like a wonderful idea in these times. Of course no Icon album would be complete without a spine chilling Ariel Ballad. This one is Backround sad, which I think comes in degrees, especially on milestone days like birthdays, anniversaries and the like. 

The album ends on an up note, Warrior. (The actual end is Only Be A Story, another haunting ballad. It's a somber, not depressing, wrap, putting our life on earth in perspective. It actually complements warrior). Warrior is the embodiment of the phrase "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." We are what we've overcome.

Amorphous is one of those rare albums that puts you through the emotional wash, spin cycle and wringer. When you emerge, however, you will have discovered a pattern to your emotions, and you will not be Amorphous. The first PERFECT 5 EMERALD rating of the year, due mainly to the fact that I am behind schedule for the year. Here's to making progress. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

2021: New Year, New Hope

2020 was a difficult year for a lot of us, and we here at The Night Beat we're not immune either. While we weren't affected personally by COVID, being a small time operation reliant on public computers, government overreaction to the virus threw things into disarray. While we managed to piece together Awards for #PlatVnyl9 and #PVX, year 11 is a total mess and year 12, who knows?

Our Facebook Page  is going to be the most reliable source of information right now. You will even find out that a blog post will be active there. Mostly you will find video recommendations and news of album release,maybe even short reviews. We shall see how things shape up as we continue to reinvent things. Stay with us, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Holiday Update 2020

2020 is almost over and the Christmas Season is upon us. #PVX is in the bag and Platinum Vinyl 11, while the eligibility year is finished, the entries are a disorganized mess due to many upheavals because of government overreach with coronavirus. Note I said due to government. Physically, I have been unaffected by the virus and that will remain the case.

The Blog, due to the restrictions of a mobile platform, will be relegated to a semi-retired status. I will be more active with small posts on Twitter and Facebook. We shall see how year end roundups go with that. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

#PVX Has Come

The Platinum Vinyl Awards, Tenth Edition has begun. Popularly known as #PVX, the Awards began with the Music Video Awards earlier in the fall. The Album and Song Sections begin tomorrow with the "minor" categories, with the ready for prime time ones following soon after. Keep in touch with it all on Facebook and Twitter

Starting Again

We are starting a new era here at the WENC night beat. I have a new phone which will allow me to do remote posting. Platinum vinyl 10 is underway and will be attempted via video this year. I will start by posting nominations on my Facebook page. I will attempt to keep the videos simple possibly only one video per genre. Look at the night beat's Facebook page for.more information

Singing The Play Liszt Blues

It's a Classical solution. Sorry, couldn't resist the pun.

Payola is the name given to a radio scandal in which the major record labels were paying bribes to usually program directors in order to make sure their songs became hits by virtue of repeated play. I miss the good old days. (SARCASM ALERT). At least someone profited from creating a bland programming day. Now, through playlist radio and the elimination of the human element, we do the same thing for free.

Take some time to listen to your local Christian Radio station. If you can avoid lapsing into a coma, you will find that you will have a virtually commercial free, certainly announcer free music period of 60-90 minutes in length, which will repeat. If you don't know the song or artist you won't be told, because there is no DJ. Wouldn't any record company exec live to know he is GUARANTEED 24 plays of his hit song per day. And with an average of 3 minutes per song you really only get about 15 songs per hour after you add in about the song intros, devotionals, and the ever present push to pledge money to keep the station afloat because selling ads is unchristian .

Let's scrap the whole system and start fresh. Sell ads, ditch the playlist, hire DJs, and play a wide swath of genres throughout the day. At first it will sound like the Wild Wild West, but people will discover new artists which will lead to more sales which will lead to more artists sticking with it for the long term. A better product all around.

Well my rant is over for now. I may take on the record industry at some point. Because they are a coconspirator in the problem as is the music store  But that is a whole new series. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Resistance is not futile: The Vinyl Virus

DJ. The term means different things. Saying that you are a DJ will mean something entirely different depending upon the hearer. To the rap crowd it is the person who used the turntables to add scratches. Based upon my listening to rap today, I would say it is practically extinct. In the EDM world the DJ is the person who uses turntables, synthesizers and various switches and buttons to create the music at a rave.

For me a DJ was the person at a radio station responsible for announcing and playing the music. The letters stood for Disc Jockey. They jockeyed or moved around the discs or vinyl records on the turntables to play over the air. He or she also took requests from the listeners and hosted giveaways.

There is one other job of the DJ and that is keeping a proper flow to the show. It was the DJ'S responsibility to keep a proper mix to the show and avoid overplay. You would think that a computerized playlist would fix the problem, but it actually increased after WENC went to computer. The program kept picking the same artists over and over and needed to be overridden on a regular basis. That was the job of the DJ. He was needed to make sure, in our case, that an artist was played only once an hour, and as we had 2 hour shows, if you did repeat an artist, you could not repeat a song. You know happens with a policy like that? You discover a whole lot more music, that's what. And that's something sorely lacking in Christian Radio these days.

And that brings us to our final post in this series. The playlist was created to make sure a DJ wasn't playing his favorite artists over and over. A noble goal. But it has resulted in exactly what it wanted to avoid. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.