Music Review: radiosepia Lower Case r and a Glockenspiel Pure Awesomeness

radiosepia band members left to right may or may not be: Adam Rugnetta, Marta Torres,Manu López. Matt Monaghan
radiosepia band members left to right may or may not be:  Adam Rugnetta, Marta Torres,Manu López.  Matt Monaghan
radiosepia band members left to right may or may not be: Adam Rugnetta, Marta Torres, Manu López, Matt Monaghan.

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Radiosepia

Por favor, haga clic en la bandera española en la esquina superior derecha de esta página para obtener una traducción correcta.

When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had, and never will have.~Ed Howe

Radiosepia has come across my desk twice, not literally, but in recommendations from friends. To be honest, I ignored the band.

There was a huge problem with this band. If you read my best-selling autobiography, “You Ain’t A REAL Band Slut If You Have Never Supported A Guitar Player That Gave You Crabs” you know I usually lie and say I had amazing sex with one or more band member.

They…are…in….Spain.  I suppose I could say I had phone sex but I was afraid people wouldn’t believe me. Castilian Spanish is quite beautiful but my Spanish is dreadful. *thinking about dirty talk in Spanish*

I have other reviews I need to do so I decided I might as well listen to them. They would be able to pronounce my name, Rosalita correctly.

The first song I listen to by radiosepia was “Slipping Under” (Vocals: Manu López). What I heard was deep, rich, full music that pulled me right into a beautiful voice. It never ceases to amaze me when I hear a voice and think, “I want to have sex with that voice.” Turn your speakers up to hearing damage range, it is worth it.

Thankfully, he sings in English. There is hint of retro ’60’s British music with a bit of George Harrison thrown in. George Harrison was quite fuckable but not the best singer in the group, radiosepia has built on, not copied.

I didn’t see a record label. That can be a problem when listening to a recording instead of the actual band. Indie bands don’t always have the production quality that allows you to fully appreciate their music. Budget and ego can also get in the way of a good mix. Their vocals will either sit on top of the music or be completely obscured.

“Slipping Under” is pretty much flawless. If I were still working with bands this song would be on the radio very soon!

The band’s name, radiosepia, intrigued me and made me think of an old photo of an old radio.  In an interview with The Outsider Argentina, guitarist Matt Monaghan mentioned the true origin of the name, “radiosepia comes from one of my favourite animals – the cuttlefish, or ‘sepia’ in Spanish. One day I saw a sepia while snorkeling in Nicaragua and it looked like an alien sending out signals, radio signals. The image stuck in my head for years.”

Having grown up in Florida, I have seen cuttlefish and none of them were awe-inspiring. They look like a floppy hand. Since I have a tendency to chase squirrels instead of actually writing I spent 20 min. looking at images of cuttlefish on Google. My mental image was rehabilitated, there are some beautiful cuttlefish.

God bless their little musical hearts, the band had the lyrics posted. I have never understood why it is so difficult to get bands to add the lyrics to their website.

The “Laser Guided Bombs” (Vocals: Matt Monaghan) intro touches that elusive plane where sound and movement comes together. Close your eyes and you have the “feeling” of flight through sound.  Perhaps it is my crappy headset but they seemed to have miss a perfect opportunity to zap the music through my head. After experiencing the music and voice, the lyrics started fucking with my head, “Since I fell from that military plane, I hover over ponds and watch birds fly”. What? I really liked that!

radiosepia makes me want to beg them to let me send their songs out to radio stations here.

This is turning into a novel but I have to say Dave Noakes! A good drummer is the bones and structure of music. I do like drummers.

From a practical stand point some of the tracks on Digital Scars are not good for radio. The songs have very long musical intros, we have found that listeners tend to station hop rather than wait for the vocals.  After I wrote this I found excellent radio edits on their website.

Download a couple of free radiosepia singles for your ipod:
Time (Will Take Our Love Away) – radio edit
Laser Guided Bombs – radio edit
Slipping Under – early studio mix

One of my favorite things about the band is this quote from their website. “For more information, concert photos and direct chit-chat with the band join us on FB and walk along-side us (we don’t like the idea crowds of people following us) on twitter.”

Purchase CD for approximately $9.50 USD  buy here. PayPal is not required.
Tracks approximately $1.50 USD

Digital Scars

Voices: Matt Monaghan sings main vocals on all songs apart from tracks 4,8,11 – main vocals on these songs sung by Manu López.
Backing Vocals: Manu López sings backing vocals on all songs apart from tracks 4,8,11. Backing vocals on these songs are sung by Matt Monaghan. Mark Fea & Matt Butler helped out with some backing vocals on ‘The Quantum Monkey’ and ‘Better’.
Guitar: Matt Monaghan plays acoustic and electric guitar on all songs. Manu López plays acoustic guitar on ‘Better’ and additional electric guitars to tracks 1,3,5 & 9. Mark Fea laid down the moody guitar solos on ‘The Desert Rain’.
Bass: Manu López.
Violin: Marta Torres.
Drums/Percussion: Dave Noakes.
Mandolin/Glockenspiel: Adam Rugnetta.
Harmonica: Matt Butler.
Ukelele: Matt Monaghan.
Keyboards: Mark Fea & Manu López.

A glockenspiel (German pronunciation: [ˈɡlɔkənˌʃpiːl], glocken:bells and spiel:play) is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, thus making it a metallophone. The glockenspiel, moreover, is usually smaller and higher in pitch
A glockenspiel (German pronunciation: [ˈɡlɔkənˌʃpiːl], glocken:bells and spiel:play) is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone’s bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel’s are metal plates or tubes, thus making it a metallophone. The glockenspiel, moreover, is usually smaller and higher in pitch. Wikipedia
Author: Losillë
Mother, wife and kinda old.

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