The Dead Refrain - "The Red Remains" (2011)

Fellow Pittsburgh musician/artist, Joe Mruk, has followed up his killer EP, The Wallpaper Voyage, with another homey yet quality EP, The Red Remains. Hailing from Arizona, Mruk brings a distinct vintage western feel to the table of the saloon. Lyrics are real as whiskey on a fire: "Well she don't believe in God, but she still needs someone to answer to the folks put in their caskets, to the carnage and the cancer." Mruk has a knack for keeping songs non-trite by utilizing unexpected chord changes. From spur-stompin' rhythms to sentimental finger picking selections, the instrumentation is broad, the song-writing: personal and aspiring. Beware Bon Iver, The Dead Refrain is on his way.

The Red Remains

Windy & Carl / Amp - "Split" (1997)

Windy & Carl's most memorable song is on this little split. "Near And Far" is lovely and ethereal as Windy's breathy whispering voice hums over warm, vibrating guitar drones. Amp's side is also superb and passes by simply and beautifully and paced like a cloudy spring day. Truly a gem of a release and relatively unknown, this is very highly recommended.

Split

Craig Colorusso - "Sun Boxes" (2011)

Bliss.
The blissful sun shimmers.
Sunshine shimmers glints blissfully overhead.
All-encompassing rays of sunlight glimmer.
Shards of ice melt in a tub of warm sound.
Crickets,
Chirping in fields of cloud-parted sky.
Sweating soothing textures,
Nature hums a bright tune.
Blessing hearers,
O' blissful whistle.

I've attempted to emulate the vibe of Sun Boxes in the poem above. When sunlight reaches the receptive solar panels, it sets off a varying guitar note loop in each of twenty boxes, comprising a Bb chord. A splendid coalescing of nature and technology, Sun Boxes gives back to the inspiration of natural energy, space and time. From the beach, to the frozen pond and grassy field (the latter two of which you will hear), different terrains contribute their own personality to each recording. The boxes coincide with habitats galore -- allowing insects and vegetation (or whoever happens to pass through) to get a different sensation of the center of our solar system. Imagine the Sun strumming a guitar ever-so-gently with its heat-waves... what is more relaxing than hearing the same warmth that hugs your skin on a clear day, resonate through speakers in song? So thanks, Craig, for this breath of fresh sound. And no, Temptations, you don't have sunshine on a cloudy day... when the sun shines through, we have cleverly constructed drone.

Download, transfer to a portable player, then traverse to a distant land-form.