Welcome to the latest installment of our weekly feature, Sound Off, in which Jason P. Woodbury is joined by a different guest each week to listen to and discuss three tracks from local Phoenix artists. If you would like your songs to be considered for future Sound Off columns, please email [email protected].
This week's Sound Offer is Yaya Martinez, who hosts The Pulse, a show dedicated to underground hip-hop every Saturday 1-4 a.m. on Power 98.3. (Check out our video feature on Yaya.)
Martinez sat down to listen to three Phoenix tracks from metal band Sorrower, rapper Young Spider, and Future Loves Past.
Sorrower is a "grindcore, hardcore, punk, death" band from Phoenix. For more information, visit the band on Facebook.
Listen to Sorrower, "And Now You Are Dead to Me"
Yaya Martinez: That's definitely a song for my ex-boyfriend [laughs]. Everything they were saying probably relates to how I feel [about him].
Up on the Sun: It's hard to know exactly, but...
It sort of sounds like everything blurs into one, but they probably listen to rap music and feel the same way about that. If they are making moves on a track like this in their genre, I'm not mad at that at all.
Do you listen to much metal?
No, I don't. I used to listen to Metallica back in the day, but I know it's totally different compared to what it is now.
I liked it. Short and intense.
I just pictured a mosh pit. Like, "people are going to get crazy when this song comes on." Some people are going to get their ass kicked in the mosh pit for that one. If that's the goal, alright!
I usually listen to sludgier, slow stuff, but I liked it. It sounded pissed off.
That's what I got: Anger. I know they are mad at something.
It would be really funny to me if I got the lyric sheet and it the song was the exact opposite, just describing how happy they are and their puppies...
About their matching tattoos. But hey, if it works for them, more power to them.
Young Spider, "Arizona's Hottest"
"Arizona's Hottest" is the official theme song of Flowergirl Photography's 2012 Arizona swimsuit calendar. For more information, visit Young Spider on SoundCloud. Up on the Sun: What did you think?
I know he likes bad bitches, he has money, a nice pool, and some nice looking Latin women in his video.
Or at least he has a friend with a pool, and shot the video there.
Yeah. [pauses] I'm extremely picky with hip-hop. I get spammed a lot by artists from here who send me their videos and "Aw, I need to get on your show." I don't want to hurt feelings, but I have a specific route I go with emcees. There's nothing wrong with this kind of music, but there's fun-rap, rap-rap, and emceeing. There's three different things, so he needs to step his bar-game up just a little bit if he wants any kind of attention from anyone. You know what I mean?
If this is for cruising, hang-out type bullshit, okay, cool. Let's just chill and and listen to some stuff, but I'm honestly tired of listening to rappers talk about bad bitches, weed, and money. Talk about something else, make some type of move. I already know I'm going to get, "Oh, she's hating." It's not hating, it's just a suggestion. I know what I've seen that's been successful, and I know what I've seen over and over again. I commend him for not using a widescreen, because I see so many widescreen videos. The video was dope, it got to the point, represented what the song was about.
It's the official theme of a swimsuit calendar. I feel like such a nerd watching this. It's December, you know? Who's swimming? He does have a line about wanting panties around ankles for Christmas, so I guess it's appropriate.
I didn't catch that. [laughs] What does she do after that? Where part B? What does she do with the jeans around her ankles? But you know, my opinion might be completely irrelevant to someone like this. We might be listening to hip-hop with two completely different ears.
Future Loves Past is an indie-rock band from Phoenix. For more information, visit the band on Facebook.
Up on the Sun: I really like the first three minutes of that song.
My whole thing is, if I needed a mind-enema, this is that track [laughs]. You can clear your mind, and just enjoy the music. My dad played acoustic guitar his whole life, so anything that has any acoustic in it, I like a lot. It was real fun, and had great energy. My initial reaction was, "Starbucks!" I could hear this in a Starbucks. If you make it to the Starbucks playlist, you have made it [laughs]. I could see this there in a year, it has that feeling that just calms you, opens you up, clears your mind.
I like it. It reminds me of a band called Dungen, or some of Led Zeppelin's pop-oriented stuff, like In Through the Out Door. After those initial three minutes, I didn't dislike any of it, but just sitting here listening to it, I found myself thinking about all the work I could be doing while listening. If you're playing it and getting some work done, that's good. It has a Coachella feel, a "be free" type feel to it.
I think they have a lot to offer.
The thing that I love about being raised in a house full of music is that you can tell when someone is doing it because they love it. You can tell like that [snaps] when they are doing it for the check. You can feel the love in the music, just wanting to do it because you have to do it. These guys definitely have that. I'm going to download this EP.
For free.
Free -99! Future Loves Past, gotta download that EP if you want to get some mind-enema music!
