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Every artist needs a point of entry into the music business and for
singer/ songwriter/ multi-instrumentalist Mark Ramos-Nishita
(aka Money Mark) his point of entry was as the keyboard player
for the Beastie Boys. Ironically, Mark's second solo effort
Brand New By Tomorrow isn't anything like the Beastie Boys
but more like the mellow melodic soft rock chromes of Nick Cave,
Mates Of State, Aqueduct, and Vive Voce. Produced
by Mario Caldato and Money Mark, the album softly flutters
with allotments of harpsichord, chamber strings, omnichord, grand
piano, harmonica, and harp feathering. The tuneful attributes and
subtle modulations pull together coruscating chimes and delicate movements
toiled compatibly into tender mists and hushed pastorals.
Brand New By Tomorrow is Mark's follow up to his solo debut
release Mark's Keyboard Repair and touches inside his folk-pop
aspects and blues-rock properties. The album unfurls with crickets
clacking in the backdrop as a reclining tempo reminiscent of John
Lennon moistens the melodic posse on "Color Of Your Blues."
The tempo picks up on "Pick Up The Pieces," which Mark co-wrote
with Jack Johnson, with jangly tambourines and lightly tottering
drum quakes forming the pulp of the mixture. The piano and acoustic
guitar lullaby series on "Pretend To Sleep" has a folk-pop
orientation with a silky acquiescence like El Perro Del Mar.
Mark launches into a fluidly bluesy momentum on "My Loss Your
Gain", which interfaces gentle rolling riffs and velvety plush
cadences.
The tune "Everyday I Die A little" is one of the more cheery
melodies on the disc, assembling a score of omnichord, harp, and lap
guitar creations. Mark indulges in Corinne Baily Rae-like jazz
ruffles and ascensions on the piano keys for "Black Butterfly"
and the rapping guitar flanges on "Radiate Nothing." The
gypsy-style percussive beats on "Nice To Me" have a Mary
Lee's Corvette popping syncopation along a sprightly beamed harmonica
spritz. The shuffling percussion on "Eyes That Ring" is
peppered with twittering synth effects and bulging horn bellows. The
title track seals the album with a dainty folk-pop trajectory and
revisits Mark's bluesy vocal intonations for the final encore.
Money Mark's album is contemporary with tentacles in the past, rumpled
by subliminal sounds tucked into the melodic fabric like communicative
crickets, baby rattles, and the sharpening of machetes. The tunage
has roots in retro-folk with transfusions of modern graffiti mitigating
an assembly of Lennon-esque vocal tones and Vive Voce jaunts. Though
Money Mark's history includes collaborations with Yoko Ono,
Beck, and Jack Johnson, his solo outing seems to have its own
solid make-up and identity. The songs express complacency in the fluid
tendrils and misty sonic lagoons and take the listener to the core
of recessed memories finding contentment in what's already there.
-Susan Frances
Track Listing:
1. Color Of Your Blues
2. Pick Up The Pieces
3. Summer Blue
4. Pretend To Sleep
5. My Loss Your Gain
6. Everyday I Die A little
7. Radiate Nothing
8. Black Butterfly
9. Nice To Me
10. Eyes That Ring
11. Brand New By Tomorrow
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