Promote This: Alicia Amiri, Culture Theft & Just Lions
Promote This is a long-running NadaMucho.com feature wherein we write about songs and videos by emerging and unsigned bands. Send submissions to @nadamucho with hash tag #PromoteThis.
Alicia Amiri – “Two Worlds” and “Let Me Be Your Map”
Alicia Amiri is a confident singer and on “Two Worlds” she’s firmly in control. Pleasantly dark, down-tempo folk rock, fresh and interesting melody; I have no problem listening through and actually enjoying a repeat listen. “Let Me Be Your Map” continues the dark feeling, but brings the tempo up a bit and Alicia’s vocals are pushed to do more. Again, the confidence shines through and she weaves endlessly interesting vocal melodies over a straight-ahead Americana-flavored rock backing. Strong material from her new album Meet Me At the Bottom. – Abe Beeson
- Listen to “Two Worlds”
- Listen to “Let Me Be Your Map”
Culture Theft – “Drift Away”
That’s a nice little keyboard hook you’ve got there. Oh. Your lead singer has some brightly polished vocals, too. Hey, this “Drift Away” song could move a lot of units. And that’s where this song from San Jose’s Culture Theft misses for me, it sounds made for the masses – a simple, recurring, three-note vocal hook and static melody at a leisurely pace with some delicate female harmonies. For my ears it grows old quickly, but it’s inoffensive enough to appeal to a large market. Your teenage niece will love ‘em. – Abe Beeson
Just Lions – “Paper Cage”
Portland indie-rock trio Just Lions have a good thing going here. The music video for “Paper Cage” abides by the song’s literal refrain about the aloofness that comes in the form of random sketching and scribbles stemming from a directionless, yet still active, mind. Conceptually, the video mirrors the impact of the song perfectly; simply clean, somewhat collegiate, but speaks to the mentality of a band willing to have some fun. The band’s frontman hams it up for three minutes, looking a bit underwhelmed by the whole set-up while assuming the role of the Nondescript Twenty-something. I’m unfamiliar with video editing and production, and still found the effects to be impressive, if not whimsical. “Paper Cage” is a great little tune, too. – Cameron Deuel