Friday Five: Sleep Bellum Sonno & the Five Best Ways to Say 'Cool'

Sleep Bellum Sonno: "House of Spades"

New Jersey's Sleep Bellum Sonno are on tour with Rapid Cities promoting their latest release, Judge Us By How We Lived Our Lives Not By How We Made Our Living. Here are the five best things they've heard recently (with southern tour dates following...):

None of us are good at impressions.

Really. I promise! It is in your best interest to never ask us to attempt to mimic an accent. But as terrible as we are, for some reason we all have the bad habit of trying. For the most part it's intentional, we close the van doors and try our hardest to sound like we belong in that city. We add some drawl or over-exaggerate our vowels, but no matter how hard we try we never quite get it right. I guess, in a way, being bad at it is part of what makes it great.

And it is… Until we realize that we can't stop. We'll stop to get gas and forget to drop character. We'll pull over to eat and forget to turn off our lisps before ordering. And in the end we come home with a whole new vernacular.

5 ways to say "Cool"...

WICKED!
WILBRAHAM, MA



It's a cliche, I know. And as often as it gets pointed out you would think people would be overly conscious of using it, but just as we can't deny being New Yawka's, our friends in Black Churches certainly aren't hiding the fact that they live a stones throw from Bawston either.
http://www.myspace.com/blackchurches

BADASS!
KANSAS / KC, MO



When we toured out to the border of Kansas and Missouri this winter it was officially the furthest we had traveled as a band. We didn't know what to expect, but one of the greatest things about music is its ability to create instant friendships, like we did with Texas Instruments and Grizzly J. Berry. Our late night guided tours and drunken views from the roofs of 200 year old hotels were nothing short of, well, Badass.
http://www.myspace.com/texasinstrumentstheband
http://www.myspace.com/grizzlyjberry


AMAZING! (or A-maaaaaazing)
ONEONTA, NY



A while back some of our best friends, who helped us start this band, moved a few hours upstate for school. We joked that their wouldn't be anything for them to do, which i realize now is unfair. There wasn't less to do, just less places to do it. So when they met some buddies and started spending all of their time knocking out some hits, it was only a matter of time before their personalities and mannerisms started rubbing off on each other. The exaggerated hand gestures that accompany this one are almost as fun to watch as TIMESHARES are live.
http://www.myspace.com/timesharesmusic


TIGHT! (or ToyT)
ROCKFORD, IL




We have been to Rockford, Illinois a few times now. If there were only one other place in this country that we always feel at home, I might say its Rockford. But as well as we have gotten to know Warren Franklin and the guys in Joie De Vivre I still can't get used to this. Its not really the word itself that gets my attention, or even the pronunciation, it's the quantity! Its nonstop. Which, i guess, in their defense, is understandable: The land of Cheap Trick has a lot of good things going for it right now, and these guys are responsible for a lot of it.
http://www.myspace.com/warrenfranklin
http://www.myspace.com/joiedevivreband


UNREAL (or unREEEEEAL)
LONG ISLAND, NY



If there is any one group of people to blame for our slang, it's Sainthood Reps. A few close friends of ours have put together a new superpower on Long Island. You may not have heard their songs yet, but you can't spend an hour in our town without hearing someone use one of their expressions. I don't know how most of them start, but when they do they catch on and spread quickly; as their music will soon. I'm confident of that.
http://www.myspace.com/sainthoodreps

What's everybody's favorite slang word right now?

Sleep Bellum Sonno w/ Rapid Cities Tour Dates:

March 14
Empire w/ Rapid Cities, Flechette, and In Circles
Richmond, Virginia

Mar 15 2010
8:00P
The Soapbox w/ Rapid Cities
Wilmington, North Carolina

Mar 16 2010
8:00P
Ye Old Shoppe w/ Rapid Cities & We were kids
Rock Hill, South Carolina

Mar 17 2010
8:00P
The Pinhook w/ Rapid Cities
Durham, North Carolina

Mar 18 2010
8:00P
Blue Nile w/ Rapid Cities
Harrisonburg, Virginia



More after the jump...

Sleep Bellum Sonno - Judge Us By How We Lived Our lives Not By How We Made Our Living

Sleep Bellum Sonno
Judge Us By How We Lived Our Lives Not By How We Made Our Living
Unsigned, 2009
Review by Josh Rank

Sleep Bellum Sonno: "A House of Spades"

Sleep Bellum Sonno is a trio from New York. Judge Us By How We Lived Our lives Not By How We Made Our Living was recorded live to capture the “rawness” of the group. This, I think, is self-important bullsh** but, hey, more power to ‘em.

Judge Us… is a concept album. Each song is written from a different point of view about a man leaving his wife and kids. This is an interesting idea and I applaud them for having more ambition than a lot of other bands putting out music these days.


The instrumentation on the album is great. Each song drifts from section to section with ease. The guitar lines carry the songs along but don’t necessarily lead them. A crew of background instruments, (horns, harmonica, I think I heard some strings) show up to add to the mood of each song. Each track is as strong as the next in this regard, meaning there are no stand-out “bad” songs.

BUT…

The vocals. Dear god the vocals kill the album. Two main voices are heard throughout. There’s a lead singer and a backup screamer. The lead singer, guitar player Adam Tomlinson, sounds like a 17-year-old version of a Las Vegas nightclub act. Likewise, the screamer, bass player Jeffrey Ramirez, sounds like a 17-year-old version of Isis (Celestial-era). The poor vocals do more than just annoy, they anger because the music behind them is so good. This band is an inch away from being a top-player in ipods across the country, if they would only hire a new singer or become an instrumental band.

Upon first listen, I thought that maybe I just needed to get used to the vocals. That, eventually, I would “get it” and could appreciate them in this new light. However, that light never turned on. Subsequent listens only proved to intensify my feelings towards the vocals to the point where I breathed a sigh of relief when the album was finally over.

However, I could see the album translating into a great live show. I imagine seeing these songs live would be great and I plan on seeing the group if they happen to come around. The crescendos built into the songs and the tendency to not be able to hear the vocals at local shows could really mean good things for this band.

Once again, the instrumentation is great. Thankfully, there are stretches that are purely instrumental and these sections make the album worth a listen. However, once Tomlinson shows up to the party with a dick in his throat everything goes to hell. On a rating scale of “stay the hell away” to “buy it right now,” I’d put Judge Us By How We Lived Our lives Not By How We Made Our Living at about a “listen to it online or at a friend’s house.”

More after the jump...

Sleep Bellum Sono reminds me of something nutty, like The Paper Chase or a stripped down Mars Volta. New album, Judge Us By How We Lived Our Lives, Not By How We Made A Living popping soon.

Sleep Bellum Sono: "A House Of Spades Stands No Chance Against The Wind (Gambler)"


Bellflur: “Grey Sparkle Finnish Pig”

Tim Williams: "Murderous Air"

Little Girls:"Growing"

Lissie: "Little Lovin'"

Field Music: "Measure"

Real Estate: "Beach Comber"
More after the jump...