“me ’n the boys made some noise. merry x-mas”
With that, guitarist/singer Jason Jouver posted a surprise new EP on Wednesday morning from Pittsburgh math-rock giants Creta Bourzia.
“It's extremely hard to get these guys in a room at the same time,” he says.
The guys include founding members guitarist Jeff Ellsworth (guitar) and drummer Dennis Kern with bassist Gene Doyle (who, along with Jouver, is a member of the nonactive Pittsburgh math-rock pioneers Don Caballero).
The five-song “Commuter,” the first new music from the band since 2012’s “New Songs by the Young,” is the jarring listening you would expect from these heavyweights with a couple hard, crushing, dizzying instrumentals (most notably “Unforeseen Events”) and an epic metal rocker, “Deal Breaker,” with a harrowing Jouver vocal.
“One thing about the music that I thought was fun,” Jouver says, “is we kind of approached writing these songs like a rock band scoring different scenes from an imaginary crappy movie. That's kinda where the names [like “Astronaut Launch Theme” and “Here Come the Bad Guys”] came from.”
It can be found at cretabourzia.bandcamp.com/album/commuter
GET HIP DEMOS
The latest entry in the Get Hip Folk Series comes from Demos Papadimas, a spirited roots rocker from Youngstown who combines his heavy Dylan influence with the Mediterranean flavors that go with his name.
He will play the release show for the new EP, “The Lucky You,” on Wednesday at Club Cafe, South Side, on a bill with The Local, a new band formed by Southside American’s Ben Sweet.
No Depression magazine, deeming his style “Greco-Americana,” praised his 2016 album, “Waiting,” saying that his “wistful, philosophical lyrics continue to generate songs that keep the listener engaged and thinking.”
Unlike previous Folk Series releases by Zack Keim and Slim Forsythe, these songs have fuller folk- and country-rock arrangements and a few more rowdy, rollicking moments.
“I’m not as interested in having a stripped down, rootsy approach and I suppose I’m less interested in being a revivalist,” Mr. Papadimas says. “This EP highlights the strengths of this band lineup that I’ve had for over a year now. It’s slightly less acoustic and more electric.”
That Greco-Americana flavor is the boldest on “Somehow,” which beautifully blends fiddle and Mediterranean guitar before taking off into a middle section that sounds like a Rave-Ups song.
The show is at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10; ticketweb.com.
UPCOMING SHOWS
Bill Deasy will play his annual Boxing Day show at Club Cafe on Tuesday. Tickets are $13 advance; $15 day of show; www.ticketweb.com. … Pop-punk band Punchline, which hit the 20-year mark this year, will play A Very Intimate Evening show Saturday at Black Forge Coffee House, Allentown. Doors open at 7 p.m. $37 (ticketweb.com) … School of Athens will play an Ugly Christmas Sweater Show Saturday at Cattivo, Lawrenceville, at 7 p.m. (www.cattivopgh.com)
First Published: December 20, 2017, 5:23 p.m.
