"the more I start to pay attention, the wall paper looks the same"
"Rhodes Ave" by the Memphis sad boy indie rock band Blvck Hippie from the onset feels like you are sitting in on a jam session in close quarters. You can almost feel the drum sticks pirouette on the cymbal, fingers thumping out half away bass lines and plaintive guitar strains, notes floating like blues rock bubbles. It is dreamy and sad, somewhere between sleep in your eyes or being stoned. Then the glorious fall happens, the coming together, the groove, absolutely dreamy played beautiful vocal croons and tightly would stir of sounds that feel like light jazz touched post rock filtered through proggy indie tones and psychedelia.
A big fucking smile will adorn your face unless you are among the unliving. I love the musicality here, the deeply entrenched bass and drums, oh those drums and the guitar lines that waffle around in beautifully moving ways. Lead Guitarist and vocalist Josh Shaw's vocal aesthetic has an adoring lilt and biting chunks of sadness:
"and once you notice the small things
you'll see that I was wrong
I'm just another angry kid
with no home to say I belong"
The explosive fanning guitar and jammy tight breakdowns are tones of cherries on this amazing cake. Blvck Hippie’s current core line up is composed of (the aforementioned) Josh Shaw (vox, lead guitar), Casey Rittinger (drums), and Tyler “Chaucer” Marberry (bass) with recent addition, Matt Turner (rhythm guitar).
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
spotify
afropunk
bandcamp
Blvck Hippie is a Memphis Sad Boy Indie Rock Band. The band’s name derives from frontman Josh Shaw’s childhood nickname, coined by his mom.
Check out the premieres of our latest to singles:
Bunkbed in Afropunk
Rhodes Ave in Atwood Magazine
Shaw didn’t pick up a guitar until his junior year of college when he started to write and record Lofi music out of his dorm room. Post college Shaw worked on solo projects under St, John until 2018 when he met current Blvck Hippie drummer, Casey Rittinger -- the band’s sound took a different direction as the duo penned new music under the name Blvck Hippie.
Blvck Hippie’s current line up is composed of Lead Guitarist and Vocalist Josh Shaw, with Casey Rittinger on Drums, and Tyler “Chaucer” Marberry on Bass. An unlikely group, the three form the core of a band with recent addition, Matt Turner, on Rhythm Guitar.
Blvck Hippie’s sound draws inspiration from The Antlers along with the work of The Strokes and The Voids. Shaw credits Kanye West and Kid Cudi for inspiring him as a Black artist by pushing him to always make something different. Shaw’s overdriven shimmery guitars, Rittinger’s tight and polyrhythmic drums, and Marberry’s booming and melodic bass lines come together to create an unexpectedly delightful “VHS” inspired rock. Shaw’s dark brooding lyrics about escapism, loneliness, and grief work with the instrumentals to create the Sad Boy Indie Rock songs of your dreams.
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