Saturday, November 20, 2010

CD Review-Landen Belardes: Listen



Recorded in living rooms, bedrooms, computer rooms and kitchens all over this beautiful town of Bakersfield young Landen Belardes continues to chisal away at a sound shared by this whole town. Be it while we drive the green streets of Oleander or the smog infested bluffs of the Eastside. Its a sound that's all ours, it's green, it's sticky, it's dirty. And in the case of young Belardes it still has pimples!!

At just 19 he's already entering the second phase of his musical maturation having already played, produced and recorded while still in high school with the now defunct Dirty Spanglish. On Listen Belerdes sounds like a dog who's just learned to bark, a lion who's just learned to roar and appears to be an eagle who is about ready to soar.

Seven self produced tracks take us on a journey of high school crushes, teenage angst and good ole American bliss. Man it's good to be alive and Landen reminds us of that over and over again.

Although the tunes can sound melancholy at times no doubt the message is positive and full of hope. Come on we spend most of our lives waiting for moments, instances, nano seconds of bliss and we take them when we can get them. The hours the minutes the stories the songs leading up to the bliss aren't always nice. But it's worth it and it needs to be shared. The stories need to be told the songs need to be sung. And that's what this young man does.

This CD is pulling my heart strings back and fourth making my head sway to and fro as I search for hidden messages in songs so simple they rhyme 'wanderin' with 'ponderin'.

The stand outs on the collection are the bookends I've Flown Back Home and Listening. The latter of which being a song that refuses to end on a CD that leaves you begging for more. And more we'll get. Word has it Belardes will be putting together a few CD Release shows in the near future. Why don't you go here: @landenbelardes or here Facebook/landenbelardes if your looking for an update. In the meantime check this out:

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