Scott Liss & the Sixty-Six- The Blackpool Letters

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Scott Liss & the Sixty-Six- The Blackpool Letters

Liss and crew are poster boys of risk here, mixing many expansive musical influences and scoring big on “The Blackpool Letters. I admired the skill and patience spent culling sounds and sculpting flytrap arrangements on this cd. As Scott says, “watching it take shape as the songs and through the production is the best part. I love the creative process the most. I could spend days, weeks, in the studio doing nothing but writing and recording, experimenting with sounds and techniques.”

Produced by Liss in conjunction with Paul Ritchie, (Parlor Mob) the disk owes its edgy dark sound in part to Scott’s penchant for alternate tunings, especially the use of an open D (primarily for tone color) as it allows him to focus on the movement of internal melody and gives him a better grip on chord development. The cd was recorded at John Noll’s Retromedia Studios in Red Bank as well as Joey DeMaio’s Shore Fire in Long Branch. Kick in help from friends like Nicole Atkins and Dave Rosen and you really can't go wrong.

”The Blackpool Letters” jumps right out of the gate with “Shotgun.” Deeply reverbed piano (slightly de-tuned) and understated synths roll quietly before waking you up with heavy double time drum hits and big coarsely chopped guitar down strokes. Alternative by nature, this is my favorite rocker on the disk. Performance highlight is when Scott’s last vocal note of the chorus lingers to melt brilliantly into the first two measures of the bridge before fading. And even though Liss has nothing to do with Ozzy, the lead work of Dave Rosen jumps in out of left field with tonal qualities of Randy Rhoades. Frenetic synthetic and expressively manic, its Hungarian (harmonic) minor mode...

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...Captain James and the Pain, Joe Harvard, Colie Brice and others. Saturday featured artists on the big beach stage. New Jersey artists such as Bob Polding with Gary Oleyar (Loggins and Messina) did a set of their own unique blend of American Rock and roll, and Sean Cox had a set before making way for the ever-popular River City Extension.

Seaside Music Festival 2010 was better than the last two years combined but they still have a large demographic to romance up on the boardwalk. Don’t write them off just yet because as this festival weekend proved, with steadfast vendor participation, built to scale events and good music, new people are coming around and joining in on this alternative Seaside fun. And that’s the ticket that could change this little festival into a major New Jersey event. For further information check out the website at: www.seasidemusicfest.com

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