Gregor’s Bed – Giant Hand, The Dojo Workhorse

Intriguing New Developments in Alternative Music

?Is this something you feel you can share with the rest of us, Amazing Larry??

Pee-wee’s Big Adventure

That Guy That Sat Behind You in Lab and Never Said a Word? Look at Him Go!

Giant Hand

Coming Home, Empty Room Records, 2009

?The villagers held me by the hand.
We walked in line, like a marching band.
As the trees disappeared
I saw what I had feared?
Oh! A cave, a cave!
Oh! I’ll be good!
Oh! I’ll behave!?

Kirk Ramsay

Kirk Ramsay’s voice, so reminiscent of the squeaks and quavers of adolescent boys when they finally screw up the courage to talk to a real girl, is the perfect instrument for a series of odes to rejection, abandonment, victimization, hopelessness, and other cheery subjects. It’s as if Johnny the Homicidal Maniac had finally decided to creatively channel all of those gruesome urges.

These songs sound like the guy woke from a nightmare, turned on GarageBand, grabbed his guitar, and warbled away without even thinking about how it sounded, then added a separate track of noises from whatever he could find lying around in his apartment. Well guess what? It works. And you’ll definitely find yourself saying, ?If this guy can pull off a musical career . . .?

Finally, Some Love Songs Worth Contemplating

The Dojo Workhorse

Weapons Grade Romantic, Meggar Music, 2009

At first It’s hard to pinpoint what’s so great about Weapons Grade Romantic. Nothing about it stands out as amazingly original. But It’s just so darn sincere. Not to mention that the music is thoughtfully arranged (and well played) and the lyrics are deeply insightful.

Like this from ?The Universe?:

?The universe is a powerful force;
She brought you to me when I needed you most.
Her boundaries are growing?watch them grow and keep going.
But then they’re gone
With all our precious days here . . .?

This album is full of such thoughtful, original explorations of romantic love, a subject that normally attracts clichés like flies to molasses. The lyrics are substantial, healing, and can only add to your understanding of relationships.