Featured Listens - Dec. 21, 2011

Featured Listens is a periodic column highlighting the latest in local music and other songs that are available for your listening pleasure. Whether it's the local and regional artists or just some of our favorite tunes from across the Web, this column represents the best of what's play for us this week:

---

FEATURED LISTEN

1. Confliction "By My Side"

It’s been seven years in the making, but the beach’s favorite hard rock band is back.

With a revamped lineup that features Rollin Carver (vocals), Tripp Gaddy (guitar), Greg Majewski (guitar), Erin-Anthony Buckley (drums) and Joe Meckley (bass), Confliction is set to once agains “play to the masses, empty bars and be a general cause for concern.”

But with a new album set to drop in a matter of weeks, it seems the only real cause for concern is whether there will be enough alcohol for the hard-partying Confliction fans who pack Revolutions nightclub for a Jan. 13 CD Release party.

Released last week, “By My Side” is the first single off “Parade the Serpent,” — an album title with a deeper meaning that represents "a show of force, and bravery, in an unwavering manner." It features Confliction’s patented brand of mild-to-wild pacing with Carver’s emotion-filled vocals turning to growls on a moments notice, backed by hard-driving guitars and basslines. 

“As a lot of you know we have been in the studio with producer and engineer David Atwater and our live sound engineer Roddy McCarson. We have delivered! "Parade the Serpent" is finished and has a release date of 1/13/2012,” announced earlier this week.

The CD release show will feature Souls Harbor and Doctrine of Ethos opening. Admission is free for those 21 and older. Tickets for 18-20 are $10 and will include a free copy of the new CD.
 
See more details here or check out the band on Reverbnation.

HOLIDAY TRACK

2. Will Misdom "Carolina Christmas"

  Fresh for the holidays comes this new track from local producer/rapper/singer Will Misdom, who  recently branched out from his work with The Technicolor Void to focus on releasing his first solo album.

Dropping a bit of his signature cockiness for a more sincere — but still swagged out — seasonal tune, Misdom muses on the joys of being at home and with family for Christmas. It’s far from your traditional holiday song, yet it’s undeniably upbeat and will surely hit home for Palmetto state folks.

Head over to Reverbnation and download “Carolina Christmas” for free, or go buy Misdom’s full length debut “One Is All It Takes” featuring guest appearances by TTV partner Tye Dye and local rapper JC Penny for $9.95 on iTunes.

ARTIST PROFILE

3. Sean Risher (aka Risher Beats)

Call me a sucker for soul samples, but I was sold on “Habits,” the latest single from Myrtle Beach hip hop group Exklusive Musik, before the lyrics even kicked in. 

Thanks to recent addition of producer Sean Risher, the trio of Chandler “Chandler Ave.” Costner, Brendan “Benny C” Corkum and Byron “B Cool” Brown, has taken its sound to another level, just in time to get started on their third mixtape “Love Knows No Love” — scheduled for release on April 20, 2012.

Though it’s tough to pin down Risher’s style on a single track, a closer listen to his offerings at WarBeats.com reveals a penchant for vocal samples, thumping basslines and a laid-back jazzy feel to many of his instrumentals including “Habits,” a sax-tinged slow jam called “Juicy” and the slightly swanky “Zelda.”

Who knows what the future holds for the Socastee High School and Coastal Carolina graduate, but here’s to hoping he keeps on making beats wherever he goes.

Check out the vocal version of Habits at Risher Beats on Reverbnation.

FEATURED GROUP

4. Through The Valley

Sprouting from the roots of former Myrtle Beach garage band Epic Gents comes the Christian Rock quartet known as Through The Valley.

Featuring Gents frontman Scott Johnson and guitarist Lucas McCarthy, the new group rounds out it lineup with a rhythm section featuring Leon Komoroski on bass and Murrells Inlet resident Scott Rahner on drums.

Though just getting off the ground as a group, Through The Valley has been working through a set of tracks they hope to have completed and recorded in January with their eyes on a CD Release show soon after.

Their pop-rock sound is similar to that of Epic Gents, but with the soaring melodies and inspirational lyrics of Christian Rock added in. Even in listening to the demo “Here We Go Again” it seems that the 19-year-old Johnson is growing with experience and that his new band is likely to produce a bit more cohesive sound than the previous effort.

Check out Through The Valley on Facebook.

SONIC SIX-PACK

5. Out-of-towners

Though we’ve taken it upon ourselves to monitor the pulse of the Myrtle Beach music scene, we do occasionally branch out from time to time, especially when it comes to the many great regional acts our area has to offer. Here’s some recent tracks submitted to us by out-of-town artists looking to bring their show to the beach:

• Tyler Boone “All Of This”: Latest single from Charleston-based singer songwriter who will perform at Fresh Brewed Coffee House on Feb. 11 with Jentry Rose & Finnegan Bell. Download via Souncloud.

• PlanetRAWK “RAWKzilla”: New mixtape from the Alanta-based alternative hip-hop band which is slated to perform at Cool Daddy’s in Feburary. Download it on Bandcamp.

• Spencer Sholes “Dragonfly Season”: Music from a veteran singer-songwriter from the Durham, N.C., area. Americana artist classifes his sound as funkified folk rock. Hear the song here or check him out on Reverbnation.

• N.FilTr8 “MooMBot”: Formerly residing on the South Strand and now calling Greenville, N.C., home, this is an experimental Moombahton/Trip-hop released by the electronic producer as a thanks to his Facebook fans. Download via Soundcloud.

• Huffton Brothers “Poor Boy”: Music video from the Wilmington-based folk rock group that performed over the weekend at Pirate’s Cove and now features MB player Carver Soles on keys. Check it out on YouTube.

• Dixie Deathwish “Hell’s ½ Acre”: This one wasn't actually a submission, but a suggestion from a local musician who said he’s planning to bring the Charlotte-based metal band to town in the near future. I was sold on the name alone, but the music is as brutal as would be expected and worth a listen. Check it out on Reverbnation.