Bryan Abrams is in love with a new band. He explains why:Keeping up with 'what's hot' is always exhausting. Be it literature or film, fashion or art, it's very difficult to stay on top of your chosen medium. Sometimes, however, the universe does work out for you.
It all started last May when I found myself at Arlene's Grocery in New York's Lower East Side to see a band with a girl I'd been trying to woo. She was a big fan of the headline act. I couldn't have cared less about them, although that quickly changed about two minutes into the first song. The sound blasting out of the speakers caught me off guard. Each was song better than the last. Accessible indie rock without being too poppy? Check. No pretentious bullshit? Check. This girl had taste. "You have taste!" I shouted to her at one point during the show. She didn't hear me. She was too involved in the music. Everyone was. This was undoubtedly a 'new band', and I was getting in on the ground floor. It felt good.
The girl and I never materialized, but the band and I did. Flight Crash Companion was easy enough to find online. The first thing I learned was that the 'band' I saw wasn't really a band. FCC is a one-man operation, the man in question being Evan Cooney. He brings along his musician friends to play live with him, but all the music is his. You can download all his music for free at his site. How can he afford to do that?
"For better or worse, the record buying public has been spoiled by 'free' music,’’ said Cooney, in response to an email. "No one I know buys records anymore, including myself. Which means modern artists need to throw the old business model out the window and explore alternative profit centers. Modern artists need to adapt to this new market and learn to make money in channels. For me, it's licensing. Also, people are more likely to download your tunes if they're free, and to me, just having someone listen to my stuff is payment enough"
Listening to Cooney’s music, it's amazing one person is creating all this sound. The music is all over the place (in a good way). Sometimes the songs are melancholy electronic ballads, sometimes they're up-tempo electro-rock. Big drums and big guitars melt into somber melancholy digital ballads. The song "Sunrise Motion Pictures" from FCC's newest album 'Criminals' is a great place to start. The album itself is slightly rock, slightly electronic, cynical and dark. At times the moodiness gives way to a infectious, refined sound, which eventually bleeds into a soundscape that's warm and accessible. Cooney's voice is often heavily processed, yet still retains an eerie sense of intimacy, never getting above a creeping malaise. Even with the diverse backdrop, that same voice is always there to let you know it's still Flight Crash Companion. How do you create an entire band in your bedroom that sounds this good?
"I'd attribute about half of it to coming up during the home studio revelation—I got my first cheap digital workstation when I was 13--and about half to keeping up with the latest tools,’’ says Cooney. "The stuff that's out there is unreal. And cheap. With a little talent and a lot of hard work, anyone can do this shit in their bedroom.’’
I'm still behind on the new 'hot' music that's out there, and I know it's out there because our aforementioned Playboy Music Man, Tim Mohr, tells me it is. But I'm happy to have at least stumbled upon this little gem. When FCC blows up and becomes 'hot', don't say I never gave you the heads up.
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