Joplin Rice
Spine Adagio Part II & The Prince

Joplin sent me his music a while ago and I just left it buried under a pile boring submissions. When I cleaned them out I wasn't sure if I should give it a listen. As I mentioned before, it's a thin line to put yourself into the same line as your musical heroes.

In this case it was Arcade Fire, Neutral Milk Hotel and The Microphones. I mean, it helped to give me an idea. If he was referring to Nickelback, Guns'n' Roses and Bon Jovi, I wouldn't have consider to click the link.

So the list of "sounds like..." could be definitely expanded to mid ninieties Indie Rock stars like The Pavement.

With The Microphones he shares the love for continuing topics (like The Pipes Pt. 1 or Spitting Fire Pt. 2) and also the drumming in The Pipes Pt. 1 sounds very much like The Microphones. That's probably my most favorite song on the album. The other tracks are ranging between forlorn bedroom folk to the mentioned ninieties indie rock.

As the title suggest, this album consists of two interconnected albums. In his own words:

The  first  album  sequence  (if  you  play  “Spine  Adagio” as  track  9  after  “Beyond   our  Bones  (second  thought)”  is a  sort  of  condensed  version  and  not  necessarily  complete.  It’s  more  a  document  of  actions,  whereas   The  Prince  has  more  to  do  with   the  internal  dialogue  going  on  inside  the  narrator’s  mind  during  the  first  part  of  the   album.  In  other  words,  they  are happening  simultaneously.  Either  way,  “Spine   Adagio”  is  the  end. 

Watch out for Joplin's future projects!
Recommended!