Build me up and tear me down.
Unless you're a band looking for a street team, random MySpace friend requests rarely amount to anything more than a solemn click of the reject button. However, on the flip side, sometimes they're totally awesome.
This is Phil Aiken, piano player and my new friend. According to his website, Phil's worked with pop luminaries including Buffalo Tom, Ben Kweller, James Taylor, Ken Stringfellow, and, of course, sportscaster Peter Gammons. Not a bad musical CV, if you ask me. Aiken's also plugging his second album, the recently released It's Always The Quiet Ones. The album employs the ever-popular piano-bass-drums base, and features, according to the enthusiastic press release over at Not Lame, "a multi-layered collection of meaningful songs with enough jolt to push any listener out of their aural malaise". A pretty big promise, no?
Phil Aiken - Figurine. I like this track. It doesn't have the bombast found in most Not Lame releases, but that works in its favor. Aiken does his best John Linnel impersonation while dishing out hooks that'll sneak up on you later when you least expect it. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I find it hard to ask for much more.
Phil Aiken - It's Always the Quiet Ones. When you're dealing with piano pop, it's easy to make comparisons to the "big names": Randy Newman, Billy Joel, Ben Folds, and so on. On his website, Aiken calls out the inherent tiredness of this approach, wearily stating:
"And no, it doesn't sound like Ben Folds. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Does every guitar player sound like John Denver? Or Yngwie Malmsteen?"
Funny stuff, and I agree: piano pop doesn't have to be one-dimensional. Neither, apparently, does MySpace.
For more Phil Aiken, visit his website. To be his friend, go here.
This is Phil Aiken, piano player and my new friend. According to his website, Phil's worked with pop luminaries including Buffalo Tom, Ben Kweller, James Taylor, Ken Stringfellow, and, of course, sportscaster Peter Gammons. Not a bad musical CV, if you ask me. Aiken's also plugging his second album, the recently released It's Always The Quiet Ones. The album employs the ever-popular piano-bass-drums base, and features, according to the enthusiastic press release over at Not Lame, "a multi-layered collection of meaningful songs with enough jolt to push any listener out of their aural malaise". A pretty big promise, no?
Phil Aiken - Figurine. I like this track. It doesn't have the bombast found in most Not Lame releases, but that works in its favor. Aiken does his best John Linnel impersonation while dishing out hooks that'll sneak up on you later when you least expect it. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I find it hard to ask for much more.
Phil Aiken - It's Always the Quiet Ones. When you're dealing with piano pop, it's easy to make comparisons to the "big names": Randy Newman, Billy Joel, Ben Folds, and so on. On his website, Aiken calls out the inherent tiredness of this approach, wearily stating:
"And no, it doesn't sound like Ben Folds. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Does every guitar player sound like John Denver? Or Yngwie Malmsteen?"
Funny stuff, and I agree: piano pop doesn't have to be one-dimensional. Neither, apparently, does MySpace.
For more Phil Aiken, visit his website. To be his friend, go here.
