On October 16, Eric Johanson will release The Open Bayou, his first record on his new label Levee Ward Records. The record is self-produced and, like many of Johanson’s previous albums, self-published. Johanson’s guitar and vocals on The Open Bayou are accompanied by Will Repholz on bass and Jake Gartenstein on drums. The album is firmly in traditional blues rock territory, with some notable influence from heavy metal in structure and melodic choices throughout.
The album is mostly good, enjoyable, and easy to listen to. When I say the album is mostly good, it’s not because parts are bad, but because parts are excellent. Candidly, I rated most of the songs on The Open Bayou a solid seven, with the exception of three tracks I rated as perfect tens.: ”Still I Move,” ”Alligator Smile,” and ”What Makes You Real.”
Each of these three stand out tracks has a key feature, a core creative choice that elevates it from the rest of the record. “Alligator Smile,” the fourth track, has a more country vibe that evokes early CCR playfulness and earnestness. “Still I Move,” at number six on the album, has a silky RnB feel for an instant classic ramblin’ man song with a killer heavy chorus clearly drawn from Johanson’s metal influences.
And finally, “What Makes You Real,” the tenth and final track on the record, is a flawless blues rock tune. Slower, mournful, and thoughtful, it is equal parts restrained and intense. These three songs are the best of the album, with the intensity of creative novelty.
The Open Bayou is a good, almost great blues rock album. The band sounds great, and Johanson’s guitar in particular really shines and shows why he’s played with some of the biggest names in the genre. It’s easy listening and at moments it absolutely soars. I’m looking more to hearing more from Johanson, and I hope he continues to get more experimental and weird with his creative choices!
The Review: 8/10
Can’t Miss Tracks
– Still I Move – Alligator Smile – What Makes You Real
There comes a moment in the miserable comedy of human existence when you realize that God, assuming one is up there somewhere, has probably grown tired of answering the telephone. We have spent centuries inventing elaborate explanations for our own stupidity, blaming fate, temptation, original sin, and occasionally the Devil himself for disasters bearing our unmistakable fingerprints. We pray (or at the least hope) for deliverance from wars we started, economic systems we designed, and appetites we cultivated with considerable enthusiasm. Somewhere along the way, salvation became another service we expected somebody else to provide. Perhaps the universe has finally decided to leave us on hold until we figure out how to clean up our own goddamn mess.
Austin, Texas darkwave and electronic rock outfit Mass Minor, the project led by Andrew J. Martin, Jr., has apparently reached a similar conclusion, and has chosen to deliver the bad news at 169 beats per minute. Their new single, Get Up, released through Metropolis Records, takes the ancient human pastime of pleading with the Almighty and subjects it to the considerable pressures of modern electronic music, where questions of sin, mortality, money, and spiritual bankruptcy compete for attention with synthesizers and electric guitars.
“This song is a conversation with God at 169 BPM about sin, money, mortality and the things we sacrifice our lives to,” explains Martin. “It comes from this idea of asking God to save us from problems we created ourselves. Maybe it’s not God’s job to save us. Maybe we need to fix our own shit. You’re the one holding the light. Get up.”
It’s a splendidly irreverent proposition, particularly in an age when nearly everybody seems convinced that civilization’s problems can be solved by finding the proper villain, purchasing the appropriate product, or waiting for some celestial authority to intervene. Martin locates the uncomfortable little truth buried beneath all that bargaining: we’ve become remarkably proficient at manufacturing our own misery and equally accomplished at outsourcing responsibility for it.
Musically, Mass Minor inhabits the territory where Depeche Mode’s electronic sensuality intersects with the widescreen emotional ambitions of Tears for Fears, the mechanical urgency of Nine Inch Nails, and the darker inclinations of Gary Numan. Martin’s combination of atmospheric synthesizers, driving guitars, and electronic rhythms lends itself naturally to a song concerned with the absurd velocity of contemporary life. At 169 BPM, Get Up makes its philosophical argument at a speed suggesting that humanity may be running out of time to consider the consequences of its more spectacular mistakes.
There’s also a fine streak of gallows humour running through the premise. Imagine finally getting an audience with the Creator, only to discover that your carefully prepared list of grievances reads suspiciously like an inventory of your own terrible decisions. The Almighty might reasonably ask why a species capable of splitting atoms, mapping distant galaxies, and inventing machines that can imitate thought remains incapable of exercising a little common sense. Martin has supplied a considerably shorter answer, and it comes with a beat you can move your body to.
The accompanying music video, directed by Teresa Jolie, with editing and visual effects by Beau Jason Loy and production by Simon Mars, brings the song’s themes into a more mysterious, symbolic realm. Starring Amy Martin, the video follows a blindfolded woman, perhaps an embodiment of Justice herself, as she wanders through a dark forest, singing into the darkness while navigating a world she cannot see. The imagery lends an allegorical dimension to the song, raising questions about truth, perception, and the peculiar predicament of Justice trying to find her way without sight.
Watch the video for Get Up below:
Get Up appears on Beyond The Edge Of Reason, the project’s forthcoming album, scheduled for release in late February 2027. The record follows Mass Minor’s independently released 2020 debut, Become Each Other, and a succession of singles and EPs that have accompanied Martin’s growing presence in the dark alternative scene. Multiple appearances at SXSW and performances alongside Twin Tribes, Ultra Sunn, TRAITRS, Vision Video, Urban Heat, and Sacred Skin have helped establish the project within a generation of artists drawing fresh blood from the old electronic and post-punk traditions.
Humanity has always possessed a peculiar appetite for redemption, especially when redemption promises to spare us the inconvenience of changing our behavior. We construct heavens to compensate for the hells we’ve made on earth, then spend our remaining hours arguing over who deserves admission. Meanwhile, the poor, battered world continues turning, indifferent to our theological negotiations.
If God exists, perhaps He’s waiting for us to demonstrate that we have learned something from the extraordinary privilege of being alive. If He doesn’t, the responsibility remains exactly where it always belonged.
Either way, the light is already in our hands, and we’re wasting precious time asking somebody else to switch it on.
Steve Hackett has announced a North American tour. The former Genesis man, who completed a short run of Best Of Genesis & Solo Gems dates in Florida earlier this year before embarking on the annual Cruise to the Edge, resumed the tour in the UK earlier this month.
The new run of dates will kick off on April 10 at the Centre Stage Theater in Atlanta, GA, and finish on May 6 at the Palais Montcalm in Québec, QC. Ticket presales begin today (October 14), with the general sale kicking off on Friday. Full dates below.
“I’ll be bringing this thrilling new show out in 2027 to celebrate the very best of Genesis, including the biggest fan favourites, as well as solo classics,” says Hackett. “To kick off, we’ll hit the East Coast to the Midwest in April. Get your tickets early… it will be a blast!”
Hackett, who will also perform on Cruise To The Edge in 2027 alongside Kansas, Asia, Big Big Train and others, will rerelease his 2012 album Genesis Revisited II on vinyl next month.
The album, which features contributions from John Wetton, Neal Morse, Steven Wilson, Jakko Jakszyk, Nic Kershaw, Mikael Åkerfeldt and others, includes versions of many Genesis classics, includingSupper’s Ready, The Musical Box and The Return of the Giant Hogweed. It’s available to pre-order now.
Steve Hackett: Best Of Genesis & Solo Gems tour
Oct 14: Birmingham Symphony Hall Oct 16: Nottingham Royal Concert Hall Oct 18: Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Oct 20: Manchester Bridgewater Hall Oct 21: Gateshead Glasshouse Oct 23: York Barbican Oct 24: Liverpool Philharmonic Oct 26: London Royal Albert Hall
Nov 12: Turin Teatro Colosseo, Italy Nov 13: Legnano Cinema Teatro Galleria, Italy Nov 14: Bassano del Grappa Palabassano, Italy Nov 16: Florence Teatro Cartiere Carrara, Italy Nov 17: Rome Teatro Brancaccio, Italy
Feb 05: Fletching Trading Boundaries, UK Feb 06: Fletching Trading Boundaries, UK Feb 07: Fletching Trading Boundaries, UK
Apr 10: Atlanta Center Stage Theater, GA Apr 13: Washington Warner Theatre, DC Apr 15: Collingswood Scottish Rite Auditorium, NJ Apr 16: Collingswood Scottish Rite Auditorium, NJ Apr 17: Lansdowne Theater, PA Apr 19: Ridgefield Playhouse, CT Apr 20: Ridgefield Playhouse, CT Apr 21: New York The Town Hall, NY Apr 23: Albany The Egg, Hart Theatre, NY Apr 24: Boston Berklee Performance Center, MA Apr 27: Akron Goodyear Theater, OH Apr 28: Buffalo UB Center for the Arts, NY Apr 29: Ithaca State Theatre of Ithaca, NY May 01: Toronto Massey Hall, ON May 02: Ottawa Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa, ON May 04: Montréal Théâtre St-Denis, QC May 06: Québec Palais Montcalm, QC
Interview by Ali Williams Swedish metallers TUNGSTEN have a busy October ahead, although releasing their fifth studio album and embarking on their first European headline tour is a pretty reasonable excuse for having very little spare time. Their latest offering, Ashes, arrived on October 9 through Perception, a division of Reigning Phoenix Music, coinciding with […]
Interview by Ali Williams Swedish metallers TUNGSTEN have a busy October ahead, although releasing their fifth studio album and embarking on their first European headline tour is a pretty reasonable excuse for having very little spare time. Their latest offering, Ashes, arrived on October 9 through Perception, a division of Reigning Phoenix Music, coinciding with […]