You'll proudly play it for friends who will wonder who these bands are, so here's some information to share.
“Yours Forever” was written for Spiderman 2's soundtrack, but the lucky break barely eluded Canadian rocker KRONiS, a story familiar to many talented indie artists. This is its initial U.S. Release on CD. Austin Hartley-Leonard's “Golden Opportunity” elaborates on the familiar story of chasing musical dreams, stepping away from the familiar into an unknown world, sometimes before anyone else hears the full instrumentation of the song within the artist, often chasing promises of Golden Opportunities to Southern California.
In contrast, Pilot Touhill rode the California beach lifestyle like a small board on a choice wave into the music business. From the moment the Ostrich saw their clever video for “Good Morning,” he's been a fan. Of course, California doesn't have a monopoly on sunny beaches, and none are better than Hawaii's. If the Hollow Spheres are Hawai's Grateful Dead, then Sean Cleland is their Jerry Garcia. Sean's solo song “Something Under the Sun” feels like a perfect day at Ka'anapali. When talking beach music, Florida can't be ignored. “Blame It On the Margaritas” won South Florida's Tropical Rock Song of the Year Award in 2008, an award Howard Livingston & Mile Marker 24 pretty much own year after year with new original songs.
Michigan native Angie Mattson's live show in Marina Del Rey surprised the Ostrich like few artists have. Far from wispy, this frail girl belted out hypnotic songs accompanied by electric guitar mastery for an experience more like Pink Floyd than the pop singer he expected. Her sultry “Mississippi” had the Ostrich expecting a riverboat to pass by the harbor outside. Similarly, on a different night at Hotel Cafe in L.A., Austin Hartley-Leonard transported the Ostrich to Bourbon Street with “Be Good to Me.” He would have never guessed Austin originally came from Chicago, or that he was also a classically trained cellist. Ellis Callahan, on the other hand, comes from the rolling hills of rural Tioga, Pennsylvania. “I'm Lost,” performed with his band the Few and the Faithful, delivers that back roads Americana at the heart of his best songs.
New Madrid's“Soberano” is a multi-cultural triumph, making it hard to identify the geographical origins of this Brooklyn, New York, trio. Chris Del Priore of Mesa Blue started his life in New York, but Northern San Diego County has been his home over 20 years. The Ostrich discovered Mesa Blue at Mikey's Coffee in Poway, a terrific venue for indie music in its day. Mesa Blue's “Running With the Bulls” paints an atmospheric tone poem of Pamplona, Spain,with signature percussion and acoustic guitar. With computers and synthesizers, Orange County's Anything Box comes at music from the opposite direction, but their sci-fi inspired sound also has heart. “Carmen (Spanglish Edit),” a previously unreleased version of their original song “Carmen,” is proof.
With “Jay Walking 'Cross Oxford Street,” there's no doubt you've arrived musically in England, and Manchester's own selfish♥lovers deliver fresh British pop. “Sucia,” accented by sounds reminiscent of the “Magical Mystery Tour” era, sounds British too, but The Stares are based in Seattle. The Ostrich thinks the rainy winters of the Pacific Northwest must simulate the creative atmosphere of London.
The best Irish folk punk comes from Dublin or Boston, right? San Diego's Lexington Field challenges this premise with their original song “Tracey Boys Fight the World.” The Rocketboys of Austin, Texas, simply blow the Ostrich away with “All the Western Winds” every time he hears it. You too?
Bringing us home is J Minus, from that great musical city Seattle. “Chasing After You” combines fun musical elements in a surprising synergism that makes the Ostrich smile. The Winter Sounds' sweet harmonies immediately bring to mind the Beach Boys, but this band from Athens, Georgia, doesn't sing about beaches and sunny days but about their Haunted South. “The Anthem Is the Gift” reminds us that summer doesn't last forever. The Ostrich originally planned to bring the CD to a close in the snow of the Carolinas, but Howard Livingston, the unofficial ambassador for the Florida Keys, convinced the Ostrich that he should chill out with “Livin' On Key West Time” as a sort of sunny encore.
Ostrich Music Group is excited to introduce this fantastic group of varied performers. It should bring to mind concept albums by bands like the Beatles who dared to stretch styles beyond pre-conceived commercial boundaries and have fun doing it. With eighteen songs playing for a total of about an hour and fourteen minutes, "On My Way" would have been a double album in the days when albums were pressed out of black vinyl, so music fans get more for their money.
The Legend Behind “On My Way”
The Ostrich recently returned from an amazing voyage with a valise full of terrific tunes he bought as sound souvenirs for you! Where did the Ostrich find these songs?
If you drew it out on a map, the Ostrich started at home, as most of us do. Though he imagines himself as important to his community, life in the neighborhood went on pretty much as normal without their friendly neighborhood Ostrichman when he embarked on his journey. In fact, misdemeanor hole digging seemed to decline, but I digress.
He headed to California, eventually figuring out that the sand in the desert wasn't the beach. When he found the ocean, he liked it so much that he visited beaches in Hawaii and Cabo.
Whether simply because his skin was chapped by the arid climate or he heard the siren song of a Cajun Lady is unclear, but the Ostrich headed to the Mississippi Delta. He loved the music of New Orleans, even if Bourbon Street was a little dirty for him.
The Ostrich got very lost and ended up somewhere in Latin America (geography and languages have never been the Ostrich's strong points). A revolution seemed to be brewing, so he landed a job as chef on a ship that he thought was heading to New York, but either the recruiter lied or the Ostrich reported to the wrong boat. In any case, it turned out that he really liked Spain when he got there, despite the bulls running down the street. The Ostrich, after all, is a fast runner himself, so he stayed ahead of them all.
He followed some English speaking people and ended up in the United Kingdom, where it is rumored the charming Ostrich broke a heart or two. Heading west by boat, he was pleasantly surprised by how fast he reached the East Coast of the United States. Just as Columbus missed his destination of India by more than a few nautical miles, the Ostrich soon discovered he was actually in Ireland. He fell in with a rowdy crowd and knew he had to get away from them, so he caught a plane heading west.
It turns out his sense of direction isn't much better than his language skills, and the Ostrich instead flew north. Routed over the North Pole, he landed in Seattle, a great music city where he had more than one cup of coffee. The Ostrich took a diagonal route through some beautiful countryside that tempted him to plant his head permanently, including the gorgeous snow-coated Carolinas. But he kept on trucking, eventually finding himself in the southernmost point in the continental U.S. He was happy to find he fit in perfectly with the locals in that terrific beach scene.
What motivated the Ostrich's choice of destinations other than occasionally being lost? We know it started with helping some promising indie artists seeking golden opportunities in California. Once there, some say he fell in love with a girl who lived in the gray house by the bridge, and he was pretty much chasing after her the whole time. In the final analysis, it's hard to know exactly how any of us get on our life paths, but like you and the Ostrich, I know I always try to make the best of my experiences "On My Way."
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