#tommy marolda

[indienink]

‘listen like it’s GOSPEL’ by Prana Songbird ft. Richie Sambora  Produced by Tom Marolda (Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora ...) 

(via https://open.spotify.com/track/6dUYFqweF0HH5jE60OQykr?si=h4g1WE_3Qsi6Ict5dpuPCQ)

[daggerzine]

The Toms – Tomplicated (Futureman Records)

This was certainly a pleasant surprise. We all remember The Toms record from 1979 where teenage Tommy Marolda recorded a bunch of cool pop songs at his folks house over a weekend and self-released them.  I missed his next several releases until 2019 when Futureman released a cd of the 1979 Sessions which is well worth your time as well. Marolda is back in the saddle again, playing everything himself (save for additional strings and keys by others folks) and recorded in Lost Wages, NV (as my old boss used to call Las Vegas). This one has been growing on me since I got it. The first listen grabbed me a little and then on subsequent listens more songs started to stick. Marolda still has a knack for a killer hook as evidenced on snappy numbers like opener “Pinball Replay, “Mini Bomb Girl” and the title track. He goes full Beatles mode (Lennon style) on the lovely “Too Many Yesterdays” and offers up another wonderful acoustic number in “Whatever.” I enjoyed a few more cuts tucked near the end of the disc (16 songs in all here) in “The Worlds is Flat,” “Sunday Clothes’ and the final tune “It Doesn’t Matter To Me.” I need to revisit the past releases that I’ve missed (there’s a few of ‘em”) but in the meantime Marolda has written/recorded another terrific platter here and doesn’t forget the hooks (not by a longshot).  Dig in (with two forks). www.futuremanrecords.bandcamp.com

[usgunn]

September 29, 2019

CLICK HERE for the September 29, 2019 playlist

1. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - “Sick Bug” (2017)

One of a seemingly endless string of quality indie rock bands that pour out of Melbourne, Australia year after year.  Three vocalists that all kind of sound the same and trade lines seemingly arbitrarily.  They put out a great album last year, but this song comes from an EP that came out a year before.  Saw them at Terminal West last year, and the drummer had to keep playing on his knees between songs to keep the blood flowing for the unrelenting pulse beat.  It was killer.

2. The Dentists - “I’m Not The Devil” (1985)

Band from Medway, Kent that added a 60′s psych flair to a sort of early indie-pop sound.  That’s about all I know.  Reissued a couple of years ago by unstoppable Chicago powerhouse Trouble In Mind records.

3. The Toms - “You Must Have Crossed My Mind” (1979)

The Toms is the solo moniker of Tommy Marolda, a New Jersey recording engineer who I think may have had some sort of Bon Jovi connection at one point.  This is from his first, self-titled record, on which he played all the instruments and allegedly recorded and mixed the entire thing in a single weekend (no easy feat, particularly pre-Pro Tools) on a break from paying work.  Some obvious Beatles worship going on here, but glorious all the same.

4. Emitt Rhodes - “Fresh as a Daisy” (1970)

Speaking of obvious Beatles worship and self-recording... This comes from Emitt Rhodes’ self-titled, second album, which he recorded at home (against union rules at the time!), playing all instruments himself.  This whole album sounds like what I wish a contemporaneous Paul McCartney solo album would have sounded like.

5. Echo & The Bunnymen - “Never Stop (Discoteque)” (1983)

Ian McCulloch is my preferred British post-punk Ian -- sorry Joy Division.  This non-album single is maybe my favorite moment of theirs.  Check out this killer live video too. 

6. Francis Bebey - “The Coffee Cola Song” (1982)

One of my favorite discoveries during my time at WXDU, Francis Bebey spent time in Cameroon, France, and Ghana, writing, teaching and making idiosyncratic pop music.

7. Yamasuki - “Yama Yama” (1971)

At this point I can’t even remember how I got to this.  Two French dudes making their idea of “Eastern” music, sung by a children’s choir who may or may not be singing in actual Japanese?

8. Rexy - “Funky Butt” (1981)

I think if my kids were to write a song, they would probably call it Funky Butt.  Who knows why a grown-ass UK art student decided to name a song that, or to weirdly grunt her way through the song, but here we are.

9. Ruins - “Nice Song” (c. 1982-1984)

Italian experimental synth band that I first heard on one of the Minimal Wave Tapes compilations.  Apparently very tied in with the acadmic/visual art scene in Venice.

10. Craig Leon - “Region of Fleeing Civilians” (1982)

Producer who had a hand in the first albums by the Ramones, Suicide, and Blondie, and on the side made weird synth albums.

11. Denzel Curry (feat. Twelve’len and Goldlink) - “13LACK 13ALLOONS” (2018)

Florida rapper who the internet tells me makes “Soundcloud rap.”  I don’t know what that means, I just like this song.

12. Sampa the Great - “Final Form” (2019)

Another Melbourne-based artist, this Zambia-born artist just put out her first record on Ninja Tune, a label not usually known for hip-hop.  She’s apparently a big deal in Australia but just kind of stepping into the US.

13. Slum Village (feat. Busta Rhymes) - “What It’s All About” (1998)

Legendary producer Jay Dee/J Dilla got his start as one-third of this Detroit-based rap group.  This song features both production and a verse from Dilla, plus, of course, Busta Rhymes.

14. Damon Locks & Black Monument Ensemble - “The Colors That You Bring” (2019)

Damon Locks started his career as the frontman for Chicago’s Trenchmouth, a band which featured a pre-fame Fred Armisen on drums.  He’s now a sound artist in Chicago, and this comes from Where Future Unfolds, a live performance of a band he put together combining live music and samples of Civil Rights-era speeches.

15. Herbie Hancock - “Wiggle Waggle” (1969)

I never knew about this album, Fat Albert Rotunda, until Antarctica Starts Here, a reissue label run by the Superior Viaduct people, put it out last year.  Seems to be an anomaly in his catalog, wedged right at the end of the 60′s between his more traditional recordings and the fusion and experimental period in the 70′s.  It’s probably the most purely fun music he ever made.

16. Allen Toussaint - “What Do You Want the Girl to Do?” (1975)

Sort of ashamed to say I first heard this song when a band called Chesnut Station (a bunch of indie rock nerds from Chicago playing 60′s and 70′s pop and soul covers) closed their album In Your Living Room with it.  Glad I eventually heard the original--haven’t looked back since.

[richiesamboranews]

Richie Sambora hanging out with his friend and fellow musician and songwriter Tommy Marolda. (May 13, 2014)

[daggerzine]

The Toms- THE 1979 SESSIONS (SONGGRAM RECORDS/ FUTUREMAN RECORDS)

The only thing I have by The Toms, the one-man studio recording project of Tommy Marolda, is that 2-cd set that Not Lame released of his debut from 1979 (you can’t miss the red and white checkered cover). Judging by the Discogs page it looks like he has a fair amount of other releases that I need to check out, but in the meantime we’ve got more from that infamous 1979 session. Apparently more songs were recorded during that session (ie: Tommy’s lost weekend) and it’s obvious that Marolda was one prolific dude. A handful of the recordings here sound a little bit rough, but not too bad really. One here you’ve got the classic power pop songwriting of “She Said Goodbye” and “That Could Change Tomorrow” while the mostly acoustic (at least at the beginning) “She’s So Lovely” adds some dreaminess and “Love at First Sight” adds a little bit of funk to the proceedings (but thankfully doesn’t go over the top in that). Keep listening and you’ll hear more snap n’ pop in tunes like the terrific “Angelia Christmas” and “Dirty Water” (“Uptown” too!). The back cover shows a pic of Tommy lookin’ he just got off his bus boy shift at the local Italian restaurant and ready to head home and record some more. If you’ve got the S/T Not Lame released (and if you don’t you really should) then this is the perfect companion piece for more of those finger snappin’ tunes that you can’t get out of your head and kudos to the Futureman label for giving us this Christmas present.  www.fuuremanrecords.bandcamp.com