Pseudonym

Pseudonym

An advantage of being far behind on inbox submissions is I can be super-selective. You are going to love what Pseudonym.

First, I shall let this musician introduce himself. From his bio on BandCamp:

“Pseudonym is a band consisting of me, Paul Desjarlais, and other real or imaginary people. Back in Boston a long time ago I used to play bass for The Uncalled Four, and then for Haberland. After that I released a cassette album called Pabz, and later a CD called Pig Tail World. Now I live in San Francisco and I record songs when I get a chance and sometimes post albums online.”

With so many out there with a synthesizer, drum machine, minimal skills, and a computer self-proclaimed a DIY musician, it is a tag line here at Indie Nation… “We listen to bad music so you don’t have to”. Pseudonym is a welcome exception.

I am going to start with Pseudonym’s most recent release, Pack of Lies. I shall give a more general opinion of his work in a bit. I shall start by saying that I listened to and enjoyed every single track that he has at BandCamp. His latest release Pack of Lies is a real bargain at a price of under fifty cents per track.

While he covers many genres, almost half of the tracks on this release are powerful pop. However, every track on this release is a gem. Granted it is early in the year but this is the best release I have heard this year.

The tracks are:

1. i’m fine – an awesome soft psychedelic sounding tune
2. all the little things – pop, powerful, energetic
3. dumb one – the is mood set nicely with the delivery and harmony of the vocals and a great chorus, great ending
4. i don’t care about love – grabs the listener with the first note and the song just goes, move like an amusement park ride… you don’t want it to end
5. victimless crime – catchy bass and rhythm, wonderfully layered vocals, reminded me of some the softer stuff by The Beach Boys
6. only life – bouncy bass and percussion and the kaleidoscope of other sounds used minimalistically set this one apart. guitar guitar riff at the end.
7. don’t leave me this way – a sad a song that sets the mood nicely with lyrics that, in my opion, are true about every ending relationship
8. we had a deal – a great slower, softer tune, nice acoustic guitar and dreamy vocals
9. she’s upside down – spoiler alert, you finally hear the album title here, great lyrics, no surprise another great track
10. lorraine – toss-up between this track and i’m fine being my album favorite, powerful
11. tragedy –                  I am
12. round and round – saying
13. someone like you – too much
14. foreign talk –           you need
15. search party –         to listen and buy all his material

I spent extra time on this artist. Simply said, well worthy of the extra time. I love all the material I have found and listened to. One of the best things about Psedonym is you don’t have to think about whether you like the material or not. You immediately know it is awesome.

Pseudonym’s material is well produced, has great music, vocals, lyrics and an array of sounds and styles… a welcome change from some kid in his mother’s basement with a new drum machine. Creatively tackling a kaleidoscope of genre and sound.

While most of the music is pop, he hits every aspect of the genres, hard noisy rock, avant-garde sounding material, psychedelic, light and airy ballads, hard and heavy electronic sounding material, full and rich pop music, and smooth ballads. Choosing a favorite by this artist is difficult, better said impossible. Paul Desjarlais and other real or imaginary people do a perfect job at musical creation.  One last note, be sure to read the album notes, they are just as creative as the music.

Pseudonym has the following releases on BandCamp:

• Pabz – 1995
• Pig Tail World – 1998
• Stupid Star (EP)
• Revolving Door – Released 2015
• Pack of Lies – Jan 2017

Okay, here is a video.

Also be sure to check out Grasshopper Records. Thanks for reading and feel free to comment. Please remember to support the indie artist by buying their merchandise, seeing them live and by spreading the word about their music.