Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Bollard, a monthly paper local to Portland, has a nice review of "the.ist". I've reprinted it below. Thanks, Bollard!!


From the September 2008 issue of The Bollard's Local Music section...

Justin Boss
The.Ist
Boss Works

Want to know how to impress a jaded music critic? Follow Justin Boss' example. First, write a thoughtful letter praising the critic's publication (You're welcome, Justin!) and explaining how your album came to be. Note that the album was intended to be written, recorded and mixed within one month's time, and admit that you almost met that goal. Point out that all the songs deal with an atheist's critique of organized religion, and give yourself credit for designing and assembling the CD sleeve and hand-stitching the little lyric booklet enclosed.

Secondly, and most importantly, fill the CD with gorgeous pop ballads and catchy rock songs that get better with each listen.

That's what Boss did, and this is the review that results.

The.Ist is fantastic. Boss, who recently moved to Maine from the other Portland, is a major talent. He can sing, he can write great hooks, and he can apparently play pretty much any instrument he gets his mitts on.

The opener, "Pure Land" [available for your listening pleasure in the Music section of thebollard.com], is a thing of beauty, a ballad anchored in piano, with lush vocal harmonies, some subtle tape manipulation and a nifty little guitar solo. The next track, "The Ascetic," turns whatever expectations you had after hearing "Pure Land" upside down. It rumbles and rocks, boasting a chorus you'd expect to hear on a Faith No More album (no pun intended).

The atheism theme is handled deftly, wrapped in poetic lyrics like those that open "Pure Land": "It's all simple somehow / The clouds give way to light / And it's bright / But it's nothing." This theme occasionally leads to arresting lyrics like "There's blood in your wine / Or so I've been told," from "Eucharist," or "Here is my blood/ shedding for you / now give me your tongue," from "The Silent Deed."

Other highlights among the eight tracks here: the alternately strutting and sighing rocker "Double J;" the Frank Blackish "Silent Deed;" and (speaking of the Pixies) "If Man Is Five," an indie-rock nugget that wouldn't sound out of place on a Cult Maze album. The.Ist ends with another gorgeous balled, the melancholy "Seaweeds & Jellies."

This album ain't perfect -- several songs could be shorter, like "Twilight," which should lose its entire two-minute, tape-blip outro -- but it's damn close. It's exciting to contemplate the album Boss could make given two months...

-- Chris Busby


Tuesday, August 19, 2008

More news! It looks like I'm getting the chance to open for Samuel James when I play BLUE on the 28th. I was really blown away by his performance after my set last month.

I heard through the grapevine that Sara Willis'is going to play a song off "the.ist" this Sunday, the 24th, on "In Tune By Ten". Tune in to MPBN if you think of it this Sunday morning!

"munin" is finally available for purchase through CD Baby, although they're still working out the digital distribution (iTunes, etc.). With any luck it should be good to go in the next month.

And, finally, I am looking forward to completing the move to Portland and finally getting the ball rolling on my school. Tentatively called the Siren School, it seems like the natural progression of the teaching I have been doing for the past year. While continuing to teach guitar, bass, piano and the like, I will be looking for students eager to learn everything from how to build your own effects pedal to MIDI sequencing, digital production, and audio manipulation. If you're interested, shoot me an e-mail.


Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Egads! "the.ist" is complete.

"the.ist" is the result of my attempt to write and record an album in the month of June. I did it, although the mixing took a while. Having received some constructive criticism from one of my guitar students, I decided to abandon the block of illegible text with cool blockprint on the back and instead stitch together a small lyrics booklet to include with the CD.

I've played a couple of shows since the last post. One at Sweet Leaves and one at Blue. Thank you again to everyone who was able to make it to those shows. I'll be playing at Blue again on August 28th, and then showcasing at the Dogfish Bar & Grille (AKA The old Free Street Taverna) during their open mic on Wednesday, September 10th.

Lastly, I will be relocating to Portland at the beginning of September and am looking for students to teach. If you or someone you know is interested in learning anything from how to play guitar, bass, or piano, to using a computer for audio production or even just learning how to build and host your own web page -- please send them my way!


Thursday, May 29, 2008

Is winter over yet? As the Carlo Pittore said, there are only two seasons in Maine: winter and the Fourth of July. Speaking of the Fourth of July, I'm having a music festival at my house. For lack of a better name, I'm calling it the Phippsburg Coffee Party. I like coffee and I live in Phippsburg so, why not? Are you coming? Are you playing? Thus far we have Airboat (AKA The Brothers Meyer), Dan Trefethen, The Heebie Jeebies, and myself slated to play.

I've lined up a few more performances. Anna-Maria at the Northstar was kind enough to invite me to showcase at the Maine Songwriter's Night on June 5th. I will be playing at Sweet Leaves again at the end of July, and most recently have been asked to be the featured performer at the Dogfish Bar & Grille (used to be the Free Street Taverna -- how long ago did that change?) for their open mic on September 10th.

Music from 207 on WCLZ played Back Door last week. Nobody told me until after the fact!

Here's the big news: After the RPM Challenge back in February, I've decided I'd like to do another album in a month. I've been trying to enlist as many musicians from the area as I can to participate. There's no official title for the project, but it will be happening in June. The constraints are identical to the RPM Challenge: 10 songs or 35 minutes written and recorded in the month of June. I suppose we could pretty easily listen to the music made at the PCP at my house on July 4th.


Monday, May 5, 2008

The show at Sweet Leaves went really well. It was absolutely wonderful to see those people who came out to support me. Thanks so much to everyone who came.

A couple more opportunities have arisen. I will be showcasing at the Maine Songwriters' Association open mic held at the North Star in Portland on June 5th. I will also be performing again at Sweet Leaves on July 25th.

Additionally, the Munin CD is technically finished. I sold quite a few of them at the Sweet Leaves show, but have yet to put them up on CD Baby or in Bull Moose. This will happen shortly, but in the meantime if you're interested in one, just let me know.


Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The latest...

"with good intentions..." is officially up on CD Baby and also now in Olive's Vintage and Bull Moose Records in Brunswick and Portland.

I am offically playing shows at both Sweet Leaves in Brunswick and Blue in Portland on May 2nd and 8th respectively. If you are close enough to either of these venues to make it, it would be absolutely wonderful to see you there. No electronica for either of these performances; just me and my guitar.

The Munin CD is almost ready to go. I think I've got the layout all set, but my printer is being a complete bastard. (That would be my computer printer, not an actual person.) I should have some of these ready for the shows above.

Lastly, I got to hear myself on the radio! Sara Willis, the host of "In Tune By Ten" on Maine Public Radio played the song "Lucky Me" this past Sunday. I was utterly thrilled.


Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Updatings and ridiculousness. I've been busy updating this page in preparation to release the CD on CD Baby. It's amazing how coding I used to know that has now completely escaped me. You don't really need to know anything anymore. You just have to know how to find it.

I updated the MySpace page as well. Got a message from Pipes regarding the new photo. (It's essentially the same one as on the bio page He thought it looked really weird -- like a teletubby. I suppose that was my intention. I haven't had that beard in almost a year, and it was really time to get rid of the image. I just don't really like taking pictures of myself...

I haven't yet decided what to do with the old Word Press page and image gallery. Some sketchy person tried posting a comment on an entry that was full of gibberish. It clearly was some sort of attempt at trying to compromise the page or the server ot something along those lines. I don't really keep up to date on Word Press security and am not particularly interested in my page being used to spam or phish old people with Nigerian scams, so it will probably be good to pull it from the main page.