From the outside, 2023 was a quiet year for The Medium. Following up on their 2022 release, For Horses, they released a single for “She’s Got It” / “Moon Rocks” in 2023 – just two songs. However, those two songs may be the best they’ve put out into the world.
The lead track is mellow but gallops along. It’s psychedelic, it’s introspective, sweet and entirely catchy. I’m biased but it’s been in my heavy rotation all year. The b-side is equally as interesting, possibly moreso as it is an ode to a house plant.
There were some lineup changes with the band during the year but they still managed to hit the road with Future Crib for a long slew of dates. Frontman Shane Perry also released his own second solo album Frown Town 2 (not on YK but still well worth a listen!) and contributed to Country Death’s debut, Meat Bingo.
It’s safe to say, 2023 was the year of AI. Sure, the technology had existed prior but the accessibility to larger masses was really unleashed in 2023. There’s plenty to say about the dangers, responsibilities and concerns about AI moving forward but that’s not for this post; this is about the six singles forming the new New Man EP, The New New Man.
The tracks were recorded over a series of weekends with Patrick Damphier at the helm, producing along the way. The live incarnation of the band – Landon Ihde, Dan Sommers, Chad Stuible, Rollum Hass and Patrick himself – contributed to the recordings for the first time. Songs like “False Start” and “Oh Man!” have been in the live setlist for some time, so hearing them formalized into their recorded versions was quite an intriguing process.
After the songs were finalized, the promotional process got underway. Cody Newman, the New Man himself, dove headfirst into using the new Generative AI tools that were available.
Each track from the EP was set to be released as a standalone single over the course of many weeks. The cover art for each was dreamed up by various AI tools, driven by prompts from Newman’s mind. Some post-processing cleanup and we had six distinct covers and the EP cover itself; all thematically tied together
Newman continued down the rabbit hole of generative AI and put together a video for “False Start” that combines traditionally filmed segments re-imagined by AI tools and some completely new creations; all driven by his vision for the track.
AI technology is moving at lightspeed; so a video created and released in March of 2023 should look outdated by December of the same year (and beyond) but “False Start” holds up. The folks at Defy Film Fest agreed and screened the video as part of the gallery of innovative videos.
This post is largely focused on the artwork, video and promotional aspect of the record as that’s where YK was the most involved but these six songs are a delightful listen. Here’s what I wrote for the short bio on this release and I stand by every word.
The New New Man is infectiously catchy, amusingly witty and pushing the boundaries of what you expect from a pop song. The kind of pop songs that are inspired by Harry Nilsson, XTC or Jellyfish. The kind of pop songs with squishy keyboards, race whistles and vocal layering abound. The New New Man is full of delightful surprises; unexpected but pleasing in every form.
New Man Bio, 2023
These six songs are actually part of a larger batch of recordings that will hopefully be finalized in 2024. The project continuously surprises me by infusing original arrangements with nods to the past and the future.
Back in 1998, I was working at Spongebath Records in Murfreesboro, TN. If you’re unfamiliar, it was an independent label with a fairly small roster* and some larger partnerships with several major labels – Dreamworks and Elektra most notably. The band Self was signed to both Spongebath and Dreamworks.. and since I worked at Spongebath, I worked with Self.
That’s a longwinded way of saying, because of that job I met the members of Self and, thus, met the bass player, Mac Burrus. I do not recall how our friendship started specifically but I know I’ve watched Mac play with Self more times than I can recall and through some turn of good fortune can call him my friend.
Mac moved to LA, Self was dropped from Dreamworks, Spongebath dissolved but we always stayed in touch. He would send me demos from time to time of tracks he was fleshing out. He sent me a track called “Indigo” in 2011. A track called “Be Careful” in 2012, “Impressionable” in 2020. Another called “Wasted” all the way back in 2010.
Without pestering, I would offer him regularly to release some of these songs in an official fashion. Receiving demos from your friends is a treat but sharing them with the world is a delight on another level.
Mac rekindled a friendship with Texas based brothers Justin and Brandon Tapp. Their respective bands had wound down over the years and they, too, found themselves with a batch of songs that had no formal home. A long distance song writing collaboration was formed; Telefone was an apt name.
Telefone, Vinyl Jacket Cover
Telefone, Vinyl Jacket Back Cover
They crafted and honed the songs through the pandemic and came to yk with a batch of co-written songs that evoke 60’s Pop as much as they do Jon Brion. The demos that Mac had sent me a decade prior – “Indigo”, “Wasted”, “Be Careful” and “Impressionable” – were now evolved into the final tracklisting along with others, maintaining all of their original magic along with a proper polish. The Tapp’s own songwriting contributions are a delightful pairing; unique in their own way but perfectly complimentary.
We were lucky enough to have some notable names involved with finalizing the record, strangely all Grammy nominees! Robbie Lackritz (Feist) mixed two of the tracks, Chris James (Prince, Self) mixed one of them and John Baldwin (Jesus Lizard**) mastered the whole thing – all Grammy nominees.
The band let me conjure up some packaging options for them and I’m rather proud of how it turned out. It’s a bit psychedelic, a bit modern and has an innersleeve with some rather outrageous text layouts!
Telefone, Innersleeve Side A
Telefone, Innersleeve Side B
The record was released in March of 2023. For promotion, the band shot a video for “Indigo” that contains a number of easter eggs for Self fans… some more obvious than others.*** Beyond that, it’s a nice poignant piece that reflects the mood of the song quite well.
Over on the band’s Instagram – @telefonetheband – they posted individual stories behind each song. If you’re a fan of learning more about the creative and collaborative process, they’re a great listen. They’re also short, so you’ve really no excuse not to check them out.
They also shared an influences playlist called Telefone Ring that’s available on Spotify and YouTube Music. I love an influences mix and Telefone offers some surprising contributions.
Mac’s songwriting has always been a compelling experience for me and the Tapp’s contributions captured my attention fully. I’ve listened to this record countless times, my favorite track always changing over time. Hopefully this is just the first of many records. I’ve still got some demos from Mac that need that Telefone touch.
*The Features were also signed to Spongebath. Read a bit more about that over here.
** John Baldwin has mastered a great many records on YK Records and “The Jesus Lizard” is far from his most noteworthy involvement.
*** there’s 9 Self easter eggs. Did you catch them all?
I can’t speak to exactly what happened but after Tower Defense released In The City, something changed with the band. They wanted to break out of the cycle of writing a batch of songs, recording them in a studio, having them mixed / mastered / produced and putting them out into the world with large gaps of time between new music. Heading into 2023, they shared a game plan with me that would see them releasing more new music, more often. Happy to see it actually worked!
In March, we released a single for “Sea Ranch” coupled with a cover of The Cure’s “A Forest.” Both were recorded in the band’s home studio and mixed by drummer Jereme Frey. We were lucky enough to snag Patrick Damphier to master the tracks and local designer Benjamin Rumble came on to provide the artwork. The band even worked up videos for both tracks.
In June, they repeated the process with a new single for “Running Out” backed with a cover of The B-52’s “Give Me Back My Man.” Again, Patrick Damphier lent a hand for mastering and we were fortunate enough to get Jill Townsend from Fetching Pails to work up the artwork. The similar-yet-different art style is a very conscious choice to showcase some of the visual artists we love and to make it clear these songs are part of a specific era of the band.
A video for the title track was shot over the summer and released later in the year. The track is a rare occasion when Jereme sings lead, so they really pulled out all the stops. It’s a great video on its own and also yielded one of my favorite GIFs of all time.
The band plans to continue this trend in 2024 and I’m excited to share the results with everyone. Every recording from their “Tanglewood Compound” has improved by leaps and bounds, and they were good from the start!
Never Mind the Menagerie
Along with the two singles (and three videos) that the band unleashed on the world, they also wanted to celebrate a decade passing since their first release, Mind the Menagerie. While not a YK Records release, it is an album that I have spent a significant amount of time with and grabs me every time.
Back in 2013 when the album was first written and recorded, Currey May was not yet a member of the band. So, to celebrate the occasion the band decided to re-record three of the songs from the original release. This gave them an opportunity to change how the songs sound sonically and allowed them to capture the new guitar parts / vocal harmonies that Currey now provides. For more details on this process, I interviewed the band to get answers to all my hard hitting questions.
If it isn’t clear from watching that anniversary video, the band are very good friends. Sure, most bands are friends with one another but Tower Defense seem to ooze that friendship and it’s a true delight to work with them.
Looking forward to 2024 and releasing plenty of new music from them. In the meantime, go pickup this astonishingly good shirt to support them.
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