Fundamentally, music is 2 streams…
Time and frequency…
Frequency is the melody, time is the groove…
…when the 2 streams cross, you get a tight melodic groove that you’ll sing to for hours on end…and be remembered forever…
I believe that “The Upsides” crossed the streams…and created a monument for melody and groove. That monument is an EP called ‘Patterns’.
When talking about ‘Patterns’ EP, we should really start from the album cover…the geometric design, shapes and colors are telling a story already and creating a solid character.
…before getting into the nitty gritty details of the EP and the music, let’s get to know the good people from “The Upsides” first a little bit…
Matt Fullam as lead singer and on the guitar
Dan Fullam on drums
Matt DaSilva on bass
Hart Mechlin on lead Guitar
“The Upsides” hails from Brooklyn, New York City…
…starting out early, the Fullam brothers basically jammed since they were kids, more than 20 years ago…
Matt used to live near them, they used to play on and off together, the 3 of them…then Matt got to know Hart during college…and that’s how “The Upsides” were born…and I wanted to share that little story with you for a couple of reasons, really.
Firstly, we all just want to know more about them and get to know them, as people…
Secondly, because the way they formed and bonded, is basically the same way that happens to you, me and all of us…
“The Upsides” represents hope, the future and let’s not forget…awesome music.
Now that we got to know a little bit about the people of “The Upsides”…why don’t we jump in ‘Patterns’ and live the experience? Let’s…
So the EP starts out with the titular song, ‘Patterns’…
‘Patterns’ starts out with a modern-surf-guitar-ambient-rock-intro…that’s the only way I can describe it without leaving any important detail out!
The song’s groove is absolutely brilliant…the bass, guitar chops and drums lock in absolutely crazy tightness.
The vocals are giving us very catchy and memorable melodies…
The drums are the driving force of the song, driving it onwards and onwards…
The guitars are pushing in the same direction…
‘Patterns’, the 1st song in the EP has some soul fragments from the strokes, daft punk, the chili peppers and of course a lot of soul and spirit from “The Upsides”, mixing their modern sound with huge amounts of approachability.
…from there, we jump into the second song ‘Gold Rush’…
Again, the energy just captures your heart…
We have a solo here too…be on the lookout for that!
‘Gold Rush’ sounds amazing, the recording, mixing and mastering is absolutely on par with the best of them…and that is not for ‘Gold Rush’ I’d say the same for ‘Patterns’ too, absolutely!
The groove is very catchy, the vocals are very catchy, the combined performance is art and entertainment at its best.
The third song is ‘Holy Water’…
I just need to say…the chord progression in these verses…absolutely lovely, super melodic and I’m addicted to it…literally addicted.
I can listen to these verses for days…
…we also have a little solo after the midway mark of the song, the solo is very melodic…and the effects on the guitar is on point.
Serves the song perfectly.
Next…is our last stop in this journey that we don’t want to end…but here we are…
The fourth and last song in the EP is called ‘Lucy from Hermosa’.
The intro is very specific, unique and iconic…
The ups and downs of this song is perfectly crafted…it takes full control of the audience’s energy levels, taking them high and low as they sit fitting the narrative…
All the sounds are very very well crafted and sound brilliant.
“The Upsides” definitely have style, charisma, musicality, catchy songs, very accessible and will stay with you for some time.
We wish all the best in the world…and a little more for the good people of “The Upsides”.
Looking forward to more awesome music from you.
Cheers!
