Like the fools we are we never posted Wes’ scoping of Ryan Power from the August Compass. Now we have! – Dan

 
Ryan Power’s Identity Picks jams me up like a typewriter. Maybe it’s the voice you could sneak onto 106.7 without disrupting any waiting rooms, though surely those in-your-face chords would drive the same patrons out the door. Beat-wise, who’s to say what guides the decision to single out the most texturally devoid drum sounds this side of a karaoke bar.

So I figured catching him live might yield some clues as to why I’m in love this music.

I jumped at the chance to kick it with the band before their tour kick off last month at Roggie’s. Ryan’s crew is a band inside-out, having taken on the love-labored task of reverse engineering IP note for note, a physical embodiment of his imagination. If they played like consummate professionals (right down to a straight up live fadeout), then their scraggly physicality let out the looseness otherwise sealed beneath the record’s cellophane surface, putting them in league with any homespun DIY outfit.

As put by Toby (NNA Tapes / synth & guitar), “what makes Ryan’s music special is the way he prioritizes song craft over cultural musical fashion,” which is to say: Ryan doesn’t give a fuck if he’s cool. It took about two minutes of shooting the bull to realize he’s just a nice guy, a musician committed to his vision. And the more he masters his craft, the less tags like “outsider” and “lo-fi” can stick to him, which is sure to upset the stomachs fed by style and reference.

Oh and by the way Ryan Power is playing with his full backing band @ the New England Underground Music Fest, Day 2 on 10/5 @ the Democracy Center in Harvard Sq.! – Dan