Blues Lawyer is back on Dark Entries with a new 7” EP of summery alt-pop. Fresh off the heels of their critically acclaimed Dark Entries debut, Sight Gags On The Radio expands the Blues Lawyer universe, one where lovelorn millennials struggle to find their place. The four songs were recorded one afternoon by Rob I. Miller, Blues Lawyer co-founder and chief songwriter, in the band’s Oakland rehearsal space. It was recorded just days before Elyse Schrock (singer, songwriter, drummer, and music video creator) would be leaving the Bay Area – her home for the past decade – due to the soaring cost of living. The first single, “Have Nots,” shows the band moving away from the rapid chord changes that characterized their earlier work towards hazy guitar textures. It is accompanied by a tender music video portrait of the band reuniting in Portland, where Schrock now resides. The video documents the band’s touring life: playing pizza parlors and billiard clubs, sleeping on floors, and killing time between gigs. These touching images are elevated by Schrock’s trademark animations and editing style. Blues Lawyer also experiment with new songwriting configurations on this EP. “True Love’s Only Name,” was musically developed by Blues Lawyer guitarist, Ellen Matthews, lyrically by Miller, and sung by Schrock. Sight Gags On The Radio captures the essence of the band's sound but also reflects their development as songwriters. The outcome is Blues Lawyer’s most compelling artistic proclamation to date. Each 7” is housed in a warm orange toned...
7" $12.00
09/29/2023
Oakland band Blues Lawyer joins Dark Entries for their third full-length, All in Good Time, a record of pop-rock songs about living in a world that wants to put your existence on the clock. Blues Lawyer was formed in 2017 as an outlet for guitarist/vocalist Rob I. Miller and drummer Elyse Schrock to write pop songs outside of the strictures of their other groups. Following 2018’s Guess Work and 2019’s Something Different, Blues Lawyer had “graduated from being a side project band, a sort of throwaway project, to actually being a legitimate band,” according to Miller. Under the backdrop of global pandemic and existential crisis, they set about recording their new record. Says Miller, “I have always been really attracted to the way we measure time, especially in relationship to our concepts of what we are supposed to have achieved. There’s a lot of different moments on the record where we’re interrogating this whole value system that comes along with it—determining my worth because of where I’m at in my life in relation to my age, in my love life, in my career.” All in Good Time finds Blues Lawyer moving away from the Flying Nun-influenced jangle pop of their earlier work towards a 90’s alternative rock sound imbued with melancholy of the Lemonheads and Teenage Fanclub. Miller and Schrock agree that this is their first record approached with intentionality, each member having spent their time in pandemic-enforced isolation, honing their songcraft and penning sharp hooks. With the addition of...
LP $18.50
02/17/2023
***There’s a muted romanticism buried under the caustic veneer of a BLUES LAWYER song. The Oakland four-piece, comprised of ELYSE SCHROCK (THE WORLD), ROB I. MILLER (MALL WALK), NIC RUSSO (DICK STUSSO), and ALEJANDRA ALCALA (PREENING), began as almost comedic side-project to house some of Miller’s more off-kilter compositions. Now the band have become a staple of Bay Area lineups, appearing alongside bands like Sheer Mag, Gun Outfit, and Omni. Hailed as an“instant classic”, 2018’s Guess Work helped establish the band as more than an afterthought, with KEXP placing it at #2 on Sonic Reducer’s Top 10 list. On their sophomore LP, Something Different, the band double down on the witty lyricism and hooky brevity that made their debut so memorable. Across the album the band confront late-twenties ennui and modern alienation, the feeling of finally acknowledging the gnawing pit in your stomach, and attempting a peace treaty with uncertainty. On standout “It’s Not Up to You” Miller and Schrock expound on a seemingly inescapable toxic relationship, feeling powerless to extract themselves from it’s grip. “From the Start” and “Miles Away” see the band wring emotion from rigid drum machines, looking back on the impermanence of fleeting friendships. On opener “Something Different”, the band channel their Riot Grrrl influences to maximum effect, even finding space in the minute-and-half run time for a guitar solo from Russo, who makes his presence known through the LP with deceivingly simple and hook-worthy melodies. Blues Lawyer’s brand of minimalist punk could fit equally...
LP $17.75
11/11/2019