‘July’ by Year on a Mountain (New Paltz, New York) *
The New Paltz DIY scene is good. Real, real good- and I’ve done plenty of booking with em. Until now, Year on a Mountain digitally imprint me with their demo, so what did I foolishly do?- I booked them to open. And I mean, they opened for some good acts, Nelsonvillains, Porches, Battle Ave. (maybe there was one more there that I’m forgetting, it’s fucking 1:30am right now, gimmi a break). But that’s besides the point, because live, this rag tag group of musicians rang out a brand of indie rock that was not some Isaac Brock rip off (ego included), it was not some contrived Morrisey-esque, but more in the vein of “my middle class life is so hard”, bullshit- it was pure, raw human emotion from cover to cover, base to base, instinct to instinct. Year on a Mountain delivers a quality of rock music that is so brutally honest with itself that it actually becomes free to be itself. And the kicker? While most of the New Paltz scene is made up of musicians living in a bubble of small town fame leading them to have ego’s that would make any decent person vomit- the ladies and gentlemen from Year on a Mountain, show after show, prove to be some of the most decent people I’ve met. [Free Download] @Dingusonmusic
