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Below is a review of our song "Burn Ya Down" written by our friend, Mike Del Giudice, aka Miko Del, who kindly gave us permission to post it, and who really made our day by writing it! Be sure to check out his website: https://mikodel.wordpress.com/. 

Burn Ya Down - Now Playing

A roller coaster...  heavy surf... a snow day... Pixie Stix!!!! A supercell spawning tornadoes. Riding a motorcycle really fast. A perfect blue sky.

There's some free association, things that feel like "Burn Ya Down",  a recent rock 'n roll release by the band "Now Playing".  It's well-disguised progressive rock, a largely straightforward momentum jam, but interspersed bars of odd meter add character and perfection in much the same way non-symmetrical features make faces more beautiful.

This track sputters into life like a worked Harley, with barely enough time to cinch your 5 point harness up tight before the blast. And then  lift-off! Houston, we have a chorus! You don't have to wait but 13 seconds for a Binaca Blast of cool-ass vocals. If your plan was to ffwd and scan around to find the "best" parts, just STFU, relax and dance or something. Oh wait...  here's a killer verse hook, blowing away the rubble left from the opening chorus.   "Forgive me if I don't shake hands." Up, up, and away!!! 

I may need to find bandages; these are very sharp hooks. It's a carrier wave of relentless groove, advancing with all the subtlety of a strip mining operation. Certified heavy and full-spectrum audio lovely, this party burnt my shit down.     

Here's a tip:  Right-click on the play button and select "Loop". 

It's a tasty, sweet coffee liquid sweetness... a highly aura-available mix of tight, focused execution and emotion, engineered to rain on you like Angel Falls. The overall vibration lifts you upward into a convergence of majesty and safety. I say safety, simply because the drummer is KILLING IT. Is something, or someone, bothering you? Don't worry. The drummer will bash the shit out of it because he's KILLING. It's like Secret Service or Seal Team Six drums. Monster chops wrapped in tight, resonant production. These are healing frequencies, a remarkably slick studio rendering of all your favorite sonic staples: ROCK guitar, ROCK drums, ROCK bass, ROCK vox.

So what... is it... they're saying? In vino veritas? "In wine, truth." I think the real truth is in his "whine" - the pretty vocals! The singer, whose name I don't know how to pronounce, has a magnetic energy and palpable emotion that at the very least I'd like to just announce.  His very accessible voice sounds natural, in your face, except when spritzed with all manner of fun electronica: hard reverb and doubling, flange, harmonizer, pitch correction... why not?!?

Now the other lyrics, the ones I am able to make out... could mean anything. The lyrics and singing remind of one of those kegger pontoon boats with chicks and weed and alcohol. I may not know anybody on that boat, but I gotta get on it cause that's where the party is. I just wanna sing along, pretend I sound like him, and feel fuckin' TOUGH!!! 

And there is also "veritas" in Now Playing's classic writing formula: one part pretty, add copious groove, and then BAM! LOAD IT UP with bar-fight, grab-you-by-the-throat aggressive chops.  "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face." The liquid-metal, poly-alloy Terminator bass and electric guitar groove will have you posing and doing air moves. The song style is both warmly familiar and non-derivative. As for the sound canvas, think Van Halen or Styx, Trevor Rabin, Night Ranger, Red Decibel's work with Miley and the Michalka sisters, Satriani, Vai, Ratt, Katy Perry, Motley Crue, Scorpions, Queen... the sound really is GREAT. Burn 'Ya DOWN man.

The wicked-tasty rhythm guitar blooms with a rock tone I think of as distinctly "modern American", not tired, canny, or too raw. It's smooth, crunchy and mean, like Def Leppard, Ozzy and Scorpions. The shimmering, glissy chords and powerful sing-along melodies in the "huckleberry" middle-8 section float effortlessly over a shameless drums and bass SMACKDOWN! 

WHENNNNNNNN an unstoppable force meets an immovable object you have: IM-PAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSE!! 

Damn! Drummer Paul Bienick (co-founder, engineer, producer, semi-likeable guy) and bassist Danny Agnone Jr. (who isn't Jaco Pastorius but he's been called Daco Pat-Ag-Norius... by himself. He calls himself that), during that "middle-eight" section, man they're duking it out. It's a trippy, Weather Report meets Rush syncopation-sensation that holds together like epoxy. Things are happening on different levels. You don't HAVE to notice, behind the strong singing, it's like an audition for Berkeley with only one spot left. Even those who know diddly squat about engineering and performance, when they see a sparkling Ferrari, say "Oh my, this is really SOMETHING!" But I'm a look under the hood/listen to the exhaust note/wrap my hands around the wheel kinda guy. I go for the total experience. 

What a cool song.

So grab your vino, or beer/wadka, or Rosary Beads or Spiritual Guru... whatever you use to adhere to the recommendation on their website - alter your state!!!! 

The Truth... is in the... Now. 

Now Playing

Thanks guys, great work!