2021
January 2021 Articles - Read |
February 2021 Articles - Read |
March 2021 Articles - Read - Buy |
2020
January 2020 Articles - Read - Buy |
February 2020 Articles - Read - Buy |
March 2020 Articles - Read - Buy |
April 2020 Articles - Read - Buy |
May 2020 Articles - Read - Buy |
June 2020 Articles - Read - Buy |
July 2020 Articles - Read - Buy |
August 2020 Articles - Read - Buy |
September 2020 Articles - Read - Buy |
October 2020 Articles - Read |
November 2020 Articles - Read |
December 2020 Articles - Read - Buy |
2019
January 2019 Articles - Read - Buy |
February 2019 Articles - Read |
March 2019 Articles - Read - Buy |
April 2019 Articles - Read - Buy |
May 2019 Articles - Read - Buy |
June 2019 Articles - Read - Buy |
July 2019 Articles - Read - Buy |
August 2019 Articles - Read - Buy |
September 2019 Articles - Read |
October 2019 Articles - Read - Buy |
November 2019 Articles - Read |
December 2019 Articles - Read - Buy |
2018
January 2018 Articles - Read |
February 2018 Articles - Read |
March 2018 Articles - Read |
April 2018 Articles - Read |
May 2018 Articles - Read |
June 2018 Articles - Read - Buy |
July 2018 Articles - Read |
August 2018 Articles - Read |
September 2018 Articles - Read |
October 2018 Articles - Read - Buy |
November 2018 Articles - Read |
December 2018 Articles - Read |
2017
January 2017 Articles - Read - Buy |
February 2017 Articles - Read - Buy |
March 2017 Articles - Read |
April 2017 Articles - Read |
May 2017 Articles - Read |
June 2017 Articles - Read |
July 2017 Articles - Read |
August 2017 Articles - Read |
September 2017 Articles - Read |
October 2017 Articles - Read |
November 2017 Articles - Read |
December 2017 Articles - Read |
2016
January 2016 Articles - Read |
February 2016 Articles - Read |
March 2016 Articles - Read |
April 2016 Articles - Read - Buy |
May 2016 Articles - Read |
June 2016 Articles - Read - Buy |
July 2016 Articles - Read - Buy |
August 2016 Articles - Read - Buy |
September 2016 Articles - Read - Buy |
October 2016 Articles - Read - Buy |
November 2016 Articles - Read - Buy |
December 2016 Articles - Read - Buy |
2015
January 2015 Articles |
February 2015 Articles |
March 2015 Articles |
April 2015 Articles |
May 2015 Articles |
June 2015 Articles |
July 2015 Articles |
August 2015 Articles |
September 2015 Articles |
October 2015 Articles - Read - Buy |
November 2015 Articles - Read - Buy |
December 2015 Articles - Read |
2014
January 2014 Articles - Buy |
February 2014 Articles - Buy |
March 2014 Articles - Buy |
April 2014 Articles - Buy |
May 2014 Articles - Buy |
June 2014 Articles - Buy |
July 2014 Articles - Buy |
August 2014 Articles |
September 2014 Articles - Buy |
October 2014 Articles |
November 2014 Articles - Buy |
December 2014 Articles - Buy |
2013
January 2013 Articles - Buy |
February 2013 Articles |
March 2013 Articles - Buy |
April 2013 Articles |
May 2013 Articles |
June 2013 Articles - Buy |
July 2013 Articles |
August 2013 Articles |
September 2013 Articles - Buy |
October 2013 Articles |
November 2013 Articles - Buy |
December 2013 Articles - Buy |
2012
January 2012 Articles - Buy |
February 2012 Articles - Buy |
March 2012 Articles |
April 2012 Articles |
May 2012 Articles |
June 2012 Articles - Buy |
July 2012 Articles |
August 2012 Articles |
September 2012 Articles |
October 2012 Articles |
November 2012 Articles - Buy |
December 2012 Articles |
2011
January 2011 Articles - Buy |
February 2011 Articles - Buy |
March 2011 Articles - Buy |
April 2011 Articles - Buy |
May 2011 Articles - Buy |
June 2011 Articles |
July 2011 Articles |
August 2011 Articles - Buy |
September 2011 Articles - Buy |
October 2011 Articles - Buy |
November 2011 Articles - Buy |
December 2011 Articles |
2010
January 2010 Articles |
February 2010 Articles |
March 2010 Articles |
April 2010 Articles |
May 2010 Articles |
June 2010 Articles |
July 2010 Articles |
August 2010 Articles - Buy |
September 2010 Articles |
October 2010 Articles |
November 2010 Articles - Buy |
November 2010 Articles -Buy |
November 2010 Articles - Buy |
November 2010 Articles |
December 2010 Articles - Buy |
2009
January 2009 Articles |
February 2009 Articles |
March 2009 Articles |
April 2009 Articles |
May 2009 Articles |
June 2009 Articles - Buy |
July 2009 Articles |
August 2009 Articles |
September 2009 Articles |
October 2009 Articles |
November 2009 Articles - Buy |
December 2009 Articles - Buy |
2008
January 2008 Articles |
February 2008 Articles - Buy |
March 2008 Articles |
April 2008 Articles - Buy |
May 2008 Articles |
June 2008 Articles - Buy |
July 2008 Articles - Buy |
August 2008 Articles |
Sepember 2008 Articles - Buy |
October 2008 Articles |
November 2008 Articles |
December 2008 Articles |
2007
January 2007 Articles | February 2007 Articles |
March 2007 Articles |
April 2007 Articles |
May 2007 Articles - Buy |
June 2007 Articles |
July 2007 Articles |
August 2007 Articles - Buy |
Sepember 2007 Articles |
October 2007 Articles |
November 2007 Articles |
December 2007 Articles |
The Philadelphia band looked back to classic disco and funk grooves to create Playing Favorites, the year’s dirtiest and most danceable power-pop record.
“There are two wolves inside me,” says Kyle Seely. “One of them wants to just bring the JCM800 and a distortion pedal, and the other one’s like, ‘I’m bringing the Helix and I’m making a different patch for every song.’”
Seely, who plays lead guitar in Philadelphia band Sheer Mag, is the designer and engineer behind the guitar sounds for the arena-gone-garage-rock outfit. Matt Palmer, his rhythm guitar counterpart, smirks. “Every single tour, Kyle is like, ‘I’ve finally figured it out, I’m going to simplify it.’ It’s never simpler,” he chuckles.
Seely’s self-described “endless tone quest” and the tight, gritty weave of his and Palmer’s guitars have helped grow Sheer Mag into one of the most beloved independent American guitar bands of the past decade. The core quartet, with vocalist Tina Halladay and bassist and producer Hart Seely, Kyle’s brother, emerged from Philly’s punk scene in 2014 with a string of bare-knuckled EPs. Their first full-length, 2017’s Need to Feel Your Love, scored spots on plenty of reputable year-end lists, and the track “Expect the Bayonet” was featured at one of Bernie Sanders’ 2019 rallies. That year, the band released A Distant Call, another fan and critic favorite, via their Wilsuns label.
Sheer Mag signed to Jack White’s Third Man Records for their new release, but they still did things their way, recording in an industrial warehouse jam space on the edge of Philadelphia.
Now 10 years in, they launched their third LP, Playing Favorites, in March with Third Man Records—their first step into “the proper label world,” says Seely. The record is a lo-fi riot, a hyper, tireless romp through the gasoline-slicked back alleys of disco, punk rock, glam, and metal.
But on Playing Favorites, more than any of their other records, the band is open about their compositional ambition and commitment to making songs that are just a blast to listen to. (The record’s title winks at this.) The thrifted and dirtied-up disco of “All Lined Up” is one of the band’s most impressive compositions to date, topped only by the Boston-ish funk-rock odyssey of “Mechanical Garden.” After a vintage metal intro, the track warps into a string section that slows and then, thanks to some careful tape trickery from Hart Seely, gradually melts upward to a new key and swaggering groove. Later, a scorching, treble-blasted solo from Tuareg guitar hero Mdou Moctar streaks across the stars. But the record’s highlight has to be the delicious strut of “Moonstruck,” which might have the best chorus of the year, and sports some of Kyle Seely’s most exciting lead work yet. (Seely’s Southern rock tendencies and the round, percussive tone of his Nashville Tele are virtually calling cards for the band at this point. “I can’t not add a ton of vibrato,” he says. “I love the Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker Band, a lot of the major, mixolydian kind of soloing.”)
Kyle Seely's Gear
Kyle Seely handles the bulk of the band’s tone-sculpting, digging for sounds between his JCM800 and his brother Hart’s effects units.
Photo by Joanna Roselli
Pedals
- TC Electronic Mimiq
- Ensoniq DP/4
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario XL Pure Nickel strings
- Dunlop Jazz III nylon picks
Despite the label association, the band recorded Playing Favorites in true Sheer Mag style, in a warehouse in Philly that doubles as a practice space for a bunch of bands. The space’s wiring produces an audible hum on any amp that plugs in there, a stamp that Kyle says can be heard at the very start of “Moonstruck.” Hart engineered the sessions using a 16-channel mixer to a Tascam tape machine—another piece of Sheer Mag’s rough-edged charm. And Hart’s bass lines, which often form a unique melody on their own, cement the band’s signature dual-guitar growl. Though they haven’t been quite as audible until now, disco and funk have always been cornerstones of the Mag sound, alongside classic rock and power-pop. Kyle and Palmer agree that the give-and-take of Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards was particularly instructive. “They would do this stuff where they were just filling in the space between each other, so they weren’t all just playing the same riff, but there’d be a groove,” says Seely.
“We’re almost like a mashup band, where it’s original content, but we’re essentially mashing up different philosophies of rock.” —Kyle Seely
Those influences are especially present this time out—Playing Favorites is certainly the band’s most danceable record yet. But it’s still a hard-rockin’ power-pop record, and Sheer Mag are still jacking the best vibes from Duke Jupiter, Stampeders, the Records, Neil Diamond, Quiet Riot, Badfinger, and other oddities from the borders of ’70s and ’80s guitar music. Somehow, those sounds haven’t lost their luster. When Palmer returned to Philadelphia from a stint living in Australia, he started playing old Thin Lizzy, Bee Gees, and Twisted Sister records to prepare for making the new album. He was pleasantly surprised to find those classics still moved him. “It was a really special feeling to be as excited about the original influences of the band 10 years later,” says Palmer. “The initial Mag feeling was still there.”
Matt Palmer's Gear
Palmer, seen here with his Peavey T-60, revisited the band’s original influences to prepare for Playing Favorites. They hadn’t lost any of their magic.
Photo by Joanna Roselli
Guitars
- Peavey T-60
Amps
- Fender Hot Rod DeVille III 410
Pedals
- Boss TU-3
- Boss ME-90
Strings & Picks
- Tortex Standard Pick .60mm
- D’Addario .011s
But unlike some of the big-budget, one-note arena- and glam-rock records of the ’80s—which has become one of the most passé and snickered-about genres of the past 100 years—Sheer Mag bookend their hooks with production flourishes that deepen their impact: a weirdo delay here, a doubled vocal there, a grimy sonic palette flickering in the background, all rendered with delicious imagination and precision.
“You do want to punch them in the face with something memorable, but also, I think the record is built to reward repeat listening, and you can dig into the deeper textures and complexity the more you listen to it,” says Kyle Seely. “We’re almost like a mashup band, where it’s original content, but we’re essentially mashing up different philosophies of rock. I get excited when people are like, ‘That sounds like Jackson 5 meets Aerosmith.’”
Sheer Mag - Expect the Bayonet [Live at Urban Lounge]
Sheer Mag rip through their Bernie Sanders-approved warning cry, “Expect the Bayonet,” in Salt Lake City in 2022.
The Nashville guitar star shows off a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Burst "Gemini" she borrowed from Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian. Guitarist Grace Bowers is a 17-year old California transplant tearing it up in Nashville. Currently working on her first album with producer John Osborne of the Brothers Osborne, Bowers invited John Bohlinger and the PG team to walk through her studio and live rig.
Syncopation is like the secret sauce of rhythm playing for guitarists. It's what gives your music that extra kick, that groove that makes people nod their heads and tap their feet without even realizing it.
So, what exactly is syncopation? Well, it's all about playing off the beat, throwing in unexpected accents or emphasizing the off-beats instead of the usual downbeats.
Think of it like this: imagine you're walking down the street, and suddenly you decide to skip a step or hop on one foot instead of walking in a straight line. That little skip or hop is like syncopation in music—it adds a bit of spice, a bit of unpredictability that keeps things interesting.