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Gary, Author at The Panic Manual

SXSW Song Of The Day: Girl Skin, Darling

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Gary in Song of the Day, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

Photo Credit: Joe Miller A caramel sweetness and warmth is baked and caked into the name of Girl Skin. So it wasn’t a surprise at all that the Brooklyn-based collective gave a seemingly delicate opening to “Darling”. That was the folksy, dreamy, hazy 70s KodakColor Plus imagery that captured my attention at first. But like any song worthy of your interest, it has one surprise in store. Just when you thought it would exit via a sugary fade out, this … →

SXSW Song of the Day: Sam Eagle, Whistleblower

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Gary in Song of the Day, South By Southwest | Leave a comment

Photo Credit: Jasper Fell-Clark The kazoo is an under-utilized instrument in the world of serious music. Simply imagining the possibility of Kathleen Battle singing Mein Herr Marquis from Die Fledermaus over a kazoo would be sacrilegious. That ludicrous over-layer of anatine vocalization seems destined for nothing more than comedic effects. Not that millions of youtube videos have not attempted, but what really would happen if your music is strewn through with kazoo? There is, truthfully, only scant use of duck … →

Song of the Day: Israel Nash, Rolling On

Posted on August 9, 2018 by Gary in Song of the Day | Leave a comment

I remember 2013’s Rain Plans like it was yesterday. No, really. While I listen to it quite frequently, it had also made me erroneously peg Israel Nash as a gritty, melancholy country songwriter. And I haven’t touched country since I said good-riddance to braces/dentists in high-school. But in reality since Rain Plans, he has put out an expansive album with Silver Season, shifting more towards a more open form of Americana. From the opening moments of “Rolling On” from Nash’s … →

Song of the Day: Tony Molina, Nothing I Can Say

Posted on August 8, 2018 by Gary in Song of the Day | Leave a comment

If brevity is the soul of wit, then the extremely brief album Kill the Lights from Tony Molina might be the wittiest kid on the block. At once fulfilling yet incomplete by design, it doesn’t just leave you wanting more folksy harmonies and miniature refrains, it positively asks you to look for more – like a purposeful intro to a long Pandora session. “Nothing I Can Say”, the first of 10 minute-long Lego® Folk-Songs® (they even managed to include fade … →