PLAIN SLEEVE: The new album by Kevin Loy
Steve Katz (of Blood, Sweat & Tears), in his liner notes to Kevin’s third album, called him a songwriter “in the best
tradition of the Sixties”, naming his sound “Urban White Folk Music of the 21st Century” and writing that Kevin has
“more hooks up his sleeve than Burt Bacharach”. Nathaniel James said Kevin’s writing and arrangements boast “catchy
hooks and sophisticated melodies...every song is essential”, and later named Kevin’s album “Throw Money” amongst his
personal Top 20 albums list. Chris Henderson (of Three Doors Down) has called Kevin’s sound “totally different”
(even if it wasn’t a compliment).
“I’ve had people refer to my music as ‘experimental’ before, but really, this is my first truly experimental album
by virtue – I’ve never done anything this straightforward before now.” Indeed, much of the abstraction and
‘avant-garde’ aspects of his earlier work are put aside for Plain Sleeve, instead highlighting Kevin’s undeniable
knack for pop songcraft. The three singles slated for release from this album (“Roy Orbison”, “CEMA” and
“Los Angeles, Silverlake”) readily attest to this strict focus on pop/rock songcraft, and Kevin has said “those
three songs are amongst the best I’ve ever written”.
Relevant links:
Older News (1.31.10):
FREE PREVIEW
(8.25.09):
IT HAS ARRIVED
My long-awaited (well, at least by one or two people) fourth solo album, "Throw Money", has been released. It has been
quite a journey, to say the least.
I won't go into everything that occurred (and went into) the making of this album...I won't cover territory that
is already well-worn in this news brief. I will say, though, that there has been an especially large turnover in
my 'business' dealings -- to be more specific, two managers and three Webprocurers moved in and out of my sphere with
alarming speed (and in some cases, destruction)...which is part of the reason why the site looks the way it does (and also
explains why the site hasn't been updated in over 2 years). I also ended relations with CD Baby, my distributor for over 5
years, after experiencing difficulties regarding this album. Those matters are best discussed at another time and another
place, because what is important here (at least to me) is my latest album, "Throw
Money".
The culmination of two years' worth of work, "Throw Money" is a work I'm
very proud to have created, and honestly, this is the first time that I can say that about one of my albums. I've been
variously impressed, disinterested and disenfranchised by my past works, but this is the first album I've made that I feel
is representative of me, or at least of a certain period in my life. In short, this is the first album I've made that, in
my opinion, represents something more than mere craft or studio wizardry.
This is also my first album which makes use of guest musicians. This actually is not new for me -- I attempted to use guest
musicians on my first two solo albums, but the appearances didn't work out (for various reasons) and were not used. This
time, however, the sessions for the other musicians went *extremely* well.
For more information on "Throw Money", please click here.
IN OTHER NEWS
Due to the termination of my contract with CD Baby, my two previous solo albums
will no longer be available. I am still working out issues related to those albums in regard to finding the best option for
re-releasing them. Note that, since digital distribution of Djinni of alkahest was provided by an alternate company,
it will still remain available (for at least the next several months) through services like iTunes.
Until next time...
Peace
PLAIN SLEEVE is the new album by Kevin Loy, featuring contributions from Nathaniel James
(of The Friction Brothers) on bass and guitar and
Stanley Watson on drums.
Click here to purchase the album online
Click here to watch the video for CEMA
After being planned for early September (and then cast aside in an unfortunate turn of events),
a free preview of "Throw Money" was made available on this site. It has since been removed.
To view the promotional film Four From "Throw Money", please click here.
To partake in a FREE PREVIEW of the album, please click here.
And finally, if you are ready to take the plunge and purchase the
album, please click here to do so.
Kevin Loy