If you should find yourself searching for the latest and greatest in funk and progressive rock, Nyack, NY natives ShwizZ should be at the top of your list. Their second and newest release, My Good Side/My Bad Side is a multifaceted, funk-filled and jam-packed double album swarming with mind-blowing musical twists and turns. Ryan Liatsis (guitar, vocals), William Schmidt (guitar), Frankie Coda (bass, vocals), Gianluca Trombetta (keyboards), Matty Carl (saxophone), Andy Boxer (drums, vocals) and Paul Hollands (percussion) make up this highly-diverse team of stellar musicians.
Check out the track “Duggan” from the double album, featuring Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess, exclusively on L4LM:
Read on for L4LM writer Joseph Conlon’s take on the awesome new ShwizZ release:
This varied and exceedingly complex concept album is broken into two parts; My Good Side and My Bad Side. The record takes us on a untamed journey of intricate instrumentation and out-of-this-world musicianship. Showcasing the light and the dark of their unique sound, My Good Side/My Bad Side is a breed of musical professionalism that is rare to come across these days. ShwizZ has the prowess and delivers the goods, with each and every song.
“When everything is so clear, I listen to my good side” the band sings in harmony as My Good Side begins with a serene a capella intro. The sounds of flowing water and birds chirping soon follows, with an unbelievably gorgeous classical piece to start us off as we sail through the beginning of our journey. Like the dawn of a new morning, we rise slowly and steadily into a vivid, sunny explosion of sound with cascading guitars and a thunderous stampede of unbridled percussion. With unexpected turns and face-melting solos, the band is firing on all cylinders at this point, and it’s only the beginning.
Fully embracing their Dream Theater-esque, bordering on Queensryche aspect, is the fourth song “What Does This Mean?”. Immediately followed by the funky mind-bending groove explosion of the side A title track, “My Good Side,” which stomps hard on the accelerator, then sends us diving head-first into the heart of funk on the following number.
The soul of James Brown, the funk of Parliament and the groove of the Isley Brothers are alive and well on the massively-festive “Slow Down.” Despite the song title, there’s no loss of momentum here; precisely the opposite. As the next song, “Hot Air Balloon” ascends us into the heavens, the jam-to-end-all-jams is waiting for us at the end of My Good Side. A colossal clashing of musical genres commences on the final jam-filled “Duggan”, which features ShwizZ recruiting Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess on keys. Closing the first side out, is nearly ten minutes of breathtaking musical intensity, and even a hidden track for a brief electronic farewell. Catch your breath, because here comes My Bad Side.
“When everything is so unclear, I listen to my bad side.” The Phish-y a capella intro returns once again for the start of side two. Then suddenly, the panning frenzied intro of the side B title track begins, as it flashes from left to right with chaotic mastery. “My Bad Side” is a hellish, blistering rocker raging with multifarious musical ferocity. The record triumphs even higher as the second half of this highly ambitious progressive blockbuster soldiers onward.
Songs such as “Orange Wreck” and “Doorbell” explode with tight progressive arrangements and tricky unexpected turns, while “Annie Pt. 1,” “Pixilated Junk” and “The Zone” dish out the mellower side of ShwizZ. From jazz-infused jams and Latin interludes to heartfelt piano balladry, loungy grooves and a twangy guitar instrumental; My Bad Side is quite dissimilar yet just as impressive.
Listen to “Orange Wreck” from ShwizZ’s album release party at Brooklyn’s The Knitting Factory:
The final song on this epic double-record is “Annie Pt. 2,” in which a soft and tender introduction is swiftly catapulted into a full-blown musical jamboree. This encapsulating tuneful mega-storm twists and turns, and then suddenly fades away into oblivion.
The songs throughout My Good Side/My Bad Side take us back to a time when music mattered. Back when substance and composition were held in high regard and musicians continually pushed the envelope. ShwizZ has everything to electrify the party-minded jam-lovers and the chops to impress seasoned musicians alike. This latest effort reveals two sides of a musical coin, that when flipped into the air will dazzle the mind like fireworks in the night sky. ShwizZ is a musical detonation, and a creative force to be reckoned with. Listen with caution!
The album is available HERE!
– By Joseph Conlon