Funny story (not ha-ha funny but interesting funny): I was having a cigarette outside of my apartment some months ago, and one of my neighbors was hanging around the area. I hadn’t met him until then, so we go through introductions and mention that we’re both involved in music in some way, and he tells me his friend is in this band and they’re really good.
I’m like, “Cool, what are they like?”, and he’s like, “They’re kinda rock, kinda funk, I don’t know, check them out though.”
So he shows me Aviations, and my impressions were, “Shit, this is good.” But also, “What genre am I hearing? They’re heavy but light, aggressive but calm, and it’s technical but it flows. Progressive, I’ll just settle on progressive.” Progressive is the term I use to describe music my lazy ass doesn’t take the time to understand.
Fast forward to now, I start this article, I read their name and at first, it doesn’t click, but I go check out their YouTube channel and lo and behold, it’s the band my neighbor told me about. So I’m taking the time now to really listen and understand what’s going on. My brain wants to compare them to all these bands I’ve heard like Coheed and Cambria and Animals as Leaders, but my brain is just forcing these close approximations to their style when they’re really not like these other bands at all.
Anyways, we are beyond excited to premiere this guitar and bass playthrough by Aviations for their song “Concrete Kittens” from their 2018 album The Light Years! In this example, the technical prowess of the members goes without saying. It’s quintessentially feel-good music, sure and determined to brighten your day despite whatever you’re feeling. I’m just coming off of listening to Triple X and filling myself with self-loathing, so this gave me a nice warm feeling in my chest, like the feeling you get when you’re curled up with a blanket by the fire in your living room reading a book, your dog or cat is resting it’s chin on your arm and dozing off because it’s stoked you’re home, and you take a sip of that hot apple cider you’ve been looking forward to all day after being out in the rain. If you could encapsulate this song into a genre, that’s what it would be, progressive-tech-apple-cider-chest-warmth.
Aviations is:
James Knoerl – Drums (@JamesPlaysDrums
Sam Harchik – Guitar (@samaviations)
Adam Benjamin – Vocals (@adamwbenjamin)
Richard Blumenthal – Keys (@blumenmusic)
Werener Erkelens – Bass (@wernererkelens)
Eric Palmer – Guitar (@erkpalm)
Be sure to follow these dudes on Facebook and Twitter (@aviationsmusic), and to buy a copy of The Light Years on their Bandcamp, because if these prog-tastic dudes don’t deserve your attention, we don’t know who does.
