The Canon Logic, a Brooklyn-based band who seem to be cropping up everywhere lately, is not one of those pretentious groups that’s going to give you a long-winded, confusing explanation of what their sound is. Where so many musicians working today are eager to say something like, “uh, we kind of play, um, chillwave/low-fi/ambient, uh, noise pop-based garage,” when asked about what genre they fall under, the boys from The Canon Logic don’t care about that boring, Darwinian kind of musical classification system. They just want to make you dance.

“Being in New York, I definitely appreciate enthusiastic crowds, because they’re kind of hard to come by,” says band member Sean Enright. With this perceived challenge in mind, The Canon Logic has an egalitarian mindset when it comes to writing songs. A good track, to them, is one that many different breeds of music lovers will respond to. In other words, catchiness is key. They achieve this through guitar hooks and pretty piano melodies that have traditional rock- and pop-based sensibilities, but still manage to create a sound that’s uniquely theirs. “All of us had the common bond of good songwriting,” says member Tim Kiely, who sings and switches off on playing piano, guitar, and bass. “We’re all attracted to songs that are well-written.” That sums up the way the band creates music together. Mark Alu agrees, saying that their way of improving songs is “making them better for outside listeners.” Instead of trying to push themselves to pigeonhole their songwriting into one corner of the musical world, they choose instead to go off of one simplistic criterion: Does this sound good?

When it comes to The Canon Logic, it usually does. Their recently released debut album, Avenue of Criminals, is rife with slick musical structures and beautiful, clear vocals. Standout tracks “Dead Man” and “Fabulous” deliver with clever, well-paced lyrics set to head-nodding melodies. The best song on the album, though, is “Nights at Armour Mansion.” Its instantly engrossing romanticism and new-wave rhythms find The Canon Logic at their most skillful.

Although the band is still very much involved in the release of this first album, they continue to write and produce new content all the time. Kiely mentions how collaborative the songwriting effort is. Although each member typically writes individually before bringing a new tune to the group, they all are very involved in tweaking the pieces to perfection. Josh Greenfield, one of the band’s guitarists, jokes that The Canon Logic is prone to creating monsters: “It’s like Frankenstein, trying to put all the pieces together.” Kiely nods and laughs as he says, “It’s alive!”

The band is clearly joking, but “alive” might not be such a bad way to describe their musical output. They’re perpetually on the move – they practice constantly, are always playing one show or another, and are always looking for more ways to expand their range of listeners. Success, to them, means constantly progressing in terms of creativity and being able to play new gigs as frequently as possible. “We all want to do this for as long as we can,” says Kiely of the band’s personal aspirations. With any luck, The Canon Logic’s listeners will be able to reap the benefits for a good, long time to come.

The Canon Logic

They might be called Total Slacker, but their devotion to rocking out in their live shows and the sincerity of their music are anything but slack. Tucker, on lead guitar and vocals, Emily on bass, and Ross keeping time on the drums, make up the band, which has only been together for seven months now. Despite the short span of its existence, Total Slacker has already earned a reputation for catchy, laid back tunes, Tucker’s fondness of the bowl hair cut, the cute, “hipsterness” of Emily and Tucker’s relationship, and a devotion to keeping it absolutely real. Their hand-drawn T shirts and demo CD’s (artwork courtesy of Tucker and Ross’s collaborative efforts) are given away for free as veritable love letters to their fans, who in turn, remain very devoted to rocking out with Total Slacker.

I meet up with Emily, Ross and Tucker at a favorite Williamsburg haunt of theirs. When citing why they like the popular tearoom, the band members seem to be reiterating why we like Total Slacker so much. The vibe is very chill and laid back, but also unique, quirky and totally sincere. They are who they are: a mish-mash of styles that harmonize well with one another.

Emily and Tucker (originally from New Mexico and Utah, respectively) met just over a year ago, and instantly started writing songs together. They knew they had something special, but it wasn’t until they met Ross (also from New Mexico), that their sound really came together. “We were still raw,” Tucker says, describing his early songs with Emily, “When we met Ross, everything synchronized.”

Ross, Tucker and Emily all instinctually approach playing their instruments the same way: a lazy kind of back beat sets Total Slacker apart from other bands on the scene. But what really unites the band is the fact that its members’ personalities jive together as harmoniously as their tunes. Emily remembers that it was personality as much as percussion that drove their decision to bring Ross into the band after blowing through a series of six unsatisfactory drummers. All three members agree that they are out there playing because it’s what they love to do, and that their biggest ambition is just sharing the “good times.”

They share those good times with their audiences quite well, so it’s not surprising that Total Slacker is getting its fair share of notice. Nearly every Brooklyn-based music blog and publication is talking about them, and they’ve been getting so many invitations to play that they’ve had to start picking and choosing, an experience Tucker describes as “exciting and humbling.” Underground label Impose Records funded the recording of their first album, which will be released by mid-April. The jam-packed two day long recording session was a challenge for the kids, who like to channel the chaos of playing live into their recorded music. Though all three are happy with the record and excited about its release, they admit that the recording experience was a little like trying to put the energy of their live shows “into a box.” “Every show is an adventure and spontaneous—you never know what’s going to happen,” Tucker says, enthusiastically spilling some of his tea.

One such moment of cosmic chaos went down infamously at a Death By Audio show a few months ago. Total Slacker played with an Australian band called Beaches, borrowing their drum set for the night. Towards the end of the show, Tucker, in his typical “rare form,” was out in the audience about to do something crazy with his guitar to close out the last song. Hoisting it up, he threw it in Ross’s direction, with the hope of a super sonic crash into the cymbals. The guitar, however, seemed to animate itself, flying like an arrow into the tiny air hole in the bass drum and inserting itself into it like a dead-on bull’s eye. The whole venue stood still, audience and musicians alike. “That was it,” says Tucker. “The show just ended. How can you follow that kind of spectacle?”

If you’d like to go witness the spectacle for yourself, Total Slacker is especially excited about two “All Star Shows” in April. The first, on April 16, is at Bruar Falls in Williamsburg, where they’ll share the stage with Beach Falls, Air Waves and Eternal Summers. A few days later, on April 20, you can catch them at Union Pool with Ava Luna, Air Waves, and Your Nature.

For songs, photos, and more info on where TS is playing next, visit their Myspace.
Photos by Rebecca Smeyne