Okay: High Road....

Okay is the moniker of one Marty Anderson who resides here in the SF Bay Area in the city of Fremont. I often make fun of Fremont as the arm pit of the bay area, but I may have to rethink my smartassedness as Okay is some damn fine music. To be released on Absolutely Kosher Records Okay is putting out 2 CD's this March one called Low Road the other called High Road. Both are available HERE.

The interesting or tragic or different thing about Marty Anderson is that he's homebound. Here's the story in brief:

"Marty has a chronic stomach disorder, a rare strain of a not uncommon (yet no less unfortunate) disease which confounds his physicians and keeps him somewhat confined to his home and hooked-up to an I.V. almost daily. The disease (a rare form of Crohn’s) had been under some control in the past, but during what would become Dilute’s last tour in late 2001, things took a turn for the worse. Utterly housebound in his Oakland apartment and destined to packup his home studio and move back into his parent’s home in Fremont, Marty set to work on his new solo effort in 2002." (Tag Team Media)

You would expect the resulting music to be a maudlin affair, perhaps even veering into self-pity. But instead Anderson has crafted 2 immensely accessible sets of pop songs populated by heartfelt musings on both what's going on inside his room and what is going on in a world he's now divorced from. I'm still getting my head wrapped around the total of 22 songs between the two discs. I'm still processing the music having just recently received the discs, but my initial reaction is to be impressed. Anderson has a reedy nasal voice that would probably be annoying in most cases, but becomes more and more an integral element of the songs with each listen. The problem with knowing about Anderson's sickness is the tendency to read infirmity into the lyrics of every song, and while I'm sure that his illness is a preoccupation I don't think Anderson intends it to overwhelm the experience of the songs. This is really strong material.

Tomorrow I'll have a song or two from Low Road.

Today 2 songs from High Road:

Mind

Good