Skytone (band)
| Skytone | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Canada |
| Genres | Indie pop Rock Mod |
| Instruments | Vocals, Acoustic & Electric guitars, Bass, Drums, Keyboard |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | The Beautiful Music |
| Associated acts | Nick Danger and the Danger City Rebels, The Social Icons |
| Website | [1] |
| Members | |
| Rodney Darius |
|
Skytone are a vocal instrumental duo from Ottawa, Canada consisting of brothers Rodney and Darius. Their sound is generally considered indie/pop/alternative with Rodney and Darius singing and playing a variety of instruments on their albums. Rodney plays guitar, bass, drums, keyboard and percussion. Darius plays guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion, mandolin, accordion and some drums.
Skytone have so far released two albums: Echoes in all Directions (2006) and Shining Over You (2010). Recording and mixing is done at their home studios and albums are produced by Rodney. Although they record to computer they favor using older “vintage” equipment during the recording and mixing process, for example a Multivox MultiEcho Tape Delay machine was used on every song on the album “Shining Over You”. Skytone incorporates an eclectic range of influences and styles in their music such as Britpop, fuzz pop, reggae, jangle pop, new wave, blue-eyed soul, post punk, garage rock, surf and acoustic folk.
For the album Shining Over You they site King Tubby, Augustus Pablo, Lee Scratch Perry, The Skatalites, The Sandals, Factory Records Compilations for their recording and production techniques and the pet sounds era Beach Boys for their harmonies. The Television Personalities inpired the fuzz pop psychedelia on songs such as We Are One, while Taking the Long Way Home touches on AM radio 70's production with the instrumentation influenced by The Smiths. For the song "Rolling Stone" influences are early Joe Jackson Look Sharp era, and Sha Na Na. Shadow across my door was written after Sol watched a documentary featuring Yiddish folk music, Darius learned accordion just for the song.
Album tracks "Lindbergh", "The New York Song" and "Just a Little Attention" have proven popular on campus radio charts. They have also appeared on CBC Radio 3.
In the spring of 2008, Skytone won the regional final of the Canadian Radio Star National Songwriting Competition for the song "String of Pearls".
Both albums have been released on the Ottawa-based label The Beautiful Music.
[edit] Skytone Discography
- Echoes In All Directions [2] (2006) The Beautiful Music
- Shining Over You [3] (2010) The Beautiful Music
- Skytone meets the Jackhammer in the House of Dub (2011) The Beautiful Music
