This past weekend’s After The Jump fest was a great success. The turnout was surprisingly good for our inaugural festival and a substantial amount of money was raised for music programs in New York City schools. This is only my opinion, but the younger “up-and-coming” bands totally blew the “headliners” away. Jukebox the Ghost played first on the side stage and may have been my favorite act of the day. I’m sure you’ll hear more about them in the future, but for now I’d like to introduce you to a band that I was reminded of during their set.

Whenever a pop band relies heavily on the piano it seems they immediately get compared to Ben Folds Five. The Five purposely limited their sound by eschewing guitars, yet they still turned out some of my favorite music of the 20th Century. While Robert Sledge’s melodic basslines and Darren Jesse’s drumming gave the trio their unique sound, the songs always felt like they could be realized a little too easily with only a piano - which many of them were when Folds began flying solo (”Steven’s Last Night In Town” being one exception with it’s clarinet and trumpet parts - still, these instrumental oddities were album-only cameos and were usually played by Ben on a melodica in the live setting). After two albums, the band seemed to go as far as they could within the confines of their three instruments. Their experimentations with additional instruments and broader styles on their third and final album seemed to upset their delicate balance. On Ben’s latest records he writes and records mostly all the parts himself and while the instrumentation is becoming more varied, the songs still seemed composed mainly for piano with the additional parts being layered on top as an afterthought. The ability and desire to compose and arrange music for an wider arsenal of instruments is where bands like Jukebox the Ghost and Fluid Ounces break free from the Ben Folds Five stereotype.

When I first happened upon Fluid Ounces they were touted as being “like Ben Folds Five, but better”. I knew not to take such a broad opinion at face value, especially when it seemingly put down one of my favorite bands, but there actually was something “better” about this new discovery, fronted by songwriter Seth Timbs. Much like Folds’ most recent efforts, Timbs plays most of the instruments on his albums. But compared to the defunct trio and their fearless leader, Timbs’ music sounds more adventurous. While the piano is central to Fluid Ounces sound, other keyboard instruments are also heavily used and Seth Timbs rocks a mean guitar. The songs themselves are less straight-forward, a little bit progressive perhaps - but in a Queen way as opposed to a Rush way - with quickly delivered, witty lyrics which remind me of the Dismemberment Plan or Stunt-era Barenaked Ladies. The arrangements are complicated yet easily accessible and he draws from a very wide variety of influences, from vaudeville and ragtime to jazz, tango and blues.

Here’s a review of their most recent album The Whole Shebang [via PopMatters].

from The Whole Shebang (2004):
Fluid Ounces - Paperweight Machines

The Whole Shebang is available on iTunes, but you’ll have a much harder time finding the band’s second album, the out-of-print In The New Old-Fashioned Way which is widely regarded by fans as Fl. Oz.’s most outstanding album. Unlike The Whole Shebang, ITNOFW was recorded by the late 90’s incarnation of Fluid Ounces as a full band and not by Timbs alone. It kicks off with Lend Me Your Ears (”what Vincent Van Gogh must have said”) and other pop gems then progresses on to more heartfelt and personal songs such as my favorite “Bigger Than the Both of Us”. You can buy the import version at Tower.com (which still exists?) or find cheaper used copies at Amazon.

Marvel Girl [from In The New Old-Fashioned Way]
“stop action heroine/better than heroin”

Not as expansive, but still worth your time and money is Fluid Ounces first album Big Notebook For Easy Piano. Foreign Legion is their third album, released in 2001 on Japanese label Cutti Records. I originally thought it to be a live album, but it’s actually a proper release chock full of songs I need to become more familiar with.

Poet Tree [from Foreign Legion]
“so put your branches in the air/and wave them like you’re apathetic”

also from Big Notebook for Easy Piano (1997):
Fluid Ounces - Record Stack

Seth Timbs is somewhat of a local hero - a legend in his hometown of Murfreesburo, TN and nearby Nashville. He has also toured Japan, but hasn’t taken many trips around the States. This seems to suit him and his fans just fine, but I can’t help but try and broaden their fanbase. Unfortunately Fluid Ounces “final” album Instant Nostalgia will be released soon, but Timbs already has a new project lined up - a band called The Hot New Singles which plays guitar-based rock with a noticeably absent piano. Though Fluid Ounces got started before “Brick” hit the airwaves and stuck around much longer, Timbs himself admits that he’s “tired of the Ben Folds Five comparisons”. So I figured I’d do Jukebox the Ghost a favor and open the door for Fluid Ounces comparisons before they tire of hearing the name Ben Folds as well.

UPDATE: Juan posted a link to his fantastic blog Hung On Every Word in the comments. It’s a great resource for learning more about Fl. Oz. (which I wish I had when researching this post). You can also now find all of their music through Snocap at the bottom of his site.