All jokes aside, New Jersey is a pretty great place. While it has a lot to offer as a state, it also has a rich musical history of which many people remain unaware. Everyone knows Sinatra and The Boss, but there’s much more.
Tune in to Garden State Sound with Evan Toth to explore the diverse music with connections to New Jersey. You’ll hear in-depth interviews with some of Jersey’s best music makers and have the opportunity win tickets to some of the best concerts in the state.
Many have been through Atlantic City, the rest know it—they are aware. But, few can identify it as a home, a base, a place where they grew up. John Arthur and Cristofer Slotoroff from The Deafening Colors met as mere teens. They know each other well and they know New Jersey, they are ready to use the Garden State as a model for their canvas.
Is Carousel Season a New Jersey concept album? Kind of. It starts by driving a heart full of damage down the “Parkway South” and brings us past Atlantic City and to other locations that hug the Atlantic Ocean. It’s an album of myriad textures and sounds: voices (John) and all other instruments (Cris) beautifully harken the California Sound—via NJ—and haunt your speakers.
Hey, out of towners: play this record to get a better idea of what it feels like to pull a fast Cadillac onto the Atlantic City Expressway on a dark afternoon weekday during late winter. It’s shiny, beautiful, well-constructed, but it’s also a little creepy, parched, foreboding.” —EZT
