Rikashay

Rikashay – Friday As We Know It
When we first listened to a couple of tracks from Ontario indie rock band Rikashay‘s latest release, Friday As We Know It, we were intrigued. But after listening to the entire release in one endless stream from their Bandcamp page, we were blown away. This is some of the best indie rock of 2017 too many have not heard.

We suppose that many die-hard indie and alt. fans may listen to this release and feel the same; it’s thoroughly exciting, endlessly creative and intricate; a musical feast. It’s one of the top under-the-radar DIY releases of 2017 that we’ve heard.

Right off the bat is the summery, indie pop-leaning opener, “Outside Vahalla” followed by the completely unique, addictive track, “Seasick Lullaby,” with its crazy hook, stunningly infectious beat, trumpet blazing, hand-clapping, quirky choruses, background howls and the terrific lead vocals of guitarist Issac Papineau.

“The song stems from a chord progression and riff that I used to jam with my buddies in a guitar class last year at school,” Papineau says. “We used to spend hours playing those four chords…and eventually I decided to write lyrics to the song and a story about a man’s living room suddenly flooding with water, and it eventually growing to be the size of the Atlantic Ocean.”

Papineau’s vocals on this track are exquisite, and as a whole, are perfectly suited for the band’s highly stylistic, fun, heartfelt music.

Based in the Toronto suburb of Markham, the band was officially formed in 2015. Papineau and drummer Jaiden Crawford met in a butcher shop and realized they had similar interests in music. Not long after, the duo began jamming together and writing their own songs.

Within a matter of a few months, they recruited bassist OG Bassman and trumpeter Liam Gallagher. The quartet immediately began recording songs and dropping demos, singles and a number of EPs.

In fact, we and some friends are now listening to their entire discography via Bandcamp because we want to hear more of their hidden gems and progression over time. They are such a tight unit and in sync; while somehow managing to be somewhat chaotic, free-form and raucous.

Rikashay’s impressively experimental, talented and original, creatively mixing pop, rock, ska, bits of folk, rockabilly, jazz, and other genres and influences into a series of tracks that you want to listen to again and again. The band’s biggest influences are Mac Demarco, The Beatles, and Neutral Milk Hotel.

There’s the impossibly fast, soul-filled rock jam, “Christopher Walker,” followed by a much softer, dreamy space pop track, “Supernova,” which later transitions into a heavier, louder, all-out blazing romp.

Next is the musically/vocally spacious, “Moon Boy,” with its own unique hook followed by the album closer, and the title track, which is less than two and half minutes makes quite an impression.

“The album was meant to salute old times,” Papineau asserts, “as we begin to part with the comforts we had while growing up as kids. We also wanted to capture the energy of the summer of 2017, and the good times we had.”

These guys are the tits. Listen to this release, and perhaps you’ll see (well, hear) what we mean. There are not two songs that sound the same and yet they’re all equally amazing, and with a solid production to boot for an album that was recorded in an abandoned shack. - Indie Rock Cafe