Ari Shine

Looking and even sometimes sounding like Leonard Cohen did back in the sixties he is making his own road for others to follow...With the right exposure I could see this guy on next years Grammys. -BEARLY RAMBLING
- BEARLY RAMBLING

Ari Shine
Ghost Town Directory
(Beverly Martel)
www.arishine.com
Ari Shine may be a relative rookie in terms of carving out a career, but even after only two albums, it’s already obvious he’s a knowing power pop practitioner. Consequently, Ghost Town Directory is the kind of album any veteran artist would likely be thrilled to call his or her own. Indeed, from the unabashed exuberance of songs like “All I’ve Got Is Love” to the sophisticated mix of melody and mayhem embraced on “Here With Me,” Shine shines and puts many artists boasting a far lengthier trajectory on notice that they face formidable competition. Here’s an up and comer who’s got his groove, both literally and figuratively, and even a first listen is all it takes to convince. Ghost Town Directory not only begs repeated returns, but gets better and more engaging every single time. - NO DEPRESSION

Ari Shine has racked up plenty of miles on the road, opening for artists like Rhett Miller, John Doe, Hugh Cornwell of the Stranglers, Redd Kross, Silversun Pickups, the Donnas, Liam Finn and many others. Ari's new album is a product of this experience. "All I've Got Is Love" is polished single that incorporates a a strong melody line with power chords aplenty... the slow building "Here With Me" clearly states "...Everything I need is here with me." Another standout here is the thrilling "One Silver Morning" with it's energetic beat akin to Golden Earring's "Radar Love." But here it's updated with Shine's earthy vocals and swirling guitar riffs. -POWERPOPAHOLIC
- POWERPOPAHOLIC

Armed with only an acoustic guitar and his pure, unadulterated singing voice, Shine delivers a spotless performance.-UNTYTLED.COM - UNTYTLED.COM

It feels like you know the guy when you listen to his songs, Ari is the kind of artist that sings directly to you and you pay attention. My thoughts go to Bleu, Tom Petty and The Cars while listening to his new album "Ghost town directory". We´re talking rootsy powerpop the early 80´s style, most recently Ari was handpicked to support Chris Shiflett of Foo Fighters on his entire 2010 summer tour. It´s just a matter of time before Ari Shine is a big name himself. -MELODIC.NET - MELODIC.NET

This 10 track collection of driving pop rock tunes figures to have a broad appeal with it’s numerous catchy guitar riffs and plenty of catchy choruses. -MCKEESPORT DAILY NEWS - MCKEESPORT DAILY NEWS

Ari Shine seems to be on a direct path to success. Shine makes instantly accessible pop music that could easily be appreciated and understood by the masses. At the center of the tunes are Ari's confident yet never oversung vocals. This guy's got a smooth voice that is a perfect fit for modern pop rock. -LNMOP.COM - LNMOP.COM

Ari Shine strips roots rock to the bare bones: a man and his guitar. The songs on his new album “Ghost Town Directory” transition to the stage with ease as Shine performs solo. “I always tend to write on an acoustic but this time I knew that I would be doing more shows in that format,” Shine says. “It was in my head that I would be performing them stripped down.” Shine has been relentless bringing his one-man show anywhere he can. “Truthfully, touring and recording are my favorite parts of being a musician.” There are advantages, he says, that come from touring without a backing band. “I love the without-a-net experience of playing solo. It is really cool to have that type of intimacy with an audience. I like getting things down to a really quiet point and then bringing it back up. ”
Before leaving home, Shine adds a level of productivity to his touring process. “When I tour solo I am able to hit smaller markets and do more radio, live taping and internet-streaming shows.” Shine’s label Beverly Martel gives him the support he needs to promote his album, leaving him time to tend to his music. Even so, Shine cannot stay idle. ”I do book my own shows and run my own pages. I really enjoy that stuff, especially updating the site and learning how to integrate new platforms that are emerging.”
Regarding his music, Shine says, “I am more about songs than genre and I always let them dictate where I am going.” His music benefits from this approach leaving it have a feel of its own. “I like that there are many different styles on the record. I’m always trying to write the best songs I can.”
Shine comes back to grace Schubas in high spirits. “Making friends and fans in cities and then returning to see familiar faces is the best feeling. Chicago is a great rock ‘n’ roll town.” (John Wawrzaszek) - NEW CITY CHICAGO

There is a definite folk vibe streaming through Ghost Town Directory. Kind of Wilco meets Elvis Costello with a pinch of Elliott Smith for good measure. Ari is a cockeyed love struck optimist with a voice that sails in on a cloud to tell you a charming story. -MEZZIC - MEZZIC

"All I've Got Is Love" proudly wears glam jive, not sawdust, on its rhythmic sleeve and then this guy, Ari Shine, delivers an arresting guitar solo to kill all the roaches that could invade his second album's shed. For all the '70s inflections in his music, so clear in the funky "Better Anyday" and the Kinksy "Miss Nina", Shine's songs possess a modern edge, so the TV screen's embrace shouldn't be far away. The urgent ring of "Not Your Trial" and "It's A Go" easily overshadows most of the current Top 10 fodder. -DMME.NET - DMME.NET

"Ari Shine has had much success already. His deep involvement in both singing and song writing has earned him critical acclaim and widespread mention, as well as collaboration with other artists. A solo act with a guitar and a harmonica, Ari’s songs break the mould of acoustic singer-songwriter with the passionate intensity of his voice. He must have as many stories and songs as he has tattoos. Ari proves that you don’t always need backup to rock the stage, and that rocking your emotions is something that is also favourable in a solo set as well. His skull note t-shirts and pins are the perfect representation of his bad-ass heartfelt music." - BACKSTAGE VANCOUVER

"My parents had loads of vinyl from the 60s and 70s, mostly by Israeli artists and singer/songwriters from that golden age of music. My dad harmonized beautifully with his favorites and introduced me to Simon and GarfunkeI as well as the Beatles, whose Magical Mystery Tour was so inviting. Who were these masked characters on the cover and where were they taking me? Another early vinyl memory is of staring at the cover of Teaser and the Firecat by Cat Stevens on our living room table. I pondered his lyrics about being followed by a moonshadow and created cartoons in my mind inspired by the drawings on the sleeve. Billy Joel was a family favorite and served as my gateway drug to rock and roll. His new wave era album Glass Houses has one of my favorite pairs of LP photos. The cover features a leather jacket clad Billy raising a rock to the glass house indicated in the title. The back is a shot of his unrepentant image from behind a shattered window. From examining the artwork to putting the stylus in the groove, listening to these records provided me with a full sensory immersion experience. These albums seemed to leap off the turntable. The moments of scratching leading up to when they kicked in were an essential part of the dramatic arc.

By middle school I was playing guitar so I spent most of my free time cutting my teeth to the music of my heroes. I used Eric Clapton’s live version of “Crossroads” from the “Princes Trust Benefit Concert” as a launching pad and traded licks with him for hours. I also made journeys to the public library to borrow records. My local branch had tons of LPs, many by acts I did not recognize. I was fascinated by their quasi-mystical covers and the names on their dusty jackets. Who were Blue Oyster Cult and Earth Wind and Fire? They all sounded equally heavy to me. Then came the rumblings of puberty and I found two records there that blew my rapidly rebelling preteen mind: “Electric” by The Cult and “Appetite For Destruction” by Guns And Roses. The latter I took home to our house with the original Robert Williams artwork which was soon banned.


A couple years later I had a girlfriend a few years older than me with a college radio show. She was a purist who would rarely buy anything but vinyl. I remember walking through the station library while she was on the air. I was intrigued by the white stickers different DJs left on the albums. Their comments seemed like secrets passed down from an invisible musical mentor; older, wiser and willing to share knowledge.

In high school we congregated at friends houses and listened to Sabbath, Zeppelin, and Allman Brothers albums. It was here I was exposed to a heretofore unimagined use for gatefold sleeves. Used record shopping became a new obsession. I remember how excited I was to have found a copy of the rare Captain Beyond debut album, even with its holographic cover mostly ripped off. While heavy rock was the order of the day, it was by no means the only genre on my radar. I first heard Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew and Innervisions by Stevie Wonder on vinyl and marveled at the sonic depth of the classic analogue recordings. Syncopated 70s masterworks like these provided an important counterpoint to the sludgy riffing that was a constant part of my musical diet. Later, it was on LP that I first experienced Sunny Day Real Estate’s debut, Alien Lanes by Guided By Voices, and Urge Overkill’s seminal Touch and Go releases. Of the burgeoning Britpop scene, Pulp’s Different Class LP and the sublime debut by Gene were favorites and two of the first 180 gram pressings I owned.

So much of my musical education is tied in with vinyl that it’s difficult not to feel like I am leaving out some essential moment or memory. As a band member I can think of few things as exciting as having a box of a release on 7 or 12 inch vinyl delivered to the door. Record stores are safehouses for me when touring. I have particular affection for the Mom and Pops that continue to stock new vinyl and have supported the reemergence of the format. I like to imagine people around the world taking chances on records fueled by the same love of discovery." —Ari Shine - The Vinyl District

"A Paul Stanley/Rick Springfield for the millennium. Shine tempers his high energy power pop with a dose of big city noir, book-ending his record with a slam at the LA music industry and the title cut, which concerns itself with strip clubs and prostitution-as if there's a difference."
- Big Takeover

Singer Songwriter CDs have a tendency to appear quite dreary but Ari Shine er...shines! Based in LA Ari has played on the Shocker's album (fronted by Jennifer Finch of L7). played bass in the Chelsea Smiles and even played drums in a girl-fronted garage band called the Young Playthings. A man of many talents, huh? That's not to mention that he's more recently set up a songwriting company with Martyn Lenoble (Porno for Pyros) and Gavin Mackillop (Sugarcult/MXPX/PIL producer). Ari's hoping to release a full length album shortly although his six-track "Age/Occupation" cd is still on sale. The album highlights a few of Ari's inspirations such as Elvis Costello and Cheap Trick with six strong melodic songs. Last track "All for Yourself is packed full of blissful serenity although it's the opening song that's arguably the finest-entitles "Crank it Out!" Ari does just that. Ari is a self-confessed 80s pop kid. " I was mostly influenced by New Wave stuff like A-ha, Duran Duran, and Nik Kershaw" he says. "my dad has tapes of me singing U2 songs into a cassette recorder in like 6th Grade. I started playing in club bands in high school. I was opening for bands like ALL, Monster Magnet and the Melvins when I was a schooler in the Bay Area." When asked why people should check him out he answers, "My stuff is really song based pop rock that harkens back to the Elvis Costello/Joe Jackson style of honest songwriting. It's really accessible but doesn't talk down to the listener. I think I am doing something current but that combines all the elements I love from the late 70s and 80s as well. And I rock out live!"

-Shari Black Velvet
- Black Velvet

LA-based Mr Shine cloaks his tales of spoilt girls and cool-obsessed scensters in 80's powerpop chords and wry turns of phrase. It's familiar territory-Elvis Costelo comparisons abounded for Shine's previous EP Age/Occupation- but Shine is sunnier, poppier, more American than dour old Mr McManus. Shine's songs are incredibly well-crafted vignettes on their own. Watch out for Shine in ten years, he'll either be raking it in ghost writing pop anthems or popping up on arch, indie soundtracks everywhere. - Classic Rock UK

In some ways this is the perfect debut album, sparkling with wit, invention and some truly memorable pop tunes. - Rock and Reel

Shine is a confessed Sparks fanatic so it makes sense that his album was produced by early Sparks alumnus, Earle Mankey. Indeed, there is some of that smart prog-pop here but he's a little earthier than art-pop, sounding occasionally like Matthew Sweet or Big Star.
- Tom Harrison - Tom Harrison

After releasing an EP in 2006, indie pop tunesmith Ari Shine has issued his debut full-length, the quite catchy A Force of One. Killer opening track “Cooler Than Me” channels early Elvis Costello through 21st century indie rock. The major influence of Costello permeates the whole record, in fact, although to varying degrees. “She Wants It (More Than Me)”, another great cut, has a more straightforward rock ‘n’ roll appeal, while still retaining Shine’s indefatigable pop instincts. “Flirtation Device” is radio-friendly AAA and wouldn’t be out of place on a Semisonic album. The sneering “Party People”, meanwhile, possesses the same dark disco appeal as the latest Of Montreal. The waltz-time title track reminds us that Elvis is king in Ari Shine’s world. Fortunately, the dude’s got the chops to pull it off. As his press material emphasizes, Ari won the John Lennon songwriting contest. He’s a good singer, too, delivering with skill and just enough of a bitter attitude to sell his songs of relationships gone wrong. On A Force of One, Ari Shine is a force to be reckoned with. - Pop Matters

Musical trends come and go, but some things never go completely out of style, and good power pop is one of them. Cheap Trick will probably never again achieve anything close to the chart positions they enjoyed in the late '70s, and Fastball will probably never come close to those heights of popularity at all -- but Cheap Trick will keep selling out venues as long as they keep touring, and you'll keep hearing Fastball on the radio. If those names make the rock lobe of your brain tingle, then you'll want to run to your computer and immediately order a copy of Ari Shine's A Force of One. Like the Rocket Summer, Shine plays all the instruments himself and sings almost all the parts, but he never falls prey to the one-man band sickness -- that low-grade fever that afflicts somebody like Prince when no one is around to tell him he's being a dork, and that shuts down the part of his brain that can tell the difference between brilliance and self-indulgence. Shine is all about tight song structures, sharply observed lyrics, and focused hooks -- and if his hooks don't bite quite as deeply as those of some of his colleagues, his songs are still plenty of good fun. Even if you don't walk away from A Force of One singing any of the choruses obsessively, you'll have a great time listening to the widgety '70s synthesizer on "Beat U," the wry humor of "She Wants It (More Than Me)," and the cheerfully cheesy house-ska of "Party People." Definitely worth a listen. Rick Anderson, All Music Guide - All Music Guide

First song on his EP is about selling out to music and movie moguls in Los Angeles, but its riffs and/or hooks can be traced back to the Raspberries and Mott the Hoople. -Village Voice

- Village Voice

One half of this package, the “Acoustic EP”, opens with the lyric “She’s a sweet ex-stripper with a penchant for knife fights”. I could probably just end the review there and enough people are going to be convinced to look this release up.


But for those of you still reading, here’s a bit of elaboration. What we have here is a neat little bundle of two short discs, “4 Covers” and the “Acoustic EP”, in which Mr. Shine demonstrates a great ear for melody and hooks, and in the case of the latter disc a penchant for strong pop songwriting. Shine’s songs have been featured on shows such as “Veronica Mars” and “Kyle XY”, no doubt playing out over end of episode montages offering tidy narrative resolution. And they’re a good fit; cinematic and easy on the ears. It can’t be long until we hear him on “Scrubs”.


Let’s look at the acoustic disc first. You can imagine Rhett Miller singing this material, such is its bruised earnest romanticism and infectious good natured vibe. There’s sensitivity to it but also an unfazed power pop bravura: one track is entitled “Everybody Wants Me (But I Want You)”. It’s not quite as acoustic as its title suggests but listening to it you get the feeling that’s a good thing, the instrumentation is fleshed out and fits together perfectly. “End of My 20s” is all angsty youthful disaffection and closing track “Rock and Roll Shoes” channels the exuberance of early Buddy Holly. It’s all very catchy and easy to listen to.


The “4 Covers” EP is different enough to justify the bundling of two separate discs. It’s got a different approach; it’s less exuberant power pop and more serious tribute to some interesting choices of artist. There’s a hushed, daydreamy reading of The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset”, and a bluesy stomp through a Eurythmics track. Then there’s a version of Nick Cave’s “Into Your Arms” that eschews the looming machismo of the original for a disarmingly fragile interpretation, stripping things down to acoustic arpeggios and washes of pedal steel buoyed by thrumming organ, and lent a convincing romanticism by female co-vocals. Things come to a close with a soulful rendition of Howard Jones’ “No One is to Blame”.


It’s all very radio friendly fare. Aside from some fresh interpretations of other artists’ songs, there’s nothing on these discs that will surprise or subvert. Mr. Shine doesn’t break the mould, he just fits into it very well.

- Americana UK