Music Review // 1st Base Runner "Ellis"

https://presave.umusic.com/1st-base-runner-ellis-presave

- check Bandcamp for link as well

While "Ellis" is not my introduction to 1st Base Runner, every time I listen to 1st Base Runner still feels like the first time because that sound just feels so fresh inside my head.   These songs are heavy on the electronics but still remind me of guitar-based rock music with hints of pop and there are guitars in here as well.  This music is just so low key chill.  If there was a music video based upon this entire sound it would look like a cross between "Knight Rider" and "Tron", where a cool car just drove around at night surrounded by bright shining colors.

What I perhaps love most about 1st Base Runner is the way that these songs can have that familiar feeling without sounding directly like any other artist out there today.   This would make for perfect radio placement because a song could be confused for an existing artist and listeners would already feel comfortable with them.  Somewhere between The Police and Kings of Leon but with an electronic sense, and yet the second song- "FLUX"- makes me think of Elvis Costello and U2.   People are quick to make fun of U2, but back when the radio and cassettes were all we had they were all over it.

I'm also just reminded of artists such as Blue October and Muse.  In that sense, these truly feel like a collection of songs- sometimes more electronic than not- which just feel like they're pushing those boundaries of what rock music means today.  And when you say something is like looking into the future or "experimental" it can mean a lot of different things.  But this really just feels like that sound that most artists haven't found yet and it really isn't on the radio yet, but in some odd years it will be and we can look back at this as foreshadowing. 

Music always has been and always should be timeless.   If a song was released twenty years ago it could have the same amount of importance as a song released last week.  What music listeners should appreciate about 1st Base Runner in 2021 (going into 2022) is that this is a sound which might not be fully understood until 2025 or later.  This is a story which is still developing.  But once this really takes off as it should, then people are going to know.  Listening to 1st Base Runner now feels like taking that glimpse into the future and who wouldn't want to do that.