No Signal — Colorado-based alternative rock artist and moniker for Riley Schmelzer has officially released his new EP – venus.  This five song odyssey takes the listener through a journey of genre splitting songs and a various array of images dreamt up by a complex and creative artist.

In this business it is helpful to describe a record’s sound to the listener in hopes of appealing to a specific audience.  The beauty of ‘venus’ is that it’s almost impossible to pin it down to just one sound..  All the while remaining interesting throughout.  I’ve been asked before by readers of this site, the question of – why wouldn’t more artists release more genre splitting albums in hopes of reaching a broader audience?  The answer?  Because it’s not an easy thing to accomplish.  ‘venus’ is an example of a successful attempt at this.

No Signal mixes scorching guitars and synths that almost seem to drift into the prog-rock world.  In fact, I was thinking of themes of albums like ‘2112’ by Rush or the writing styles of a band like Dream Theater or Tool.

“The bands that challenged traditional pop song structures but still broke through commercially really stuck out to me and were partially responsible for my epiphany to start a band,” says Riley. “It wasn’t necessarily their sound, but more so their originality in how they recorded and delivered their concepts while turning them into records. I realized all the biggest bands in the world are in that position because they sound like nobody else; they created something new and unique. This is what I’m doing with No Signal….I’m trying to break new sonic ground.”

I have no inside knowledge of what I’m about to say – but this feels like the first part of a series of EP’s or albums that might follow in the future.  Then again, it wouldn’t surprise me if a new record by No Signal is a complete departure from what we just experienced.

Time will tell but for now I’ll enjoy the trip we have in front of us.

-Tommy Marz

You can follow Tommy on Twitter and let him know what you think.

“venus” EP Track listing:

“tantrum”

“kope”

“Venus”

“aphelion”

“zero”