Chase Allen

Chase Allen was one of my first MySpace friends, so needless to say that is where I discovered his music. His page was much more established than mine: it had a cool background image, and he had like at least 1,000 friends. Now Chase has upwards of 6,500. Obviously he is doing something right. Chase Allen categorizes his music as "R&B/ Soul/ Experimental," which seems to fit pretty well, but still not perfectly. All the usual ingredients are present: singer/songwriter playing keyboards, thick vocal harmonies, tight drummer, supportive guitarist, bass (though you can't really make it out that well through the MySpace music player). Chase is an awesome singer, and his harmonies (especially on "Echoes") have an unexpectedly rich cadence. Being white and sounding black while not seeming to try to sound black always helps too. His songs aren't exactly straight-away R&B, Soul, and they are not really poppy enough to be heard on mainstream radio, but they are solid with definite elements from those categories, sounding unique with interesting chord changes and transitions between sections. Chase Allen seems to fit in with an emerging group of artists who lack a definitive categorization, as well as a centralized outlet. That new type of R&B-Soul-ish-a-little-different type of stuff that can't be called neo-soul or hip hop, because it is neither. It will all becaome more clear in the months and years to come.
From the info gleaned from his page, Chase plays around L.A. with his band as his main form of promotion. The tracks that aren't live could use some sprucing up, but they definitely serve their purpose as demos. Nice job, Chase. Your music is tight.

Joe Burge