april 2007: cd reviews

DIAGUSTO - WWW.MYSPACE.COM/DIAGUSTO

“diAgusto’s brand of pop rock nutrition is refreshing and proud, picking up the decks laid by such hard working pop acts as The Beautiful South, with a more refreshing and perhaps innocent twang. With melody, Classical influence timing and a voice, or voices fit for the “Sound Of Music”…you know… if it were a pop-rock musical. This is intriguing stuff. Within the repetition of the words we hear a story, perhaps a painful one, perhaps a story of reflection and even comedy: “I should know better…I should know better than this.” Well, we’ve all been there! Check: Song for people to identify and sing along with, nice! Indeed, this song is about more than just your average relationship duet, but there is room for open interpretation of the lyrics. I see a world of potential here, the vocal talents of both Madison and Lawrie compliment each other well, and this is something to be treasured nowadays. While sneaky and slight guitars give the whole effort a nice depth and conviction. I am sure upon this release it won’t take long for the big ears of Radio One and Radio Two to find and push the woman and her band to a nice “cushty” charting spot. I think that perhaps, though the variation and talent is evident, it will be interesting to see if the group will fix to a set genre and structure in the future, or whether they intend to deviate and explore, I wonder whether this will bring more or less impact to their music, we shall soon see? However, I have a world of faith in this bands staying power, they have a lot to be proud of...keep it up. dom smith

HIS MIGHTY ROBOT : THE CONFLICT

A “concept” album is something I have never understood…I mean I just love good quality progressive music, and fortunately that’s what this album from New York trio His Might Robot, has in abundance. The album is set in 3 different movements: “The Pursuit Of Happiness, The Conflict & The Death”. “Connection of fingers” is a nice introduction to the album a beautiful indie effort concentrating on melodic male and seductive female vocals and intricate guitar, leading into the more powerful “The Cliché.” A heavier effort that screams of classic experimental influence of The Pixies. Indeed, the beautiful lyrics combined with un-predictable chords that are trademark of the legends in-habit this album throughout: “My pursuit of happiness I want to find it, but razors cut my fingers each time I reach to my pocket.” Clever lyrics conjure images and a story forms from that.
This band make sophisticated and varied songs that remind us of the true remit of “experimental music,” to challenge the audiences perceptions of what music can communicate through great musicianship and time..
HMR are a complicated band but are not for the faint of heart, if you love music, if your heart is held together by guitar strings, and these strings go insane when you hear the opening to The Pixies - “Monkey’s Gone To Heaven” then check these guys out. If not, give them a listen anyway, it’s not one type of music, it’s acoustic, its rock, its emotional…it’s not a damn genre… it’s good.
dom smith

WILLY MASON : IF THE OCEAN GETS ROUGH (EMI)

Willy Mason’s 2004 debut, Where The Humans Eat, introduced a fresh young talent - a guy who was barely in his twenties but sounded like he’d already been around the block more times than he could remember. That album produced a minor classic, Oxygen, and launched the New England singer-songwriter tour slots with such heavyweight acts as Radiohead. The follow up, If The Ocean Gets Rough, perhaps doesn’t have the same sparkle, as too much of the material tends to be at the same middling pace, and lacks real “bite”. But Mr Mason knows how to knock out a song and he reminds one of a latter day Bob Dylan in the way he speaks directly to his generation about the ills of the world. Oh and Roseanne Cash put in an appearance too. Those people lucky enough to see Mr Mason at York’s City Screen Basement Bar in March got an intimate snapshot of a real talent, and whilst this album is not a masterpiece, it shows he’s got a voice all his own for one so young.
miles salter

ROTTN KARMA : SWAMPED

Released just before Christmas 2006, ‘Swamped’ is the culmination of a couple of years work by York three piece, Rottn Karma. This five track EP is a big slice of Southern Americana made in Yorkshire. All songs are written by lead singer and guitarist Pete. How do you write an objective and critical review of a CD that you think is great? I like this style of music anyway, and I know the band, so it is a tricky situation for me.
The EP starts with “Need To Feed”, a wah soaked, three and a half minute frenzy of classic blues. Pete’s vocals growl through this musical barrage. The song composition is superb, the musical ability is outstanding, timing, everything, is spot on. How can three people produce something that is so layered, and deep. Studio tricks you shout. Well no, because they produce the same sound live. I can imagine these sort of songs being used in a blood soaked teen slasher movie as the unfortunate victims are being dismembered with abandoned glee. There seems to be that sense of enjoyment about the music linked with some almost tongue in cheek lyrics.
There are two distinct styles on the EP. There is the electric blues frenzy of “Need To Feed” and “House On The Hill”, and the cheeky acoustic jauntiness of “Slow Down Man”, “Jack The Hurricane”, and “Resting Today”. Andy on bass, and Rob on drums provide harmonious backing vocals on a couple of the tracks as well as more than ably backing Pete on his assortment of guitars.
Altogether this is a worthy addition to anybody’s collection. It is not an original style of music at all, but it is so well done that should not matter. Buy it, it will be a fiver well spent. paul cunniff

HOLLY TAYMAR : BEFORE I KNOW (GENIECAKE)

Holly Taymar returns with her sophomore release “Before I Know” a sparkling Jazz-Folk gem. The first adjectives that spring to mind when hearing the opening strains of “Home” are: pure, simple and sweet. But those words are too easy, too throwaway and using them could lead this record to be misconstrued. Allow me to restate, this album is rich in other qualities too. Holly has managed to tame her voice and hold back on the pyrotechnics prevalent in her previous release. The control that she has acquired has allowed her to extend her palette, painting with broader brush-strokes, highlighting the emotional elements of her songs to great effect. This is evident in the touching and sombre account of “Went to War”, in the gentle subtlety of the title track and in the simply stunning “Man On My Shoulder”. This accomplishment has enhanced the clarity of her melodies, the delicate vibrato in her voice and has provided a space for her talented session musicians to experiment in. The instrumentation on Holly’s second effort is just as good as her vocals. Beautiful arrangements, light jazzy piano and calm percussion are put to their best use on many of the songs. “Before I Know” is a mature release, especially for one so young. Holly does a superb job fusing old jazz vocalist ethics with modern pop standards and deserves to be held up at the level of Norah Jones. “Before I Know”, is original and very pretty and comes highly recommended for fans of this style of music (and for those who are not). I predict great things for Miss Taymar, she is undoubtedly one of the best songwriters I have come across in a very long time. soulbeat

ARCADE FIRE : NEON BIBLE (SONOVOX)

Crumbs. If Philip Larkin’s morose poems, dwelling on man’s mortality, had been set to the music of Joy Division, it might sound something like this. Arcade Fire, a Montreal-based seven piece band, have produced a dark and brooding album that has more menace than a season of David Lynch movies. Neon Bible is an album full of post 9/11 anxiety - the track “Antichrist Television Blues” talks of planes “always crashing two by two” and there’s an undercurrent that borders on hysteria. You get the feeling these guys are, like, REALLY nervous. But it’s a very well constructed and arranged set of songs. They recorded it in a couple of Canadian churches and there’s smart use of an organ sound that seems to herald the end of the world. It is, frankly, impressive. Although not exactly a party album, Arcade Fire’s unwillingness to accept musical cliches, and their determination to have an unusual sound, is to be applauded, and this album has gathered half a ton of good press cuttings in the last month. Rightly so - this is an oddly compelling album. miles salter

GRATIZ3 : THE MEASURE OF TIME: THE MEASURE OF EVERYTHING

This has the potential to be classic rock record by all accounts. There are heavy elements, but this is a smooth and slick rock and roll ride from start to finish. It’s epic and controlled in equal measure; the guitar weaves in and out of our ears with every chord. The drumming is well timed and adds a nice backline to the action. Lyrics on the first effort “Vapour Trails” adds to the strong melody and uplifting tone of the song itself: “this is a new beginning not a long goodbye.” Gratiz3 make the kind of music that you wake to in the morning and you will feel good, from the moment you arise to the moment you put that air guitar in your hands seconds later. The vocals soar high above the distortion and steady drum beats, in the same vein as Grant Nicholls of Feeder fame. On “They” the rough edged harmonic voice of vocalist Paul breaks into the songs only to have a resounding affect that in turn serves to heighten the music’s feel good factor and the quality of impact.
It’s too heavy to be pigeonholed and thrown into Indie-rock’s “bottomless pit of hair spray and despair”, and too catchy to be slapped into metal’s mixing bowl. These guys just want to play for you, and they want to make you whirl within the vortex of progression…
With work like “My own cage,” with its shimmering effects and guitar WILL make everything in your world feel right at the time of listening, and when you go back to listen again, yes I have tried it! This song in-particular works in the same way that U2’s “Beautiful Day” or The Foo Fighters “Everlong” will. It will tug at your emotions just because of the way the instruments sound as they “gel” together, and this song will make your head want to bounce along with your heart beat as it goes like the clappers. For fans of: VAST, My Bloody Valentine, Feeder. dom smith