| CD REVIEW C.A.P.S. |
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Band : C.A.P.S. After years of being just a live band (being part of the Gearbox Agency, the band has shared stages with such illustrous acts as Dick Dale, Big Log III, President Fetch, Skambankt, The Untamed, Gorilla Angreb, Knaughty Nights, Adam West, The Stranglers, Subs and Los Retardos, and played many a show on their own where they left the audiences breathless and borderline ADHD) and going through several line-up changes, Copenhagen based Danish act C.A.P.S. (anyone care to let me know what that name stands for? Send your funny suggestions/ serious knowhow to webmaster @ concreteweb at the attention of Tony) finally signed a deal with Swedish label Heptown in late 2007, leading to the recording of the band’s debut album during the Summer of 2008 (recorded and mixed by the legendary Ralph Rjelly at Black Tornado Studio). As the list of bands they already played with suggests, each and every one of the 12 songs JT (lead vocals & guitar), DeviLene (guitars & female vocals), Kiko (organ & lapsteel guitar), and Kid Kizio (drums) bring to the fore (and I dó wonder whom plays the bass during all those gigs!) is a joy for any lover of organ-drenched Garage Rock with a Punky influence! What with their year-long experience in the field, it shouldn’t be surprising to the listener that the band has come to a point where they know which of their songs work best on the audience, eventually leading to their writing a hit song every time! Thanks to their long fieldwork as a live band, the band also made quite a few friend in Copenhagen’s Rock ‘n’ Roll mini-cosm whom was willing enough to join in on the recordings. Hence, you’ll find guest appearances from Lorenzo Woodrose of Baby Woodrose, Marc and Helle Burer, and Jacob The Ghoul of The Untamed. Well, “organ-drenched Garage Rock with a Punky touch” may be the term under which most of the songs find a comfortable niche, but one song may be of a harder edge than the other, and the less hard even get a “Power Pop” feel. There’s also an occasional hint of Surf comin’ in every now and again (most notably so on the track “Six Finger Shake”), and there’s even some vocal AC/DC antics during the chorus of “Six Pack” (you’d have to actually héar it to understand what I mean here). Heh, the opening organ line is stolen from Beethoven, by the way. Obviously, the balance between male and female vocals changes depending on the song, as on some songs the female ones are more used as backings than on others. Personally, I much prefer the songs where the two co-exist in harmony. That you don’t always need elaborate music to make a good song is proven sufficiently with the somewhat repetitive but ever-so-hypnotic “Highway Demon”, in which Kiko exchanges his organ for the lapsteel guitar overall! At myspace.com/capsrock you’ll find mp3-files for three songs which perfectly display what this band is about! My only sorrow about this album, is the fact that the 12 songs only last just over 31 minutes!!! Great stuff, and definitively one of my favourites in the genre in my up-coming year-lists…ah well, I ain’t sure whether to put Strip Down And Rebuild! in my “Best (Garage Rock) Albums Of 2009” list, or in that of last year, seen as how its original release wàs late last year, you know!? I définitively want MORE by this band! 98/100 Tony. |