| CD REVIEW Tom Dice |
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Band : Tom Dice “Huh?,“ I went, when the editor-in-chief told me this guy was the Belgian contribution to this year’s Eurosong Festival. Hum, well…one thing the young dude has goin’ for himself, is that we share the same brithday, 28 years apart. And it so happens that the Dice’s last birthday (his real name being Eeckhout) was a very special one indeed, because that day his participation to the song contest was announced. And after all, Dice’s music ain’t that awful as the usual crap that’s sent to Eurosong either! Dice, then still under his own name, started singing at the school choir when he was still in basics. On his 8th birthday he gets his first guitar in stead of the trumpet he wanted, and during the 3 years that followed he took courses for it. He wrote his first song aged 12, and at 15 he re-discovered the guitar. Not long after (that would’ve been in 2004) he joins the band The Dice, and that’s when he took on the artist name Dice. It’s during his tenure with The Dice that Tom learns the tricks of the trade as frontman, but also of song composition. Early 2008 Dice, pushed by friends, enlists in a participation of the Belgian leg of the international talent scouting contest X Factor, where to his own surprize he got high praise from the jury panel. While working to the finals, he was assigned jury member Marcel Engelen (known international figure from the bands Praga Kahn and Lords Of Acid) as his vocal coach. Although Dice “only” landed second, the relationship between himself and Engelen resulted in the latter signing Dice on his new label SonicAngel. As a first result, the single Bleeding Love (an acoustic Leona Lewis cover which he’d already brought at the contest) was released to become a top 10 notation in the Ultratop charts. On top of being a success in Belgium, the single also did surprisingly well…in Poland! The single also earned Dice a nomination in the category “Best Young Artist” at the 2009 TMF Awards. Meanwhile, work had continued on Dice’s debut solo album, which was originally slated for an October 2009 release (the date eventualy delayed when parleys with VRT for Dice’s participation to the Eurosong Festival were started). In hindsight, Dice feels lucky nót to have won the X Factor contest because, in spite of the fact that the winners got a record deal with major label Sony BMG, they’re hardly heard of, and their albums don’t sell any too good either. Not having won the contest, he was allowed to continue work on the solo album at his own pace, and in his own entourage, perfecting own compositions…in stead of being forced to put together “an album of badly recorded covers”. Well, Dice was to represent Belgium at the Eurosong Festival with his song “Me And My Guitar” (the new hit single which has nestled itself in the hearts of many a Belgian music fan, has already been doin’ well in Holland as well) but critisezed for his outfit…adapted his outfit and went into the contest making it into the finals (a thing not often achieved by earlier representatives from the Dutch part of Belgium) with an record amount of viewers in the Dutch part of Belgium (over 1,7 million!) for the show at the time of rating…and having reached the #6 spot, was given a triumphant homecoming by his fans. But that’s the now…in between the album was eventually finished and released on April 30. It eventuallly also landed in the Concrete Web offices for review, because of being distributed by CNR (close connection to our editor-in-chief). Although most people now know Dice from his acoustic songs (the “Bleeding Love” cover and “Me And My Guitar”) will be glad to know that a new acoustic song titled “Lucy” is the next to be released as a single. Of course, those fans whom already bought the album already know that Tom Dice isn’t just about acoustic songs, and indeed most of the songs on the album [except those mentioned there’s the short “unfinished” album opener “Start Without The End”, plus “A Soldier For His Courage” (an anti-war song with samples from some war movie goin’ through the song)] have an electric guitar (soft guitar Pop, but with occasionally very nice lead guitar parts) in ‘em (plus, in many cases nevertheless also an acoustic guitar, and a cello, keyboard, or piano here and there). Still, the ballad content remains high, so there’s definitely a typical Tom Dice touch allover! Which means you get an occasional Psychedelic touch in some of the songs’ openings (check “Lucy” and “Forbidden Love”, in the latter of which the Country twang in the – electric – guitar is continued within the song). The songs posted at myspace.com/tomdicemusic are honest enough in their representation of the artist Tom Dice. Of course there’s “Me And My Guitar”, but the other 3 songs show the more electrified Dice. Following his Eurosong escapade, Tom Dice can be seen playing in a bigger venue out of Belgium for the first time on June 23, when he’ll be playing at the prestigious Paradiso in Amsterdam (Holland). Let’s hope the Dutch give Tom the kind of welcome they’re famous for. In Belgium, Dice will be playing a couple of festivals during Summer, dates for which are listed at the MySpace page. As for my own appreciation? Well, Tom Dice certainly brings nice easy-listening music with a nice layered-ness in the “heavier” (just joking, right) songs, and the topics in some of his songs are rather surprisingly soci(o-politic)ally critical. Yeah, Dice surprised me in a positive way, I must say…but in my list of stuff to listen to during review-slow periods this Summer, he doesn’t exactly score too high. Of course, dear reader, you’re free to feel differently about that (it’s a free country, innit?) 85/100 Tony. |