| CD REVIEW DeadSets |
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Band : DeadSets If indeed this Belgian Shoegazer band was until recently considered “Antwerp's best kept secret”, I hereby predict things are gonna change for the better pretty soon for this young quintet, consisting of lead singer/ guitarist Michael Beniest, guitarist Steven Holsbeeks, backing singer/ keyboardist Annelies “Izja” Rutten, bassist Lander Slaets, and drummer Stijn Stangl. I'm not sure when exactly things started out for these guys, but I suppose they came together somewhere during, or not long before, the Summer of 2008, seen as their first gig in the now closed Vogelenzang club happened in September of the same year. The band apparently already made demos at an early stage, and by December 2008 the song “One Hour” (also on this EP) was even given high praise by Belgium's national alternative radio station Studio Brussel. In late Spring, the band (who had served as Belle Perez' backing band at 2008's Thuisdag – in essence a barbecue day organized for fans of popular Belgian television series Thuis) were invited by crew & cast of the series to record a new version of the series' tune (evidently, they also served as backing band for the 2009 celebrations). Live appearances of DeadSets were somewhat scarce for the band at first (they've played only a total of 25 gigs to date), at least outside Antwerp, but the band did pay their 6th gig (late April '09) in Brussels, and they even did a 5-date haunting of London in September '09. Since then, the band is still playing gigs quite irregularly, but at east they've come out of their home town a bit more to play elsewhere (Brussels again, Gent, Turnhout, and just recently at Bocholt's Zomerfeest event). So, even if the Shoegazer genre is generally looked down upon (no pun intended, but actually...that's a good one!) these days, where does this faith in this band's better future come from? Well, you see, their EP (some songs of which are apparently already at their 3rd recorded version) is after all manufactured & distributed by the people at CNR, the powerful promotion machine behind such labels as Roadrunner Records! And these people have the drive and tenacity to make the breaking of a band (even on an international level) happen! Besides, the band's music is simply delicious! Apparently all the handiwork of the frontman, the songs see their drums played rather calmy and somewhat minimalistic, their guitars played with the necessary holding back where needed, and the appropriate more distorted passages (without ever goin' into exaggerated overdrive – there's sóme, but never to the point of making for Noise parts), and their lead and harmonic backing voices sung quite beautifully with a certain restraint. Ach...you really need to héar it to understand to the fullest what I'm driving at here, so why don't you just turn over to the band's official website myspace.com/deadsets, where no less than 3 songs off the EP are posted? Me, I'm real heavily into this kind of music, so I'm already adding the EP to my 2010 year-lists, hoping a full-length may come soon enough! Because these kids have made me hungry for more, for lóts more!!! Oh, before I forget...Deadsets plays a couple of shows in September (one in Turnhout, the other in Gent – for more info check the band's MySpace page), so try to make it there if you can! 98/100 Tony. |