| CD REVIEW Charge Of The Light Brigade – Common Swift – Dust And Bones – E.Z. Riders – Noise Control |
|
|
TSM/ SLW Promotion special : Charge Of The Light Brigade – Common Swift – Dust And Bones – E.Z. Riders – Noise Control Okay, let's see now...oh, only the first TSM/ SLW Promotions special this month! I tell, ya, I'm slightly behind on my work schedule! What with things taking up time in my personal life, encountering a major and thoroughly unwarranted disappointment in my professional life (the one as music reviewer, that is) and getting a shit-load (say Shit-load) of new “regular” albums to review, I've had a hard time getting started on a new one of these specials. Anyway...as per usual the offering in this special is somewhat varied, ranging from Poppy Power Rock to Metal-tinged Hard Rock, over Blues, and stuff in between! One of the five bands below we've come across in the past, and another one sent us their album again (must have been pleased with the way we handle their stuff). This time's offering: Charge Of The Light Brigade (Toronto, Canada), Common Swift (Minnesota, Wichita, US), Dust And Bones (ah...San Fransisco, CA?), E.Z. Riders (Italy) and Noise Control (again from Caada, this time from Vancouver). Enjoy your reading and possible ensuing listening sessions! ----------------------------------------------------- Originally the guitarist for Toronto based Electro Rock act Mountain Mama, Luke Sneyd released two independent albums (2007's All Of Us Cities and 2009's Salvo) which garnered quite some airplay on Canadian college radio and stations in the US. In fact, an early demo for his song “The Prisoner” was a finalist in the Unisong International Songwriting Contest, and the song's video won Sneyd a Top 5 spot in the Great Canadian Band Challenge. Since then, he's been gigging steadily, building up the nucleus of what was to become Charge Of The Light Brigade. Live, this meant the band was completed with bassist Jason Eagan (of Clockwise and Ryan Luchuck repute) and drummer Zach Mykula (whose played with Bella Clava and Inhumanoids), but in the studio the band was enhanced with producer/ keyboardist Marc Koecher, whom Sneyd already worked with on his solo albums. It's in this line-up that the band recorded the EP We Haven't Been Properly Introduced, released in June of last year as a taster/ teaser for their debut full-length (featuring the 4 album tracks “Young Love”, “Fastest Of The Losers”, “Desdemona” and “Charge!”, plus a more acoustic version of “Fastest Of The Losers” - a track inspired by a phrase Luke overheard during the 2008 Olympics in reference to the second-place finisher of a race, and turning it towards the nature of relationsips: Luke reasoned that not everyone can be a winner, but the losers and outsiders dó have each other, for as long as love lasts). In late September the drummer was exchanged for one Owen Tennyson (formerly of Blue Peter and Rough Trade among others), and it's with him that the remaining 9 tracks on the album were recorded. Stylistically, one is best off categorizing COTLB into a Power Pop side of Rock. Early comparisons likened the band's sound to such differing artists as The Pixies, Muse, Social Distortion, Archers Of Loaf, Psychedelic Furs, Joe Jackson, and Spoon. And whether yoù can uncover one or more of those in the band's music, is something you might discover upon listening to the 6 tracks posted at (www.) myspace.com/chargeband. Personally, I put this down a very nice melodic Power Pop/ Rock indeed, with a singer (Sneyd) whom has a voice which should make him somewhat recognizable. He occasionally puts down a false note, but that's part of his charm! 90/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Now here's a weirdo! I'd listened to the music before even checking on the info, and my immediate thought was, “Are those guys playing on one of those furniture-size home piano/organs?”, you know, the big stand-up type young granddads would buy to “impress” their offspring? And you know something, that's exactly what Common Swift does! Possibly Parker Reynolds inherited a such instrument, and started composing songs on it which he also sings. And when his friends (guitarist/ backing singer Brian Strutt, bassist John Frater, and drummer Al Calderon) heard him play they decided to jump in and make it a foursome. Well...that's one possible way things could've gone. Truth is, there's not much info on the band available, other than that they're from Madison (Wisconsin) and formed back in 2008, and that they feel influenced by the likes of Radiohead, Deerhoof, and Sunset Rubdown. Of course everyone knows the first, and I'd say that in view of the overall sound of CS, they're mostly influenced by Radiohead's more experimental calmer side...but I've never heard anything by the two latter, so I cannot compare. When in use, the guitar riffs are usually played with a somewhat vicious touch to it, and in some calmer moments there's a soft Funky touch to it which,in combination with the occasionally soulful keyboards, give the band a reminiscence to some of the more obscure Soul/ Funk/ Rock bands of the late '60, early '70s...especially since the vocals all have a calmer side to 'em as well. Actually...come to think of it, that sharp guitar has some soft-progressive side to it which almost could be likened to early Kraut Rock stuff! And, euhm...does this band's song “Holly” sound as familiar to you as it does to me? I mean, if it ain't a cover (the originally of which I've therefore clearly heard at some time), it is a darn good track with freakishly catchy melodies which should be pushed to further the band in their career! At any rate, this is an album which needs to be heard repeatedly in order to be appreciated to the fullest...or at least that how things were with me! I mean, it took me some time to be able to analyze what I heard, and I can only hope that, with the above in mind, yoù will find the appreciation point a lot faster. You can check out a 4-some of songs off the album at (www.) myspace.com/commonswift. Wacky dudes, this! And would you know...they didn't post “Holly”...perhaps that's a cover after all then? 90/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Okay, a second-timer, this Dust And Bones, as we already reviewed their 2008 debut album Voodoo (also on Perris Records) in a TSM/ SLW Promotions special, posted 13/09/2009. As additional info to that review, I can tell you that the drummer's called Ryan Riggs (somehow I forgot to type his name in said review), and that the band has since opened for the likes of Naked Beggars (featuring Eric Brittingham of Cinderella), LA Guns, Pearl (featuring Meatloaf's daughter Pearl Aday), Scott Ian (of Anthrax) and Nigel Dupree Band (son of Jackyl's Jesse James Dupree) to name a few. To follow up on their debut album the guys concocted 12 new songs, the recordings of which they concluded in August of last year. Originally slated to be released as ...And There Was Rock, the album very much continues in the same vein, namely a catchy Glam Hard Rock with slight Metallic tinges and definite Sleaze undertones. At one specific moment (the song “One Hit Wonder”) the band is absolutely serious, proclaiming their will to linger on in the scene. As on the debut, lead singer Nick Elmore occasionally takes ahold of a mouth harmonica, taking the songs on which he does that to a level all of their own. But D&B call themselves a fun band, using humour to get through the day...and those are elements one sure hears when listening to the songs the band creates. Which is something which you can do by surfing over to either (www.) dustandbonesroxxx.com or (www.) myspace.com/dustandbonesroxxx (a total of 5 different songs divided over the two, the latter also carrying a video for one of the songs). Perhaps the balance is still somewhat heavy towards songs off the debut, but really the same quality permeates the band's two albums...proving that they have the capacity for a constantly high output! Yeah man, great fun's to be had here, and even if again the album won't make my year-lists, in their genre they're probably the best I'll come across this year... 93/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Hum...a returnee of the other kind: I already reviewed this album in a special posted on 08/11/2010. Do I have anything to add to that? No, Long Way From Home is still a nice improvement from the band's 2008 debut Experienced Zydeco Riders, but other than that nothing much changed for this Italian '70s Blues (Hard) Rock & Jam band. They may have done a couple of shows (and that's almost literal, judging from the band's gig-list on their own website (www.) ezriders.it), but actually it seems like they're only beginning the Italian promotion of the album on the live circuit. They have a set of gigs lined up in July, with the Musicastrada Festival at the beginning of the month, and a double feature at the Spirit Of Woodstock Festival at the end of the month...and a handful of club gigs in between. Oh, by the way, the band's own website...that's fairly new...and fairly interesting as well, since you can not only find the music and lyrics of both albums posted in the discography, but also a foursome of live videos...all on the same website! Which beats what's available on the band's MySpace anytime! Check it out, and find out why, at the same time, I feel this is a great party band which might liven up any gig they play...and why I think they'll have a hard time trying to take their music outside of their home country into the rest of Europe. Still, it might all happen, you know...all that suffices is a booking agent with the strings to put the band on some of the smaller European festivals to start with. And after that...who knows what might entail? Euhm, my rating remains the same as in my earlier review. 88/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Noise Control is the relatively new project of Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada) based bassist/ singer Reggie Heche, which also involves guitarist Chris Robertson and drummer Kelly Stodala. A musician for over 25 years, Heche has played in several bands (a current one being Tripfuse, and then there was also FruXure, both sharing drummer Issah Contractor) and embracing various influences, also played different styles of music. All of this made him into the open-minded Rock musician he is today, and a person uninterested in needless complications or dishonesty. As mentioned in the bio we got along with the promo copy of his first 7-track (27-minute) mini-album, he hopes to share his latest project with a group of like-minded music fans. Well, doesn't évery musician hope for that? But Heche went about it in a very novel way, making the whole album available for free download (with welcome donations) on the project's website (www.) noisecontrolmusic.com before releasing a hard copy of it. Actually, you can still download all 7 songs! Anyway, I'd like to stress the point that NC is certainly not bad at all...in fact I've enjoyed listening to it very much indeed...and I can tell you that at the band's MySpace you'll find an additional track, not on the album. ?/100 ---------------------------------------------------- Tony. |
