10 Jul 2009
I kind of never got around to posting about this album because, I dunno, it seemed to do pretty well on radio and I kind of figured it didn’t need “help” (like that’s what blogging is all about – ha!)
Then, just out of curiousity I searched my Google Reader archive for posts about Whitest Boy Alive’s latest album “Rules” and was somewhat surprised to find that, beyond a vague reference on PbroA there seems to have been very little coverage about the album. More than anything, I’m kind of curious – did this album not strike a chord with anyone else?
See, I dig this album – a lot, actually. If anything, it’s the pairing of an old funk aesthetic with a new electro-inspired sound. It’s the space that sits between the sparseness of four instruments and nothing else. It’s the realness of four guys in a room (tracked live with no overdubs, if you believe the PR). It’s also the damn good, simple and to-the-point songwriting that does the job with minimal fuss and maximum effect.
This is definitely a people’s album – it’s not a chin-stroker. “Rules” contains simple songs of love and life, sung simply (almost naively at times) by guitarist/singer Erlend Øye, and brought to life by band playing simple music to twitch your bum to, in amidst all that simplicity lies the key to the album’s excellence – it’s a masterful demonstration of restraint of the highest order. There’s so much they could have done but didn’t – and they’ve saved the album in the process. The space that you hear in the reverb after each drum hit could have been drowned out by countless elements of overdubbed studio trickery and a bombastic mix, but WBA have held to the KISS principle. It works wonderfully.
What did you think of the album? Did I miss something, or did I get lured in by the schmaltz? Have you heard it all before? Did it just not float your boat?
“Rules” is out now (aaaages ago) and comes highly recommended!
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09 Jul 2009
And there was me thinking just a week or so back that it had kind of been a while since I’d heard new recorded material from Richie Cuthbert and his crew. And then just like that, lo and behold, an announcement enters my inbox: they’re back.
Cuthbert & The Nightwalkers return with a new single entitled “Pace Ourselves” and it’s just what the doctor ordered – an eccentric, shouty, fun tune with a singalong refrain.
It’s kind of the anthem of a big night in reverse – the song starts with the tale of a night gone wrong (dodgy mobile phones! lonely bars! references to The Streets maybe?) that builds into the bliss of meeting a friendly stranger, getting high on life and… well, getting sloshed (“Pace Ourselves” elegantly turns into “Waste Ourselves”, y’dig?)
If anything, it’s “that” song that should prevent the group from endangering themselves of being pidgeonholed as a red frog-eating, perpetually high-school aged innocent pop group. F bombs! Drinking tales! Yeah, the Nightwalkers have grown up I guess.
Oh, the single was also mixed by Cornel Wilczek (a.k.a. Qua) – expect good things to come from the rest of the album if this man has had a hand in shaping the rest of the tunes, because this guy is the goods (coincidentally I was listening to Q&A and Silver Red back to back just today, so I’m particularly Qua fanatical at this point in time)
New material means new live shows and that means definitely good. This band are essential live viewing if you haven’t already seen them. You can see them tomorrow night (10th July) at Q Bar or the (still a long way off) single launch show at The Hopetoun on the 5th of September.
Listen to the track
06 Jul 2009
A few people have mentioned that it slipped under the radar a little, so what the hey:
Once upon a time, The Basics made a great single. It was called With This Ship. I remixed it. It got released on their Like A Brother EP last month. The end.
If you want to take a listen to said remix, have a crack at this stream:
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Enjoy!
(oh and you can buy the EP from the band’s myspace, or iTunes)
06 Jul 2009
Last week I visited the World Bar to check out the FBi Radio fundraising event, one of the many that had been organised to save the ailing station (who, by the way, are in the clear for now). The evening was a varied, wild and frequently bizarre affair with sets by a number of Sydney mainstays including The Paper Scissors, Richard In Your Mind, Fait Accompli and others.
Easily the best set (for me), however, was a short, almost unnoticed set right at the start of the evening from Parades (I’ve raved about them before). Let me tell you – this is going to be a great band to watch emerge in the months to come. Their live sound is impeccable, managing to succeed at being both energetic and intricate. Their songwriting appears to only be getting more sophisticated, and generally their sound is moving in a larger, more expansive direction that suits itself well to a live setting.
If you haven’t checked out the new single “Dead Nationale” (hearted by many), make sure you do so at the below link.
Ensure you see them live soon – in particular make a note in your calendar for August 6th where they’ll be appearing at the Oxford Art Factory with Seekae, Megastick Fanfare, Ghoul and Bearhug. Quite a lineup!
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04 Jul 2009
Here’s the story of my first listen of Deastro’s new album Moondagger:
- Chance upon album, vaguely recall positive mentioned of Deastro
- Insert album in CD player
- Instant grin, room reverberates with explosive energy, evening transformed within 30 seconds, etc
This is a first listen album. It’s not a grower – it’s all there, hitting you smack in the face right from the word go. Fortunately the instant appeal doesn’t dissipate over time – I’ve been giving it plenty of spins over the last couple of weeks and it continues to stand up as a great pop album.
Deastro is a one-man project belonging to Randolph Chabot Jr, apparently all self-produced and home recorded. Perhaps due to this creation process, there’s a delicious dichotomy in the music he creates – all at once the songwriting is human, personal, genuine and even unassuming while the sounds are frequently colossal, epic, almost stadium-esque.
The Deastro sound is defined by layers and layers of synths and Randolph’s swampy, ethereally treated vocals, but instead of rigid, robotic drum programming most of the rhythm section is propelled by live drums and bass, which give the songs a lot of their energy and help further both the expansiveness of the sound and the personality of the recording.
I’m pretty fascinated by the lyrics – the ones I can make out anyway. Randolph (from what I can gather) seems to hold Christian convictions which appear to permeate the song content. References to God are frequent (“Day of Wonder”, “Vermillion Plaza”) with my favourite instance being the bonus track “The Shaded Forests” as he yelps out the Psalm-derived refrain “whom shall I fear?” followed by “we’re gonna make it home!” … in the wrong hands it might be another biblically plundered cliche, but when he sings it it’s extraordinarily compelling. Naturally the album isn’t confined to a single subject matter – it seems to span all manner of topics of interest in Randolph’s worldview. Now to find a lyric sheet so I can actually decipher them.
Seriously, get the album – I love it to bits, and I think you will too. It’s an “up” album – try it on a Friday night or the start of a roadtrip. It’s epic.
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