Archive for March, 2007

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Album – This Place – Chris Ayer

Posted by admin on 1st March 2007

There’s no point beating around the bush. I hate Chris Ayer and I hate this CD. It’s everything I always wished I could achieve and more. This album has that controlled frantic pace, that almost feels like an album exploding from someones soul. “We are the Birds” with it’s wonderful guitar intro, really opens proceedings with a pow, but the lyrics really didn’t do too much for me. “Confidant” on the other hand, had the balance perfectly weighted. With regard to lyrics, I want to just mention what a great idea it is to have the lyrics for songs on the CD sleeve. I’m of the old guard, who used to voraciously buy old vinyl LPs and sit reading the lyrics, as I listened to my new purchases. This is something that fell by the wayside for while, but seems too be making a welcome comeback.

“Get Lost” is one of those tracks that you literally get yourself lost in. It also has a wonderful synth layer almost hidden and is probably one of my favorite tracks on the album. I was trying to think of an artist that this album reminds me of and I keep thinking of Paul Carrack, former keyboardist with Squeeze. The comparison is more musical than vocal, as Chris has a much smoother and lets face it, youthful voice. “Over and Over” sticks out as a bit of an odd track. It’s almost sophomore boy band, but interesting nonetheless.

My other favorite track has to be “Evaporate”. Just a sheer knockout, in both it’s musical simplicity and it’s lyrics. This is one of those tracks that you can’t help but play over and over again. The album wraps things up with “The Story”, which is unusual, as I’m usually a fan of the slower songs rounding things off, but here it just seems to fit very well.

Conclusion : A wonderful album, with some sparks of sheer creative bliss.

Posted in Acoustic, Folk Rock | No Comments »

Album – Koala Motel – Anne McCue

Posted by admin on 1st March 2007

The Australian music scene is one that I’m not too up on. Apart from breakout bands like Savage Garden and the recently reviewed Youth Group, my last real investigations brought up Frente, a band that I think I heard on the Australian soap Neighbors, or maybe it was Home and Away. OK so now my nasty secret is out, but it was many, many moons ago. It was after a recent plea for international suggestions, that I was given a list of Australian acts and this is the first one I’m featuring.

I have to admit, although I listened to a few of her tracks on-line, when I got the album in, I kind of prejudged the album, based on the CD cover, thinking it was going to be a fairly light, whimsical pop album. What I found was something much deeper and not the bouncy pop record I was expecting. That’s not to say this is a dark and depressing album, it’s not, but it certainly has a more mature, rocky feel to it. In fact vocally there is a lot here that reminds me Sophia Ramos, but with a softer edge.

My favorite tracks on the album, “Coming to You” and “Jesus’ Blood” have a very strong acoustic feel, even though the latter has something of an odd lyrical slant. Another favorite of mine “Lay Me Down” has the hallmarks of some of the songwriting greats, including Crowded House and Squeeze. In fact to my mind, this would have been the kind of direction I would have liked the album to take. The rest of the tracks are great in themselves, but none of them really burst out, but this still makes for a very accomplished and entertaining album.

Conclusion : There’s obviously a huge untapped ocean of bands in Australia, the problems is finding them. If they’re all as good as this CD from Anne, it’s going to be a pleasure.

Posted in Alternative, Rock | No Comments »

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