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Yummy Yummy Yummy. Gene Champagne
Yummy Yummy Yummy, that spells a cover to me. When I was a very young boy a band called Ohio Express scored two hits over here of which this one was the first, the second 'Chewy Chewy'. (On checking, I found a third top 40 hitsingle, 'Pinch Me'). It turns out Ohio Express was a producers' vehicle (Kasenetz - Katz) and a live band, that still tours, believe it or not, with the original drummer still behind his kit. Gene Champagne returns to this blog with a cover version of 'Yummu x3'. It gives some oomph to the original with a tougher guitar sound and drums. While still allowing for the bubblegum poprock original to shine through. As that is what the song was at the time. Gene Champagne captures this nicely, tipping his hat to the 1968 original with respect.
You have found Mei Semones on this blog before and just like you are about to read, she surprises with her song by the second almost. Last week I reviewed a song by Black Road New Country that drove me crazy as I couldn't find my hold on the song. It kept changing. So does Dumb Feeling but if BRNC wants to learn how to convince me, it better starts listening to Dumb Feeling. You have to pay attention for the whole time, because this single is in another place if you kept your mind somewhere else for even a few seconds. The bossa nova morphs into a rock piece for about three seconds, to change into a 1950s Doris Day style string part and so on. For now I think Dumb Feeling is more surprising than utterly good. The comment after that has to be that Mei Semones' imagination and arrangement skills border on the unbelievable and is well deserved. Dumb Feeling is almost beyond comprehension and yet fully registers.
What an upbeat, clear sounding song Sit Down is. North Carolina indie-rocker Chris Church returns to the blog with his latest single announcing his upcoming album 'Obsolete Path' (28 March). It is a song that I can place in the rock side of R.E.M. with some hints at (Brit)pop for good measure. The clear guitar notes are what set Sit Down apart. They are sprinkled all over the song. In fact there are layers of guitars that Church recorded for us to enjoy. Supported by drummer Brian Beaver he plays everything else himself. As an extra is the voice of Lindsay Murray, who is sitting down constantly in the video. As an aside, my wife would so much enjoy the number of records shown in the video. Unfortunately for her I have a few (ahem) more than that. Sit Down is an extremely pleasant rock song. It doesn't alter my world but I can easily listen to it quite often. Sit Down is well made, in other words.
In september vorig jaar, 22 om precies te zijn, debuteerde Nieuwe Gezichten op dit blog. Zie daar voor de uitleg over dit muzikale project. De zanger van dienst is ditmaal Bo Menning. Het gejaagde van 'Ter Aarde' is heel ver naar de achtergrond geduwd. Je kunt het er bij denken als het ware. Te Echt is dromerig, met veel uitwaaierende geluiden, maar ook een banjo. Dit is een uitzonderlijk gelaagde single. Van overal en nergens komen geluiden, die het nummer een onderhuidse spanning geven, die uiteindelijk op de luisteraar wordt los gelaten. Het een solo noemen voert te ver. Een instrumentaal intermezzo is beter, ware het niet dat het uiteindelijk ook naar het einde van het nummer voert. Onderweg verliest Nieuwe Gezichten wat instrumenten hier en daar, instrumenten die er overigens ook aan het begin van het nummer niet zijn. Kortom, er valt muzikaal veel te ontdekken in dit nummer.
There are more South Africans who moved to the U.S.A. then the one who is constantly in the news in the past months. Luckily we also have Ashton Nyte, once dubbed "the Johannesburg Bowie". The singer can be found a while back on this blog both as a contributor to the Beauty in Chaos project as with The Awakening. Here he lends his deep voice to his own band, The Awakening, operating from the U.S. these days. Dark wave melts with heavy guitars and goth rock, this describes Haunting quite well. The single actually combines several subgenres within it, making it almost a musical pubquiz. Upfront it is the dark rock sound that paves the way, with Nyte singing not like Bowie but more like 80s singers from bands like Killing Joke and The Sister of Mercy. Darkness envelopes the listener, as undoubtedly other songs on the album, 'The Awakening', will. It is out there already for you to check out.
Whole Lotta Stars. Shane Alexander
On route to the release of his new album, 'Forever Songs' on 4 April, Los Angeles singer-songwriter-producer Shane Alexander releases a new single. Expect to hear his beautiful voice, but less so his familiar sounding singer-songwriter/folk/americana. Whole Lotta Stars may have a country tinge with the pedal steel guitar in the background, the flavour of the song is more pop oriented than ever before. The rhythm is very prominent and that makes this single different, for Shane Alexander. It is in the accents of the production. It may well be the result of writing with Clayton Joseph Scott, who he recently produced. Writing with someone else gives a different perspective. In the previous song he worked with Dutch singer-songwriter Judy Blank. What will the album bring? If more collaborations, we may actually be very surprised. 4 April is getting closer luckily.
Ojai is pronounced as o-high. I would never have guessed as Dutchman. To be certain, Ashleigh
Flynn is not singing about me :-). Drunk In Ojai is a country rocker
that kicks off with a great guitar lick, played by Nancy Luca, who also produced the
song. Ms Flynn says that the song wrote itself and is based on an
experience she's had. Well, she's not telling all, but in the meantime,
the song is quite nice. Yes, it all sounds very familiar but isn't that
the charme of a good country rocker? The Riverters play nice and tight,
to allow for the lead guitar to escape with a great lick or accent here
and there and then a great solo, just like it should be. Ashleigh Flynn
has a nice edge to her voice, finishing off Drunk In Ojai just nicely.
With 'Alan's Song' Evidence of a Struggle debuted on this blog about two years ago, an instrumental track. Eddy Derecho isn't. The Rev. Billy Simmons is taking us for a sermon with this rough, a little dirty sounding voice. The single rocks, not unlike a Smashing Pumpkins alternative rock song from the 1990s. Matt Walker who joins Simmons on drums, bass and synths has played with the Pumpkins somewhere after the band's heyday. Eddy Derecho moves around a riff that is repeated over and offer. Distorted, dirty, loud and in your face. It's the mainstay of the song and the sound from which all else grows. Don't expect much subtlety here. Evidence of a Struggle rocks and keeps doing it until the almost unpleasant alarm sound at the end. Before that end, anyone who took and takes a liking to 90s rock, check it out.
Toro
Y Moi is Chaz Bear and has eight albums to his name but you won't find
the name here. Whether from not knowing or not liking, I can't tell.
There are too many artists and bands to recollect all. Daria reminds me
of a genre that was popular for just one or two years in the early 90s
before Britpop broke big and wiped out bands like EMF and Jesus Jones. I
certainly liked a single like 'Unbelievable' but never bought an album.
Daria has that kind of upbeat rhythm, yet so undercooled in the way
Toro Y Moi presents it that it is not unlike The Stone Roses' debut
singles and album as well. Sure, I can dance to it but I'm not sure
whether I'm allowed, it all sounds so cool and strict. But who is Chaz
Bear to tell what to do to his song? In the background there are some
rap elements, see EMF shouting "unbelievable" the whole time. If that is
Kenny Beats' contribution, I don't know, then it is all far more
restrained. In fact, the singing is an undercooled version of Fontaines
DC's Grian Chatten. Daria ties together about 35 five years of music
this way.
We end the week with a dreamy indierock track from Venice, Italy. Irene (vocals and guitar), Lorenzo (lead guitar), Francesco (drums) and Vsevolod (bass) form the band Glazyhaze that is working towards the release of its second album, Sonic (21 March). Part of the attraction is the differences between the double tracked male voice and the female voice, creating a beauty and the beast vibe. The music is more bare when you hear the male voice. The pop side of Glazyhaze comes forth when Irene starts singing. It immediately drops away for the more indie rock side of the band when Seva takes over again. There are worse ways to make your debut on this blog than with Nirvana.
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
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