CAGED ANIMALS - EP REVIEW

Caged Animals - The Overnight Coroner EP (Lucky Number) 

Caged Animals - The Overnight Coroner EP

It would be incredibly easy (and lazy) to label this EP by Brooklyn five-piece Caged Animals as quirky. So I won't. Instead, I will suggest that if you fused the music of Darwin Deez, Jim Noir, the Strokes and David Kitt then you might be getting somewhere near the melodic but subdued music these guys and girls create. 'The Overnight Coroner Attends A Party' opens the EP but instead sounds like the closing music for a lo-fi from New Zealand about dreams, love, lust and disappointment - its actually more about the trials and tribulations of everyday life but that's not what's important here, focus people. The squelchy bass and delicate chimes of 'Working On The Downfall' are sublime and provide the perfect foil for singer Vincent Cacchione's too-cool-for-school vocals.  

The haphazard beats and muffled bass notes that introduce 'The Turnaround' suggest that somebody in this band has benefited from watching an awful lot of art house movies as the music has such a cinematic quality to it that you can't avoid picturing film scenes unfolding to the undulating melodies. The final song on this EP is 'The Lat One At The Party' which starts like a Regina Spektor tune before the spoken word vocals perfectly encapsulate the feeling of waking up after an awesome party only to realise that the rest of the world is still going on and the Flaming Lips are on a loop in your head. The EP actually finishes with a track that lasts over half an hour with the title 'The Overnight Coroner Finds What He Is Looking For' which is a semi-confessional spoken word story about Vincent's time working as, you guessed it, an overnight coroner. It's not unenjoyable but it is a little self-indulgent and kinda kills the spirit of the EP a little but if you treat like a good, old fashioned 'secret track' then it works in this format. All told, this interesting stuff that is covered in city life and cultural influences that give the music rich, tasty layers to enjoy time and time again.

More information: http://cagedanimals.net/ 

CHRIS GOOD - ALBUM REVIEW

Chris Good - From The Ashes 

Chris Good - From The Ashes

Reading Chris Good's website is like the hearing one of those emotional voice over montages on the X-Factor. I'm not trying to be flippant here, the Plymouth based singer songwriter has had enough knock backs to last a whole series of the Simon Cowell show. Never mind a broken marriage and a loss of religious faith, when Chris had nearly crawled in to the bottom of a bottle he stumbled (literally) in to an open mic night and, as so often happens, music saved him from the brink of losing his soul. Now, all that is life affirming stuff but it doesn't necessarily make Chris any good as a musician so we're going to have to tread carefully on his dreams here.

The appropriately named album opens up with 'Cut And Run', a tune full of pure guitars and Good's honest vocals that sound wonderfully unproduced and open hearted. Immediately you get the sense that Chris Good is the kind of musician who leaves it all on the recording with nothing going to waste. The slow, dirty blues shuffle of 'I Just Bring You Down' just confirms this honesty as the intimate vocals tell candid details of a relationship in the last throws of life. 'I've Kissed Your Face' is a more upbeat number but there is still a sense of sadness between the guitar strings, as though this is a memory of a good memory rather than something fresher. The rich, layered vocals that open 'Oh, My Brother' accompanied by sparse guitars shows off just how adept Good is at using silence and space in his songs as well as his musical talents - not something artists at the beginning of their careers are usually brave enough to do.

As you might expect from someone with Chris Good's past, there is a fair amount of darkness on this album and 'Use Me' is certainly no exception as the minimal guitars thrum in the background behind the heartbroken, almost mumbled vocals. Fortunately, after darkness there is often light and this proves to be the case on the next track 'I'll Be Okay' which might not be 'Walking On Sunshine' but undeniably has a greater sense of light at the end of this particular tunnel. The richness of the piano and guitar sandwiched together on 'With Empty Hands' allows Good to go show of his vocal range from fragile to soulful while 'Step Off The Train' has something of Tom Petty about and would undoubtedly go down tremendously in America with its sense of new beginnings coming from the end of something unhealthy.

As we approach the climax of this debut effort, we have the travelling song of 'Watch Me Burn' which is best listened to whilst staring at an open and far reaching landscape from the window of bus or train heading for an unknown destination. Signing of the album is 'Sitting On Your Throne' which is not a song about using someone else's toilet but tackles Good's loss of faith and discovery of his own abilities, all set to some soft acoustic guitar strumming. Chris Good has had a tough time of it, that's a given, but if you ignore that what you will find is a talented songwriter, accomplished story teller and not half bad musician. I hope the man in question is feeling better about life now and is happier with his lot with the gift of music now giving him a new direction. My life has certainly been improved for hearing this album.

More information: http://www.goodbyname.co.uk/

GOLDEN STATE - ALBUM REVIEW

Golden State - Division (State Champ Records) 

Golden State - Division

Release Date: 31st March 2014

I don't think it's any coincidence that I sat down to listen to this album for the first time straight after watching the Farrelly brothers film 'Stuck On You' for the first time considering this is an album called 'Division' and the cover art seemingly features conjoined eagles. Los Angeles quartet Golden State open this album with the understated tones of 'All Roads Lead Home' which builds slowly like the sun coming up on the night before bursting in to an array of lights and colour like Elbow in leather (but not leather elbow patches). Weirdly, the next track is 'Setting Sun' which continues the theme of soaring, anthemic guitars as sensitive, gentle vocals before the harmonious introduction to 'Sink Or Swim' takes things to a more place that puts me in mind of recent Stereophonics or the Killers output. 'Destroyer' has a little more personality about it, sounding highly inspired by Muse's 'Knights Of Cydonia' with the chugging guitars and rolling drums and this is where Golden State's strengths definitely lie rather than on the slightly ponderous 'The Outsiders' which takes too long to get going and then doesn't really achieve lift off when it does.

This feels like an album by a band who want to sound a certain way but have commercial success nagging at the back of their mind so the majority of songs, like 'Save Me' and 'Standing On The Edge Of It All', sound like they were written expressly for those dramatic moments in American dramas where the impossibly rich and good looking people get all upset because one of the other impossibly good looking and rich people doesn't want to jump in to bed with them. There is, at least, a sense of lightness to 'Splinters Out' that is appealing and 'World On Fire' has a triumphalism that you could expect of Kings Of Leon in all their pomp and glory although it does veer dangerously close to U2 at times. 'High Noon' picks up the pace a little with a semi-punk, indie guitar riff and some slow burning vocals that show signs of a smouldering appeal but the electronic psssshhhheeeeooooooo noises are a little bit much. There's no denying the drums that open 'Light Speed' are tempting but the tune that follows is insipid rock that you might expect to wake up to having fallen asleep during a poor sequel at the cinema with the credits nearly at an end. By the time we get to 'Rocket' there isn't any high expectation on this album so it's pleasantly surprising that Golden State at least have a stab at sleaze rock (they're from LA after all) and manage a passable Buckcherry tribute if nothing else. This is a frustrating album as these guys can play but they need stretching or at least given some space to stretch themselves away from the safe MOR/AOR territory.  

More information: https://www.facebook.com/GOLDENSTATEBAND?fref=ts

HAUSCHKA - SINGLE REVIEW

Hauschka - Adgam 

Hauschka - Adgam

The words 'neoclassical' and 'pioneer' do not often appear in my inbox and I must admit to a soupcon of nervousness at the prospect of reviewing a genre of music that I am almost completely unaware of. Nevertheless, Hauschka seems like a nice guy with a healthy attitude to life and music so I thought I'd dive right in and see what was occurring. 'Adgam' clearly has classical overtones with melodic and sometimes dissonant pianos running throughout as well as a few carefully plucked strings giving the piece a sense of urgency. However, it's the subtle electronic rhythms that bring the 'neo' element to 'Adgam' and turn this in to something that you might expect dance music explorers to come up with. Elements of techno and trance are apparent as well as a dark, industrial, almost Prussian feel to the melodies as this strange new world unfolds over nearly five minutes. Essentially, what I'm saying is that this would have been perfect for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics but Hauschka probably played a blinder in avoiding that political time bomb. Wow, did I just write Winter Olympics and bomb in the same sentence? Twice? That should get the hit rate up...

More information: https://www.facebook.com/HauschkaMusic?fref=ts

Live Dates:

26th March - Cafe Oto, London (SOLD OUT)

10th May - Howard Assembly Room, Leeds

14th May - South Street Arts, Reading

15th May - Colston Hall @ The Lantern, Bristol

16th May - Burgess Foundation, Manchester

WAX FUTURES - EP REVIEW

Wax Futures - A History Of Things To Come (Hometown Strategies/Distorted Tapes) 

Wax Futures - A History Of Things To Come

Release Date: 10th March 2014

Telford's finest trio of hard rocking badasses are back with seven tracks of balls to wall awesomeness. Much like the music I'm going to get straight down to business and tell you that 'Breadcrumbs', a recent single, opens the album and goes from zero to hell yeah in about 0.25 seconds of riffs and drums. 'Clock And Clocks And Clocks' is a little more straight up hard rock but it's the energy that Wax Futures exude that make sure you know their live shows are sure to be legendary. Going for the commercial market of day time advertising during the break in Loose Women, 'Laser Eye Surgery' is pitched somewhere in the middle of a Venn diagram containing Reuben, A and Cable which is one hell of a diagram whichever way you cook it.

The pounding drums and staccato guitars that introduce 'Histories' suggest a hint of punk about these guys as they go for the shouty gang chorus that is always welcome on a song of this ilk. Possibly the most mainstream and Hundred Reasons sounding track on this collection is 'Smoke & Mirrors' which finishes up the standard portion of the record before we get in to something altogether unexpected and intriguing. Considering the reference points given above you wouldn't necessarily expect a couple of dance remixes tagged on the end of this EP but that's exactly what you get. First up is 'Histories' as remixed by Faux Plissken and it really, really works as the bleeps and angular beats take things to a different level and gives the tune an 80s goth feel that I just didn't think was possible. The Chaotix Remix of 'Breadcrumbs' starts with a raw vocal track before the hectic, ZX Spectrum soundtrack kicks in and we're transported to a world that couldn't be further from the original tune. On the one hand, Wax Futures are an absolutely stunning hard rocking trio who would make me willingly sweat and jump around gleefully at a show. On the other hand, they have a sense of pushing boundaries with their music that most bands of their type wouldn't be interested in exploring. Put those hands together and you have a musical high five of epic proportions. Or at least a clap.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/waxfutures?fref=ts

Live Dates:

8th March - The Haygate, Telford w/Burning Alms + A Pig Called Eggs + Fauxchisels

29th March - Railway Tavern, Nuneaton w/Go Lazarus 

HISTORY MAJORS - SINGLE REVIEW

History Majors - Shadows 

History Majors - Shadows

According to their Facebook page, this Toronto trio play music that is the sounds of cats kissing. This is essentially a direct quote and if you really think about it that sounds would either be the very quiet noise of two soft noses touching or the caterwauling sound of scratching and squalling from the cat that wasn't happy about the kisses. We need to hear this, don't we? Single 'Shadows' is  a jaunty, jangly, upbeat piece of indie-pop that is Scottish in tone but West Coast U.S. in attitude as it perfectly mixes those perky guitar riffs with slurred, slacker vocals. Back in the 90s I would have taken at least one bus to buy a copy of this on 7" or maybe even tape, such is the quality of this indie slacker anti-anthem. The main thing that I'll take from this single is that I am genuinely worried about the cats that this band own and why they are being forced to kiss. And why the hell that makes a sound like 90s slacker indie pop. All very concerning. But fun.

More information: www.facebook.com/historymajorsband

Live Dates:

11th March - Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto

COAST REDWOOD - ALBUM REVIEW

Coast Redwood - Spirit (Radiclaw Records) 

Coast Redwood - Spirit

Release Date: 4th March 2014

Coast Redwood seem like nice guys. Nice Canadian guys. Even their music is nice and I don't mean that in a derogatory way. These four guys create those kind of chord changes and rich melodies that hug you in that warm way that an old whisky or a warm fire does. Opening tack 'Away From The Wasteland', for instance, is full of thick, warm guitars and swathes of organ that just wrap around you and sweep you away to your happy place. Then again, 'Dead Where It Lay' starts off with a 'Walking On Sunshine' drum riff followed by a pop-punk melody that just makes you want to pogo around your living room until you take out a light or a ceiling fan if you live in a warm part of the world. 'Cassiopeia' (great title) is a mellow and melodic piece of loveliness with a country tinge while 'The Train/The Station' is a Beatles-esque riff accompanied by angular vocals and an edgy beat.

Apart from being a cracking title, 'Redbloodedteenagejerkoff' sounds like Redd Kross as produced by Kings Of Leon and then along comes 'Tollbooths & Highways' being all jangly and suave like a weird mix of the Arctic Monkeys and Edwyn Collins. It's on the lazily brilliant 'Let Me Dig' that Coast Redwood have really hit gold though as the gorgeous slide guitars and oak-smoked vocals blend to make a beautifully sun drenched early morning of a song. The album finishes up with 'End Of The Hunt' which starts off sleepily but ends up as a full on Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Thin Lizzy road tune. I said these guys were nice and the music was nice which could be seen as damning with faint praise but I genuinely enjoyed this music. True enough, it didn't get my heart racing but that's not what nice does - it just made me feel happy and perfectly suited my mood at the end of a long day. Nice guys don't always finished last.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/CoastRedwood