CD Reviews
The New Normal
The Suns
by Cee Populus
The Suns, Reinvented, Get Used To It.
The third outing from Liverpool’s The Suns showcases a new musical path for the band who have traded their dreamy, starry designed melodies for a series of harder edged songs, don’t get me wrong, the guitars still sing but they come with a sharper sting, You, Me, Everybody exemplifies this, it’s a great song for perfecting your air guitar skills. Gone Too Soon, while still counting on the rich guitar sound, is a tune that will definitely get your toes tapping. Think of it as a song with lyrics describing a crossroads set to an infectious beat. Save Ourselves (inspired by the mini epic Battlestar Galactica) is quieter, delicious and dripping with melancholy, your headphones are your best bet for picking up great musical effects orbiting this one. The New Normal, is 
Simon, Markus and Davethe realization that things do not stay the same, they are in constant flux and you can either fight it or accept it and create around it. It’s all about transformation and reinvention. Intricate guitar work and subtle vocals make the subject of change easier to swallow and groove to. Vocal harmonies still soar throughout this enterprise making singing along possible and highly recommended. A combination of heavier tunes (Her Sweet Voice, You Me Everybody, The New Normal) and their quieter counterparts (Home Again, Goodbye, Time Enough) The New Normal depicts a different side of The Suns yet the expert musicianship found on the new record doesn’t falter or disappoint. It’s exciting to find a band that is capable of putting out three records so different from each other yet so similar in quality and expectation. Looking forward to what Lloyd and Mulholland have hidden up their collective musical sleeves.
Featured on The New Normal: Dave Lloyd (Lead Vocals and Guitar), Markus Mulholland (Bass and Vocals) and Simon Garland (Percussion and Vocals).
Note:
The new Suns album, The New Normal, is now available from the iTunes UK/Europe and US stores.
A Low High
All India Radio
by Cee Populus
I can safely state that A Low High (All India Radio’s 6th studio album) is the new soundtrack for your imagination, the companion for your paintings, the fuel for your creativity and the background music for the “epiphany” scene in your very own movie; it’s that epic! All India Radio offer up 12 songs you can almost touch thanks to their ability to create musical textures that are at the same time complex and also comfortably accessible. The band describe A Low High as the final installment in a loose trilogy beginning in 2003 with their ARIA nominated self-titled album followed by Echo Other in 2006. A Low High was written and recorded by Melbourne - based Martin Kennedy, joining him on this outing include Graham Lee (The Triffids) on pedal steel guitar, Jen Anderson (Pandoras Box) on strings and some mesmerizing ambient sounds from Australian legend Ed Kuepper (The Saints and new member of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds). Intriguing, inspiring and impressively enchanting, A Low High will find itself in heavy rotation on the days when you immerse yourself in your favorite daydreams.
Another MySpace Music Page Review
by Cee Populus
Gomez have been around for ages and right now they have a new record out called A New Tide and you can check out the first single, Airstream Driver, on their MySpace page. I highly recommend that you launch the pop up player and listen to all 6 songs they're offering up, it'll give you nice taste of what these lads are all about. You'll be able to savor the different voices exchanging lead on each song, good stuff!
What I did reagrding A New Tide was listen to Airstream Driver, then hit iTunes for a sampling of the rest of the songs. Let me tell you, after listening to the musical wonders that are Mix, Natural Reaction and Sunset Gates I knew I had to buy A New Tide...and I did. With Gomez not being shy about experimenting with different instruments and musical styles you get a dozen tunes that sound very different from each other but that keep their cohesiveness intact marking them as unique Gomez' songs. A New Tide is brilliant throughout, not a throw away in the bunch.
Gomez are currently touring the U.S. so go check out their myspace page and find out when they'll be in your town. Oh! They'll also be playing at this year's Lollapalooza Festival held at Grant Park in Chicago, so go.
The songs on their myspace page are:
Airstream Driver
How We Operate
Drench
We Don't Know Where We're Going
Pop Juice
See the World
Kings of Convenience
MySpace music reviews
by Cee Populus
Visit their MySpace page
Kings of Convenience are two Norwegian lads making delicious music that is, as one MySpace commentator puts it, “fun for all”. But they’re more than that, honestly.
Eirik Glambek Bøe and Erlend Øye have perfected the delicate vibe of subtle guitars and ethereal harmonies, vehicles that transport the listener off planet and into pure musical composition where melody, notes and harmony take the place of oxygen, gravity and water.
The four gorgeously structured melodies found on their page hit the listener’s pleasure sensors perfectly as every song featured surpasses each other in exquisiteness.
The songs featured on their MySpace page are:
The Weight of My Words
Cayman Islands
Summer on the Westhill (beautiful cello found here)
Misread (my favorite)
You have the option to buy tracks directly from the Kings of Convenience.
Message from the band: “Record almost done. Working on the sequencing mostly. Maybe record 1 or 2 songs in a different way. We should be completely done in may. We are playing in Azores on the 20th of June. Apart from that, no touring before the album comes out. Have a nice spring everybody.”
by Anna Alexander
Democracy of One
Colin Devlin
www.colindevlin.com
The first time I listened to Colin Devlin’s new album, Democracy of One, I was driving through hail, snow, and rain trying to get to an appointment. His voice filled my car and soothed my frazzled nerves and I didn’t feel too bad when I ran a red light.
Colin Devlin is the lead singer of The Devlins, a band he co-heads with his brother Peter. It’s easy to dismiss Devlin’s new album as just another “solo album from a lead singer” but it’s more than that.
Colin takes us on a journey through his life and opens up his soul. He sings about love and loss and relationships. This is an album that wants to be played at loud levels so it fills your room, house or car.
There is no filler on this album. All of the songs are excellent and you won’t be pressing the fast forward button your iPod to get to the next song. When I listened, I wanted to absorb every note and every word.
I have been a fan of The Devlin’s ever since a friend of mine sent me their first album, Drift. But none of those albums left me wanting more than Colin’s album Democracy of One. It’s like finding out that a friend you’ve known forever is an amazing painter or writer. This album made me excited to see what else Colin can do. And that is good thing.
by Karen Koski
“Dusty Road To Beulah Land” – Drew Nelson, Waterbug Records
www.drewnelson.net, www.waterbug.com
“Beulah Land”, is Grand Rapids, MI- based singer Nelson’s latest release, and he has given us a gift: a tough, tender, clear-eyed and romantic sonic poem-cycle that meditates on life, love, and beauty.
With nods to Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, and the populist folk tradition that winds its way from Woody Guthrie to Bruce Springsteen, Drew Nelson not only looks at the world, he’s deeply entwined in it. The stories he tells are truly-drawn sketches of people we know or have met, of moments we’ve all had, of situations achingly familiar. His pen finds the critical moment that makes each song a defining one for the people inside it, and brings that moment into the center of the listener’s consciousness. The beauty lies in the empathy we gain from Drew’s viewpoint, in his sensitivity to the natural world, to the emotions he reminds us that we all have. There is a clear sense of loss that runs through most of these songs; mostly he mourns a loss of innocence, of things that were or might have been. As the world changes, who will remember the things we know and have taken for granted? At the same time, hope glimmers – that tomorrow I might be able to say the words, that I might be able to change what appears to be inevitable, that somehow, we will go on.
The music is spare, focusing on the stories and images the lyrics bring to life. It’s a beautiful record in sound and story, and the only quarrel I have – well, I have two. One is the female vocal on “Waiting For the Sun”, which I find mildly irritating and might have been better deeper in the mix, and the other is the lack of lyrics in the packaging, which is easily fixed (put 'em on the website, Drew!).
As Drew so precisely finds the defining moment within his songs, this is a defining record for Drew Nelson. It deserves all the recognition it will assuredly gain.
“Howl On the Haunted Beat You Ride” – The GO, Cass Records
Detroit’s own The GO sound and look as though they just stepped straight out of 1967. This is not a bad thing. This is a very good thing, and their latest record fulfills all expectations of a great rock album. Reflecting equally an obsession with the Beatles and the Stones – the whole '60's Brit Invasion, in fact, including the Kinks, the Zombies, and the Small Faces – and Beach Boys, the album has echoes of Big Star as well. I mean really, an Allen Ginsberg poem for lyrics! Let alone the ‘Howl’ reference… All you young folks out there may not know these allusions, but the GO do – and you should.
The successful juxtaposition of dark, slightly twisted lyrics against the driving, danceable tunes is a measure of the care the band took in making this record. They’ve done a remarkable job of conjuring an atmosphere when sex, drugs and rock’n’roll actually meant something, when rock music was still vital and potent and the voice of a generation. This is a record that brings the best of the true rock era back to the forefront of our ears.
www.thegodetroit.com , www.myspace.com/thegodetroit
“…Waltzing Alone” – The Guggenheim Grotto/UFO
If you love books – real books, with texture and heft and scent and flavor – you have to buy this CD, even if you never listen to it. Of course, if you never listen to it, you miss out on so much more…
The Dublin-based Guggenheim Grotto’s first full-length record, "...Waltzing Alone" is an album for a rainy day, a quiet night, to read poetry to, to stop and get caught by a line or phrase as you hear it being sung, gently, whisperingly, in elegant harmonies and spare, subliminal structures. Tea in the afternoon, or absinthe at 2 am – this is sipping music, a soundtrack through which to muse and ponder the mysteries of love and life. Kevin May’s lyrics wander through the architecture of relationships - with people, ideas, with God - and their impact on the individual, taking detours into snapshots of moments in time and the emotions those memories induce. There is a whimsical melancholy, an ironic self-aware amusement inherent in both the music and lyrics - as you get into the Marvin-Gaye-inspired groove of "Vertigo", you get caught by the phrase Did you know I seek awareness / and a Christ-like mind? Soul and soul indeed.
It’s thoughtful, and occasionally deep, and light-hearted all at the same time. So settle deep into that comfy armchair and prepare to sip at the beverage of your choice, and listen – and dream…