Page 129 of 583

April Smith and the Great Picture Show: Songs for a Sinking Ship

February 17, 2010 /


RIYL: KT Tunstall, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Liza Minnelli

Sometimes great singers try a bit too hard to prove that they’re great. April Smith is not one of those singers. The arrangements on her latest and most impressive album Songs for a Sinking Ship fit her sultry voice like a glove and her songwriting is both playful and intellectual. April Smith is clearly capable of controlling the whole circus when it comes to vocal acrobatics but possesses the restraint to allow each song to shine as bright as her ability.

After numerous listens, I’ve yet to find a track that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. A standout track on Songs for a Sinking Ship is “Wow and Flutter” which combines semi-dark theatrics with a refrain that could have found a home on a Ratt record. Odd, I know, but it totally works. Additionally, the closer “Stop Wondering” is easily the most delightful “fuck you” to a former lover ever recorded.

April_Smith_02

Aside from her glowing talent behind the mic and the pen, she’s clearly figured out the business side of things as well. She used kickstarter.com and her ever-growing fan base (acquired from near constant touring over the past few years) to fund this release. We always hear stories of bands collecting cash online to fund their latest projects but many of those bands were once privileged enough to receive that initial “major label” push. April did it her way from the start and we can only hope that in the years to come she will be recognized as the fearless trailblazer that she is.

There are no gimmicks on Songs for a Sinking Ship. Only great writing and performing which is a very welcome change of pace from your typical release. You’re going to want to sing along with April Smith but you had better stretch out before attempting it or you will most certainly hurt yourself. (Little Roscoe 2010)

April Smith and The Great Picture Show | Official Website
Click to buy Songs for a Sinking Ship from Amazon

Adult Contemporary, Alternative, Big Band, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Indie Labels, Pop, Vocal

Will Harris remembers Doug Fieger

February 16, 2010 /

Doug Fieger

To many, Doug Fieger will always be just a member of The Knack, the band that quickly rose to prominence in the late 70s with its massive hit, “My Sharona.” But to those that followed The Knack throughout its career, they did so because of Fieger’s charms as a gifted pop songwriter and vocalist. His talent was anything but fleeting, as his bulky songbook can attest. Whether it was the band’s debut album, Get The Knack, or overlooked efforts such as Serious Fun, Fieger’s craft rarely wavered. Considering Fieger’s contributions to Was (Not Was)’s Born to Laugh at Tomadoes, work as producer with Rubber City Rebels and Mystery Pop, and reputation as a true student of rock ‘n’ roll, it’s obvious that Fieger adored music until the very end. Simply put, Fieger was always trying something new — even if we didn’t know about it.

In his recent column, Will Harris details his experience with Fieger’s music, from his first impressions of “My Sharona” through Fieger’s last released recording. Also featured are fond memories of Fieger left by other members of the music industry including Nick Kozonis, David Bash, and Barry Holdship. Give it a read.

Artists

Sambassadeur: European

February 16, 2010 /


RIYL: The Cranberries, Club 8, The Clientele

Think of European, the third album by Swedish popsters Sambassadeur, like nine women walking in and out of the room that you’re sitting in. Each one of them is lovely, the kind of girl you’d love to take home to Mom. But that first girl…she’s breathtaking, to the point where she haunts your thoughts long after she’s gone, while the other women are forgotten as soon as they’ve left. This is a beautiful record, tastefully adorned with strings, chimes, gently plucked acoustic guitars, and the sweetly heartbreaking vocals of Anna Persson, who recalls Dolores O’Riordan but without the braying. “I Can Try” is pure early ’90s indie pop, and “Sandy Dunes” is blue-eyed Motown a la Texas’ “Black Eyed Boy.” The production is crisp, and the performances are competent without being overly fancy.

sambassadeur 7153

So why does it leave so small a footprint? Because the songs all have to follow the piano and string-kissed “Stranded,” far and away the best track here. Pretty as the rest of European may be, it’s too slight to hold up against that killer opening track. It sounds awfully good while it’s playing, but it doesn’t leave much of a lasting impression. (Labrador 2010)

Sambassadeur MySpace page
Click to buy European from Amazon

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Melodramatic, Pop

Rob Zombie: Hellbilly Deluxe 2

February 16, 2010 /


RIYL: Rob Zombie, White Zombie…other zombie related culture

Rob Zombie’s 2006 album Educated Horses was a shocking departure for the shock rocker where he dropped the industrial dance beats and heavy production in lieu of classic rock riffs and heavy metal grooves. It was mature, experimental and a brave move for the man who hadn’t really advanced his musical style since 1992.

Hellbilly Deluxe 2 is not a brave move. Coming 12 years after the original Hellbilly Deluxe, this album finds Rob Zombie forcefully stripping away every development and evolution in his sound to deliver an album that is intentionally uninspired and derivative, but is that a bad thing? Because even though Educated Horses was a bold move for Zombie and it showed he could do more than he did in the past; the brand of rock he first showed us with “Thunder Kiss ’65” is still the what he does best. And while nothing here is original, it’s still a hell of a lot of fun. The industrial beats and distorted guitars that worked in 1998 on tracks like “Dragula” and “Superbeast” still work fine on “Dream Factory” and “Werewolf Women of the SS” (the latter of which named after Zombie’s mock trailer for “Grindhouse”). About the only thing that doesn’t work on this belated sequel is the closing “The Man Who Laughs,” which is a bloated overblown production complete with string arrangements by film composer Tyler Bates and a (very) extended drum solo. Prog rock excess does not belong on a Rob Zombie record.

There are artists who change and evolve their sound over time (REM, U2), and there are artists who discover that they are only really good at one thing early in their career and they stick to it, prevailing cultural winds be damned (Motorhead, AC/DC). It’s becoming apparent that Zombie is more than happy to be in the latter group, and Rob Zombie sounding like Rob Zombie for 20 more years is preferable to someone else trying to instead. (Road Runner 2010)

Rob Zombie MySpace Page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Industrial, Metal, Rock

Matthew Ryan: Dear Lover

February 12, 2010 /


RIYL: Bruce Springsteen, Josh Rouse, Ryan Adams

Singer and songwriter Matthew Ryan is one of the most prolific musical artists out there, as evidenced by the fact that his new release, Dear Lover, is his twelfth album, and his sixth since his last major label effort, 2000’s East Autumn Grin. Since then, Ryan has been refining and re-inventing his sound, enjoying the fact that he can make music his own way without the “input” a major label tends to impose on its artists. On Dear Lover, the same smoky, Americana-tinged vocal that is Ryan’s trademark is there, and the subject matter is personal and profound yet universally appealing. Musically, however, Ryan seems to have stalled a bit this time around, as if he’s been running on the same treadmill for a while and can’t get off of it. That doesn’t mean it’s awful; it only means that the music is not much different from recent efforts, and there is a bit too much similarity in tone, tempo and arrangement. If you’re a fan of Ryan’s, chances are you’ll find something to like here, particularly, the mid-tempo but raunchy title track, the piano-laced “We Are Snowmen” or the dark and introspective “The End of a Ghost Story.” But if you’re just discovering him for the first time, you might want to jump back into his catalog a bit for perspective. (The Dear Future Collective 2010)

Matthew Ryan MySpace Page

Americana, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Rock

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Eat Sleep Drink Music

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑