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| MUSKOKA: Isn't It Beautiful Out There | |
TRACKS:
MUSKOKA have written and recorded one of the most slick and interesting albums that i've heard in a long time. The whole album is like an emotive journey around earth in a spaceship. There are echoes of Thom Yorke and Ben Christophers through-out this album, laced with an air of Air and PPK. This, together with the immaculate production of this album makes listening very easy. MUSKOKA have made an album here that really grows on you from the first listen. Mike Kus' organic, emotive and intimate vocals and lyrics take you beyond the constraints of the norm fuelled by the feeling that he knows something that you don't. This is, of course, aided supremely by the other three members of the band and also Jake Rousham who plies the album with percussion and loops. This surely adds to the feeling that MUSKOKA have been living off-world for some time and are now adept at looking retrospectively and thinking outside of the box. |
| JOE WATKIN: Demo | |
TRACKS:
Cambridgeshire's JOE WATKIN has created a thoroughly emotionally driven demo cd. His heart-heavy songs really leap out to you in the first listen of his 2005 demo and allow you to feel his passion for writing and recording. I also get the feeling that these four songs were written because they needed to be written, not because he just felt like writing some songs one day. "Emily" is the perfect introduction to Joe's material and starts the demo off with warm acoustic tones, despite it being about a lost love. Track two, "Him" is perfectly able to hold its own but i feel that it could benefit from backing vocals being added to it. Musically it seems a little too light at times and perhaps some more guitar would also give the song more weight to match Joe's rising vocals. "I Need You Tonight" has been perfectly crafted and balances the power of Joe's vocals with the guitars which leads nicely towards "Unity", which takes the demo to a close. This last song is aided by percussive accompaniment and contributes to an epic ending of what feels like a completely raw, honest but upbeat collection on personal thoughts and feelings. Superb. |
| XAN : Playing With The Nu | |
TRACKS:
Half Swedish, half British XAN is no stranger to the music industry. She already holds writing credits from Kinobe, Apollo 440, Space and Tim Booth (James) and has supported the likes of Nelly Furtado and Lamb. World renowned produced, Trevor Horn even snapped her up for his ZTT label.. but for now, XAN has decided to do her own thing.... and what an amazing thing it is. This whole cd brings forward her beautiful vocal diversity. Her Joni/Carole King emotive songs really reach out to you (My Child in particular) and she has an infinite aural alliance with her guitar. Her vocals lean strongly towards the Dido-exploited style and she makes it all sound incredibly easy, which perhaps for her, it is. During "Age" she picks up a tone of Radioheadity meets Spanish guitar which sounds miles better than it sounds here in writing but this is used to full effect, in that the song seemingly ends abruptly... but this cleverly leaves you in a XAN limbo and desperately hungry for more of her velvet tones. An incredible artist. An incredible cd... please send more! :)
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