Zeitgeist Reviews -SMILER, BORIS FLATS, PROSPECT PLACE, DAC CROWELL, ANTON BARBEAU

CD OF THE WEEK

THE BORIS FLATS- The Sunshine Imperative

There really isn't another band quire like the Boris Flats. Many hundreds of years ago we waxed lyrical about their debut "dinlo - The Original Soundtrack". We said;

"Purveyors of sunny, melodic music combined with a hefty John Barry / 60's soundtrack influence all mixed up with a superb handle on the art of song-writing, This really is an eclectic delight and something you really should own..."

And we were right. But now "The Sunshine Imperative" is upon us. Could it live up to the debut with its audacious salute to the majesty of Sir Todd Rundgren crossbred with John Barry? Well, yes. For this is quite superb. Never standing still for more than a minute, this rampages all over the musical landscape, albeit staying rooted in a fairly traditional songwriting style. You know, melodies. Remember them? They were quite popular for a while.

"Gumball," the opening track is an out and out classic, one that will be written about in the Mojo of 2024 as a 'lost masterpiece'. "It's you and me, you put me in a world of sun and harmony, I'm refusing to get real because we all know how that feels, and I'm never
going back." Even this sad old cynic was won over.

Probably the poppiest track on offer is "Ejector Seat", all harmony vocals and handclaps. If there's one thing guaranteed to win me over it's the judicious use of handclaps. very crosby, Stills & Nash. "Aquamarine" is another gem, an understated ballad straight out of 1972.

However, it's not all olde worlde with "Phat Atom", unsurprisingly being an instrumental nodding towards the world of trance. "The Jack and Danii Show" is just dirty, and thus scores highly on the Zeitometer.

Please by this CD and keep them in copies of "A Wizard, A True Star" for years to come

BORIS FLATS

Boris Flats

SMILER

SMILER

PROSPECT PLACE

PROSPECT PLACE

DAC CROWELL

ANTON BARBEAU

ANTON BARBEAU

SMILER– Lovestone EP

This EP arrived with no details, not even a tracklisting but turned out to be a catchy no nonsense straight-ahead rock-pop romp, rooted in the finest power pop tradition of US
bands such as the Raspberries and Big Star.

Fortunately, the power of the interwebthing threw up the fact that two of the four band members are Hibs fans, so it is imperative that you download the tracks and go and see them live, as a matter of some urgency.

So, if the internet is to be believed the tracks are "Lovestone", a particularly sprightly bass driven stomp, "Further", which is a bit standard indie for my tastes, "This Life", a nod back to the cock shock rock days of the late 80s, and my favourite track on the EP and "It's Alright", a moody little beggar, which starts off all Stone Rosey, but in a "Second Coming" i.e good, way, then heads off into Black Crowes territory.

They have, apparently, finished recording their debut album, "Chemical Memory", due out later in the spring. Oddly enough the website has no contact info so hard lines if you want to book or buy anything.

PROSPECT PLACE – Demo

Damn, but I'm having a good time.

It takes guts an ambition to uproot yourself and travel several thousand miles to make your dreams come true, but that's what Yotty and Rev did when they left their native Israel to pursue their musical goals in New York City.

Named after the street they first lived in (Brooklyn, NY for future stalkers), they look backwards for inspiration to classic singer-songwriters such as John Cougar Mellencamp and Tom Petty, but add in a classic hard rock sheen taken from Guns 'N Roses and Aerosmith, with the bonus of dynamic vocal harmonies ala the Wilson sisters of Heart.

This is their debut 4 track CD which begins deceptively with a blast of techno before settling down into its classic metier. "Never Ends" is the most modern sounding track on offer, with more of an alt rock feel to it. "Into the Hole" is the ace in the pack, an acoustic based number with a slow build up to its classic rock chorus. "I Know" is tinged with Americana (or country-rock as I still call it), and is another excellent tune, whilst "Can You Hear Me" is the obligatory lighter in the air ballad.

The melodies and vocal harmonies are never less than outstanding, although the drum machine is a tad intrusive. But at $6 a pop from CDBaby, it's worth every cent.

DAC CROWELL – Harmundum

Assume for a moment that time is much more pliable than we are normally accustomed to.
Assume for a moment that you can stretch it out, compact it, like some stretchy substance.
What would music sound like in such a type of time?
What would happen if you could compact a symphony to a second, or extend a measure to an hour?

These are the questions Dac Crowell is asking, hence it took a while to get to grips with this, as it is most definitely a challenging 'mood' piece, "Harmundum" being a single 56 minute piece first recorded in 1996, and recently completed.

You have to sit back and listen properly to this, away from the normal obstructions of life. What seems like a series of undistinguished sounds to a casual ear builds, on repeated listening, into a collage of sound, that slowly, very slowly, lifts you on a journey through an electronic, yet achingly natural, soundscape.

Identifying the hush is half the battle and most of the pleasure, in what could be termed a sound poem. From it's roots in the groundbreaking work of Karlheinz Stockhausen in the late 1950s, Dac Crowell has, on his experimental, electronic journey, conjured up a remarkable and harmonic piece of aural mastery.

ANTON BARBEAU - Guladong

‘So tell me what’s so wrong with telephones and singalongs’ is the question asked on the short stark opening track of ‘Guladong’, a wonderful snatch of music that makes you immediately think of one man and one man only- John Lennon.

Continuing in the Pink Hedgehog tradition of ‘thinking man’s popular music’, an intelligent pop song ‘You Look Good in Yellow’ comes next. Anton gets pretty personal on ‘Ruth from Leeds’ and ‘Stewart Mason’, a song that inevitably reminded me of ‘Tracey Jacks’ by Blur.
For me, some of ‘Guladong’ works better than others and I felt that some of the momentum was lost in the middle. However, the Simon and Garfunkel sing-along of the marvellously monikered ‘The Prince of Chairs Has the Happiest Dream in the Universe’ puts things right back on course.

Ant does just about everything himself but is joined by drummer/ percussionist Brad Cross on a few tracks and a couple of bass players. The man himself plays fuzz bass on ‘Mahjong Dijon’, a memorable song enriched by Christina Maradik’s viola and a little synth break by Ant. The Beatles influence is never far away but the title ‘Chinese Boots of Spanish Leather’ may suggest another 60s giant! It’s actually nothing like Dylan at all being a synth/ guitar based trio instrumental with Gabe Nelson on fuzz bass and Brad Cross on drums- excellent! ‘King Mo 2’ is another clever piece of musical characterisation while the title track is an ambient minimalist synth piece just over one minute long.

Anyone who can employ The Bevis Frond as his backing band (on the ‘King of Missouri’ album) and count XTC’s Andy Partridge as a fan has got to be taken very seriously and, despite some reservations about the consistency of the album, overall I found much to admire and am intrigued to find out more.

Well worth checking out.

(Pink Hedgehog Records SMILE 7)

ANTON BARBEAU reviewed by Phil Jackson