Soothing, blissful, overlapping streams of beautifully toned notes. Classy and modest yet flamboyant delivery. Obvious passion and painstaking attention to detail and the craft of creating new art.
Roby Deaton has all of these things in spades. Read more…
If you have ever used YouTube, Andy McKee’s name will no doubt be familiar to you. Perhaps right now you’re already playing his music in your head; perhaps that music is accompanied by the visual element of that viral hit; or maybe the name rings a bell but you don’t quite know why. If you fall into the latter category, click the link above before continuing. Read more…
Finally, on their third album, Animals As Leaders have sold out. Gone are their trademark twisting riffs and über-dense polyrhythms – all of their previous idiosyncrasies have been ironed out, replaced with a light and airy, easily digestible, radio-friendly approach sure to see them bothering the pop charts. In fact, Miley Cyrus made headlines just hours ago when she tweeted “OMG cant get enuf of da noo AAL record! Mega luv #nextalbumtobeallgent”. Time to jump ship, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Only kidding. Read more…
When you come across an album titled What Just Happened?, it’s going to get your attention. But from an artist’s perspective, giving your album a name like that is a pretty risky proposition. The amount of expectation automatically placed upon a release called What Just Happened? is going to be immense; if you take that leap, even the slightest flaw is guaranteed to result in a critical backlash so fierce that your best course of action will be to go into hiding. Such a lifestyle change might well suit an undercover secret agent or investigative journalist, but for a performer it’s pretty much the kiss of death.
If an album called What Just Happened? had been released by almost any other band or artist, it would likely have ended in tears. But for the debut long-playing release from an acoustic virtuoso whose playing has, for a long time, been soundly praised by worshippers the world over, What Just Happened? is a spookily fitting monicker. Within the first five seconds of opening track Boogie Slam, Dawes instantly proves his worth as not just a guitarist, but a musician, drawing the listener helplessly (and willingly) into a deep, warm, and luxurious musical world. Before long, this album’s title becomes an almost meditative mantra as Dawes drags several instruments’ worth of parts from a single guitar, not letting up for a moment yet steering well clear of the “notes for the sake of notes” territory frequently occupied by his peers.
Track two – Dawes’ globally renowned rearrangement of Gotye’s hit Somebody That I Used To Know – is, as the reputation that precedes it suggests, mind-blowing and heartbreaking all at once. At the time of writing this review, I’m having heart surgery in a few days – and I’m considering pausing this track and calling the hospital to make sure I should really be listening to it. The standout element of Somebody That I Used To Know absolutely has to be the dynamic mastery on display here: Loud notes pop out in all the right places, while in the background soft comping glides by so consistently that you would absolutely swear that either this tune is multi-tracked, or Mike Dawes is some kind of lizard-person / alien hybrid sent to Earth to take over the acoustic fingerstyle world. In short, Somebody That I Used To Know may make you start taking David Icke seriously. Approach with caution. Read more…