From Across The Fruited Plain
The Fruited Plain has been quite fruitful in recent weeks; keep your submissions coming, but before you stamp it and send it off, please check out our submissions policy.
Remember - if it sounds like a guy in his basement, that’s because it is a guy in his basement.
From this month's goodie bag:
Steadman - Loser Friendly
Freeloader
B
Recorded in a “farm building”, the debut from this Brit fivepiece (formerly the Dharmas) is big, brassy, hearts-on-sleeves stuff, laden with crashing guitars and string arrangements. While many tracks bog down in a samey, mid-paced tempo, singer/guitarist Simon Steadman does have a natural flair for melody and an appealingly reedy, emotional delivery (check out the frenzied “Love/Hate Everything”). Numbers like the infectious “Satellite” and especially “Let Down” (an orchestrated corker) sound like hits. The gentler folk-pop of “No Control” and “Come Alive” also hit the mark. If the idea of Neil Finn backed by Radiohead circa The Bends appeals to you, look no further than Steadman.
--Lane Hewitt
London, England’s Jason Knight plays almost everything on this surprisingly dense tape. Nearly every song contains impressive layers of vocals, guitar, keys, and great, dorky drum machine. Opener “Show Me” is catchily pitched somewhere between glam and pub rock, while the next three (moodier) numbers reveal more depth, and more than a few hours spent with OK Computer and This Is Hardcore. “Overload” in particular is a triumph of gloomy atmospherics. “Insert Rowdy Pub Background Here” sounds like a particularly drunken Beach Boys fragment with barrelhouse piano. The closing instrumental “Rhythmic Wave” could be an Olympic theme or a Bryan Ferry backing track, depending on where you’re sitting. With a little more defining personality, Longhair could definitely grow into a luxuriant mane.
22 Timbercroft Lane, Plumstead Common, London SE18 2SB, U.K.; www.cosmic1.demon.co.uk.
The cuddly kittens on the cover kind of tell the story here - The Laces (Iowa’s Doug Kabourek) are a teeny-romantic, twee sort of project. If that doesn’t put you off, Forever For Now is a well-above-average collection of lo-fi pop with strummy guitars and lots of crap (in a good way) keyboards. While some of the tunes are (intentionally?) amateurish, Kabourek shows a flair for melodic hooks and jagged sounds on “Reality For Nice Guys Everywhere”, “The King Suite 298”, “Bellevue”, and the very pretty “Someone Ask The Dragon To Leave”. Some of these songs you’ll want to skip over, but the best you’ll be scrambling to stick on mix tapes.
Mighty Feeble, P.O. Box 603, Iowa City, IA 52294; http://www.avalon.net/~thelaces
--Lane Hewitt
Manchester (New Hampshire)-based quartet Ten Story Love come forth with their entry into the bar-rock sweepstakes. Gin Blossoms/Sister Hazel-influenced AAA-radio-ready rock is the rule here. Musicianship is tight, but at heartfelt as the vocals by Brad Page and Scot Gibbs are, they’re hampered by the facelessness prevalent in this genre of music. Best tune here is the balls-out rocker “Go Fish”. Given the current musical atmosphere, I wouldn’t be surprised if these guys took off.
81 Morning Glory Drive, Manchester, NH 03109; www.tenstorylove.com
--Brandon Grimes
From Needham, MA, comes this sparse, somewhat eerie volume of minimalist guitar drone. With just a handful of chords and little variation in tone, Window Shopper’s Nightmare aptly fills up the ambient space somewhere in between your attention span and background noise. The infrequent vocal sounds like Bob Pollard trapped in a well.
Soggy Records, 174 Maple St., Needham, MA 02492; www.music.acmecity.com/violin/63
--Lane Hewitt
Longhair - Yeah?
self-released
B
The Laces - Forever For Now
Mighty Feeble
B
Ten Story Love - self-titled
self-released
C
The Window Shopper’s Nightmare - Holiday Volume
Soggy
C+