Archive for the ‘Bess Rogers’ Category
Laurel Collective – Feel Good Hits Of A Nuclear Winter
There isn’t much said about the Laurel Collective, a band from London, England. It’s a 6 piece band with 2 vocalists listed (they list just vocals so it seems odd). They also call themselves a genre trashing band.
Nothing of their band particularly interests me at this point and I just dig right into their album “Feel Good Hits of a Nuclear Winter”. Interesting title, one being that it’s still summertime and two you really have to make good on your “feel good hits” statement. Anyway the album is only 8 tracks which makes it feel like an extended EP….yet I really believe this is intended to be a full release.
Before I get into too many ramblings, the album starts off with International Love Affair a very good power pop song with some very catchy synths in the intro and in the hooks. Mix in the guitar pop, you get an awesome 4 minute pop song that doesn’t seem to die down and progresses at the 2:40 minute to a chaotic war. It’s my favorite off the record but because they are releasing it as a single, you’ll just have to check out their myspace and listen to it.
At least they hit the nail on the head, calling themselves a genre-trashing or genre-less band. The next track Gun Mouth sounds like it’s from a different band. This track uses the variance between the two vocalists during most of the song. If you would’ve told me there was just one vocalist though, I would’ve believed you. The introduction to the song is interesting, I thought this was going to be more of a dance song. It’s a decent track but musically, it doesn’t stand out that much. This one is creative but I get a little annoyed at hearing Gun Mouth screamed 50 times over the course of the song (add that I’ve been really tired the last few days).
Vuitton Blues and Seasick Sailor was probably the next two favorite tracks off this record. Vuitton Blues has the hand claps dispersed throughout the track and instead of the angry-styled vocals on the previous track they stick with being cleaner and it comes off as a better song. Seasick Sailor starts off with a simplistic solo and kicks into overdrive after about 10 seconds in.
These songs at the end of the day aren’t feel good hits, you can just tell by the titles but the Laurel Collective do a great job of risk-taking and mixing in pop with downright chaos and thrashing of all their instruments. I don’t think they do the greatest job transitioning the differences in between each song, and I find myself listening to one section of the album. Also with having two vocalists, I don’t know if their goal was to subtlety mix them so that they sounded like the same person but it doesn’t create enough variance to be as effective as they can be.
Download their cover of Golden Phone which is originally by by Micachu and the Shapes.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Seasick Sailor by Laurel Collective
Vuitton Blues by Laurel Collective
Bess Rogers – Decisions Based On Information
The name “Decisions Based on Information” feels so nerdy…but hey I do fancy nerdy girls. Bess Rogers trying to portray that nerdiness is an accomplished musician kind of like the female -Spencer Krug (I guess Spencer will now always be mentioned due to the gazillion side projects he’s in) playing in The Age of Rockets, and playing along the likes of Jenny Owen Youngs (I know her by the single “Fuck Was I”) and Ingrid Michaelson.
Bess Rogers’ music is a mix of pop and folk though with a hint of experimentation. I debated back and forth (with myself) whether or not I wanted to get a copy of her release. I found myself constantly going back to her myspace to make sure I liked her. Eventually I decided that I’d like her enough to get a review copy.
Sometimes when I get a review copy especially one where you directly ask for it….I start listening to the album and start thinking maybe I’ve mad a bad decision but I owe the artist a complete review.
It’s been more then a month since I received the album and I’m not going to say it was a mistake but after forcing myself to listen to the album I must say I understand the decision to get this album.
This album is pretty solid all around, both lyrically and instrumentally it has its memorable moments. I liked the tracks Only One and Modern Man. While there is something on each track I think I could like…they are really no standouts. The tracks I like don’t seem to be memorable either. I tried to figure out why…I think the reason is that when she’s singing and showing off her talent as a song writer musically it isn’t there…when there’s some cool experimentation or the use of interesting instrumentation she isn’t there to make it all the more epic.
Take the last track “Untitled” a 7 minute experimental orgy…I came off as hating it but I find myself able to like things like that when under the right circumstances.
It’s not a bad album by any means but for me I feel like I’ll just forget about the album in the long run and I’ll have no desire to listen to it unfortunately.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Bess Rogers still has some potential to make a landmark album but this one just isn’t quite there.
