Kara McGraw – Kara McGraw (independent release)
Older reviews (1 – 123) can be found here
The story song is a difficult creature to tame; the writer has just a few minutes to show a lifetime, just a few verses to illuminate adventures and journeys. In many ways it is a skill that comic book writers share, they must distil the story down to its essential essence, move it along with graceful speed even while taking care to keep important details intact and hinting at others.

The story song is a beautiful thing because it allows the listener, (just as well crafted comic books do) to explore the spaces and add their own imaginative constructions, while still reaching the destination the creator wishes. So it is fitting that this collection opens with a song called ‘’ Comic Books and Flashlights’’ A track that has shape shifting magic designed into its DNA.

This set is a complicated undertaking, in which the artist strives to marry the multilayered strands of the show tune to the sensually skinny format of the folk pop missive. (As a side note, I have been listening to Tori Amos’s album ‘Night Of Hunters’ in which she attempts to achieve many of the things McGraw does here, and while finding many delightful parallels, I think Kara gets it right more often!)

The incredibly rich arrangements and orchestration never overwhelm the melodic drive, never move us too far from the girl and her piano, so we sit and listen and are not afraid to get emotionally involved, never feel that this is just music for Broadway aficionados, or Stephen Merritt fans.

McGraw has fashioned a pop album that feels timeless, it could have been dreamed up when ‘Singing In The Rain’ was huge, or selections from this could drive the latest episode of Glee with ease.

You can hear trax from this album spread all over the 24 hour stream that is the NBTMusicRadio, but specially during the hours of  9 PM New York Time and for the European Listeners 3 PM (Berlin Time) which is 9 AM New York Time.
http://nbtmusicradio.playtheradio.com/
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Stream thru yr media player: http://listen.radionomy.com/nbtmusicradio.m3u
Find out more here:
http://www.karamcgraw.com/

Living Your Dreams – Danika Holmes (Independent Release)

Older reviews (1 – 123) can be found here

It is fitting that this album is the first reviewed of the New Year; because it speaks about the need to pick yourself up and get fighting, get dreaming again, something that the artist needs to do a fair deal as their turbulent lives roll on. During the opening track, Holmes does not shout at us like a pumped cheerleader, all huge smiles and desperation, but rather quietly along a delicate groove, country soul subtle, no self help thing this but rather self aware and so much better for it.

The writer balances this on the title track and the track, ‘’How To Be Beautiful’’ with the realisation that dreams must be personal things as well, that each person must make his or her own way through, the former comes wrapped in a rich and romantic arrangement that should guarantee it a long and happy life on many a radio station.

With the single, ‘’Bluebird’’ Holmes goes all pop ballad stadium on us, the kind of song that the Taylor Swifts of this business would love to have on their next album. Again the restraint and subtle production is a joy ensuring that a grumpy alternative like myself can get into this, just as much as the housewife and the business man.

What we watch here with this second album, is an artist refining what makes her songs work, letting the musicians smoothly have their say, while never losing sight of what she wants to say and how she wants to say it.

This bodes incredibly well for her release after this one, as she leaves behind the internal and  starts to dive into the larger world, but this excellent set will more than suffice for now and will touch many a lucky listener who discovers it.

You can hear trax from this album spread all over the 24 hour stream that is the NBTMusicRadio, but specially during the hours of  9 PM New York Time and for the European Listeners 3 PM (Berlin Time) which is 9 AM New York Time.
http://nbtmusicradio.playtheradio.com/
iTunes/TuneIn (for blackberry and android):NBTMusicRadio
Stream thru yr media player: http://listen.radionomy.com/nbtmusicradio.m3u

Find out more about Ms Holmes here:
http://www.danikaholmes.com

older reviews (1 – 123) can be found here

Who Was That Man – Tokyo Rosenthal (Rock and Socks Records)

There is a thrill in the layers. The opening track swoons in, all epic western romantic, bandit style horns pretty and widescreen, the title evoking  old fashioned imagery of musical daring, the mysterious crusader, and then as we listen closer, this is not a song about that at all, rather someone lost, searching, half deliberately distant half pleading for the comfort of connection.

That is what is so enticing about this record, what lies just beneath the picturesque is quietly questioning, emotionally reflective.

‘Saving Or Suffocation‘ a song of quiet personal protest, has a tangible sense of despair that plays against the sweet sad fiddle arrangements, and yet still maintains its beauty as a seductive country pop song. The kind of song that SHOULD be nominated for a Grammy already!

As with all of Rosenthal’s albums, the production (by the singer and the DB’s Chris Stamey) is just right, never over dramatic, never sickly syrup, polished just enough for daytime radio but rough and honest enough for a midnight caress.

When, in ‘Black and Blue’ Rosenthal adopts a larger canvas of criticism (the oil spills) his art and bite is worthy of a Dylan, yet somehow calmer less strident, a voice of reason, troubled yet somehow hopeful.

When listening to a song like, ‘The Librarian’ one can hear the sounds that those left of centre heroes Wilco and Calexico currently create, with a voice that is completely his own. He is so comfortable within these tunes, that even if I heard these in a busy noisy Mall I would know it was a Tokyo song.

The thrill is, that he plays it traditional too, these are Grand Ol Opry concoctions, he never loses sight of what is essential, there are no aimless ramble jams here, all is in service of the perfectly constructed composition.

He just keeps getting better.

http://www.tokyorosenthal.com

You can hear tracks from this album spread ALL over the 24 hour stream that is the NBTMusicRadio

But specially during the hours of 9 and 10 AM (New York Time) and 9 and 10 PM (New York Time)

http://nbtmusicradio.playtheradio.com/
iTunes/TuneIn (for blackberry and android):NBTMusicRadio

Stream thru yr media player: http://listen.radionomy.com/nbtmusicradio.m3u

older reviews (1 – 123) can be found here

The NBT Review 130

Lossless – Lilo (Independent Release)

Reviewed by by Cobus Rossouw AKA 88KOS

Picture © Ryan Joffe

Confession: This album has so many personal touchpoints for me that it is inevitable that this will be a good review. The source of this bias is threefold and relates to the personnel on LILO’s new album “lossless”.

The first is Alexander Sudheim. He has been the genius behind LILO for more than a decade, running through many incarnations. Once, many years ago we shared the stage for two nights, at the Abelarde Sanction and at Silver Creek in Pretoria. He has steadily championed an alt country/lo-fi aesthetic and I rank him alongside Malkmus as inspiration. If you can find “Light me a Lucifer” from 2002, buy it.

Lossless, his latest offering, also features the talents of Chris Letcher and Richard Haslop. Chris Letcher is responsible (alongside Matthew van der Want) for one of my favourite albums of all time, “Low Riding”, and Richard possesses the kind of musical knowledge that means he is always right about everything musically. His print articles are part of my staple diet of music lit and his radio shows (when I managed to catch them) have always been enlightening in their scope and depth. He also plays a truly mean guitar!

So you have a trio of minds; a challenger of convention, a musical savant and a library of all that has gone before, contributing to a stripped down collection of songs. Forgive me if reviewing this effort is therefore slightly daunting.

The songs are, with the exception of “Forgiven” and “To FloreAnne on her 25th birthday”, arranged for guitars and voice. This leaves space for the songs to build an atmospheric tension, the kind you feel before a highveld thunderstorm. Sudheim’s lyrical intensity is undiminished (how do you maintain this kinda output for over a decade?) and his words carry the songs throughout. No mean feat considering there are 17 tracks on this offering. The density of his imagery is such that the album only unfolds after several listens. This doesn’t mean it’s a hard listen, in fact the music is immediately accessible and for an album of such sparse arrangement there is ample instrumental meaning underpinning Sudheim’s voice. Letcher’s skills as an arranger and Haslop’s way with a guitar create the perfect backdrop for Sudheim’s dark muse.

Honestly, sometimes I don’t even know how they’ve achieved this sublime sound. When Butcher Boy unfurls into techicolour rivers of strings (at 1:50), combining, flowing, twining… I find myself transported to a place where only Tindersticks could have taken me before. It’s a heaven that I love, it’s what angels sound like in my religion. If that single minute was all they’d produced I’d still feel they were gods, but this beauty doesn’t stop, each track builds its own character. Take “Sonnet for Tamara” – here the guitar builds from a simple twanging figure over a slide guitar into shimmering surf chords that eventually break into distorted walls of reverb wash. It’s like an anxiety attack that hangs behind the lyrics and it makes my little brain pop.

Lyrically there are recurring themes of circular reference, exercises in futility, failures in understanding. The loves, the hurts, all the despair is carved out in relief, our detachment, our inability to deal with each other in any honest manner, all laid bare. A way with words, Sudheim should get far more attention from the South African music press and I can only hope that more of them will listen to this album.

Lossless is almost entirely flawless. I say almost because there is one track that I simply do not understand. Not the song itself, but the way in which it is presented. It’s a personal feeling, a personal preference that makes the last song on the album a bit of a letdown, but the first 16 songs are of such transcendent quality that I would not be surprised to find that I am alone in this sentiment.

You can hear tracks from this album spread ALL over the 24 hour stream that is the NBTMusicRadio

http://nbtmusicradio.playtheradio.com/
iTunes/TuneIn (for blackberry and android):NBTMusicRadio

Stream thru yr media player: http://listen.radionomy.com/nbtmusicradio.m3u

older reviews (1 – 123) can be found here

Forgiving Wind – Jaspar Lepak

(Reviewed by Helge Janssen)

What is so powerful about Jaspar is that she has a gift for honing in on those sensitive and often negated emotions that a brash life continues to trash – to render unimportant – and turns them the right way round replacing them in our consciousness, giving them the stature and value that they deserve. As such Jaspar does not complain about the old order of things – she simply rearranges it and presents us with the innovative result! I find this heroic, and revolutionary.

This is the fascinating essence of Jaspar Lepak.

As such Jaspar is refocusing Country and Western/Folk music in an updated, modern context…..while never losing sight its roots. From the deepest heart of her experience her understanding of human emotion spills into the spread of the collective unconscious of our time. A particular example of this aspect of Jaspar’s focus:

“Plain as you”

A word that brings the heart to light
Is worth the dark and sleepless nights
And the melody that frees the shame
Is worth the journey through the pain

These words ring a resonance with a deep reverence and respect for life’s seemingly insignificant gems that are hard won, that heal, that nurture.

Jaspar’s musical arrangements and compositions are hauntingly beautiful and mesmerizingly melodic, never overstated, always stripped to an essence and diligently refined. I say this having experienced the vast array of varying perspectives of her compositions in a ‘live’ context (Phansi Museum, Bluestockings, St. Clements, Eagles View) and then being rewarded with the distillation as represented on “Forgiving Wind” Jaspar’s 5th CD release. It has been an honour to have witnessed this creative process at first hand, in real time, here in Durban South Africa with an artist of the stature of Jaspar Lepak.

No virtual reality this.

“Nothing to Dream”

….dreams die slow
and you don’t even know
how you let them fall
so far behind…..

We have all experienced this process in our waking moments as we slowly forget the previous night’s dream: here, applied to the sense of loss at not living one’s dream in life, becomes a statement of profound proportions. And yet, while this happens so slowly, reflectively it seems to have happened in a flash. To me, this song has the effect of heightening the sense of ‘now’, creating urgency about living in the present. There is also a warning of what it is like to not live consciously and have the courage to take life-affirming risks. Sean Ross’ bass line ties this song together most cleverly.

My current favourite is undoubtedly “Hollow Part”. The ‘walk’ and melody of the acoustic guitar leading an intertwining of the banjo (Bryan Eaton) and the mandolin (Richard Haslop) is inspired, and I love the accordion cord changes in particular (Kale Lepak) and the way it swells, comes to the fore, then gently recedes into the background once more, colouring the subdued moments for Jaspar’s lucid voice to have implosive impact. The drifting echoing ending is wistful and perfect….

“I Know a Woman” deals essentially with the mismatch of paternalism and of its expectations and abuse, bringing to the fore the feminine courage and fortitude needed to harness this negative energy. Paternalism is a global area of concern in desperate need of redress: it is often at the core of offensive, impulsive behaviour and violence. Jaspar points out just how infantile paternalism can be:

“They tell us our sadness is private depression
But a mother’s submission is centuries old….”

As such Jaspar does not seek blame, but rather places her insight within an ‘intuitive contrast’ where the truth of a situation hits you unambiguously. By balancing misinformed fact with historical truth she does not perpetuate the violence: she dissolves it! She is not fighting fire with fire, but with water, with sand, with a blanket, with carbon dioxide: with knowledge!

This ‘seeing’ of Jaspar’s brings a transformative recognition to the unfair hand of women being subjected to this matrix of pervasive assumptions that have contrived to spread from generation to generation – and how women themselves have unwittingly been party to this propagation. It is no wonder then that women have (as a form of defence?) become ‘unfathomable’ to most men. This is a song of epic proportions and is the gender-based (as opposed to indigent-based) version of ‘Streets of London’ where Jaspar takes us by the hand and leads us through the chambers of the female heart: be it daughter to mother, woman to wo/men, woman to way of the world, or the world to the Goddess – while startling us with alerting facts!

“People won’t like you” with Rowan Stuart on slide/lead guitar, is a bluesy driving plait of guitars and a marvellous example of letting go, of trusting in the power of one’s inner voice and joyously cutting loose from expectations that hold one back. There is some ingenious perception done with incisive imagery:

“Well go ahead mister, go drown in your whisky,
The religion of a sinner needs a saint nailed to the wall.
Well I ain’t so perfect and this feeling bad ain’t worth it
I’m taking myself down and I’m walking out the door…..”

The myriad slants of the inner dialogue of self-doubt instigated by a lack of resonance from a partner are turned inside out and then underlined with a flip of two words – by replacing ‘won’t’ with ‘will’ and ‘wrong’ with ‘right’ in the final chorus line title of this song! Sheer brilliance!

Every track on “Forgiving Wind” is a winner and is a marvelous contribution to the world of thoughtful reflection as antidote to the pollution we evidence coming from the mindless music output that feeds mass immobility. The album bristles with wit and courage wrapped in a coating of lyricism and musicianship: a palatable and formidable combination. It also comes as a huge boon to the music scene in Durban where the talents of Durban based musicians – Bryan Eaton, Sean Ross, Nibs van der Spuy, Richard Haslop, Shawn Lovell, Rowan Stuart, Brent Quinton – have been put to excellent use.

Photographs of Jaspar in the Drakensburg Mountains were taken by Kale Lepak. Illustration and Art Design is by Amelia of www.whimsy.co.za. The CD was recorded and mixed by Brent Quinton at the Boiler Room in Durban and mastered by Greg Reierson at Rare Form Mastering in Mpls. MN.

Nothing lost, everything gained.

A beautiful Christmas gift awaits a deserving you and/or a worthy friend!

Ps: Jaspar has a degree in Literature and Song Writing and studied piano from age six.

You can hear tracks from this album spread ALL over the 24 hour stream that is the NBTMusicRadio

http://nbtmusicradio.playtheradio.com/
iTunes/TuneIn (for blackberry and android):NBTMusicRadio

Stream thru yr media player: http://listen.radionomy.com/nbtmusicradio.m3u

older reviews (1 – 123) can be found here

Ghosts and Men – Beth Wimmer (Independent Release)

A lot of rock n roll is all about romanticising the rebel, the outlaw, the ‘Lovers On The Run’, it’s rare though, for a songwriter to tell of
the fear, the practical nervous concerns, of one of those lovers, taken along for a ride they didn’t completely commit to, it’s rare to show the humanity behind this most charming of scenarios. Wimmer opens her new album with this distinctive look at the personal, and in a way it’s a statement of intent.

 In the very next song, ‘Sweet Tragedy’ she carefully sketches, the poets attempt to live the colour in his words, while existing in the grey of his existence. She, the singer, can still love him, but she also really knows him, and again its this slant on what we call romantic that elevates this.

 We fumble, we hustle, we fall down and often take our sweet time getting up and pushing on, and now we have an artist to capture all this, in subtle shades of pop Americana, delicate hues of finely played country, forgoing the cliché of the victim in song and concentrating with a fragile benevolence on these flawed, yet strangely wonderful characters.

 Now based in Switzerland, Beth Wimmer seems to have found the perfect detachment needed to fully flesh out these small town vignettes ,
staying away from soap opera angst, and easy solutions within the 3 minute pop son structure that so many are happy to settle for.

 Although most of these songs feature betrayal, either emotional or physical, this is no collection of songs from the point of view of the victim,
rather its a loving quiet calm, that seeps through the tunes, adding beauty to the rhythms and  in every verse there is the steel hint of hope, which makes this an extremely uplifting experience.

 As with all Wimmer albums, the singer is so in sync with her band, that the recording has an easy live feel, of course something that sounds
this effortless, means that a great deal of care and work went into its construction, and here I can report that every instrument MATTERS, but no one hogs the limelight, no shiver or sigh is added just for the sake of it.

 This album transcends that old stereotype and really does get better with every listen

 find out more here:

http://bethwimmer.com/

 and you can hear tracks from this album all over the 24 hour stream that is

the NBTMusicRadio

http://nbtmusicradio.playtheradio.com/
iTunes: NBTMusicRadio
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or stream it thru your media player :

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]]> http://thenbtreview.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/the-nbt-review-128/feed/ 0 nbtmusic beth http://thenbtreview.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/the-nbt-review-127/ http://thenbtreview.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/the-nbt-review-127/#comments Wed, 24 Aug 2011 09:20:13 +0000 nbtmusic http://thenbtreview.wordpress.com/?p=41 ]]>

older reviews (1 – 123) can be found here

Native Sons (deluxe reissue) – The Long Ryders

by Cobus Rossouw AKA 88KOS

Reviewing a reissue of an important and influential album from 1984 is a very challenging prospect for someone who has never heard the original. Some of the greatest albums ever made cannot stand outside of the context of their time and so it’s worth pausing to reflect on the history surrounding The Long Ryders’ “Native Sons”

By 1984 the genre of country-rock had been reduced to a pale shadow of its potential. While bands such as the Eagles had produced memorable songs and had advanced the style in terms of popularity, lyrical content had suffered and so this music had become associated with an anodyne middle-of-the-road sensibility.

Bear in mind that by this time The Sex Pistols had been and gone and the charts were filled with Culture Club, Keny Loggins and Lionel Richie. By the end of 1984 a day-glo Wham would plead with us to wake them up before they went.

The Long Ryders’ Native Sons entered into this market perception with a set of songs that, musically, embraced every riff, bassline and phrasing in the country-rock canon albeit with far more lyrical meaning than their immediate genre predecessors. The impact of the album was such that it peaked at number 2 on the NME Indie Charts in 1985, only kept out of the number 1 spot by Meat is Murder.

Look no further than “Ivory Tower” for this content. In two verses the Ryders sum up today’s slacktivist culture as if they had been privy to some prophecy.

In their version of Mel Tillis’ “Sweet Mental Revenge” I hear tribute to the vocal style of David Byrne, in “Tell it to the Judge on Sunday” there are moments when the voice of John Lydon calls out instructions and “Wreck of the 809″ could have been included on “Sandinista”. The music on this pays homage but stands on its own feet, stands tall.

It’s a fascinating album, always surprising and filled with meaning. This is a band that could play anything, in any style. From the bass on “Wreck” to the banjo on “Never got to meet the mom” every instrument is appropriate and perfectly played. This combines with a vocal capability that manages to reference (as far as I’m concerned) every significant vocal contribution in the preceding 30 years. On top of that they do this without ever sounding like a gimmick, everything blisters with intensity, the Long Ryders mean every word.

I should have listened to “I had a Dream” in 1984.

you can tracks from this album all over the 24 hour stream of indie music that is The NBTMusicRadio and you can loads of cool 88KOS songs too!

http://nbtmusicradio.playtheradio.com/

iTunes: NBTMusicRadio

The Razor-blade Diaries – Revel 9 (Independent Release)

It’s not surprising that as the music rumbles into the room, that the first thing noticed is a tension filled sense of urgency. The sound of a fighter jet rolling over stony ground, the opening song is all forward movement and longing to fly, and as the singer growls, ‘I think I’ve had enough of this’ true take off is achieved.

 This sleek new machine, is polished with modern noise, is tough yet compact, is vigorous and concentrated, this machine was built to find the dark beauty within the hard rock song.

 Each song produced is an acute abbreviated missile of thoughts, a desire to survive the destructive emotional, a race against rest, bullet time urgent. This is no slacker US punk, though this IS punk in a way, just as it’s traditional hard rock pop, though forsaking the glamour, worshipping the impact, then moving on, always moving on.

 This set is designed to breakthrough, though without comprise, it is that one bright clear thought as the disease breaks and the  battle continues. There is no excess, no flab, no wasting air or moments,

 They took their time getting here, sure, but now, with supreme confident insistence they rule.

 I had almost given up on this form of the independent tune, but my faith is restored.

 Go here to get it:

http://www.revel9.com/

 The Sex Injury Sessions/The Pleasant Peasant Sessions – The Simpletone (Demo Release)

 Opening title , Elysium, recalls the dirty swagger of Grand Funk Railroad,uncomplicated, enduring and jubilant, if this is the place where the Gods dwell, then it is a place in flux, the minutes between one glorious battle and the next.

 The strength here is the bands ability to switch moods and tempo without sacrificing the flow and atmosphere, these are immense presentations wrapped around something rather soulful and intimate.

 That these are Demos add to the charm and it will take a producer of great skill not to over polish , fix what does not need to be fixed, cause these songs are bewitching yet human, ambiguous and yes weirdly for something as heavy as some of the stuff here strangely serene.

 Simply put this is a band that you want to invest in, want to watch grow and conquer and evolve

 http://www.myspace.com/thesimpletoneband

 Various Songs – Eudora Fletcher (independent )

 And now lets dive bravely into the chaos, oh this ragged noise uplifts the soul, edgy ironic cheeky wicked, ink smudge mosh pit frantic. Alive

 yes these are dance songs but messy murky hold your breath, fling yourself in get wooshed out dance songs, bang bang a shout and a whoop and its into the next piece of loud grin turmoil.

 Fun.  That fun that makes you sweat and is primal pop heatwave silly (in a VERY good way)

 there is the essence of nuggets era garage, and the sly glee of a cramped club,and again, a band to watch but not even be aware that you are watching, there is no real space for thoughts of the future here, cause these songs are totally for the absolute second that you are in them.

Even alone at my computer, when I play these I can FEEL the bruise bash of the kids bouncing hard into me as the chords ricochet, jump and jive.

Come on
join in

http://www.myspace.com/eudorafletcher

 you can hear tracks from all these bands on the NBTMusicRadio spread over the 24 hour stream,

go get plugged in and taken away, spread the cultural virus.

These bands are the ANTIDOTE to the bland, the ordinary of the Mainstream.

http://nbtmusicradio.playtheradio.com/

iTunes:
NBTMusicRadio

older reviews (1 – 123) can be found here

Reader’s Wives reviewed by Martin Smit

Quiet Rebellion reviewed by Beth Wimmer

Rachel’s Apartment – Reader’s Wives (Independent Release)

 Bam Pow
lets get this angry funny party started, with some rolling stone swagger, slightly treated vocals to add the just right spoonful of
bitter, of cool detachment. Speeding down the 100word per 30 second highway, NameDropping,RockRolling PoP Driven. Your dancing before you know it.

 Imagine now, if Morrissey had a fetish for the kinda anthem Green Day churnout, but twisted it into something fragile and internal while strutting across the floor to enter stage dive heaven, these disaffected are burdened and blessed with fierce intellect, so no
pandering to the stupid, rather grinning wicked with the clever.

 Flirting with indie disco even, (I bet the remix boys hover ) these are brittle beautiful shocks of the modern pop, ready to be waved
festival flags at, but not sacrificing the spark of the watcher, the loner, the kid with the notebook mind and camera memory.

 Fatima Mansions’ Cathal Coughlan adds the fear to ‘ Isadora Duncan’ but this is no one outsider and backing band collection. The band, the instruments, the voice function as a complete weapon of mass seduction, they are, like we love them, isolated,almost untouchable, yet speaking to only us, Saturday night, just before the pubs open,singing with us in the nightclub crush, dreaming with us on the long journey home.

 https://www.facebook.com/rachelsapartment

Still Talking Scribble – Quiet Rebellion (Independent release)

Quiet Rebellion is a perfect name for Shaun T Hunter’s project. The songs on this album, “Still Talking Scribble” are filled with deep, important, and often unsettling questions for the single soul and for humanity itself.

Hunter plays every instrument on this lush and gorgeous collection of songs for humanity. Beautiful vocal tapestries are woven into colorful, rich beds, and the words sung to us haunt with messages on being a healthy human in this uncertain world. The mystical melodies deliver poignant observations and strong statements on living in the moment, being accepting of others, and growing to reach full potential as a people.

The first track, ‘Soon’, lulls us in from the start, echoing our dream state minds back to us, reminding us that “soon, you will realize the treasure lays in the questions not the answers…”

In ‘Beneath The Wings Of A Dragon’, the feathery and uplifting guitar is complemented with Hunter’s sweet, firm and clear voice… “…narrrow-minded vision don’t deserve this wide expansive space… still attached to the outcome when only the journey should count.”

With sweet passion and delightful melody in ‘The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend’, Hunter sings “shoot me down, shoot me down, i cannot fix you, cannot mend… for the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” and “don’t you know that the easiest person in the world to fool is yourself…” A surprising and fresh take on being accepting of yourself and others. The songs winds down with haunting yet uplifting vocals reaching toward the heavens.

The interplay of lilting, hypnotic guitars and vocals are an inviting and calming way to hear Quiet Rebellion’s messages of love and acceptance. With his simple yet worldly tinged production I am calmed, made comfortable, and centered by listening to “Still Talking Scribble”– all 15, beautiful songs.

The song ‘Substitute Silence For Noise’ addresses our tendencies to not stay in the moment – our tendencies to be distracted and to sadly, all too often, forget the sacred things like silence, peace, or even secrets. “…another minor distraction from a major decision…” “…secrets are something we tell everybody to tell no one…”

Quiet Rebellion’s new release “Still Talking Scribble” should not be a secret from anyone! “Still Talking Scribble” is a beautiful, spirit-moving album that stirs the soul, invites introspection, and inspires the mind!

http://quietrebellion.get-ctrl.com

you can hear lots of tracks from both these releases on the NBTMusicRadio
24 hour stream

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iTunes:
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welcome to the new home for album reviews of Artists featured on NBT

older reviews (1 – 123) can be found here

 In The Lonesome Hours – Oh My Darling (independent release)

 Four souls collide, the voices the music drifts out from this luscious explosion, soothes but also, with cheeky attitude exhilarates those dancing muscles, the old time waltz part of your brain, that is seldom ignited. In seconds you take for granted that these are virtuosos, modern musicians covered in history, who take the old and fashion a new way of looking at it. They create songs that stand alone in any genre, are careful and thoughtful with lyric creation, with mood and texture, Four souls collide for sure, but this is no accident. They were, are, driving straight for your heart.

 In ‘Caught You looking’ they do something rather clever, the split time into two channels, there is the fast frantic giggle time of the barn dance swirl, and then there is the slow smile of a couple, two strangers, attracted, wondering, if the connection will be made that night.

 This affection for the characters that inhabit the tunes, adds colour and a deep warmth to creations that already, even on first listen, feel like old wise pals.

 Even when touching on subjects like the death of a loved one, its more about the freedom, the release than the burden, they dare to concoct something uplifting, but tempered with insight, knowledge and calm, even in their most giddy girl moments.

 This is an album that finds joy within the drama, and some of these tales are as dramatic as old man’s late night tales, or snatched pages from battered westerns. They mix the ‘big’ themes, like war crime and money with the internal, intimate encounters of the analytical spirit.

 And oh how they have fun doing this.

 Highly recommended.

 Find out more here

http://www.ohmydarling.ca

 You Can hear tracks from this album on the NBTMusicRadio

http://nbtmusicradio.playtheradio.com/

iTunes: NBTMusicRadio

 and also Featured on the NBT Flagship Podcast going out this Sunday.