Mojo Dingo’s debut album provided a short but enjoyable excursion into the blues. The music contained within didn’t necessarily add anything new to the genre, but some great playing and a really heartfelt sound combined with obvious nods to a few classic influences resulted in a record that had an almost ageless heart. Three years on, ‘The Road’ brings essentially more of the same, but among the eight guitar driven tunes, there are a couple of very welcome deviations which show the band’s ability to work a bluesy core isn’t necessary as limited as first impressions might suggest.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
SOUL ASYLUM – Slowly But Shirley
For the UK audience, Soul Asylum will be best remembered for an all too brief moment in the early to mid 90s when the band gained regular exposure on MTV. Their 1992 album ‘Grave Dancer’s Union’ gave them a belated smash hit, and with a lot of years’ distance it’s still very easy to understand why. The record’s noisier fare connected with an alternative crowd looking for something more melodic than the grunge that dominated the rock scene at the time, and the more tuneful numbers harked back to peak Tom Petty crossed with something that sounded like the Lemonheads in bigger musical boots. Although by accident rather than design, this would be an album that connected with a huge cross section of rock fans around the world.
BRACKISH – Rear View EP
Since their formation in 2015, emo punk band Brackish have always drawn from a nostalgic sound. On the self titled album from 2022, the pop punk influence of Get Up Kids can be found jostling alongside even more emo-centric elements, creating something that’s both punchy and melodic. Despite some of the vocals being a little more off-kilter than might be considered ideal, the record supplied thirty one minutes of top drawer riffs, throwing the listener into a musical landscape that showed how, sometimes, it’s better to take an established sound and recycle it well than try to create something completely new.
PARADIS – Paradis EP
Metalcore outfit Paradis pull no punches on their self-titled debut EP. From about thirty seconds into the opening number ‘Boneyard’, the London based band truly go for the throat in terms of riffs. Following a lengthy synth based intro, the number crashes into a heavy groove where the rhythms mix metalcore anger with the kind of complexity you’d expect to hear from a prog metal band like Periphery, combined with the dirty guitar tones to match.
FEDERALE – Reverb & Seduction
Coming four years after ‘No Justice’, the world was overdue a new Federale album at the time of this release, but ‘Reverb & Seduction’ isn’t “just another Federale disc”. In the words of main man Collin Hegna, the album is “the culmination of 20 years of sonic exploration” and an attempt to bring all of Federale’s eclectic moods and influences together in one package. The result is an eclectic treat, with elements of Spaghetti Western soundtracks, indie, rock, cosmic country and dark singer songwriter moods all jostling for the listener’s attention, and without any one of those styles becoming a particular, dominant force.