the Bristols
Introducing The Bristols CD
Damaged Goods. damgood 176.
by Keith McLachlan.
February 9, 2000.
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The Bristols were not made for these times. In fact, play this record for
your father and it might have the effect of being some sort of temporal
time machine as he flies back on a nostalgic carpet ride to his youth,
perhaps back to his high school prom where he carelessly remembers his
Beatles haircut, his superfly mod suit and his generally monstrous cool.
Of course your dad is super dork now so you might interrupt his
romanticising by informing him that what he probably should be
remembering is a bowl cut, floods and enough grease to keep the Ford
lubed well into the next millenium. The Bristols are unashamedly retro,
for them to claim otherwise would be unconscionable. This is the sound
of the American garage circa 1964, a swaggering organ, propulsive 4/4
beats and a cute sassy voice out in front making the boys drool. It is
all great fun, it won't contribute anything more to the shared canon of
western civilization but it will fuel many groovy late-night get
togethers for sure.
the Bristols
Tune In With... The Bristols CD
Damaged Goods. damgood 193CD.
by Keith Mclachlan.
April 18, 2001.
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Consider--How odd is it when a band writes songs so
that you might consider them to be cover versions? It
is pretty odd, actually it is something of a paradox
this incarnate desire to be mistaken for someone else.
It is something of an identity crisis as well or
would be would I possess any degree of psychological
intuition. Recently a local oldies station came to
air here and it has a catalogue that dwarfs most
"oldies" stations and for some reason I have been
fortunate enough to hear four of the originals from
the first Bristols record all by bands I had no
previous knowledge of and hearing these songs was
enough to make me realise that the only thing
appealing about the Bristols is their French singer,
well ok maybe not the only thing they have that
indescribable swagger thing going for them as well,
but honestly all of the originals remained almost
fully intact on "Introducing the Bristols". This new
record has more cover versions I have never heard or
at least not consciously acknowledged up until this
point and they are magical and great sure but the
record also includes the previously mentioned
originals, two of them in fact. Then comes the funny
for those songs are indistinguishable from the rest,
so I am thinking Liam and Fabienne are sitting in
their garage thinking 'nobody writes them like they
used to so it may as well be me' and proceeded to
bridge the gulf of time and make their own instant
classic garage pop tunes, as if they were preparing a
bowl of ramen garage pop. And really one other thing
has changed here too, and it harkens back to the first
point perhaps more than I believed earlier but it
feels much more like a cohesive band recording. The
first record was something resembling a hit parade of
lost classics with a new interpretation and this one
sounds as if the band were locked into a groove 'the
bristols sound' if you will and recording another
groovy collection of butt-stanking garage stomping pop
songs. This stuff is genius, even it may be that
borrowed brand of genius.
Broadcast
Work And Non Work CD
Drag City. DC130CD.
by Keith McLachlan.
November 15, 1997.
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I am always somewhat skeptical whenever I see a band tagged as having a
certain similarity to Stereolab, cause most times I am intrigued and drawn
in, and most times it turns out to be false advertising. For some reason
in the past 4 years or so any band that employs the use of moogs and
farfisa are undoubtedly compared to the 'lab.
Broadcast have not been able to shake this particular shadow, in fact the band is probably sick to death of the comparisons. Of course this may be for good reason, there are always exceptions, and well Braodcast have some real similarities to the 'lab.
But by the same measure the band steps out into the sunlight and shows some skin to tease us just a bit. I guess this sounds like Serge Gainsbourg (that is what everyone else says) but since I have never heard him I couldn't confirm that.
What it is, is lovely spaced out, loungey and jazzy music, less repetition, more delightful esotericism, mixed with a genuine pop flavour. "The Book Lovers" should be required on the playlist at all slumber parties and sleepovers, "Phantom" is rightfully spooky and when they close with "Lights Out" the controls are set for the center of the soul, truly blissful.
The volume never reaches spasmodic heights but that fits into the grand design of it all, the songs slink instead and the terms of engagement are more than cosy. Makes me more than eager to hear more.
Budd
Ovit CD
Fellaheen.
by Nat.
November 23, 1996.
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Take away the flex from Ovit and what you have is Budd's latest EP. A
powerful three piece now residing in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
(formerly from Brisbane, Queensland). Budd are fast becoming the messieurs
of that fresh chunky sound. Differing greatly from their last offering
Naf, Ovit is somewhat quieter containing a melodic underlay which captures
a smidgen of the intensity and atmosphere that they create at their live
gigs.
Beefed by Jeremy's "electric harmonix hyperdrive systems" (vocals/guitar), Jon's "percussive direction" (drums) and Ngakau's "altitude enhancement" (bass), Ovit is a four track fuck, a continual blissbomb of raw fuzz. Cutting straight to the core the first track "Kairos" opens with pure guitar force. "Handle it" (which my ears could) was a tune of dissonant distortion with the odd guitar pick quiet moment, undoubtedly the stand out track!
"Synchro" and "Kneecap" stitched up the rest of Ovit with a lot of energy. Certainly one of Melbourne's must see bands (I've seen them four times, and although the only chick to be somewhere up the front - its worth it), Budd just kick!
La Buena Vida
Hallelujah! CD
Siesta. Siesta 132.
by Keith Mclachlan.
September 29, 2001.
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I wonder how long it would take one to be able to
actually comprehend the differences in quality when it
comes to classical music? I buy classical cds, always
amazes me that you can buy the collected works of
Mozart for 5 bucks while a japanese import of Dido
will run you 40 dollars at Best Buy, and the cds I buy
all sound wonderful to me but surely a more
perspicacious listener would be able to notice the
differences in performances from say the Atlanta
symphony and the Sydney Orchestra? I would not, but
that does not stop me from saying that the strings on
this record are some of the most dazzling of any I
have ever heard on a pop record. This, apparently, is
thanks to the Prague Philharmonic (thank you Prague!)
which apparently had time enough on their hands to
record with an obscure little band from Spain. Maybe
La Buena Vida has legions more fans in Prague than in
any other capital but I find that rather unlikely,
more likely that classical musicians all have secret
desires of being depraved rock stars. If that be the
case though, well, they chose poorly because La Buena
don't rawk and probably are not much versed in the
manners of rock stars but they are wonderful, gentle,
divine and err...so is this record. It is strange
though because it is a rather basic record if you
subtract the strings, almost campfire/John Denver in
scope a bit like a Nick Drake had he been an avid
reader of Raymond Chandler and an automatic consumer
of smoked oysters and mostly female. It reminds a bit
of Le Mans' last record a surgical bit of acoustica
with more heartfelt vocals (done in Spanish so my
synchronized vocalising will only be phonetic). I
don't get the Belle and Sebastian comparisons but then
there are acoustic guitars and Stuart Murdoch
allegedly invented the guitar, there are few moments
of whimsy well certainly none that found an awakening
in my monolinguistic ears and the dark and cinematic
flavour of the music seems all too romantic and
dramatized for the popkids who seem a bit light in the
romance appreciation department when they extoll the
virtues of Magnetic Fields type cynicism as a grand
exercise in love. But it is the strings that charge
the air, they weep, they conjure, they flash a
ferocity of passion across the mind in fact the only
thing they do not do is caterwaul which as shown many
times on a John Cale or even Cakekitchen record can
often be the most thrilling thing a violin can do but
a caterwaul is not needed here. Ambitions are
wonderful things, and the members of La Buena Bida
seem to have a pool of magnificently envious tools to
realize theirs from which to draw.
La Buena Vida
Panorama CD
Siesta. Siesta 92.
by Keith McLachlan.
July 24, 1999.
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Siesta is the best label on the planet these days. It is not only the
fact that their music releases are consistently extraordinary but also
due to the fact that the design element on all of their artwork is so
fantastically sharp. It is all retro chic sure but I am not all that
sophisticated to know a copy from the original anyhow but this is a
music review and well La Buena Vida used to be all jangly and cute and
bouncey, but how do they stand now? These days they are a trifle less
jangly, still cute but now their resume also includes descriptors such
as breathy and cinematic. The girly girl has transformed into a
magnetic chanteuse and the backing tracks elevate her performance to
the very nearly goddess level. But not quite, 'Panorama' is a bit
like Stereolab, like everyone else claims, but as where Stereolab are
far more interested in their bottom line and their cool quotient it
seems La Buena Vida have an ease and savoury enchantment that speaks
more of rainbows and landscapes than capitalistic endeavours.
Everything here is in Spanish, it would be since I had German and
French in high school, so I am unsure what they are singing about but
I imagine it has a great deal to do with amor. The songs are
sprinkled with all sorts of dramatic strings, hushed keyboards and
just all too lovely and impossible to resist sentiment that makes the
record as much a joy to behold as the shimmering strands of the early
morning sunlight.