Reviews roundup – Tracy K vs. Viken vs. Birdeatsbaby vs. The Lounge Kittens vs. Plexiphones

Reviews roundup – Tracy K vs. Viken vs. Birdeatsbaby vs. The Lounge Kittens vs. Plexiphones

TRACY K
What’s The Rush?
independent

To the Canadian colonies now for some rhythm and blues courtesy of Tracy K who has been making music for over thirty years.  So you’d hope she had the hang of it by now.  It’s only her fourth album in all that time but it is a good one.

She errs on the mellow side of the blues and it’s the sort of thing that Bonnie Raitt used to do.  Which is a good thing.  There’s only eight tracks here but I’d rather have quality than a CD stuffed full of filler so this works a treat.  She has a very listenable voice and there is an insistent groove to her music that works really well.

She can also blow a mean moothie (that’s harmonica for any furriners who’ve popped in) and with some excellent musicians joining in songs like “I Got The Honey”, “Heartstrung” and “Indigo Heart” are real treats.  I could have lived without the sole Randy Newman cover but overall this is an album well worth tuning in to.

BUY AT AMAZON

VIKEN
Reduced To Ash
independent

Indiana now for some Heavy Fudgin’ Metal!  Because there is no doubt that Viken are both heavy and metal.  Take one look at that cover and imagine the sound of a small country being invaded.  Proper metal.

They’re looking back to the eighties to the days of ‘Alison Hell’ for their inspirations and there are a good few Annihilator riffs as well as a healthy dose of Metal Massacre influences, so if you have a yen for the days when Virgin Steele, Armored Saint and Lizzy Borden were things people had heard of, then this could be for you.

The songs touch on all the things you want your metal to touch with numbers like “Killing Time”, “The Ancients: Anasazi” and “Sight of Darkness” kicking your ass in consummate style.  The vocals could do with a wee bit of work but that aside this is old school metal the way it’s supposed to be.

BIRDEATSBABY
Tanta Furia
independent

Birdeatsbaby is a shocking name for a band.  Especially as it leads you to think you’re getting 1971 Alice Cooper.  You’re not.  You’re getting gothy electrop instead.  They’re a Brighton band (surprise!) who’ve been on the go since 2008 and this is their fourth album.

I recently heard a solo album by Hana Piranha who takes care of violin, cello and backings vocals here along with Mishkin Fitzgerald (vocals, piano and accordion), Garry Mitchell (bass guitars and backing vocals) and Forbes Coleman (drums, programming, synths and backing vocals).  Together they make a sound a bit like The Cure would have made if they’d only ever heard Van der Graaf Generator albums.

Which is certainly interesting and is the kind of thing Kate Bush fans would buy if they actually bought anything inbetween bouts of mourning the lack of Kate Bush albums.  Songs like “Scars” and “Bones Of God” would go down a treat in their world.  I’m certainly glad I heard this even if it’s not the kind of thing I would have on repeat play.

THE LOUNGE KITTENS
Sequins & C-Bombs
independent

The problem with being a comedy musical turn is the fact that it’s a one trick pony.  For sure the first time you hear a lounge comedy harmony vocal trio tackling songs by Drowning Pool, Metallica, System Of A Down, Marilyn Manson and others you think “ooh, that was good”.  But the second time it loses some flavour.

And by the time you play it for the third time you’re starting to get quite irritated.  There are interesting ways to approach unusual cover versions.  Just ask Hellsongs.  But for everyone of those there is a Mike Flowers Pops dragged blinking out into the sun twenty years after their fifteen minutes of fame to appear on a shitty Channel 5 documentary.

And it’s the latter category that the Lounge Kittens find themselves in.  Despite support turns on some major tours including the upcoming Status Quo ‘Last Night of the Electrics Tour’ it’s their Edinburgh Fringe show that sees them in the environment they belong. A cabaret turn punching above their weight.

BUY AT AMAZON

PLEXIPHONES
Electric
Big Sky Song

I don’t know about you but I haven’t been sitting around since 1983 clutching a copy of ‘Seven and the Ragged Tiger’ wishing that someone would make that make an eighties synth-rock record worth listening to.

But if you have then say hello to German band Plexiphones.  Because they have made that very record.  Oh yes, the eighties have returned to punish us with some Duran Duran meets Simple Minds influenced tunes.  Having said that, though, there is actually a lot to enjoy here.  See I missed the eighties (drink, drugs and Motorhead) so this type of music didn’t register.  But having seen enough Vintage TV now I can hear it wasn’t all bad.

And Plexiphones have some decent tunes up their sleeves in the likes of “Take Me, Break Me”, “Tell It With Your Heart” and “We Are Repeating”.  It also sounds great so a round of applause to Tom E Morrison (Bonnie Tyler, Roachford) and Kurt Schmidt for a bang up job.  For sure, things drift away over the last three tracks but the first half hour of this record was an unexpected treat.

BUY AT AMAZON