Reviews - One Chord To Another - A Finnish Pop Site

Quick Review: Eels – Tomorrow Morning

September 30, 2010 No Comments

Eels: Tomorrow Morning (2010)

This album proves that I’m an asshole. I loved the previous Eels album End Times. It was bare, beautiful, sad and broken. Tomorrow Morning is far more optimistic and happy, but I don’t enjoy it as much. Occasionally I even find myself a little bored. I hope it’s not just because it’s happier. I know I’m a sad case, but hopefully not that sad. Anyway, even the weaker Eels albums have their moments and are must have items. What I Have to Offer is the key track for me. It may be simple, but it’s oh so beautiful.

Eels Website

Finnish music, Reviews

Review: Sweatmaster – Dig Up The Knife

September 17, 2010 No Comments

Sweatmaster: Dig Up The Knife (Fullsteam, 2010)

Even pop and country blogs need a little bit of rock’n’roll every now and then and Sweatmaster is usually the best option for providing it. Dig Up The Knife is their fourth album and it takes them towards a little darker and heavier sounds, but thankfully there’s always more than enough room for melodies to keep these pop losers like myself interested. There’s actually quite a lot of pop choruses in the vein of the most rockin’ side of Sloan on the record.

Dig Up The Knife is certainly a little more versatile than the earlier albums and the first single Turnover is almost the only really typical Sweatmaster sing-a-long party anthem. The pace might get surprisingly slow at times, but my heart doesn’t rush into offside position, because they deliver inch perfect songs. Sasu Mykkänen is still the most convincing rock vocalist in the country and the song material is once again brilliant. Especially Some People Got Soul is an instant classic, but there’s obviously a bunch of great songs and Sweatmaster have created the best or the second best finnish album of the year so far (it’s a battle between Dig Up The Knife and A Cab To The City and it’s pretty hard to say which one is the most perfect). Well done.

Sweatmaster Website
Sweatmaster at myspace

International music, Reviews

Review: Chatham County Line – Wildwood

September 16, 2010 No Comments

Chatham County Line: Wildwood (Yep Roc, 2010)

If I had to choose the best song of the last decade, my choice might be The Carolinian from the previous Chatham County Line album IV. That song might be the only reason that makes this new Chatham County Line album Wildwood feel like a minor disappointment even though it’s actually another very fine release. It’s just that you had hoped that there might be something that could match the brilliance of The Carolinian. Well there isn’t, so get over it man and learn to appreciate this beautiful album from one of the finest bluegrass and americana groups out there right now. Wildwood might actually be even better album as a whole than IV, because I thought IV had a couple of weaker tunes as well (or maybe not weaker, more like the high tempo bluegrass numbers weren’t actually just my cup of ice tea), while Wildwood gives you a steady flow of high quality country music and everything sounds extremely beautiful.

Chatham County Line Website
Chatham County Line at myspace

Finnish music, Reviews

Review: Lemonator – Shake, Shake Shake

September 16, 2010 2 Comments

Lemonator: Shake, Shake, Shake (Fried Music, 2010)

Lemonator is one of my favourite bands. They played a big part in my music education and got me into this beautiful pop mess back there in the late nineties. I’m grateful for all that, but hey.. finally there’s no need to sink into some strange 90’s nostalgia when talking about Lemonator. The boys are back in town and they are still making wonderful pop music. However, I admit that I was a little scared when the first single Shake, Shake, Shake hit the surface and I still don’t like it that much. A friend of mine said it’s kind of like Sloan and actually I can hear that now, but I still have my doubts. That’s just one song though and there’s no need to get stuck into that, because while the song Shake, Shake, Shake is just ok, the album Shake, Shake, Shake is just great.

The album is a slice of harmonic pop heaven and it sounds joyful, warm and everlastingly beautiful. It might steal and borrow a bit from several pop vaults, but there’s nothing wrong with that. I prefer the latter half of the album and my own favourites are the should-have-been single I Always Wanted To Be A Drummer, A Beautiful Sun that reminds me of Linus Of Hollywood (or sounds like they’ve been influenced by same california pop treasures) and the marvellous last song Always Look After.

Oh.. one more thing.. I’ve really missed hearing Lasse Kurki sing. He might be one hell of a producer for other artists, but with that voice you just can’t get completely buried behind the producer’s desk. If you have a voice so warm & beautiful, you should just sing, sing, sing. Therefore I hope that this will be the last comeback album for Lemonator at least for the time being. Which means that don’t stay away so long that people can call the next one a comeback album. Let’s say a new album every two years or so. Deal? Yeah, I’ll shake, shake, shake on that.

Lemonator Website
Lemonator at myspace

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