Review: Cats On Fire – Dealing in Antiques

Cats on Fire doesn’t seem to know fair play. Here they are releasing a compilation full of early tracks, rarities & b-sides and still manages to come up with such a stunning collection that most indie pop bands would struggle to make a career spanning best of album that could reach the same level of excellence. It’s lovely to notice that songs like My Friend in a Comfortable Chair haven’t lost their charm during the years and still sound amazing today. Than there’s of course Higher Grounds and The Smell Of An Artist from The Seelonce Mayday demo. Real classics and should be among the first choices if someone starts compiling hall of fame for indie pop songs. Melodically superb and lyrically aware pop songs I wrote back in the day and I can still agree with my past self. A new treat on the album is a wonderful White Town cover Your Woman. I can admit that they weren’t making perfect pop music right from the beginning (by the time of the second single they probably were) and there are some only good songs here as well. Nevertheless, I think the biggest reason not to give this full amount of hearts is the fact that they’ve gotten even better during the years and are nowadays pretty much the best finnish band and (one of) the best indie pop band(s) in general. So if these were already worth five hearts, what are they doing right now. Something pretty spectacular I would say.

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Listen to Your Woman:
[audio:http://www.onechord.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/cats_on_fire-your_woman.mp3]

Cats on Fire Website
Cats on Fire at myspace

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Review: Imperial State Electric – Imperial State Electric

Imperial State Electric: Imperial State Electric (Psychout Records, 2010)

Usually it takes me at least a couple of months to review an album, but let’s make an exception this time around and do a really hasty review. I just bought this baby about ten hours ago, but this is pretty basic stuff and I didn’t even need to hear more than a couple of songs to know that I was going to love this to bits. Imperial State Electric is the new band led by ex-Hellacopter Nicke Andersson and this time around he has added more rockin’ power pop to the sound galore. Ok, it might be power pop in a way some early KISS tracks are power pop, but in the end that’s pretty damn fine way to be power pop. And who cares if it’s power pop or not, because it’s such a fabulous rock’n’roll record and almost an overdose of fun, fun, fun. Imperial State Electric might not invent the coffee maker, but can certainly produce a stiff cup of coffee flavoured with some The Beatles, some The Who, some KISS and some rockin’ 70’s power pop. And it will certainly taste so strong and  wonderful that I bet your neighbours will start banging your walls and ceilings in order to get a cup themselves. At least you assume they do, because with all that shakin’ going on in your head you haven’t noticed that you’ve been playing this record all day long and produced more beautiful noise than they can safely handle.  Excellent stuff altogether and songs like Lord Knows I Know It Ain’t Right and I’ll Let You Down are absolutely fantastic.

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Imperial State Electric at myspace

(sorry, this review ended up being a little restless and didn’t make much sense. I just wrote whatever came up to my tiny head)

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Review: Deer Tick (Partisan Records, 2010)

Deer Tick: The Black Dirt Sessions (Partisan Records, 2010)

There’s no way of denying that this is a slight dissapointment. The first two albums showed that Deer Tick is capable of being one of the most interesting and unique country/americana/folk rock outfits out there, but this time it feels like it’s just John McCauley’s wonderful and unique vocals that lifts them above the average country band. The Black Dirt Sessions does contain a bunch of good songs, but it might be that the single Twenty Miles is the only one able to rise to the sky-high level of their earlier material. A great band, but only a good record

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Deer Tick Website
Deer Tick at myspace

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Review: Justin Rutledge – The Early Widows


Justin Rutledge: The Early Widows (Six Shooter, 2010)

Canadian Justin Rutledge is one of my favourite country and folk troubadours and I’ve been following him since falling in love with his debut album some years ago. The Early Widows is his fourth album and it’s again utterly wonderful. I’m certainly still in love with that gentle, sensitive voice that makes me feel so good and comfortable. Mr. Rutledge is also more than able to write stories. He draws little wings to the carefully chosen words, wraps them into a beautiful melody and let them fly to the core of your heart. It’s all so subtle, pure, captivating, poetic and yet so easy to listen, love and enjoy. In a way fragile and broken, but a curling arena full of heavy metal friendly musicians couldn’t create anything as strong and powerful. The first half of the album is worth of all the hearts in the world, the latter half is slightly weaker but still really good. The only thing that I don’t personally like is the addition of the gospel choir to several songs. It’s not that they don’t sing beautifully and well. They really do. It’s just a personal preference that I usually prefer that things stay quiet and small and the gospel choir make the songs grow too big for my own taste. Nevertheless, The Early Widows is again a wonderful album and Justin Rutledge easily keeps his place in the coffee table for the greatest modern country & folk singer-songwriters.

Justin Rutledge Website
Justin Rutledge at myspace
 
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa2NTpwhREg]

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