The lovely Kooba boys are taking a well earned summer break and, to ensure
you don't miss your usual K fix of unsigned music, have asked me -
cogitata - to attempt to entertain you with musings on my latest aural adventures.
JD Smith
On Sunday, whilst in the
Fox & Firkin in Lewisham for the
phonetics@theFox spoken word and acoustic music evening, I was treated to the dirty blues stylings of
JD Smith , whom I previously had the pleasure of listening to at the
New Cross Inn.
Mr Smith plays and sings with gusto (not a term I use often
but the one that comes to mind), and even after breaking a string he continued
to assault the lazy Sunday evening crowd with his grinding slide guitar and
urgent drawl. Whilst a white Englishman playing blues and singing with a
distinctively southern US accent is always a little dubious, JD won me over the
first time I saw him; he's simply very good at what he does.
He was good enough to furnish me
with an album -
Hey Rube! - that features instruments other
than guitar but retains the earthy sound of his solo performance. Sitting
listening to it in the calm of solitude, it brings to mind, for
example, Buddy Holly after a few days and nights of Jack Daniel's and
Marlboro's. It's a theme that persists, and brings me to my only criticism;
whilst being good at what he does, JD Smith's offering is nothing new. Not that
it need be, as it's very well executed and highly entertaining, but I can
understand why it turns off just as many people as it stimulates.
That
said, I'm sure I'll always take pleasure in watching him perform, especially
with my hand wrapped around a cold beer, and I'd recommend you make the effort
too.
Bermuda GrooveI've never spent that much
time on MySpace, due to the facts that I'm not a musician and Facebook is simply
much better for communication, so when an artist makes the effort to send a
message I tend to pay them the courtesy of a quick listen. Which is how I came
to know
Bermuda
Groove.
They describe themselves as an "indie rock band", which is
just so boring - there are at least 250,000 words in the English language and
something like a trillion bands that describe themselves this way - but their
music holds more promise. However, 'Waiting for a sound' is how I'd put it
too.
They've put together some confident and well performed tracks, but
they're still playing what they've heard with their ears, rather than what they
hear in their heads. Shades of Thin Lizzy and Guns n Roses are apparent on
their tracks, but the classic rock and roll influence props up something that's
fundamentally quite mainstream and unchallenging.The lyrics to 'State of
Mind' are a string of rock cliches, and the title alone tells you what to
expect from 'She Don't Love You'.
I do still love classic rock, and these
guys do it well, but until they find out who they are and what it is they have
to say, they're not going to reach an older and wider audience. However, I hope
this analysis doesn't dishearten them - they have a strong foundation and it
should be built on.
Random stuffIf you would
like your music reviewed here, or featured on Kooba Radio, send us a
message and we'll have a good old listen, whatever it sounds like. But don't
expect us to be anything other than honest - all else leads to stagnation and we
don't like to see things standing still in their own... stuff.
And if what you've read has had
some kind of impact on you, please do visit
cogitata.co.uk, where I ramble and shout and spit and opine on
subjects including metaphysics, sport, politics and
religion.
Cheers!
cogitata