The mighty Scaramanga Six return with a taster for their forth coming new studio album (Pledge campaign to be launched soon), in the form of a two track digital single available through the bands bandcamp page.
The first track, 'As We Take The Stage' is driven along by some thunderous drums, some very tribal and organic rhythm patterns, with slight detours into a western feel. Love it!
The second track, 'Owned' has a darker more sci-fi feel to it as it begins, before blossoming into a great moody monster of a track.
If these are signs of what to expect from the bands new album then personally I simply can not wait to hear it!
Juan Pablo Mazzola returns with his latest Baby Scream release, 'Life Is A Trap'. Now before we go any further lets get one thing clear, it's no secret that I am a huge Baby Scream fan and have been for years, and therefore look forward to hearing every new piece of material Juan releases, yet that does not cloud my judgement when considering the quality of a song etc. Luckily Juan rarely disappoints in this departments, now with that said lets take a look at this new Baby Scream release. 'Life’s A Trap' consists of 8 songs that Juan Pablo Mazzola recorded in Buenos Aires, Argentina together with Nick Schinder (who once again, just like in 'Fan, Fan, Fan' worked as a producer and played some piano and contributed some backing vocals). Now if you are familiar with Baby Scream you will know the style of music on offer here, laid back and chilled yes, but with cutting lyrics and heart wrenching (at times) melodies. Kind of like a blend of John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Badfinger, Big Star, some Americana / 90’s flavour and a little T-Rex thrown in for good measure.
The Ep is to be released by Juan Pablo Mazzola’s label “Baby Scream Records on CD, cassette (remember them?) and digital formats, which are available from the bands Bandcamp Page here.
The EP's lead single is the track, 'The Ballad Of Music Biz' for which a video has been shot that features Juan contemplating the drama of the music business..
Now how do the songs sound?
The Ep opens up with 'Life's Better When U R High', which has a typical acoustic driven intro that blooms into a Baby Scream melodic rock track, with some great honest reflective lyrics and some great guitar / piano trade offs. Next comes the Ep's lead single, 'The Ballad of Music Biz'. Here we see Juan contemplating the trials and tribulations that face budding musicians in the music world. Its a beautiful ballad with some great atmospheric string arrangements throughout. This is going to become one of my favourite Baby Scream songs! 'Climbing Down' follows, which sees Juan contemplating life with his new born child, again some lovely string and vocal harmony arrangements throughout the song, short sweet and beautiful. 'We Can't Go Back To 17' is up next and is a rather melancholic track that sees Juan reflecting upon the trials and tribulations of growing older. Again some great piano and string arrangements (yes I know they are synthesised but who cares, they work brilliantly. 'Wish You Were Beer' which is musically almost surreal, yet works brilliantly. Juan's cutting lyrical style and turn of phrase really shines through on this song. Again I believe this track is destined to become another of my Baby Scream favourites. 'Jokes' is a short and sweet melancholic track, that's leads into 'Road Bends' which sees Juan hitting full blown Americana mode! Great songs too! The EP closes out with 'Midnight Snack' a beautiful acoustic driven song that showcases both Juan's song writing and guitar playing, but also Nicks' piano work, delicate and emotional.
So there we have, yet another cracking release from Baby Scream!
Lunchbox Bullies are a new project featuring Juan Pablo Mazzola (Baby Scream).
In his own words,
""Lunchbox Bullies" is an acoustic duo created by Juan Pablo Mazzola (Baby Scream) and Agus Samur (One Man Dancing) that recreates the music of "Greg Dowell, a crazy misfit and weird and underrated composer from Birmingham Basically Greg (former known as Chaisaw Murphy) recorded many songs and he's always re recording stuff and for some reason the stuff keeps always unreleased....so we thought it was a cool thing to pay tribute to his songs. We are going to be releasing more singles with his songs, and eventually, we'll make an album out of them...probably by late 2016"
Now how can I describe Lunchbox Bullies? Well imagine the best, trippiest, most mellow moments from 60's and 70's artist such as the Beatles, Everley Brothers etc with beautiful acoustic guitars and finely crafted subtle vocals and then you are pretty darn close to how these two guys sound.
Now it is no secret that I am a huge fan of Juan's work with Baby Scream but I think that he is onto something really special here with Lunchbox Bullies. The vocal harmonies between Juan and Agus work really well, creating an almost ethereal effect......truly heavenly. The song its self. "Here Comes The Rain" is a beautifully crafted piece of music. Personally I can not wait to here more from these guys. Perfect for those moments when you just need to unwind a little and chill out!
Very Very Highly recommended
Rating - 10/10
The digital single is available here from the bands bandcamp page.
Once again a big thanks must go to Kyle Vallis and his awesome new page Unsigned Melodies for giving me a heads up about this brilliantly demented album!
I had heard of Must Kill Chris via a previous pledge campaign for the Eureka Machines but had never actually heard them, and by God I am sure glad of Kyle's reminder as I bloody well love this album! You know every now and again and album comes along that leaves you hungry for more, well this album had me so enthralled that I just had to track down the entire back catalogue (available through the bands band camp page, luckily!).
So just who are Must Kill Chris? 'Must Kill Chris' is the stage name of Chris Moore from Ipswich Suffolk, started in 2011 while his former band 'Om Nom Bomb' were on hiatus Chris started writing and recording new music on his own and has been doing so ever since. This is a true DIY project in all senses of the word, Chris handles all aspects of the writing and recording process as well as creating all artwork and videos himself. The Bearded Man is the bands second full length release, and its a blinder. Don't let the fact that this album is home recorded, as it easily sounds as good as any album that has been released over the last few years, sitting comfortably along side releases that had multi million pound recording budgets! How does it sound? Bloody manic, marvellous, awesome! The album opens with Bruce Campbell, with a slow moody keyboard intro before exploding into an almost industrial punk opus with a scream. A great homage to the actor of Evil Dead fame! Wild Turkey follows, slowing the tempo and the attitude down with its almost bluesy work out. NailGun is up next, returning to the distorted bass lines and punkish attitude! There's More To Life Than Money is the next track and what a track it is. Returning to the bluesy feel of Wild Turkey with an almost nursery rhyme / lullaby feel to it. I absolutely love this bloody song! Simplicity at its finest!
One-Horse Town has the task of following, vocally it has a real 90's indie feel to it, a great song about killing Zombies with a shot gun!
Mexican Stand Off is the albums shortest track, filled with western feel meets underground punk attitude that constantly builds into a great track!
Lions follows with it cry of independence. Generator In The Desert has an almost psychedelic feel to it at times, whilst following a similar bluesy / indie / punk direction. Probably my least favourite track on offer!
The album closes with Bruce Campbell (Decapitated version), another version of the albums opening track minus the intro and straight into the distorted screams. A great album!
