Okay, so it's been a long while since I've posted. It's good to be back.
This is a review I wrote for a site I've started, musicGEEK.org.
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Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Broom
Generic Equivalent, 2005
With a "quirky" name like Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, one immediately tries to interpolate an aural quality to this Springfield, Missouri four-piece (soon to be five, it seems) band. The packaging is strangely enticing; its relatively simplistic nature is something that not many groups ascribe to "these days" (which is to say, the layout and design of the packaging is evocative of something much older than this very recent release.)
It isn't until the packaging is turned over that the album title becomes apparent: BROOM, it states in what appears a 48 point font face. Unlike the recent (hah! Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band appears in much smaller text than "The Beatles" grown in flowers does, so it seems that supposition may be incorrect) trend of pushing the band over the album, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin flouts the trend (though, one may argue that not even having the album title visible from the front may be furthering the trend, the point is not the placement of the album title, but that the album title appears in much larger, more prominent text.) Beyond this, there is something much more intriguing about seeing an album without a title placed prominently on the front: "Is this self-titled? Are they pulling a Peter Gabriel? Will their next four albums also be self-titled?" one wonders. Of course, once the case is turned about, such fears are remedied. After the Peter Gabriel fiasco, who wants to buy a series of self-titled albums, out of fear that they won't be able to discuss them properly ("You know, the one with the melting face on the cover!", despite the fact that you could easily refer to them by year of issue.)
But unlike The Beatles and Peter Gabriel, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin is currently lacking in the fame department -- their pinnacle seems to be their ranking of #54 on the CMJ top 200 (not a small feat, by any means, particularly for their first full-length, and definitely well-deserved, but they are far from having millions of screaming young girls watching their every move (which is not necessarily a bad thing, I would imagine)) -- but they are certainly not lacking in musical talent. It's not as if they're Malmsteen-esque shredders, rather, they are talented song writers. Their harmonizations on "I Am Warm And Powerful" and the gentle piano-and-acoustic-guitar "Gwyneth" both point to such a statement as being true, examples of the powerful music this young band is creating.
Broom evokes feelings of happiness and a simplistic lifestyle while remaining almost detached sounding (not accidentally, it would seem -- this is a carefully planned detachedness, or at least as carefully planned as detachedness can be). The production quality is astounding -- not only is this free of clicks, pops, scratches, and all the other annoyances that have plagued independent recording for years (though that issue has been disappearing lately, Broom does sound very good, relative to other similar musicians), but listening to Broom seems to give an unmistakeably warming sensation. Broom is easily one of the top albums of the first half of 2005; its jangly guitars and spacious pianos open listeners to a world of music replete with sunshine, green grass, and with tall, leafy trees shading a pond (and in that pond, on any given day, you're likely to see Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin rowing along in a canoe or in the water, taking a little swim.)
Matthew Montgomery
This is a review I wrote for a site I've started, musicGEEK.org.
--
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Broom
Generic Equivalent, 2005
With a "quirky" name like Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, one immediately tries to interpolate an aural quality to this Springfield, Missouri four-piece (soon to be five, it seems) band. The packaging is strangely enticing; its relatively simplistic nature is something that not many groups ascribe to "these days" (which is to say, the layout and design of the packaging is evocative of something much older than this very recent release.)
It isn't until the packaging is turned over that the album title becomes apparent: BROOM, it states in what appears a 48 point font face. Unlike the recent (hah! Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band appears in much smaller text than "The Beatles" grown in flowers does, so it seems that supposition may be incorrect) trend of pushing the band over the album, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin flouts the trend (though, one may argue that not even having the album title visible from the front may be furthering the trend, the point is not the placement of the album title, but that the album title appears in much larger, more prominent text.) Beyond this, there is something much more intriguing about seeing an album without a title placed prominently on the front: "Is this self-titled? Are they pulling a Peter Gabriel? Will their next four albums also be self-titled?" one wonders. Of course, once the case is turned about, such fears are remedied. After the Peter Gabriel fiasco, who wants to buy a series of self-titled albums, out of fear that they won't be able to discuss them properly ("You know, the one with the melting face on the cover!", despite the fact that you could easily refer to them by year of issue.)
But unlike The Beatles and Peter Gabriel, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin is currently lacking in the fame department -- their pinnacle seems to be their ranking of #54 on the CMJ top 200 (not a small feat, by any means, particularly for their first full-length, and definitely well-deserved, but they are far from having millions of screaming young girls watching their every move (which is not necessarily a bad thing, I would imagine)) -- but they are certainly not lacking in musical talent. It's not as if they're Malmsteen-esque shredders, rather, they are talented song writers. Their harmonizations on "I Am Warm And Powerful" and the gentle piano-and-acoustic-guitar "Gwyneth" both point to such a statement as being true, examples of the powerful music this young band is creating.
Broom evokes feelings of happiness and a simplistic lifestyle while remaining almost detached sounding (not accidentally, it would seem -- this is a carefully planned detachedness, or at least as carefully planned as detachedness can be). The production quality is astounding -- not only is this free of clicks, pops, scratches, and all the other annoyances that have plagued independent recording for years (though that issue has been disappearing lately, Broom does sound very good, relative to other similar musicians), but listening to Broom seems to give an unmistakeably warming sensation. Broom is easily one of the top albums of the first half of 2005; its jangly guitars and spacious pianos open listeners to a world of music replete with sunshine, green grass, and with tall, leafy trees shading a pond (and in that pond, on any given day, you're likely to see Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin rowing along in a canoe or in the water, taking a little swim.)
Matthew Montgomery