• Vintage Trouble. The Bomb Shelter Sessions.
Shock Records.
Three stars (out of five)
Fronted by Rock Star Inxs contestant Ty Taylor, the Los Angeles four-piece revel in the vintage, but there isn't a lot of the trouble. Their homage to classic '60s-inspired rhythm and blues is certainly polished, and judging by their live performances they do gritty and raw, it just doesn't translate in the studio. Taylor certainly has groove, but it is guitar player Nalle Colt who steals the show with his Jimmy Page-styled pick attack.
There's no doubt Vintage Trouble looks cool, has some knockout tracks and is dynamite live, it just needs to loosen the top button in the studio a little.
Single download: Blues Hand Me Down
For those who like: James Brown, The Bellrays, Sly and the Family Stone, Led Zeppelin
- Mark Orton
• Steve Smyth. Release.
Permanent/Shock.
Three stars (out of five)
Possessed of a voice evoking Tom Waits' wonky grit and the fragility of Jeff Buckley, and armed with the prerequisite acoustic guitar and fuzzy face, Australian troubadour Steve Smyth emerges with his debut full-length Release. Smyth's brand of folk is riddled with back-porch bluesiness. Tracks such as Barbiturate Cowboy and His Dark Horses and Endless Nowadays are rollicking, and conjure visions of a foot-stompin', knee-slappin' hootenanny. Yet it's not all whisky-drenched hell-raisin': there is a tenderness and vulnerability in the stirring Stay Young (featuring Howling Bells' Juanita Stein), suggesting a man wise beyond his years.
Single download: Stay Young
For those who like: Tom Waits, Jeff Buckley, Neil Young
- John Hayden
• The Eastern. Hope and Wire.
Rough Peel Records.
Four stars (out of five)
The members of Lyttleton/Christchurch collective The Eastern have, like many, been through a lot in the past year or so. They managed to record their third long-player, a 20-track double album, in an eastern suburbs house before it was bulldozed. Rooted firmly in the story-telling tradition of American country-folk and embellished by the rustic tones of fiddle, guitar and banjo, core duo Adam McGrath and Jess Shanks sing of restless times, restless hearts and spiritual revitalisation.
There is hope in these strong songs, even if the phantoms of Dylan's Desolation Row whisper and weave in the quiet spaces.
Single download: Four on the Floor
For those who like: The Band meets The Renderers
- Shane Gilchrist
