Labels: 12XU – After Hours – Damnably
Review by: MH
This is the latest album from Chris Brokaw – he of Codeine and Come fame – and it is his first solo album since 2005. According to the press release he has been in more than 50 bands. 50 bands! That is some feat and surely worth some kind of medal or award for services to music like Kylie Minogue got last year. It is a nicely varied album starting with the fuzzed-up “Criminals” before the acoustic guitar is whipped out early on for the excellent “Crooked” which is a cover version of the Wussy song. This then flits between rockier moments and some stripped-down tracks before ending with a shimmering instrumental. One of the best songs on here, and perhaps the centrepiece, is called “The Appetites” and is a huge 9 minutes long – normally way too long for me but the subdued vocals, and the way it builds, and has an increasingly menacing undertone is brilliant. There are a few songs on here that recall Codeine too. “California” is nice and moody – this one has no drumbeat, as is the case with a few of the tracks on here, and it broods slowly over a shimmering guitar riff. “Anacordia” is sparse and heartfelt and a real highlight. Another good song is “Danny Borracho” which sounds a bit like Sebadoh if you switched the levels from lo-fi to high. I’m impressed – plenty of variation and some highly worthy moments.