I’ll Be The Jet To Meet His Shark
Posted on | March 10, 2007 at 12:49 pm | Comments Off
Catching up on my CD listening…
My good buddies Sue & Joe at 125 Records are distributing the debut CD by Bay Area artist Chris Brown (one of my many musicians with that name, so don’t be fooled by imitators!) called Now That You’re Fed. I’ve listened to it a few times so far and I really digg it. The first thing that struck me about it was how well-produced it is. It’s very lush and the acoustic guitars practically jump out at you and envelop you in their dynamics. And when those pianos and strings come in too… wow!
People who know me know that I generally don’t get much into the slower or mid-tempo stuff, but something about these tunes have already burrowed themselves into my brain. The melodies become instantly familiar. In a way, the album also reminds me a bit of Don Dixon’s The Entire Combustible World in One Small Room (another 125 Records acquisition, probably not by coincidence) – slower, full-sounding songs with melodies that grow more catchy the more you listen. There’s not much in the way of traditional rock instrumentation aside from drums – I couldn’t detect much (if any) electric guitars, for example – but the arrangements manage to be propulsive nonetheless. Chris has been compared to the late, lamented Elliott Smith (a favorite of mine), and I definitely hear that, especially vocally. Although he sounds like a much happier Elliott Smith. And there’s lots of clever wordplay in the lyrics – always a plus. My favorite song is probably April, even if it does go on a bit long. Recommended!
Latre.