B-Quartet
The Smitten Bard EP
[Aging Youth Records]

by you

*insert here*

The Ocean Band
Barcodes
[BirdLand Recordings]

by The Toneknobber

For a band with such a diverse makeup of nationalities as The Ocean Band, it's easy to see that the only thing separating their countries, cultures, languages and religions are, well, oceans. Fortunately, the five-piece is based in Singapore, making the nautical obstacle non-existent and letting their work speak in the universal language of music. In their debut titled Barcodes, barriers are further broken down by its multitude of genre-bending songs ranging from the Counting Crows-esque curtain raiser, 'Keep Going On', to the sputtering of Pearl Jam with 'Into The Open Air'.

One thing's clear - lead vocalist Yaniv Chen knows how to belt with so much emotion, you can almost taste his tears. There's the eerie acoustic number, 'Isaac', that haunts you long after the track is over too.

Collectively speaking, the album offers an easily listening trip, a soothing way to unwind on a lazy weekend. Nothing complicated. Nothing to ponder over for hours. It might work for some yet turn some off, its simple guitar riffs and melodies. In a world of effects and technology-packed music where layered lines are normalities, this offers a strong current against the mainstream.

Blues influences abundant, its flow gets broken with 'In Nomine'. The song kicks off with a scary Gregorian chant/pipe organ intro that suddenly launches into a rock n' roll sound reminiscent of the swinging '60s. But giving the album a listen from start to finish, it's apparent why The Ocean Band has been such a successful bar band for the past few years – even clinching a spot to open for American band Hoobastank last year. Perhaps the winning formula isn't with complexities and effects layering a listener can't even hear. The bonus track, a live version of 'Wine Into Water' sums it up. This is a band that knows what it wants and can't be arsed keeping up with trends. It also shows a common ground where people from different countries, influences and cultures can come together and make sweet music.

Sweetalker Sleepwalker
Sweetalker Sleepwalker
[self-released demo]

by Mark Wong

Without much effort to separate his solo work from that of his band Phorous, Sweetalker Sleepwalker's self-titled demo is mostly indistinguishable from Phorous' dance-oriented/uptempo songs (which is most of them). Although at first carving out a niche for himself in the local drum and bass domain back in 2000, Vijay Singh has since expanded his bag of tricks. Based on his past and recent work, the music here is as eclectic as you'd expect: tribal drums, Latin horns, Caribbean rhythms, tablas'n'bass, hip hop, rasta raps, etc.

Where they appear, Sleepwalker's vocals are distinct and are at their best when they act as percussive onomatopoeia. Lyrically, however, he falls flat such as on 'Swing', where his performance sounds melodramatic yet insubstantial and inappropriate: "Everyday/In every single way/We're making conscious decisions/As to how we want to live our lives/We choose the paths that we take/We choose the moves that we make/Like a clock/We're constantly tick-tocking non-stopping/Progressing with every hour".

While his production values are good, one gets the feeling that Sleepwalker is not "owning" the material. There's a lack of identity in his music, which gives it a mechanical feel. For all his diversity, one wonders if his genre hopping is an end in itself, since Sleepwalker seems content to adopt conventional genre markers and tropes to piece together his songs.

Catching Vijay's collaboration with Rizman Putra at the recent Una Voce sound festival, where both men were playing with vocals, effects and acoustic live "sampling" of miscellaneous objects such as keys and even the pounding of an audience member's flesh, I found that while their element of humour was appreciated, it mostly amounted to pranksterism and a weak conceptual core. Likewise, for all the groovy bells and whistles on Sweetalker Sleepwalker, at the end of the album, one finds oneself feeling unsatisfied.

(Ed.: To get a copy of the demo, please email vijay@kinemat.com)

Love Me Butch
This is the New Pop
[One Armed Productions]

by Lumpy

If this is the new pop, I'm scared to imagine what the new rock would sound like. Unless you're already a fan of screamo, or a raging wild depressive maniac predisposed to doing a little screaming of your own anyway, a headache at the end of the CD would seem a foregone conclusion. But before you take out the panadol, or knives for that matter...

Love Me Butch have technical ability, and they release their chops with full force on this release as tight as any other emo band from the depressed states of America (Ed.: They're Malaysian, by the way.), with the requisite hooks and riffs to prove their worth.

But instead of borrowing from the soft-hard contrasts that punctuate the song structures of truly pop emo bands like Taking Back Sunday, The Early November and even ,ahem, Dashboard Confessional, they stick to their screaming vocals to propel their verses and choruses with ballsy aggression and emotion. The album title is probably a tongue in cheek poke at sellout bands coveting the all revered MTV video spot. After hearing this release, you would feel like slapping the aforementioned pop emo bands to ask them to stop whining.

Sans the screaming, and with a little more straight ahead singing, they could have lived up to their album title. They have what it takes, but that's probably not why fans listen to them anyway. On the first listen, my first reaction was to give this a really bad review. But give it a few spins to settle in, and it grows on you slowly. It's one of those albums. The only thing you have to get past is the screaming and once you come to terms with that, you are on your way to "emo-er than thou" status, elevating into the upper echelons of so-called music appreciation. Favorite tracks, 'Pitcher of a Ghost', for its tasteful screams and melodic chorus and 'Living in Disguise', probably the poppiest song of the lot.

The perfect soundtrack to slash your wrists by...enjoy at your own risk.

DevilDriver
The Fury of Our Maker's Hand [Roadrunner Records]

by P2

One would have thought that DevilDriver was just a one-album band. They've proved everyone wrong. Almost 2 years after their self-titled album, they're back with The Fury of Our Maker's Hand. This album has shown more direction in their music and style...which could just be called very uncompromising heavy metal!

The Fury of Our Maker's Hand is a must have for all metal heads. It's been a while since any band created such hair raising metal. This album's strength and power gives a huge boost to the future of metal.

I didn't think I was listening to DevilDriver when I listened to the beginning of their first song, 'End of The Line'. Having a very light intro, well, at least until the huge tower of drums and gain came crashing down with enough force to knock the wind out of my lungs. Very, VERY hard music right from the beginning till the end. Not to mention very thought provoking lyrics, with the chorus going, "One door closes/Another door closes/And now you're boxed in".

After the initial rush of the first song you just want more. And more is what you get. 12 full-blooded tracks of unfiltered metal. Dez Fafara seems to have found his true niche in music with his new band. After his departure from Coal Chamber, not many people thought that DevilDriver would really take off in a big way. Although they were featured in Ozzfest 2004, things were a bit underground then. But The Fury of Our Maker's Hand is literally ground breaking. Not only for them, but for metal as well.

Although it's fair to say there aren't speedy riffs in the likeness of Slayer or other heavy bands, the conjugation of Mike and Jeff on their down tuned guitars produces such a heavy assault on your ears, it's difficult not to admire their prowess on the guitar. The riffs in 'Pale Horse Apocalypse' left me very tongue-tied. But their guitars aren't complete without the perfect drumming of John Boecklin. Honestly, one could easily think it was a drum machine instead of a real human drummer. In 'Ripped Apart' and 'Just Run', he really shows just how tight his drumming is.

Layers of aggression with Dez's unforgiving vocals shows how much DevilDriver is out to prove a point with their music. It's quite nice to see honesty when there's so much anger and hatred in their music, especially at a time when others are trying to take the heavy route but just can't seem to cut it. These guys mean business. DevilDriver should no longer be considered Dez's side project, but a proper band that will be around for a while.

Maybe the slight tarnish in the album is the chorus for 'Before The Hangman's Noose', sounding a little tired and a bit monotonous compared to the rest of the album. But other than that, the album gest a thumbs-up from me.

Hold Back The Day', the first single released for this album, would probably be one of the most versatile songs in the whole album. It combines some nu-metal as well as traditional metal riffs. Very complex stuff at times.

"Always, always darkest before the dawn"

Remember this line when you think of DevilDriver. The Fury of Our Maker's Hand should be voted as the year's best metal album so far. Period.