Gattis - E.P.

Gattis - E.P.
2010, Breaking New Records

Will Gattis has been acknowledged to be Maine’s Best Singer/Songwriter (2007), but his talents have been acknowledged all up and down the Eastern Seaboard.  As front man for the band Gattis, Will Gattis mixes his distinctive songwriting style, which is part Paul McCartney and part Ben Folds, with a unique charisma that charms an audience immediately.  On Gattis’ latest effort, the accurately entitled E.P., listeners get a full dose of Will Gattis’ distinctive sense of melody and his eminently listenable voice.

E.P. opens with wonderfully catchy "You And Me".  The song has a timeless melody and a chorus you can't help but sing along to.  Catchy but not overpowering, the song evokes thoughts of The Beatles meets Ben Folds.  You won't be able to get this song out of your head.  "Metropolis" is a gorgeous Ben Folds-style epic ballad about the death of Superman that simultaneously explores society's need for heroes from a quasi-sociological perspective.  This is geek-pop sublime, drenched in a melody so sweet you'll dream about it.  "Lily" is a low-key pop ballad that has the silly sweetness of a McCartney number but the energy and style of a Ben Folds tune.  The chorus, once again, will refuse to vacate your brain.  Gattis closes with "Christopher", a caricature in song about the speed of life and the feeling of getting passed by.  It's a simple, piano-driven arrangement that can't escape comparisons to Folds but is distinctly original nonetheless. 

One thing is abundantly clear; Gattis has a distinctive talent for infectious pop music that both breaks and proves the rules about what a pop song should be.  Names like the Paul McCartney and Ben Folds can't help but come up in a conversation about Gattis, or if you're more Indie rock oriented, think bands such as Woodward and Tally Hall.  Either way, Gattis' E.P. is utterly brilliant pop with quirk and style.  It certainly deserves recognition as a  Certified Desert Island Disc.

Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Gattis at www.willgattis.com or www.myspace.com/gattistheband.  E.P. is available from Amazon.com as a CD or Download.  The album is also available via iTunes.

The Gay Blades - Savages

The Gay Blades – Savages
2010, Triple Crown Records

Lead singer/guitarist James Dean Wells, AKA Clark Westerfield, and drummer Quinn English, AKA Puppy Mills are The Gay Blades.  They might just be two men, but the sound they create is huge.  The Gay Blades continue to surprise and excite fans with a sound that’s rich and dynamic.  On their latest album, Savages, The Gay Blades show themselves as a band maturing from the adolescent glee and irreverence of Ghosts without giving up an ounce of the sound that makes pop radio programmers dance with glee yet satisfies a wide range of music fans.

Savages opens with “Rock N Roll (Part I)”, a catchy and variable rocker with lots of little musical alleys to explore.  Imagine if The Tragically Hip and The Rheostatics did a Glam jam together and you’ll get an idea of the sound here.  “Try To Understand” is an upbeat rocker with a dynamic sound ala 1960’s Tom Jones.  Westerfield has a dynamic and intriguing voice, but he’s particularly hard to understand here as his enunciation is fluid and indistinct.  “Mick Jagger” is a catchy Rolling Stones clone that’s highly tuneful, although Westerfield continues to be hard to decipher. 

“November Fight Song” is among the best songwriting on the album, a song of existential angst about fighting to remain relevant or perhaps even to exist.  The Gay Blades go completely over the top here and succeed smashingly with a song that could rule the radio into the winter.  “Burns And Shakes is catchy and lively, messy and fun; the sort of song that’s right at home in a live set on a Saturday night at your local venue/watering hole.  Melodrama is the word of the day on “Wasted On The Youth”, a stripped- and slowed-down tune full of angst and a detached sort of regret.  “Every Night Is Like A Revival” is the true gem of the set.  Westerfield wears a Freddie Mercury vibe in a large swaying rocker with a great melody.  Savages closes with “This Is How Our Conversation Ends”, a throwaway snippet couched in silence. 

The Gay Blades have their ups and downs on Savages; the material that works well works extremely well, but there are some less than exciting moments on the album as well.  On the whole it’s a solid set from a pair of young bucks who growing into and finding their adult sound.  Savages is likely to appeal to The Gay Blades’ core fans and make them some new ones in the process, and listening to the album is likely to leave you thinking that there’s a lot of great material to come from The Gay Blades.  For now, Savages is a successful transitional album for The Gay Blades.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about The Gay Blades at www.thegayblades.com or www.myspace.com/thegayblades.  Savages is available from Amazon.com as a CD or Download.  The album is also available digitally from iTunes.