UPDATE 29th September 2005
New On The Chart
With a membership that includes former
Williard Grant Conspiracy member Josh Hillman,
Viarosa come to the table with a debut that offers a brooding gothic folk music similar to that of
Nick Cave,
Gallon Drunk's later albums or, most evidently of all,
P. J. Harvey; indeed Richard Neuberg's lyrics, vocal phrasing and even guitar playing clearly owe much to the Yeovil songstress.
Although often replete with the ghostly influences of Appalachia or the Mississippi Delta,
Viarosa rarely sound anything less than British. True,
'All This Worry (Will Soon Be Over) is a straight ahead
Johnny Cash style stomper but it's a track that very much stands out amidst the dark dramatics that surrounds it. Opener
'Blindfold' sounds like the aforementioned Polly Jean crossed with the pharmaceutical madness of
Suede's
'Introducing The Bands' while
'Boy' could be a disgruntled, stripped down version
'A Day In The Life' performed by the less savoury inhabitants of a Constable painting.
If the album starts off strongly, and indeed it does, it loses no momentum in it's closing stages. Rather, if anything, it improves as it inexorably reaches it’s conclusion, with the final three tracks which bookend the album amongst the best on the disc.
'The Violet Hour', perhaps to throw a spanner in the works of anyone trying to pigeon hole the group, could be straight off
Mogwai's
'Young Team' before the more indicative sounding
'Soul Light', a windswept, mandolin-and-steel guitar dramarama, marks the high water mark of the LP.
‘Wake’, a FM radio tune gone masonic and sinister completes the album and with it forty seven minutes of thoroughly engrossing music.
Viarosa’s
‘Where The Killers Roam’ scores 7.18 and enters Konstantiranks at no.7
RELATED LINKS
Find out more about Viarosa here
>>>
http://www.viarosa.co.uk/
KONSTANTIRANKS 2005 (CURRENT STANDINGS)
1. two gallants - THE THROES 7.66
2. edgar 'jones' jones - SOOTHING MUSIC FOR STRAY CATS 7.62*
3. mogwai - GOVERNMENT COMMISSIONS 7.40*
4. the fiery furnaces - EP 7.40*
5. antony & the johnsons - I AM A BIRD NOW 7.38*
6. the broken family band - WELCOME HOME, LOSER 7.23
7. viarosa - WHERE THE KILLERS ROAM 7.18
8. edan - BEAUTY AND THE BEAT 7.16
9. arcade fire - FUNERAL 7.15*
10. the white stripes - GET BEHIND ME SATAN 7.12*
11. king creosote - ROCKET D.I.Y 7.12*
12. roots manuva - AWFULLY DEEP 7.08*
13. smog - AIN'T TOO MUCH TO LOVE A RIVER 7.00*
14. mark mulcahy - IN PURSUIT OF YOUR HAPPINESS 7.00*
15. laura cantrell - HUMMING BY THE FLOWERED VINE 7.00*
16. the rakes - CAPTURE/RELEASE 7.00
17. mek obaam - YOU AND I 7.00
18. the go-betweens - OCEANS APART 6.94*
19. caribou - THE MILK OF HUMAN KINDNESS 6.94*
20. teenage fanclub - MAN MADE 6.91*
21. amon tobin - CHAOS THEORY 6.90*
22. four tet - EVERYTHING ECSTATIC 6.88*
23. matt sweeney & bonnie prince billy - SUPERWOLF 6.86*
24. spoon - GIMME FICTION 6.85
25. whitey - THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL IS A TRAIN 6.85*
26. holopaw - QUIT +/OR FIGHT 6.81
27. thievery corporation - THE COSMIC GAME 6.80*
28. fog - 10th AVENUE FREAKOUT 6.76*
29. low - THE GREAT DESTROYER 6.72*
30. clor - CLOR 6.72
31. sons and daughters - THE REPULSION BOX 6.70*
32. lcd soundsystem - LCD SOUNDSYSTEM 6.66*
33. the clientele - STRANGE GEOMETRY 6.66
34. aesop rock - FAST CARS, DANGER, FIRE & KNIVES 6.64*
35. eastern lane - THE ARTICLE 6.63*
36. emiliana torrini - FISHERMAN'S WOMAN 6.62*
37. stephen malkmus - FACE THE TRUTH 6.58
38. malcolm middleton - INTO THE WOODS 6.75*
39. cagedbaby - WILL SEE YOU NOW 6.50
40. vanessa and the o's - LA BALLADE D'O
41. brakes - GIVE BLOOD 6.50
42. beck - GUERO 6.43*
43. bloc party - SILENT ALARM 6.42*
44. sufjan steven - ILLINOIS 6.41
45. minotaur shock - MARITIME 6.41*
46. field music - FIELD MUSIC 6.41
47. jose gonzalez - VENEER 6.40*
48. the shortwave set - THE DEBT COLLECTION 6.30
49. the national - ALLIGATOR 6.19*
50. momus - OTTO SPOOKY 5.53
tbr - quasimoto - THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF LORD QUAS
tbr - coco rosie - NOAH'S ARK
tbr - king creosote - KC RULES OK
tbr - sebastian tellier - POLITICS
All of Konstantiranks can be found here
>>>>
http://www.obner.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=9800