Neil McKenzie - Bare Buff

There's a fair bit of nepitism here, as Neil is my partner in Keep It Creative. Bare Buff is Neil McKenzie's debut album. He has been playing music for as long as I can remember, but the concept of him singing is a relatively new thing, which previously only happened if he'd had a few and there was no one else around who knew the words to Pearl Jam songs.

During some downtime, and with a fair amount of goading from his peers, he finally put together an album of songs. I had the draft mixes sent to me in dribs and drabs over the weeks he was mixing the tracks. It was initially pretty difficult to listen to one of my best mates singing. We are so used to hearing singers on the radio, that it can be quite off-putting when you know the singer.

Track 1 - The Plough - The album opens timidly with a song which celebrates taking five minutes out when you are at a party and pondering a little bit while you watch the stars. It's a song that I think almost everyone can relate to. The mixing and combination of the instruments is dense and spacey. Neil's vocals are mixed too low, which is probably a reason that the singer shouldn't mix and produce the album themselves. The mood is very ponderous.

Track 2 - Dead Saints and Gandalf - Track 2 picks up the pace and the mood. The track tells the story of traveling in Romania and alludes to a mistrust of priests. It does so with some humour and Neil manages to rhyme Diarrhea with Dacia. The track is pretty strong, even though it doesn't have a clear structure.

Track 3 - Run Away - This song is pure pop. It has one of the best choruses on the album. The song has a great interplay between two guitars where the arpeggios return to the mood of track one. while Neil may not be the greatest of singers, the dual vocal parts of the chorus are uplifting and makes the chorus instantly recognisable.

Track 5 - Forgotten Memories - After a short palette cleanser(Track 4) This is the first inaccessible song on the album. The lyrical content talks of endless summer nights spent partying with friends. These are presented over a very melancholic fingerstyle guitar passage. Different soundscapes drift in and out behind the song to emphasise the songs themes. It is a nice effect, but I'm glad every song on the album isn't like this.

Track 6 - Fluffy memories - This is a pretty simple song which trundles along with an off kilter rhythm built from a dense guitar sound played against a drum loop. The song is nice enough and it's simple construction makes it different from most songs on the album

Track 7 - Elegant Architecture Doesn't Generally Create Function - After two more experimental tracks, this is a return to form. An acoustic guitar plays some beautiful chords which are eventually joined by some valvey electric guitar to create a questioning chord progression. The vocals are very fragile in places, but this humanises and highlights the honesty of the sentiment.

Track 9 - Shadow on my shoulder - After another palette cleanser, Neil gives us a purely acoustic number. It's a good solid song. It has tinges of Neil Young circa heart of gold.

Track 10 - Whisky before bed - This is one of the strongest tracks on the album. It has a wonderful spacey slide guitar which I think is the closest Neil gets to country. Its another song which looks to past memories. It's a recurring theme of the album. Before the song can develop too much of a downer, the outro becomes more uplifting and takes the piss somewhat.

Track 11 - 10 years - This song doesn't just continue a great run. It also introduces Alfons Trosemito who plays guitar on this and track 15(someone else bar). More dense valvey arpeggios give way to a lovely guitar run from Alfons which opens up the vocals to the chorus. The melody and pop sensibilities of the track are very strong and it mixes well with the wonderful lead guitar.

Track 13 - Heaven and Earth got married today - After the final palette cleanser, we get a change of mood. It;s a song which is familiar to me; Sandra and Neil co-wrote it for a wedding a few years back and Neil recorded Sandra playing it for her album. This time it is a duet between Sandra and Neil, and we get a real beauty and the beast experience between the two vocalists. I think it works though and it's nice to hear another timbre of voice on the album.

Track 14 - Blueprint - This is more old mateiral. Its a song from a band Neil was in a few years back. It's a great song, and it makes sense that Neil has picked it up again. Neil singing it gives it a slightly more sombre mood, but it works very well and despite claiming he doesn't do Lead, the solo is pretty good.

Track 15 - Someone else bar - We get more Alfons on this track which provides a great penultimate song for the album. The guitar work and composition ease the burden of what is quite a dour song. After a wall of harmonies the guitar drips with emotion as the outro re-emphasises the fruitless frustration of the song.

Track 16 - Make History - In order not to end the album on a downer, Neil closes off with a Ukulele! Ed Vedder would be proud. Its very difficult to write a sad song on a ukulele, and this is no exception. It is a mantra to the listener(or more likely to Neil himself) on making history by writing great songs.

All in all the album is a great achievement. Neil has written, recorded and produced the album and plays almost everything on the albums this includes guitar, bass, drums, vocals, keyboards and ukuleles. This is probably the best and worse thing about the album. The achievement is impressive, but I think the songs could sound even better if they had been honed by a band and a few more heads had been involved in the final recording. I know Neil feels the same way, and tried for some time to get people motivated in Amsterdam. Given the options available I think he did very well, and this is a great first effort. The songs drip with the emption and the determination to have got these thoughts out before now. I think now that the tap has been opened we can expect much more self-penned work from Neil.

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Moo - Wanted

I first discovered Moo in a bar(Maloe Melo) in Amsterdam. I was there to see another band who they were supporting. As soon as I walked in. I saw some cowboy hats and heard the familiar twang and though. "Oh no… it's a country band". I'm not a big fan of country. I am slowly getting into Johnny Cash via the American Recordings, but in general country doesn't do it for me.

I soon realised, that they had a pretty good energy and that it probably would't be too bad. They must have seen me coming, because the next song they did was the theme from the TV programme Rawhide. I'm sure there is a TV programme called rawhide, but I know it from the Blue Brothers. I'm sold. They clearly have a good enough knowledge of good music to push the boundaries of their three man country punk.

I picked up a copy of their album - Wanted.

Other than one original, the album is made up covers. For the most part these are pretty well known, and many of them were not written for a country three piece.

The band are dublin based but are fronted by charismatic Italian called Claudio Mercante. How he found country or how he ended up in Dublin is a mystery to me. Luckily he sings without a hint of an agent - Irish, Italian or otherwise, so the music remains pure.

The album is very well recorded. No thrills, and it sounds like it could have been recorded just about any time in the past 50 years, if it wasn't for the fact that their are Gnarls Barkley covers on it.

Claudio is ably supported by Darren Flynn on bass, and Art Lorigan on drums. Both perform back up vocals. Darren is full of energy and according to the bands Facebook photos, looks like Jesus with a hangover. I think this is a perfect description, but I've also realised it fits me a little as well. My apologies to Art - he was tucked away in the corner in Amsterdam, so I never saw him. He provided a great backbone and provides a great backbone on the album.

The album never takes itself too seriously, and I think almost everyone will know at least a few songs already. The guitar work is wonderful. The band are by no means a novelty band. The song choice wouldn't include and amazing rendition of 'Lucky' by Radiohead if this were the case. They would have chosen Creep. No that I've heard it I want more. The problem with basing a band on genre is that they have painted themselves into a corner a little. Will an album of original songs be as much fun? Until then, if you are looking for some rocking music for your collection then you could do worse than picking up this album.

The band have their own website.

They can be found on Facebook here

And you can support the boys by buying their album here:

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Fonz Fonzarelly - Recording to Kill

Fonz Fonzarelly is the stage name of Alfons Trosemito - a guitarist, songwriter and rapper from Amsterdam. For his first album he chose to show off his rapping and guitar playing skills on an album of hip hop songs.

Track 1 - Mr Punchline - The album kicks off with a dark beat. Fonz's rap sits on top of an urban beat which is augmented with some thick rhythmic metal guitar which is reminiscent of Van Halen. It makes for a pretty original urban sound. The best of several world.

Track 2 - Get down with me - A 'Karate kid' sample adds a little humour to the dark urban beats coming out of the speakers. The beat and the guitar lines build tension as fonz spits words out at you.

Track 3 - Straight to the bank - This is a total change of mood. A loungey beat gives way to a balladey chorus. In this track, the rapping plays second fiddle to a hooky chorus.

Track 4 - Take a chance - This tracks with urban aggression, and is one of the standout tracks on the album. A masterful solo, pulls it out of the urban genre, and points to Fonz's eclectic roots.

Track 5 - Take Over - Fonz ditches the drum machines and samplers for a real band(Special Delivery Crew). He loses none of his aggression and the band provide a solid groove for Fonz's rapping noodling on the guitar.

Track 6 - 112 bars - This has a Housier backing and font keeps the pace perfectly.

Track 7 - It;s so hard - Fonz drops into Ballad mood and the guitar follows. It sounds like it should be played at midnight on the roof tops as a soundtrack to a dark movie like the crow. Fonz sings the chorus straight with a fragile voice, which provides a good respite to the rapping.

Track 8 - Sick Hop - Fonz returns to thick rapping over urban beats. Its a good track, and a great beat.

Track 9 - The Battle - This track features Armageddon from The Terror Squad. The first part of the track is a battle between Armageddon and Fonz. The second part is Fonz' response. His venom is most effective here as he has focus for his anger, and the two songs on this track are standout points on the album.

Track 10 - Armageddon Diss. - More venom from Fonz over a solid ambient style beat.

Track 11 - The fugitive - The album closes very well with a track featuring Knonam It's a good solid track. The track features more '80's child nostalgia' with reference to the Cobra Kai and samples of Tommy Lee Jones in the fugitive.

The album pushes the boundaries of what we should expect from a hip hop album, with some very original beats and some lightening fast guitar. With such a multitalented musician, it's unclear what Fonz will do next. He is at home in multiple genres, the only thing guaranteed is that its sure to be interesting.

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XAD - Distant Future EP

XAD are band that I know from Amsterdam. They are fronted by Ted Egger, and a supporting cast of drummers, bass players and keyboard players who have changed in the years that I have known Ted.

They have one EP on iTunes called Distant Future. It contains 4 songs. I've seen XAD live in various forms around Amsterdam. The first thing that will strike you is that Ted is not a singer. Christina Aguilera's job is safe. He's pretty awful, but whether he has 'wee man syndrome' or whether he is tone deaf and thinks he can sing - he is awful with confidence. This puts us firmly and squarely in the grunge vocal department. He kind of sounds like a love sick Mark Arm(Mudhoney)


The EP opens with 1981. The sound is very dense and busy, but the melodies are strong and poppy. This shows off the music's Smashing Pumpkins influences, and the track sounds like a cross between the Stooges and Adore-Era pumpkins.

On track 2 - Death Forever, the themes of lost love are more potent. As with the first track, the vocals are doubled. This makes them slightly less grating, but in places the vocals sound like Officer Zed from the Police Academy movies. The video for the song is shown below.

No time for us - More obvious electronic beats, and more ponderous complaining of past lost love. This is my least favourite track on the EP. A directionless guitar solo highlights the downer mood of the track. The video for the song is shown below.

Track 4 - Tangerine Dream picks the pace up somewhat by returning to the dense 'industrial pop' sound. It isn't as strong as tracks one and two though.

All in all - XAD is quite a strange experience. I can easily relate to it through the strong grunge and Smashing Pumpkins overtones, but the downer nature of the music means that I think a full album in this mood would be quite a challenging listen. The dense wall of over produced instruments is mixed quite well, but this and the thickly effected vocals builds a barrier between band and listener, so although emotions are bared throughout the songs, there are big bridges to cross to relate to the musical content. The Melodies are however, highly infectious which makes you come back again and again. I think if Ted can put an album together, there will be a hardcore fan base of disaffected love sick teenagers who will fall in love with his music.

XAD FB page

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Tamira - Anatomy of a Heart

Tamira is another one of Neil's proteges. I listened to the album for a long time before I met her so I have a less biased opinion of the album than I did with Sandra.

The album opens with onverwacht bericht, which google tells me means "unexpected message" in Dutch. The acoustic guitar sounds beautifully warm and Tamira starts singing in Dutch. It's a trance experience listening to someone sing pop in a foreign language. It's a nice enough song, but us xenophobic Brits struggle with anything thats not English. It's a good start to the album and it makes you wonder what's coming next.

Track 2 - I still love you - The vocals move to English and I can relate to them a little more. The vocals are a little fragile. She needs more confidence, but it adds to the mood of lost love in the song. It's good balladey pop.

Track 3 - Forbidden Fruit - With a full band, Tamira's songs start to find their stride. The song continues the theme of past relationships, but a rousing chorus keeps the pop sensibilities on the button.

Track 4 - Black Clouds - The songs are getting better and better, another great chorus is supported by great guitar part which shows some country influences.

Track 5 - High Hopes - This has a much darker feel, and doesn't give the listener the benefit of pace until it gets to the Chorus. The stop-start nature of the song gives you an idea of the frustration of another broken relationship. The song gladly has a good breakdown, which gives the song some well needed structure.

Track 6 - Shut and kiss me - This returns to the acoustic singer songwriter style and has an innocence and Tamira pleads with the object of her affections to just get on with the job.

Track 7 - Danger - In this song Tamira wears her Anouk. Disappointingly Anouk is a female singer from The Netherlands, and not a band named after the dog from The Lost Boys. She is a popular peddler of songs about men who have annoyed her in the past, and this is a song in that vein.

Track 8- You - This is a duet with Kevin O'Donoghue. Tamira tells the object of her desires how pissed off she is. Kevin's singing is wonderful but the song reminds you how young Tamira is, or was when she was writing these songs.

Track 9 - Hi! My name is Randy! - This is one of the stand out track of the album. Tamira takes the reins and tells the a boy that she's taking control. The song has heavy punk influences. The song doesn't overstay it's welcome and finishes with an erratic solo by Neil.

Track 10 - Dad - Tamira's voice sounds very powerful on this track. The song is in two parts, with an electric breakdown in the middle, before it returns to the warmth of just Tamira and her guitar.

Track 11 - I feel whole again - The track is a wonderful way to finish the album, capitulating the main themes. Tamira decides that despite all the emotions she's being laying bare, that she feels whole and every thing is rosy and solved. The song opens with a glockenspiel, giving it an innocence and sleepiness.

Since listening to this album, I have met Tamira. She has come on leaps and bounds since she recorded this, and it stands now as a great record of her first set of songs. There's a real innocence in these songs. She never tries too hard and she just gets on with it. The lyrical content is immature in places, but this adds to the lo-fi feeling of the album. I can't wait for the follow-up because she's a talented girl and I think it will be wonderful.


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List to the album on Spotify