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:

Amazon link
iTunes Link

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.

Amazon link
iTunes link

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

iTunes link

Amazon Link

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.


iTunes link

Amazon link

List to the album on Spotify

Danalyze - Debut

For anyone who has spent any time in the Amsterdam music scene in the last 5 years, Danalyze(Danielle Cornelissen) is a well known face. As with many cities, Amsterdam has an active Singer Songwriter scene. On a good day, this can be a breeding ground for organic musical talent. On a bad day, it's a bunch of bedroom wannabes singing songs about the one that got away.(Listen to my album - I'm chronically guilty of this.)

Danalyze is at home in the Singer/Songwriter mould, but she also gets out a little and mixes with the jam sessions and has enough charisma and stage presence to pull together a bunch of unknown musicians and run through a cover or one of her own songs. Danalyze has a seemingly endless stream of self penned number, but she has chosen 4 for her debut EP.

Tracks 1, 2 and 3 are recorded in the studio and track 3 is recorded live in Amsterdam.

Track 1 is Overseas. It has a interesting rhythmic chord structure which is almost reminiscent of a sea shanty, but the main point of interest is in the vocals which are at the forefront of the mix. they are haunting and high without falling into the Mariah Carey warbling trap of many a female singer songwriter. The song is more of a ponderous start than an album opener.

Track 2 - My Kind Of Love. The strong chord structure played as arpeggios immediatly demands attention which is strengthened by a great vocal. The song definitely has a strong potential, it has the same haunting nature as track 1, but with a strong pop hook. The song, however could do with some editing. It is a great chorus, but the song is all chorus and it struggles not to overstay its welcome when there is only guitar and vocals in the mix. The song is essentially the relentless repetition of an amazing chorus.

Track 3 - Is recorded live - I guess it's in Amsterdam somewhere. It has a similar driving rhythm to the first track. Its a good track, but I think it needs a band to carry the rhythm.

Track 4 - Is a very good track, and probably the most complete on the EP. The chorus isn;t as good as "My kind of love", but the structure of the song and the pace of the song give the song a little more depth.

I'm not a huge fan of female singers. I often hear something that I like, but it rarely stays long in my regular playlist. There are a few exceptions(Rosie Thomas). Danalyze has a lot of potential, and I would love to see her find the time to record a full album of her songs properly. I know that she can carry a band, so I think it would be great if she could find the right bunch of musicians to platy her songs to the masses.

iTunes link
Amazon Link
Danalyze on ReverbNation

Sandra Sunshine: ....in two planets....

Very little can be said about Sandra Söderman that doesn't sound clichéd or hasn't been said before about a less deserving individual. The difference is that with Sandra it's all true.

Sandra is an explosion of colour who lights up even the darkest environment. Taking her cue from the hippy era of the 60's, Sandra has crafted a song writing style which belies her years. With a Technicolor dreamcoat that would make Joseph jealous she can be found honing her talent on the streets of Amsterdam with G.I.B.(Her equally colourful guitar) strapped to her back. I first came across Sandra, when I was over in Amsterdam visiting a Neil who was recording her album at the time.

While Sandra comes across as having he head in the clouds; when she wants something she gets it and she quickly learned to play guitar and write songs. As she found her feet in Amsterdam, she put together a set of songs which she played around the street. Neil McKenzie decided that he coud record these in his living room, and the concept of '...in two plants...' was born.

Track 1 - Raise Your Sunshine - This track is a great opener and a great introduction to Sandra. The album kicks off with a lonely accordion, before Sandra picks up the pace with her guitar and pleads with the listener to open their mind and arms raise some sunshine. It sums Sandra up perfectly. She just wants everyone to be happy.

Track 2 - It's better to burn out than to fade away - A Neil Young quote continues Sandra's quest to change the world. It now comes with a little bit of melancholy. The amazing thing about Sandra is that if she were just a colourful hippy who was constantly trying to make everyone smile, the act would get old pretty quickly, but the hint of melancholy in her songs tells you that she knows why smiling is an ongoing fight.

Track 3 - I'm gonna be brave - Sandra's fragility comes to the fore, and she overcomes her inner demons to follow her heart.

Track 4 - I'm a Troll - I'm a troll has a beautiful arpeggiatted chord progression which provides a good respite from the strummy nature of most of the songs. Sandra tells a fantasy of being being born as a troll and found in the woods.

Track 5 - Stop your endless fighting - The album builds depth with the introduction of an electric piano on a song where Sandra lays her politics on the table and tells everyone that they need to stop fighting. By this point, you regress to the naive 60's opinion that this can be achieved through music alone. If everyone in the world could meet Sandra, then it might just be possible.

Track 6 - Give us peace in our hearts and souls - This continues the theme of spreading peace around the world, and Sandra's frustration that it does;t happen comes to the fore.

Track 7 - Heaven and Earth got married today - This is the only song on the album which had a co-writer(Neil McKenzie). The opening chords suggest that we are going on a journey and that there is a ballad to be told. The song tells the story of two of Sandra's friends getting married and this was gifted as the wedding present. The song presents love and the power of love through Sandra's eyes and is a true gem of a song with a rousing chorus. Neil must have liked it, as he included it as a duet with Sandra on his album.

Track 8 - what's the meaning of a dream - The album closes with more fantastical pondering from Sandra's well worn and beaten guitar. Sandra tells you what she is bringing to the table and questions what man does to the dream of the earth.

The title of the album is a perfect description of the dichotomy of Sandra. She wants smiles and peace and colour, but there is a beating heart within which clearly knows that the world can sometimes through you a curve ball. This and her innate talent make for some seriously compelling music.

Sandra has now headed off to Chile to bring her colour and personality to a new continent. She has no plans for super stardom, but she has a new project called Laughing Life. For those lucky enough to meet her she will leave an impression on you for the rest of your life.

Buy Sandra's album on Amazon


Buy Sandra's album on iTunes