“The song explodes into its final field, reverting back to this idea of the land of hope and glory, these references to death and suffering; the music is heavy and chaotic, vibrant and loud, and the vocal offers a similar level of madness and desperation as the words pour through.”
Rock
“I can’t stop making music. I’m an artist. I don’t think I’d know what to do with myself if I wasn’t creating art or making music. I’m not good at fishing or golf.”
Strong is an interesting song for many reasons – not least the refusal to adhere to the usual trappings of work in this genre. It’s classic songwriting that has enough spice to mark it out as a thoughtful development on Mark’s previous releases.
The ever stylish and unpredictable TexMex Shaman has pushed the boundaries even further of late, presenting music fans with a decidedly creative and refreshing take on a classic – The Commodores’ infamous Easy. We loved the cover, so we caught an interview with the man behind the music to find out more about what inspired it and what’s … Continued
TexMex Shaman’s return this month brings an explicitly unique cover of a summertime classic. In his own words, when approaching this yesteryear hit from The Commodores, TexMex Shaman tried to ‘keep the soul and change the shoes;’ a brilliantly fitting phrase that actually perfectly well encapsulates the journey you’re about to embark upon.
Containing the slightly punky spirit of bands like Dr. Feelgood, it’s well produced, performed and presented – and hooky. It deserves to do well.
Lonely builds and bubbles up in a perfectly emotional manner, right the way through until its ultimate, beautifully chaotic breaking point. A powerful and timeless track that brings together unquestionable purity and pain from the depths of the human experience.
There’s a hint of Rage Against The Machine to this style of performance, a welcomed nod to music’s past, though the UK twang and that classic hip hop confidence help take things somewhere decidedly refreshing.
Mashing up spoken word, hardcore, rock, pop and more besides, we are taken by the hand and yanked through a blizzard of exciting changes. The highly intelligent and witty mix makes features out of the shouted word ‘fuck’ one minute and a single delicate tap of the bell of a ride cymbal the next.
It sounds like an intentional anthem to me: full of aspirational language, flourishes of gospel ad-libbing and a choir of supporting voices adding warming colours that bloom into the arrangement as the piece progresses. Come on, America – you’d better do as it says.
They write from a place of depth, and they craft their songs based on those intentions & feelings – they don’t sit down & say ‘let’s write a country song, let’s write something blues-rock’, the concept & the moment comes first, which gives them purpose, and a quickly unique vibe that runs throughout these four songs.
A lot of reviewing is predicated upon making comparisons between the subject and other acts that the readership might know, but with The Lost Millions, this is more of a challenge than usual, and that’s a real feather in their cap.