Chris Murray: new album ahoy!
Posted by jamie on Jan 5, 2012
Excellent news: it’s nearly time for a new Chris Murray record. Here’s what the man himself has told us:
Chris Murray Combo is currently recording our second album,
which features all unreleased original material and is going to be
totally awesome!
Watch this space. As soon as we know more, we’ll tell you. Thanks, Chris!
Here’s me hugging him:
Resolution 242: 49 Million Eyes
Posted by jamie on Jan 3, 2012
Resolution 242
49 Million Eyes – Self Released, 2011
30th December, 2011
Jamie
This is an absolute joy. For starters, 49 Million Eyes, the first single by Resolution 242 is instantly enjoyable for its own sake. Second, it teases that there’s more to come. If you will, it’s at once one bird in the hand and two birds in the bush.
Here, the Res, Stratford-upon-Avon’s progressive, dub/punk-rock/hip-hop pioneers, have delivered another down payment on that rich promise that first made them one of the most talked about bands in the UK.
49 Million Eyes is immediately very distinctive: bold, and exciting in how different it is both from everything else that’s around right now and from what the Res have done before. It’s also impressively mature for a relatively young band.
They’ve boldly set out on the daunting task of bringing together all the eerie splendour and progressive influences in their dub and giving it the energy of a proper punk rock track. To repeat the trick, they’ve gone even further, embellishing the melody and drawing the song out so that all of its elements are indulged as much as they should be in a proper prog track. And then they’ve added not just a rap, but credibly incorporated a genuine hip-hop influence in to the basslines, and, in places the guitars.
When this one drops, it properly detonates. Throughout, the sound is impressively big for a four-piece. It’s got everything. Getting this wrong could easily have been terribly Evanescence, but instead it’s perfect: immensely enjoyable, credible and honest throughout and great for rocking out.
As before, there’s promise of more to come, but now Resolution 242 have raised the bar again. What lies ahead feels even greater than before.
For now, we have this to enjoy.
