Monday, March 29, 2010

Rehashing Old Business...

I’ve been back in Palm Springs for almost a week now and still having lots of neck, shoulder and arm pain.  The upside - relatively cheap and powerful drugs.  Unfortunately, I’m still not up to snuff re: my typing skills.  So, I decided to repost some older reviews of some of my most favoritist artists for the next few days, just in case you missed them first time around.  
Hopefully I’ll be back on the horse in a few days and ready to pummel you with new material.
S.
Patrick Doval (originally posted 11/27/09)
Digging through my Myspace Friends’ Friends I found this recording/video artist named Parick Doval and instantly fell in love with his sound.  So much so that I went right to itunes and purchased his two collections: Deliverance and Fractured.  Very retro-eighties proto/pre/post - or whatever - goth, psychedelia ala early New Order, Cure, Siouxsie, etc.  His videos likewise possess that same naive early MTV quality - they dare to be artsy as opposed to the banal, unabashed lifestyle porn that most video ‘artists’ currently strive to embody.   
I especially appreciate his use of the bass as a musical instrument (rather than as a tool for irritating one’s neighbors at 3am - Uh oh, am I showing my age here?).
He’s unsigned, and his recordings are, as with most unsigned artists and their very limited budgets, a bit raw.  But I think that actually works in his favor, lending his music that uncluttered, underproduced sound that made bands such as Bauhaus and Joy Division so distinctive.  
Standout songs:
Ashes of Life:  Reminds me a lot of post-Joy Division-New Order (when they were still fresh and original).  Although Patrick’s vocals foil the comparison, being more dramatic and vibrant than Bernard Sumner’s deadpan monotone.  The video is also a lot of fun.  Can’t get the freakin’ song out of my head.
Don’t let me go:  Sounds like it could be a lost track from some early Cure album, say Seventeen Seconds or Pornography.  Extremely haunting and moodily melodic.  Another one I can’t stop thinking about.  
Many Faces: More aggressive and Industrial than the others.  Reminds me a bit of Gary Numan’s more recent work.  
Also:
Empty Road
Turbulence
Caged
OK, no matter how much I write here, it won’t do justice to Doval’s music.  I urge you to check him out.  Really great, compelling material.
For more info on Patrick you can visit these sites:
Download Patrick Doval at Apple iTunes

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