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It has been a while since I did a music review. I started these reviews as I came across a lot of “free downloads” in the Bandcamp site. The genre of music of these downloads were of a: “punk, acoustic, anarchist, electric, protest, ukulele…” genre… yep quite a mix. And I happened to click on the digital link as it mentioned “name your price” which I did do… zero! and I started to download.
Well, although I am in for a bargain, I also believe to give back in other ways. So, the result being this blog posting about a band, group, solo performers, who let us have their music for free… lets hope it bring them some recognition.
The artist is called “Captain Chaos” and the recording is called “156 songs”, and yes he gives you 156 songs in his download zipped file. He is from the USA, I can not remember where. His CD cover is of a group of stuffed toy monkeys sitting on a CD box with a safety-pin through one of its noses… that gave me a chuckle.
When I first heard his music, I thought it has a loose rambling style like the old blues artists of the 1950s, how they tell a story using very few chord progressions…often only 1 chord. Then if you mix in a pinch of Skiffle, and humour, story telling, singing and shouting… you begin to get the idea.
You might be thinking what the hell is this USA music doing on a Carlisle punk band blog? Well if you are brave enough to go over to the “International Dole Cheques” page or to hear my “Business Controlled” acoustic recordings you will see what this is all about. It is about “getting off your arse and doing something”.
This guy is from the USA and I like that, because once upon a time, we were starved of information about music, now we can hear it and realise that what we were doing in the 80s is what someone is doing now… and for me that’s it is worth a listen.
His lyrics are not the most detailed in the world, but that is ok, and I quite like the “novel style” of writing that could take you in any direction, as any good story could do. He articulates well so you can follow what he is talking about… important in any story.
For example song 51, tells of how he moved into a new apartment and started a band, song 1, tells of how he robbed a bank and got away with it, song 117 last barely a minute and is a poem about a lost love… short or long he has a style.
The recording quality is ok, i mean they are done on the cheap and he must have recorded them live without any multitracking, but it comes across fine, D.I.Y. is fine. I like his style, he has a humour and he has the balls to pull it off. He does not take himself too seriously (I hope) and the lyrics entertain… they draw you in and sit you down and give you a cup of coco while they sing you to sleep. “No surprises please…” and you don’t get any except being pleasantly surprised.
Give it a listen over your cup of coco…and see what you get, if you get something totally different that is ok too… it might lead you somewhere else nice.
click here to go to bandcamp’s Captain Chaos – 156 Songs
