Unsigned Band Review – South of Saturn

Band Name: South of Saturn

Myspace: www.myspace.com/southofsaturnuk

Reviewer: JLK

Track 1 – 93

OK, this is the first track on their myspace profile, and I’m sccaarreedd!!!!

Weird spacey computerised techno stuff, yuck – me no like…but ooh, hang on, is this porn music?? Expecting to hear “oh yeah baby” , but no – wait, is this the Pet Shop Boys??

This is a rock bands review site, is someone taking the… oooh, blimey, changing again – drums kick in, hmm, that’s a bit better. Still, it’s a bit, erm, soft.

Some of the vocal harmonies are quite nice, other than that – I have to say guys I honestly wouldn’t choose to listen to this track if I wasn’t reviewing it, but I am into heavier stuff than this, so this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad track.

track 2 – Don’t wake me up

What the…..

Naaa, I’m not having this – this is a different band surely?

This starts off brilliantly, I really get the impression that this is the kind of stuff the rest of the band, certainly drums & guitars, are more comfortable with playing – but then the vocals kick in, & everything goes a bit soft & girly again. Oooh, lets go collecting rose petals & make perfume.

I don’t really get it – why go from having such a killer riff, to then having a soft poppy vocal with two guitar tracks twiddling, no chords – just doesn’t sound right. I think this track could be great if you’d kept more true to that initial Riff.

It kicks in again about half way through, and after that the track picks up again, some chords, that’s more like it. I think there’s a bit too much going on in general with this track to be honest, it’s kind of all over the place,  it’s promising – but I’m left confused more than anything. That nice Riff comes in again towards the end, and again – that’s a really nice riff, but for me – this track needs stripping back to the good bits, simplifying, get rid of all the confusing twiddly bits & get back basics, less is more.  Just my opinion.

Track 3 – Second Star To The Right

Ooh, starts off with scary weird stuff again, hmmm, Ahhh – there we go, drums & then a riff – phew.

Again, as with the last track, starts off with a promising Riff, then goes to verses with to guitars twiddling, and then constantly switches from one to the other. It’s simple for me, I like the rocky bits – I don’t like the twiddly bits. I know about trying to create dynamics, but this just doesn’t do it for me. As the last track, I think this track goes all over the place too much also,  folks who come to see you are going to struggle to sing along even after watching you a dozen times.

Track 4 – Bridges

“Are we going to Scarborough Fair?” 

Sorry – I couldn’t resist.

Ok, this is the bit where we all get the lighters out & wave them about.

I like dynamic between the intro & the soft stuff & the heavier stuff in this track, but for me it goes on for too long before the more exciting stuff kicks in, and goes back to the soft stuff too hastily. I’ve also got to say, I don’t really think it’s that kewl to drop the F word (no, not Fish) into a chorus.  I’ve written quite a lot of songs, and when ever I’ve added the F word into a chorus, I’ve cringed & taken it out – just seems really tacky to me. But maybe that’s just me.

Not a bad track, I think it could do more though, it doesn’t quite deliver what I think it could.

Track 5 – All The Same

Ooh, this is different. Starts off very foo fighters – but that’s not as bad thing in my book. Then it switches from the Foos to the Chilli’s, I love the Chilli’s too so that’s fine by me.

I really like this track actually, it’s my favourite of the 5 without a doubt.  I would listen to it, those similarities to foo fighters & chilli’s in the two main parts of the track are really strong, which isn’t necessarily a great thing for you, as a band who’re trying to establish their own sound – but it’s certainly not a bad thing from the listeners perspective.

The Ironic thing is, this track is called “all the same” and actually this is the one track that really stands out for me as not being the same as the others.

Overall Review:

I think these tracks show you’re all great musicians & you have a lot of potential as a band, you’re very tight,  but you’ve only been together for a year, which is no time at all really  – and I think you’re still at the stage where you’re not 100% sure where you’re going yet.

This certainly shows from track to track, and that’s not too bad – but it shows within individual tracks too.

Personally I think you need to decide where you’re going, are you going with the soft poppy stuff with the twiddly guitars – or are you going for the rocky stuff with the meaty riffs?

Having the odd track which is a either left or right of the centre, is fine -  but if you keep writing songs which veer so much off & then snap back the way these tracks do, it’s just confusing to listen to, and I really can’t see you taking off with tracks like that. If someone listens to all your tracks, and they like some but hate some, that’s not too bad – it’s also not worth worrying about that some people will hate all of your tracks – you can’t please everyone, but the way you’re going now I think most people will hate parts of each track, and that’s not good.

You  either love marmite or you hate it (I love it), and the same is true of marmalade,  but if they sold it mixed together – no one would ever buy it, you’d either buy marmite, or marmalade, why would you mix the two in the same jar? Get what I mean?

So – keep it up, you’re tight, you’re good musicians – don’t give up, but do try to make a definite decision about the kind of music you’re going with, are you marmite, or are you marmalade? If one track is marmalade & another track is marmite, that’s not a bad thing, but don’t try to do that within the same track, that’s mixing marmalade & marmite in the same jar – and that just aint right.

JLK

I’ve just had a listen to the tracks here – and I have to say I agree with most of JLK’s comments. I think there’s a mass of talent there, and the songs are pretty well crafted, if a little overly complicated (please – you’re a UK band, leave the ‘complicated for complicated sake’ to the Americans…. ) – but other than that last live track, it’s all a little wishy washy for me – and I list the Carpenters amongst one of my all time fave groups – but at least they knew what they were, and they certainly weren’t trying to pass themselves off as a rock band!!

If you’re heading for the mass market appeal of the Keane/Snow Patrol/similar market, then fair play to you – but you need to market yourself as such, otherwise the reviews will all be along these lines – it’s hard to give a positive review to a ‘rock band’ who clearly aren’t……

Keef