Welcome to the meandering musical insights of Aaron Joy (me!), formerly known as the Roman Midnight Music Blog. Here you'll find nearly 750 reviews of CDs & DVDs of rock & metal in all its variations, mainstream & indie, good & bad, U.S. & foreign. A new review every Monday.

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May 10, 2012

OT-musicboy ~ jump over (a fence of electric sound) (album review) ... If only there was a gate in the fence!


Style: folk rock, alt rock
Label: self-released
Year: 2010
Home: Greece

Members: OT-musicboy ~ guitars/bass/drums/vocals
Noukas Sotiris ~ piano/drums/b. vocals

Additional: Hypnelia, Rebecca "Becky Blue" Perhanidou ~ b. vocals

What if Ian Astbury of the Cult/The Doors Of the 21st Century was fronting an early plaintive R.E.M.? This was the first thing that came to mind when I put on this debut solo release from OT-musicboy. The next thought was how enjoyable this is from the first note to the last & before the first song is even over. A mix of folksy acoustic (i.e. "Did You Tell Your Mother") that transitions back & forth effortlessly & unnoticeably to electronic alt rock of the R.E.M. musical end of the underground (i.e. "You Knew") or perhaps more akin to Bob Mould (for example, "Dance (With The Musicboy)"). Over it is a deep voice intoning calmly true prose-poetry with the same vibe of Ian Astbury singing with the Doors (for example, "You knew", "Rock N' Roll Gun", "1000 Screamin' Monkeys", "Lonely"). It's an unsettling concoction for no other reason than it really doesn't sound like any other music out there, while music shouldn't be this enjoyable & soothing so quickly. It's hard to struggle against enjoying this modest release. There's even a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun with backing vocals & singing about largely non-sensical fun topics (for example, "Sun In The City"). For all the ways I'm describing, & thus raving about, this little treasure you might be surprised you've never heard of OT-musicboy before. That's because he's based in Greece, though born in Austria. But, don't let the ocean stop you from checking this out, as with the internet there is no boundaries & it'll be well worth binging for. It's a delightful indie release that really sounds original & unique, what so many bands claim but don't fulfill, with all the cliched sounds & lyrics far far away, or at least feeling like they are. Though, it should be mentioned that for a album where the focus feels more on the vocals than the guitar "Jump Over" opens with a nearly one minute wannabe David Gilmour solo that sits out of place on the album before going into a bluesy little instrumental, providing a fun moment before for the final song. I would skip the opening & go right to the drum beat. While the opening is slightly repeated as a bridge, I'd just leave it as a bridge. The album does conclude with the unnecessary dance club version of "Dance (With The Musicboy)". The original is a glam styled rocker that's pretty danceable & too close in feel to make an alternative version necessary.



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