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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August 10, 2010

Icky's Ego ~ Icky's Ego (aka debut) (EP) (album review) ... Welcome to the citadel!


Style: hard rock, experimental, progressive
Label: self-released
Year: 2010
Home: Los Angeles, California

Members: David Crocco ~ vocals/percussion/guitar/keyboards
Cela Scott ~ vocals/guitar

Additional: June Kato, Mark Knell, Vreny Van Elslande ~ bass
DeAnn Dallas ~ bass/b. vocals

 



This is a very cool sounding band. Those were the first thoughts that came to my mind listening to their first track "Citadel". It's a really simple response, I know, but what I was hearing was a very understated arrangement & not at all what I expected from the visuals. It was avant-garde yes, but I was expecting symphonic rock. IE is more the lighter side of the White Stripes with an arrangement of simple drums, keyboards, bass, slide guitar & a male & female vocalist playing something that sounds like a prog-rock approach to folk music. All their songs are a variation of this theme but all going in different directions with very original arrangements, & I don't use the word original often or lightly. "Girlfriend" opens with a lone female voice singing out "I'm not your girlfriend just because we did that" with lots of repetition of the words like a blues verse, that shockingly leads into a punk guitar & something that could be out of Blondie's repertoire, though Blondie never sang about secretary fantasies. Original but yet echoing an array of influences. A dance beat underlies many of their songs & I can feel how this band would be really great live with lots of energy. On top of the beat is a very organic sounding band who occasionally sounds like a jam band, though no complicated guitar solos but the fluid music that could change at any minute. There's also a very experimental side to the band with the occasional vocal effect. But, always fun & upbeat, incredibly quirky & a little bit sexy. 

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