22 May 2013
Elliot Brown - Road To Destruction album review
28 Aug 2011 // A review by Alistar3000
At first I didn’t know what to make of Northland’s Elliot Brown. His claims of alt-country put me off, not being a genre I usually get into too much. But I came away from listening to the album impressed; by his songwriting and arranging, by the depth of his music, and by the experimentation and choices of instrumentation that aren’t usually associated with country music, alt or otherwise.
Right from the choice of opening track, the traditional Cruel Mother, appearing here as a duet with Hariet Ellis and accompanied only by a knitting needle (yes, you read that right, a knitting needle), it was clear that this was going to be something different.
Brown wrote about half the songs on the album, his second as a solo artist, with the rest being traditional tunes arranged by him or written by other country artists. It’s perhaps a credit to his talents as a musician that it’s often difficult to tell the difference between his own compositions and those he has arranged.
His own songs tend towards themes of being down and out, or “general wretchedness” in his own words, and have a blues philosophy behind many of them.
It’s a shame that Road to Destruction has been given such a low key release as it deserves more. It’d be nice to see it repackaged professionally and marketed more widely, but Brown has a strong desire to give his music away, or have people pay what they want for it, meaning that without label backing it will always be a struggle to give his music the treatment it deserves.
Road To Destruction
View Track Listing
View Track Listing
Tweet
About Elliot Brown
Elliot is a primarily self-taught guitarist and vocalist, receiving his first guitar and lessons from his father at the age of six, and only a few lessons from a professional jazz/classical musician at the age of twelve. Studying a variety of the greatest artists of many disciplines, he has absorbed lessons in classical harmonies from artists such as Bach, vocal harmonies of Brian Wilson, with haunting lyrics inspired by a love of the work of Edgar Allen Poe. He attributes much of his passion to his love of folk and classic country artists, such as Bill Monroe and Hank Williams. Elliot Brown’s music captures the full spectrum of human emotion with his complex melodies and visual lyrics. His talent is self-evident, or as Kim Freiderich of Punk Globe says, “[Elliot is] a man with so much talent that it made me stop and drop what I was doing…I found myself listening to his songs one by one over and over… mesmerized with what I was hearing.” Kim goes on to point out; “You are not signed to a label, which I find quite funny since it’s been a long time since I have heard this much talent.” This is a common response to Elliot's magic. Paul Gallagher of Under the Radar and 95bFM who has played his music “religiously” says, “[He is] one of the more under-appreciated troubadours of New Zealand music, Elliot Brown has been a force of lyrical talent for as long as I have known him”; going on to add, “There has always been a mix of brutally earnest honesty within Elliot's music and a thematic blues folk aesthetic of an Dylan / Bo Diddley / Winston Churchill-speech quoting odyssey.”
Elliot’s debut album Delirium Tremens features 21 songs recorded over the last two years, with samplings from both The Stomps and Elliot Brown and the Candy Caps, recorded by Gundry Audio, and is available for sale at Amazon, download at iTunes and available for sample on his WebPages. Elliot is continuing to compose music, write lyrics and record tracks for his upcoming album, expected to be completed by January of 2011. Currently, Elliot is playing venues based in New Zealand, But with a solid fan base of 27,000 in the USA, is also planning a tour of the United States within the Year.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Elliot Brown
Releases
Other Reviews By Alistar3000
The Upbeats - Primitive Technique Album Review
21 Apr 2013 // by Alistar3000
Wellington drum and bass duo The Upbeats have forged a reputation over the past 9 years for their hard hitting, dance inducing tracks and they’ve kept to that winning formula on their latest release, Primitive Technique. It’s packed full of 14 huge tracks, ranging from the jaunty One Step, to the almost menacing opening track Beyond Reality, with a few mellower tracks thrown in for good measure.
Read More...
Tahuna Breaks - Live @ San Francisco Bathhouse, Wellington - 13/04/2013
14 Apr 2013 // by Alistar3000
I’ve been listening to the new Tahuna Breaks album, Shadow Light, a bit lately and got to go see the release show for it at Wellington’s San Francisco Bathhouse on Saturday. I’d enjoyed the album, which is quite energetic, upbeat and fun, so I was expecting a pretty good show from the Auckland 7-piece.
Read More...
Tahuna Breaks - Shadow Light Album Review
07 Apr 2013 // by Alistar3000
Tahuna Breaks were one of those bands that I’d heard mentioned a lot but never got around to listening to, until I got sent a copy of their third album Shadow Light. After listening to it I don’t know why these guys aren’t better known here, or why I hadn’t listened to them earlier.
Read More...
Beastwars - Blood Becomes Fire Album Review
07 Apr 2013 // by Alistar3000
Beastwars’ debut album in 2011 was an impressive display of sludge that garnered them a lot of attention, so I was a little apprehensive when I found out that I would be reviewing the follow up, Blood Becomes Fire. Would it be as good?
Read More...
Urbantramper - Tomorrow We Leave Here EP Review
24 Mar 2013 // by Alistar3000
Wellington’s Urbantramper really impressed me with last year’s album Internet Freedom Is Love. I really liked their blend of indie folk and downbeat electronica – it had a dark streak through it that I found interesting, yet they maintained a pop feel to their songs.
Read More...
Badd Energy - Underwater Pyramids Album Review
17 Mar 2013 // by Alistar3000
When I tried listening to the new Badd Energy album the first time I had to stop it and walk away. There was something about it that just put me off and I couldn’t listen to it.
Read More...
Homegrown 2013 Review
11 Mar 2013 // by Alistar3000
The 2nd of March brought the annual Homegrown festival to Wellington once more and I headed along to get some photos, check out some bands I hadn’t seen live before and soak up the atmosphere of 17,000 happy music fans enjoying the best of our local talent. Last year I seemed to spend most of my time at the Rock Stage, so this year I thought I’d try and check out the stages where I wouldn’t normally hang out.
Read More...
Killing Bear and About The Deadlines @ Mighty Mighty, Wellington, 15/02/13
20 Feb 2013 // by Alistar3000
Wellington was treated to not one, but two, album releases last Friday at Mighty Mighty. Kapiti duo Killing Bear and Wellington four-piece About The Deadlines both had new recordings to celebrate and where better to do it than at Mighty Mighty.
Read More...
Most Viewed Artists
Gigs Today
- Tenacious D
THE BEDFORD @ CPSA BUIDLING - Battle of the Bands - Semi 3
KINGS ARMS TAVERN - Battle of the Bands - Semi 3
THE JUICE BAR @ WINDSOR CASTLE - Indigo Wolf
DARK ROOM - Mantis
DUX LIVE - Nadia Reid
THE MOORINGS - Von D (FRA)
SANDWICHES - NZ Music Month Gig
ARANUI LIBRARY - Massive Explosion
MIGHTY MIGHTY - Paperscissors
BODEGA
Latest Galleries
NZ Top 10 Singles
- BLURRED LINES
Robin Thicke feat. TI And Pharrell - GET LUCKY
Daft Punk feat. Pharrell - LET HER GO
Passenger - RADIOACTIVE
Imagine Dragons - AFRICA
Toto - ROYALS
Lorde - FEEL THIS MOMENT
Pitbull feat. Christina Aguilera - CAN'T HOLD US
Macklemore And Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - MIRRORS
Justin Timberlake - SKINNY LOVE
Birdy
More Content on muzic.net.nz
Google Site Search
Custom Search
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report A Problem
