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  • Salon Kingsadore - Its time to get away.- Salon Kingsadore-"Hotel Azteca" album review

Salon Kingsadore - Its time to get away.- Salon Kingsadore-"Hotel Azteca" album review

18 Jun 2006 // A review by Miss_Jukebox
It may not be possible to have a holiday at this frenzied point of the year; however that does not mean you do not need one. You could spend hours of your routine visioning yourself on a distant destination. But, what if you could experience the feeling of a holiday without leaving your home? Salon Kingsadore’s latest album is your ticket to a holiday in a sun-drenched paradise.

Hotel Azteca’ is typical of Salon Kingsadore’s musical journey through an instrumentally curious style of composition. This time, they have reached for the sunscreen and heated up their style with their splash into smoldering sands. As well crafted as this album is, instrumental albums are always a challenge to grasp the audience’s attention. Hotel Azteca is affirmative, blithe and imaginative. It certainly has the ability to transport a listener to somewhere remote which is an appeal in great need by many during this season.

The nine track album is concise with it lasting just over 30 minutes. The opening, and title, track is appropriately forthright with the Hotel Azteca theme. It establishes the mood of the serenity of a late summer afternoon and is a radiant beginning. From there, the following couple of tracks are pleasant enough, but lack that certain something that pulls the audience right in. The songs are not terrible; they can just lose the full attention of a listener because they fall slightly similar. This is the difficulty of instrumental albums, as they are near the point of becoming just background music. However Salon Kingsadore should not be written of as uninspired. Each track is great, some tracks just exceed others. They possess soul throughout their music which timidly flaunts the talent of the individual musicians. In the middle it may unravel slightly, but when track six, Acapulco Gold swings by it lifts the listener back up to the focus. Danger Deep commences with a drum solo, which feels out of place, but is impressive, and revives the ambition of the album. By the distinguished final track Jack Palance, the album is reminded of the dazzling vibe it began with, and suddenly you want the journey to last for just a little bit longer.

Salon Kingsadore are definitely a promising act, one that would have an exciting live atmosphere. Yet, this album does not justify this atmosphere, and can not live up to the high standard of their overall sound. Nevertheless, the album is a delight. It’s bubbly and positive, and is something diverse to brighten up any CD collection. Truthfully, the album is a soundtrack to a tranquil vacation, and it keeps in tune with its upbeat self throughout the duration of it. For everyone out there, it is time you checked yourself into an experience at ‘Hotel Azteca.’

-Janise
 

About Salon Kingsadore

Salon Kingsadore is an upbeat instrumental combo with points of reference as diverse as surf guitar, Jazz, film soundtracks and psychedelic rock.

In early 2000, the band formed and a couple of years later they released the vaguely spy movie-ish EP Flaming Morricone (2002) which, due to the virtuosity of Ruby Chen, is quite possibly the first Rock recording in NZ to feature the Taiwanese zither.

In 2004 they released their debut album Salon Kingsadore, followed by Hotel Azteca (2006) and Mountain Rescue (2010).

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Salon Kingsadore

Releases

Mountain Rescue
Year: 2010
Type: Album
Hotel Azteca
Year: 2006
Type: Album
Salon Kingsadore
Year: 2004
Type: Album
Flaming Morricone!
Year: 2002
Type: EP

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