Aspen Woods

By Tom Grumpy (Grumpy Man DJ’s www.myspace.com/grumpymanmusic www.grumpyman.co.uk)At last friends it is time to take a trip in the company of Aspen Woods, it’s been a long time coming. Sit down, switch your phone off and step into lush sonic textures which the band have prepared for you.
It’s not a journey that should be rushed, here is an album where you can almost feel the songs stretching and inching their way into life, not that there is anything shy or self-effacing about them. Aspen Woods are rightly confident enough to know that they don’t need to barge their way into your life, the magnificent opening track “All Roads Lead Here” is case in point, gently chiming guitars and mournful keyboards blend with singer Lee Spinelli’s plaintive vocal for a full three
minutes before the song reaches it’s emotional heartland, the song still has another five minutes to luxuriate it’s way through, the cobwebs of your beleaguered mind, yet it doesn’t outstay it’s welcome.
The same can be said of the rest of the album; of the remaining nine tracks none are less than six minutes long and for once that’s a good thing. However it would be a mistake to think that we are embarking on a purely gentle semi psychedelic journey.
Take the storming version of Harold Arlen’s 1929 classic “Get Happy”, they move the tune from it’s charming jazz gospel roots into wall shaking stomp of song which will send the Sunday afternoon Ella
Fitzgerald fans running for their life. Following on from that is big sky epic “Passing Thoughts” a song just waiting for some film director to add it to scene when the guy makes his tear soaked journey away from the girl his loves but can’t be with. Not that the lyrics in the song have anything to do with that scene but the music which the band create is full of potent visual imagery, pick a song – make your own movie.
As with the works of Spiritualized there is a sense of spiritual yearning within the epic soundscapes that stops the album becoming merely an exercise in sonic dexterity. The messages behind songs such as “Drones” and the wondrous shimmering album closer “Outside In” clearly extol the virtues of self-determination and taking control of your own destiny. It’s a message that Aspen Woods themselves have followed, producing an album which can connect as strongly with the head as it does with the diaphragm during those monstrous fuzzy guitar journeys. - Grumpy Man DJs

By Tom Grumpy (Grumpy Man DJ’s www.myspace.com/grumpymanmusic www.grumpyman.co.uk)At last friends it is time to take a trip in the company of Aspen Woods, it’s been a long time coming. Sit down, switch your phone off and step into lush sonic textures which the band have prepared for you.
It’s not a journey that should be rushed, here is an album where you can almost feel the songs stretching and inching their way into life, not that there is anything shy or self-effacing about them. Aspen Woods are rightly confident enough to know that they don’t need to barge their way into your life, the magnificent opening track “All Roads Lead Here” is case in point, gently chiming guitars and mournful keyboards blend with singer Lee Spinelli’s plaintive vocal for a full three
minutes before the song reaches it’s emotional heartland, the song still has another five minutes to luxuriate it’s way through, the cobwebs of your beleaguered mind, yet it doesn’t outstay it’s welcome.
The same can be said of the rest of the album; of the remaining nine tracks none are less than six minutes long and for once that’s a good thing. However it would be a mistake to think that we are embarking on a purely gentle semi psychedelic journey.
Take the storming version of Harold Arlen’s 1929 classic “Get Happy”, they move the tune from it’s charming jazz gospel roots into wall shaking stomp of song which will send the Sunday afternoon Ella
Fitzgerald fans running for their life. Following on from that is big sky epic “Passing Thoughts” a song just waiting for some film director to add it to scene when the guy makes his tear soaked journey away from the girl his loves but can’t be with. Not that the lyrics in the song have anything to do with that scene but the music which the band create is full of potent visual imagery, pick a song – make your own movie.
As with the works of Spiritualized there is a sense of spiritual yearning within the epic soundscapes that stops the album becoming merely an exercise in sonic dexterity. The messages behind songs such as “Drones” and the wondrous shimmering album closer “Outside In” clearly extol the virtues of self-determination and taking control of your own destiny. It’s a message that Aspen Woods themselves have followed, producing an album which can connect as strongly with the head as it does with the diaphragm during those monstrous fuzzy guitar journeys. - Grumpy Man DJs

See the review in the pics section - Venue Magazine

See the review in the pics section - Venue Magazine

Written by Stuart A Hamilton
Published March 07, 2008
See also:
» The Friday Morning Listen: Tom Waits - Real Gone
» Music Review: The Camp - The Campaign
» Interview: Chad Stokes Urmston Of State Radio

Psychedelic shoegazers channeling mid-period Jesus & Mary Chain. Which, surprisingly, is a whole lot better than it sounds. I will confess, I wasn't particularly motivated into playing this CD. It looked like someone had regurgitated a Gnarls Barkley video onto the cover, which was enough to put me off for a couple of days. But I'm glad I went back and tried again.

The Bristol based psychedelic wig-out merchants have been building a name for themselves with a series of live performances and support slots with the likes of Italian space rockers UFO Mammut and Japan's instru-mentalists Mono. Now, in the company of the fabulously named producer / engineer Latchman Manghat, they've put together an excellent debut album that shimmys all over the place from the 13th Floor Elevators to the Blues Magoos to Levitation and to the aforementioned Jesus & Mary Chain.

They're not particularly interested in the lyrical worlds of moon and June, unless it comes with a healthy portion of shroom, and their can't be many albums that include a song about the ritual sacrifice of Diana, Princess of Wales amongst a multiverse of ruminations. In case you want to start there, that particular song is "Passing of a Moon Goddess."

They've adopted the whole back to the roots approach of live recording, in an effort to make it seem like an actual band, rather than the disassociated, computer created sounds that passes for so much of modern music nowadays. This gives a life and vigour to the album that lifts even the lesser tracks.

They're also not afraid to let a song slowly come to life, allowing the music and melodies to unfold in your ears, rather than trying to condense everything into a musical soundbite. A trait they use right from the off, with opener "All Roads Lead Here" easing you into things with its fragile meanderings.

They also take one of the greatest songs of all time and do the unthinkable. Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler wrote "Get Happy" back in 1929 for a Ruth Etting movie, although it's the Judy Garland version that most people will remember. Well, here. Aspen Woods turn it into a Black Rebel Motorcycle Club epic that is just pure genius.

Messrs Spinelli, Lee, Wes and O'Connor, along with Miss Thompson, have done an exemplary job of twisting and subverting a clutch of past their sell by date genres into something vital and interesting. Songs like "Outside In," "All Roads Lead Here," and "The Witch's Son" are songs that will live with you for a long time, settling in as only the best of friends can do. - http://blogcritics.org

Written by Stuart A Hamilton
Published March 07, 2008
See also:
» The Friday Morning Listen: Tom Waits - Real Gone
» Music Review: The Camp - The Campaign
» Interview: Chad Stokes Urmston Of State Radio

Psychedelic shoegazers channeling mid-period Jesus & Mary Chain. Which, surprisingly, is a whole lot better than it sounds. I will confess, I wasn't particularly motivated into playing this CD. It looked like someone had regurgitated a Gnarls Barkley video onto the cover, which was enough to put me off for a couple of days. But I'm glad I went back and tried again.

The Bristol based psychedelic wig-out merchants have been building a name for themselves with a series of live performances and support slots with the likes of Italian space rockers UFO Mammut and Japan's instru-mentalists Mono. Now, in the company of the fabulously named producer / engineer Latchman Manghat, they've put together an excellent debut album that shimmys all over the place from the 13th Floor Elevators to the Blues Magoos to Levitation and to the aforementioned Jesus & Mary Chain.

They're not particularly interested in the lyrical worlds of moon and June, unless it comes with a healthy portion of shroom, and their can't be many albums that include a song about the ritual sacrifice of Diana, Princess of Wales amongst a multiverse of ruminations. In case you want to start there, that particular song is "Passing of a Moon Goddess."

They've adopted the whole back to the roots approach of live recording, in an effort to make it seem like an actual band, rather than the disassociated, computer created sounds that passes for so much of modern music nowadays. This gives a life and vigour to the album that lifts even the lesser tracks.

They're also not afraid to let a song slowly come to life, allowing the music and melodies to unfold in your ears, rather than trying to condense everything into a musical soundbite. A trait they use right from the off, with opener "All Roads Lead Here" easing you into things with its fragile meanderings.

They also take one of the greatest songs of all time and do the unthinkable. Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler wrote "Get Happy" back in 1929 for a Ruth Etting movie, although it's the Judy Garland version that most people will remember. Well, here. Aspen Woods turn it into a Black Rebel Motorcycle Club epic that is just pure genius.

Messrs Spinelli, Lee, Wes and O'Connor, along with Miss Thompson, have done an exemplary job of twisting and subverting a clutch of past their sell by date genres into something vital and interesting. Songs like "Outside In," "All Roads Lead Here," and "The Witch's Son" are songs that will live with you for a long time, settling in as only the best of friends can do. - http://blogcritics.org

Check our scrap book page over at www.aspenwoods.co.uk for more reviews - Various Publications

Check our scrap book page over at www.aspenwoods.co.uk for more reviews - Various Publications