Chico Fellini

Chico Fellini's publicists compared their new self-titled disc to the music of bands like PJ Harvey, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Pixies, and David Bowie. Strange as it may sound, Chico Fellini somehow really could be a hybrid of those seemingly unrelated bands. They have the musicianship of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the sexiness of PJ Harvey, power of the Pixies, and the flamboyance of David Bowie. And what a sound that combination makes!

Charisma is the word that sums up Chico Fellini, but it's charisma in a most uncommon sense. Their charisma is like one that radiates from a sing-song transexual extravaganza, in the best way possible. It's charisma that is slightly out-of-control and deliciously atypical, and wholly the mark of veterans.

Vocalist Christopher Dennison stands at the forefront of Chico Fellini's charisma, and his voice rises above the band's energetic and sometimes droning instrumentation. Dennison's vocals have no real regard for convention, and his manipulation of sound is entrancing. So much so, in fact, that while his vocals can by no means be classified as "pop," they have the same infective qualities as pop does. They get stuck in your head easily, making you repeat lines as ridiculous as, "You're hot! Hot, hot, hot, hot!/ And you're so pretty! Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty/ And you're gorgeous! Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous gorgeous!" without even really caring about the redundancy or ridiculousness.

On this nine-track disc, indie rock dance jams are bridged by classical piano interludes and followed up by sparse piano ballads not unlike those Muse would have crafted early on in their career. With this diverse disc, Chico Fellini sets themselves apart from conventional indie dance rock bands, and they deserve the utmost respect for this feat.

- Vivian Hua

Its no secret that the digital age has has inundated us with an abundance of new music for fans of every genre to explore, love, or hate. The differences that separate one from the next seems to have come down to some personal, almost undefinable quality to the music—or its presentation.

Enter: Chico Fellini. This self-titled debut album is certainly an album worth debuting. Not because it blows away conventional approaches (it doesn't); not because each track is packed with lyrical or musical genius (they aren't). It all falls on how the album presents these new players to the scene. From beginning to end, the CD introduces four artists, each with their distinct additions to the music, as more than just musicians:

Emily Hagihara's bass and piano play such a key role in almost every song, that it is almost impossible to deny the weight her creativity must have pulled.

Drummer Brandon Judd keeps each song pumping along with aggressive and captivating cadence.

Guitarist and producer Duane Lundy brings everything together in such a well balanced, perfectionistic mix both on set and behind it.

What Chico Fellini's presentation ultimately hangs on, though, is vocalist Christopher Dennison's presence and performance. When listening to each track, one can't help but want to see this show live because it screams with such an operatic—rock, of course—force, demanding some sort of visual performance to accompany.

This debut does exactly what it should: introduces a band that has every potential to rise. Its strong start isn't one that they can't possibly move past, critically or otherwise. Perhaps, though, they should have released a debut DVD instead, giving soon-to-be fans an idea of what to expect at their (hopefully) “high-octane shows.”
- Brett P. Hall

Wow. I finally gave Chico Fellini’s new self-titled record a listen and was just about bowled over. I expected, at best, mediocrity from the Lexington band that I’d somehow never seen, but was served up the best album to come out of Kentucky so far this year. - You Ain't No Picasso