Madding Crowd produce simple music and don’t try to hide behind any complicated promotional nonsense. This is a London based band of 4 members born in 4 decades. OK, so that sounds like a real novelty band and you probably can’t get away from the fact that the very fact the members were born in different decades makes them possibly interesting for the wrong reasons but pushing that fact aside do the band have anything to offer.
Well, certainly they sound like they are heavily influenced by The Kinks. They are a band who detest over dubbing and over mixing of their tracks in a studio so will take their amps and record on rooftops. Simple music is certainly something that is to be applauded. Too many bands rely on heavily mixed music that produces a sound nothing like the music played in the studio and to disguise their weaknesses, but going the other way can also produce a sound that is, well, pretty horrible. The second track on this single,
Up For Air, is so under-produced that every sound clashes in a really unpleasant way and instead of hearing the different instruments and vocals for what they are, you are left listening to a pounding mix of noise that just grates. A little more productions to make the drums a little less intense and bring the vocals out would make the finished track so much more pleasant to listen to. As it is, I was left wanting to rip the CD out of the player and destroy it as it left my ears hurting from trying to pick out the different instruments from the horrific noise left by the lack of production.
Modern Man tells the tale of life lived in the claustrophobia of living in a city in the 21st Century and all of the frustrations that such living can bring. It is a song that simplifies the complications of modern living and it just doesn’t really work.
The Kinks did this music a generation or so ago and they did it so much better.
You can listen to tracks by Madding Crowd at
www.myspace.com/maddingcrowdmusic or check the bands own website at
www.maddingcrowd.info
You can also watch the video to this single at
