Teddy Bears Gone Bad
A CD by Ross Beach and the Hellpets
Ross Beach Music, Portland, OR.
www.rossbeach.com
download "It's
Enough"
Ross Beach is a modern-day troubadour recasting no-depression-brand folk
country by flirting with alt-pop, post-grunge icons like Modest Mouse
or Built to Spill, or (dare I hearken back this far), early Pixies. In
other words, this is guitar rock. The only electronica here is a keyboard
and it's played straight, sounding slightly Manzarek at times, following
the basic chords like a support group, not a single blip or beep to disrupt
the real star of the CD--the Songs. Which are structured, tight, short,
and hummable, sticking to you like the rice in a California roll that,
as you dip it into some trendy sauce, makes you wonder; how in the hell
do they get it to hold together like that without Elmer's? It's careful
crafting, boys and girls, no gelatinous tricks to distract you from the
emotional truth. These eleven songs hold together; they're not quite spare,
but clear, heavy with bottom bass, sprinkled with ethereal girl-vocals
complementing Beach's romantic crooning, and, oh yeah, they rock.
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