The Horse Company and Phantom Limb Warm Up Club Ziggo

The Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam can hold over 15,000 people. Attached to it is a small stage called Club Ziggo where a lot is happening as well. It is mostly used for special show cases, where the entrance is free when you can get on the guest list. When The Horse Company and Phantom Limb were announced, I made sure I was on it.



The Horse Company at Club Ziggo Amsterdam, December 9 2012
These guys from the town Zwolle in The Netherlands took me by surprise this year. They released a great album Calypso, which turned out to be their third. Somehow they flew below my radar for the past years, so I took this chance to check them out for the first time.



Club Ziggo feels like a cold place lacking atmosphere. The Horse Company know how to turn this around with their warm rock songs. The focused musicians are calmly playing their skilful songs, that sound just as good as on their record. It's a blend of Americana, pop, rock and country. Some songs start tiny but slowly grow into grooving rock songs. I'm definitely going to get me their first two albums as well and keep a close eye on this band.



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Phantom Limb at Club Ziggo Amsterdam, December 9 2012
The English band made a huge impression on Lowlands this year, where they were filling in for a cancellation at the last minute. Not the least because of singer Yolanda Quartey's strong voice. Although their music, soul mixed with country and gospel, isn't quite my taste it was a treat to see them again. And they would even play two sets: an acoustic and an electric set.



In the acoustic set, the band is laying down the perfect foundation for Quartey to excel. Her voice is really impressive, so strong with a lot of depth. The electric set shows that the band have a lot to add. They make the music breath and offer just enough counterweight to their singer to nicely balance the sound. Once again I'm impressed with this band and even though it may not exactly be my cup of tea I feel the urge to buy their CD that Quartey is happy to sign for me.



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It has been a very good night on a bit of a bleak location. That's too bad since the initiative is a great way to watch bands from up close and for them to present themselves. So I'm definitely in for a next time. Read more!

The Low Anthem Make A Tasty Pasta

Why book an expensive studio when there's an empty pasta sauce factory around the corner? This must have been on the minds of The Low Anthem quartet. And so they put their recording equipment for their new album 'Smart Flesh' in an old factory hall somewhere in their home state Rhode Island. This resulted in a record with eleven country and folk songs that got an extra dimension from it. They experimented with mic placement which is clearly audible. The tracks sound warm and rich and the quiet songs are tiny and modest.

The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh (Ronald Says 7 out of 10)
The songs themselves aren't that special to be honest. They are solid country songs that don't really stick out because of extraordinary compositions or lyrics. However the multi-instrumentalists of The Low Anthem did go wild on all kinds of instruments and this leads to lush arrangements now and then. And so one of the best songs on the album, 'Boeing 737', is accompanied by exuberant horns and you can hear different percussion instruments, all kinds of stringed instruments and sometimes a singing saw. In the more straightforward and singer-songwriter tracks singer Ben Knox Miller sounds a lot like Bob Dylan. The band is compared to him a lot but this isn't always completely true.

They sometimes fall back to the very basics. 'I'll Take Out Your Ashes' is only accompanied by banjo plucking and the sound of a radio program on the background including the old fashioned interference. What's striking like for example in 'Matter Of Time', is that every note played and sung has been placed and chosen carefully. It never sounds too much or rushed but are the songs breathing serenity. This makes the record crawl by like a simmering hot day in a dusty American town. Or it almost comes to a complete stop halfway in the instrumental 'Wire'.

The fourth album of The Low Anthem maybe won't go down as their master piece or a classic. It's a lot more accessible than its predecessor 'Oh My God, Charlie Darwin' and therefore less exciting to some. They do however deliver a solid record that excels in production, sound and the use of exotic instruments. There's plenty to enjoy by all means for people that fancy this genre.

This review has been published on ROAR E-Zine in Dutch over here.

Listen to 'Smart Flesh' on Spotify

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