Smalllife - Keep On

Hear The Track Here

Coming from the background that I do, I always get a great deal of pleasure when I come across a good rock band. That is what I thought I had with Smalllife until I reviewed Need To Buy A Woman (August 2006), and then things became MUCH clearer. Judging by performance, passion and live sound, Smallife has all the makings of becoming a great rock band. If you think that I am indulging in my usual mountains of hyperbole, I suggest you have a listen to this wonderful track which - to my ears anyway - has one of the best vocal performances anywhere in rock - on or off the net.

So it was with a fairly keen sense of pleasure that I watched this climbing this months review list, despite being told by Jaymz Lee Shaw, the aforementioned vocalist, that this was the lesser of all the tracks I had heard so far. Listen for a man as starved of good rock as me, any port in a storm, know what I mean? I think I'd tend to agree with Jaymz too that this is more indie than rock, but to me - after a good few plays under my belt, there is still that heart of iron that seems to be the hallmark of this band's output and style. It's certainly crunchy enough to satisfy my bass bins and again shows that Smalllife should be some killer live band.

There's a distinctive wall of guitars that particularly hooks me to this band, and that is much in evidence here. As up to date and modern indie as it sounds, to me it also smacks of some of the Rolling Stones finer ballbreakers, particularly in the vocal department with Jaymz showing a distinct vocal sneer. After four tracks now, there is no doubt in my mind that - should they get out gigging anytime soon - Smalllife are destined for bigger things. It's that live show that will do it for them, but judging from what I have heard so far, they are doing surprisingly well at capturing it for the many earholes out here in netland. For which we all be exceeedingly grateful, because I know I am. So, one of Smalllife's 'lesser' tracks (NOT) which would crap from a great height on other bands of this ilk. I suspect that Smalllife are going to feature quite heavily this year in MP3 Unsigned's 2006 Awards, and don't be surprised if the same thing happens with my own puny year end offering. As mancini so elegantly puts it 'quality, fooookin' quality' Couldn't agree more.

High class rock and Highly Recommended.