Gustavo Meillon - Taste

Hear The Track Here

Another new name for me this month, this time from Soundclick. Gustavo Meillon is an acoustic guitarist from Mexico and - looking through his messageboard - although a new name to me appears to have been on Soundclick for a long time. There again, this is a huge place, it easy to miss things, even at the pace I chew through tracks. Still, better late than never right? My initial runthrough with Taste disabused me of the notion that Gustavo would somehow play 'Latin' music, a generic term invented by Americans because they are too lazy to distinguish between the different Hispanic musical cultures, because what comes out of the speakers and down yer earholes is pure roots rock (OK, slightly more Beatle influenced than real rock but that's splitting hairs).

Gustavo gives himself a bit of grief on his Soundclick page about his 'adequate' vocals and admittedly he doesn't have the greatest voice in the world but there is no questioning that he knows how to use what he's got. Whichever way you look at it, I don't have a problem with that at all. With that attitude in mind, I settled in to really get to know this seeming charming (gulp) semi-ballad. Further plays brought out some lovely touches in the production showing that he not only knows how to write and play this stuff, he knows how to present it as well - as Taste so adequately testifies. As I say, musically, it's a kind of rock structure and within in Gastuvo gets in some good licks and - in fact - does justice to a quite complex vocal arrangement. On a nerdy, cardigan-wearing point (Ed: You mean are others...?), I found the production values of the vocals (arrangement and performance) absolutely spot on; the little echo overhang especially.

After spending some time acquiring some Taste, I have to admit to a very healthy respect for Gustavo's obvious prowess, although over that time I found the shine of the tune wore off a bit. That isn't down to anything inherently bad or wrong with the track, in fact has more to do with my own personal likes and dislikes; and I don't particularly enjoy this style of music. Nonetheless, as you can tell, the technical aspects, and to be fair the performance too won over this most hard hearted of reviewers (yeah yeah meeeoowww). I finally put my finger on what I didn't like about it and after a few days it came to me; it's all a bit Moody Blues for my taste. Still don't let my personal bigotry get in your way because whatever you think about style and genre, the one thing you will be assured of is a classy, assured musician who delivers on every level. Oh and btw, I loved that nylon string outro. Well special.

Highly Recommended with LOADS of rock references.