The Antennaheadz - Ill

Hear The Track Here

Another Soundclick artist who is destined to do extremely well in my year end awards this year is one Thomas J (aka The Antennaheadz) who this year alone has racked up a whole bag of Must Haves. Mind you, I know for an absolute fact just how hard this artist has worked to up his game. That he has done it in such an elegant, understated manner is a mark of the man himself. Even when he was struggling to find his own path, Thomas was always one to take any criticism on the chin and keep moving forward.

Those efforts have paid off handsomely this year, capped off by the signing and general release of his latest EP - Let Them Down Gently - through the much admired Chameleon Dish Archive (sole prop: Pilesar). If you haven't snagged that EP yet, you really should. Going from an out and out experimentalist to a fully fledged troubadour with a fistful of really terrific songs is some stretch by anybody's standards, but with every track he is solidifying that image. Ill, upon first listening, is the bastard son of Iggy Pop and Tin Man era Bowie, and then it gets weirder.

There again, as I've already pointed out, Thomas is not one to take the easy way out - his way or the highway but when he makes tracks as good as this with such consistency it's hard to ignore. It's also great to see Thomas once again applying his chops to my favourite of his instruments, the sax. Not at all what I expected, I must admit but once I had become accustomed to it and its idiosyncratic way of tale telling, I was completely hooked. Then my head fell off and I don't feel too well.

Unique, priceless IMHO. Out there alternative. MUST HAVE.