Azoora - The Big Bang EP

Hear The Track Here

If I were a record company exec and looking for something I could take to the marketplace and make a shedload of money from, I would certainly be looking closely at two Soundclick bands Can't Stop The Daggers and Azoora (Ed: what again?? Are these guys paying you for this???). The only fly in that particular commercial ointment is that neither band seems that interested in dealing with the RW music business and if anyone could, Azoora could. Which, I guess, is one of the reasons that the bands 'netlabel' 23 Seconds is pushing them so hard.   They have released THREE FREE EP's through 23 Seconds, each one a gem unto itself. Revelations, Tall Tales and The Big Bang (just released as it happens) all a classic example of how musicians can cirmcumvent the usual dime store tactics and find an audience and a sympathetic recording situation.

Azoora, like CSTD, is a real band in this case comprising of Paul Loader, John Purcell, Trudi Lawrance and Ben Cochrane who have shown consistently that they know precisely what they are doing, and that is making some of the best alternative music you are likely to hear right now - online or off it. Although I now have the whole of the Big Bang EP, Lying Back - Fire in our eyes is the first track I was asked to review from it. The EP is the usual Azoora line up; three completed songs and three 'versions', one of which - She' s Coming Dubmix - I did a review of the unfinished track back in August this year ending with the comment ' I can't wait to hear the finished track' . Well now I have and its everything I thought it would be and more, one of the major highlights of the EP. It doesn't come much better than this.

Lying Back - Fire in our eyes is a bit of a departure for Azoora, it being pretty much an acoustic track, but that only serves to point up both the incredible musicianship and the absolutely mind-boggling quality of the songwriting. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the songwriting partnership of Paul Loader and John Purcell is one of the most potent around right now and it's to both Soundclick and 23 Seconds eternal credit that they are providing the platform for their music. Lying Back is absolutely everything I like about Azoora; clean clear instrumental sounds, punchy and supportive backline and an arresting arrangement. What this does, IM(very)HO, is show just how classy and head and shoulders above the rest this team is, especially vocally and lyrically. I will bet any amount of government bailouts that you will not have heard anything like this before; songs with depth, meaning and wonder. Azoora, simply the best. Btw, the EP is every bit as good as the others and - in some ways - even better.

MUST HAVE MUST HAVE MUST HAVE (one for each track) What else?