Kennyken and The Electric Jesus - Fade Into The Sunrise

Hear The Track Here

When someone like Thomas J (aka The Antennaheads) refers to Kennyken and The Electric Jesus as 'a beautiful mess' there is a more than a whiff of pots and kettles in the air. Mind you seeing as Thomas is prospering, there must indeed be a market for the more adventurous music. Apparently, Kennyken and The Electric Jesus are a 'garage rock' band according to the blurb on their Soundclick page, but not I'm afraid by any definition I know of - unless you count the home-made feel as being the whole deal. I happen to like bands like Pearl Jam, Nickelback and the like but obviously this is Soundclick and the same criteria doesn't apply. Or does it? 'A lot of people on Soundclick are so hung up on production, it makes me nauseous' Kenny moans on his page but there is a reason for that - because having good production values works.

So what does the term 'production' actually mean? Well for knob twiddlers like myself its the full deal, as in all forms of commercial music and yes doing that takes money. So why then, did I award Thomas J my Artist Of The Year 2008? Because Thomas finally got to grasp that its the whole approach that counts, everything has to be right BEFORE any production nonsense comes into the bargain. The song is indeed the thing, and the way you put that thing over to people is just as important. When listening to this track away from any information sources, Kenny could have been singing in tongues to all intents and purposes; I had no chance of picking any sense out of it. When I finally got to see the lyrics, it made a lot more sense for sure, but it also showed up some of the essential flaws I had already spotted.

I personally applaud musicians who stretch themselves to make their music but sometimes that creative energy can take over events. Listening to the vocal, its obvious that Kenny knows what he wants but too often in the excitement his voice strains and misses. Moreover his delivery is so laconic that those strains and creaks are amplified, especially in some of the background vocals. Oh but Gilmore, you couldn't possibly understand? You'd be right too. I don't understand. I understand self belief is vitally important to what we do, but not to the exclusion of reality which, unfortunately, is bound up with musical theory such as pitch and timing. Don't get me wrong, I see the potential sure enough, just saying what I thought was wrong. One more thing, don't even get me started on the half assed way this ended.... I hate it when they pull out like that. Musical coitius interuptus.

Rough and ready garage rock.