Charlie A - Ikari Sands - new version

Hear The Track Here

Pssssst. See that guy over there? The cheeky looking one with the big grin. He's the guy who wrote a banga called Read The Rules, apparently. I say apparently because, if you had visited Soundclick's Critics Corner forum lately, you would see that it is the sole topic of conversation. I have no ******* idea what a banga is and I'm not sure if I could take the truth anyway, but I do know that said banga did get a MUST HAVE AWESOME STREET CRED HIT CHOON from some dozy assed reviewer on there when it was first released. (Ed: he means him, he loved it and so do I. And so does MY editor) Truth is, the master of that killer tune with awesome lyrics is also known as Charlie Armour, a known purveyor of (takes a deep breath) film soundtracks, new age and ambient. All of my main hate figures in one little bitty South London package, I would have to hate this guy, right? Wrong. Fact is, if anyone else had thrust a track at me containing any of the three named ingredients, I'd have spat in their eye.

Or on their knee depending on how tall they were.

However, I digress (Ed: there's a surprise) Our Charlie is a bit of a dab hand at said musical projects and has indeed managed to actually get music into films. There are examples on his various pages for you to glom on to, just to rub salt into the wound. See, that's what I like most about Charlie. He understands that music for films should BE in films as opposed to being on Soundclick. Careful though Chas, revolutions have been started with less eh? Much more to the point is that most film soundtracks I hear on the net are not really that, certainly they do not carry their own tensions and drama that really good film soundtracks have.

There are very, very few of these people I would give houseroom to. Charlie A is one of those few by dint of proving, time after time, that he knows exactly what he's doing; each note, each phrase, each section has to have meaning, light and shade. Even the smallest of his pieces (and he has a fair collection of those) contains those elements. To prove my point, have a listen to Ikara Sands and tell me that the music doesn't justify the title perfectly. I'm still flicking off bits of exotic desert flora and fauna as I type this and I've been clean of it for at least a day. As I made clear at the beginning of this review, this kind of music just isn't for me but if I had to listen to it, I rather listen to Charlie A than a great many others. Remember this is the guy who wrote Read The Rules. He a badass.

Highly Recommended Soundtrack