Dollar Bill and The Unmentionables - Alright

Hear The Track Here

We've already had one entrant into Soundclick's Critics Corner Halloween competition - Whitman Speck's Halloween (In The N13) - and here's another and I suspect that this one will have fared considerably better than Whitman's but only because of a difference in taste, not because of anything the musicians are doing. You may remember Dollar Bill (not to mention the Unmentionables) when I reviewed Missing The Kerfluffle (October 2011), a strange, but oddly fascinating instrumental that was much better than the sum of its parts. Put it like this, that's where the oddness came in. Mind you, we were warned before hand that Dollar Bill (not to menti...(Ed: stop or censor, your choice Gilmore)) has a bit of humour about his person.

So that's alright then...

At first glance (as it were) this is a sunny, upbeat, Beach Boys type song whose golden glow darkens slowly as the song progresses and its protagonist insisting that 'I'm alright and everything is fine' when its obvious that he's not fine and its not alright. In other words, its an aural descent into one mans hell and it is perfect Halloween material. I need to check up on who won that compo because this is a very, very strong track on all levels and would IMHO take some beating (no pun intended) (Ed: as if...)

It wasn't until I rolled around to the video that it really made sense to me, but I suspect I had already been hooked because what this track had in abundance were great ideas, nay genius ideas. For example, this juxtaposition between the sweet, light beginning and the dark, hellish ending is illustrated beautifully by the aforementioned Beach Boys stylee and some of the more brutal modern versions of devil metal. I freely admit that although I liked Missing The Kerfluffle it didn't leave me with any lasting impression other than a mild interest in this musician. This track changed all that.

MUST HAVE mental breakdown (go on, you know you want to...)