UNDERGROUND A&R REPORT

Arms Of Kismet - Cutting Room Rug

Diverse and creative, Arms Of Kismet are a rich blend of americana, blues, rock, and a tad of everything else. Some of the stuff could be the Traveling Wilburys, or at least Tom Petty at his finest. Above and beyond the minicry though, it's obvious the musicians behind the bands know their tradecraft. Their arrangements are expansive and flowing, a nod to the psychedelia that bubbles underneath Arms Of Kismet. Think Beatles or Cream at a jam. Even some odd pop is allowed, but think god they don't stay that course too long. Best things on Cutting Room Rug are the ones that kick it up a little bit; "Outbound Train" shimmies n shakes while it stomps along to a finger roll boogie that underpins a rising full collaboration of vocals and riff. Scat box blues is the base of "Clover", which giving the scattaco overall and the rotating phase effects, it's kinda like the dead man. Arms Of Kismet do excel where they do the head trip thing, man......haha!

At times, Arms Of Kismet seem to want to throw a wrench into the works; "Auriculara (Listen To Me)" would be a surefire single, except make the drums live and drop about three or four repeats of the subtitle at the end. I'd probably work on the ambience in spots too. Regardless, when you've got songs like "Coil", which are simply things of beauty, all that seems secondary. A Toast! Contact: http://www.armsofkismet.com, http://www.wampus.com

This review will be featured in the next issue of The Sound