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 Black Cargoes - Glass [Saïko Records - 2008]As a reviewer you sometimes get the feeling 'promotion' is more a necessary evil, nothing more than a potential leak unto that evil internet rather than a way to put your project in the limelight, which to me seems the whole idea behind 'promotion'. These days it's even accepted to get music on a cdr without any info, not even songtitles, or cut into 99 pieces so finding out what song you're listening to is not an easy task and the worst of all: some dude or chick telling me I'm listening to the new this or that every four minutes over the course of the album. 'Audiomarking' they call that. Sorry to rant but here at musique[machine] I am the boss and just wanted to get this of my chest. Just to illustrate what proper promotion can mean, this Swiss rock group Black Cargoes who sent me a great looking retail version of their cd Glass. This is also a thing that's nice to hold and much more fun to spend money on than on a couple of bits and bites that get lost in the vast colonies of mp3's inhabiting every musiclover's harddisc these days.So here's Glass, screenprinted artwork in black and white, directly onto one of these hip 'super jewel boxes', that's the way to catch attention. Luckily the music does live up to the outward appearance. My first thought in opening track Darkened Floor was the oscillator rock of Silver Apples, but that proves wrong soon enough. The electronics used by Black Cargoes sound too advanced, just like their brand of rock which is spiced up with those synths. Toronaut's dreamy voice, which reminds a bit of the softer side of Chris Cornell as well as Coldplay's Chris Martin, has a big role in the success of the sound of Black Cargoes, it adds a nice melancholic mood to the songs which also have elements of later Soundgarden, Cornell's joint efforts with Eleven on Euphoria Morning, perhaps some Kent and of course, I'd say, the ubiquitous Pink Floyd.With Cornell's recent endeavor with Timbaland in mind the idea of melancholic rock with electronic elements may seem almost hip, but I haven't heard that and I'm sure that it will be Timba all over the place which to my ears is getting a bit formulaic. Black Cargoes sound fresh and promising with good compositions that are well executed. And a cool packaging to boot.  
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|  | | Black Cargoes - Glass | As a reviewer you sometimes get the feeling 'promotion' is more a necessary evil, nothing more than a potential leak unto that evil internet rather than a wa...
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| | | The Music of Clay Ruby & Burial H... | Over the last couple of decades Wisconsin native, Clay Ruby has been creating some of the world’s finest dark electronic music under the Burial Hex mon...
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