Hanu and Emile de Jong rose to fame as members of raucous rockers Not My Dog and have now banded together with three friends to form The Narrow, who have just released their debut album, Self-Conscious (Intervention).The Narrow are not self-conscious in an awkward manner; rather, this is a deliberate and confident effort. Kicking off with the angry, attention-grabbing Intro, with its Rage against the Machine voiceover, one expects straightforward hard rock, but from track two it’s much more creative. The melodic Promised the World has a retro feel; on The Banded a wicked, upbeat rock blast alternates with a piano refrain and soaring vocals in a well-calculated manner. Push up the Level has stadium-rock energy with powerful riffs and on Notes on Breathing the tempo crawls along with meandering vocals, creating an uneasy, agitated atmosphere before going into a raging, guitar-driven chorus.Some of the tracks, such as Gracious Creature and Star Song, are rather standard and don’t have as much impact, and the fuzzy-sounding remix of The Banded at the end of the album with a bit of scratching and a few beats is fun but certainly not crucial.The Narrow play with contrasts, those between melodies and crashing guitars, and between melodic, sometimes even Eastern-sounding vocals and nu-metal rap, and it mostly works, also due to good production. According to the press release fans will ‘get down on their knees and thank the Lord for The Narrow”. I wouldn’t go so far, but it is a better buy than many of their local peers.
Pet Flyz: Motive for Breathing (Intervention)
These Pretoria rockers have been around since the late Nineties (only one original member remains) and have been called an emo-punk act — the brand of punk found in the music of bands such as Dashboard Confessional, Saves the Day and Jimmy Eat World — although they have, when interviewed, expressed a dislike of labels. Motive for Breathing is their second album: 13 tracks playing a short 43 minutes. The boys valiantly plow through punk, hardcore, emo and indie rock, with crafty guitar-playing in places, although more experimentation would have been welcome. — Riaan Wolmarans
Roxette: The Pop Hits (Capitol)
It’s impressive how Per Gessle has managed so many times to write such catchy, innocent pop gems. Here’s an overview of Roxette’s progress during their career, from the singalong The Look in the Eighties to the recent, dancy Stars, plus two new tracks — the ok-ish Little Miss Sorrow and the upbeat Opportunity Nox. There are also informative sleeve notes on the band and the hits. Half of these tracks were also on Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus, so it’s hardly a crucial collection, but it’s fun to listen to. — Riaan Wolmarans
Various: The Best One-Hit Wonders … Ever! (EMI)
One-hit wonders are entertaining, even if only for the memories. This one has hits from the Eighties and early Nineties that are fun (The Knack, Flying Lizards, Terrorvision), predictable (Chesney Hawkes) or crap (Bob Carlisle’s awful Butterfly Kisses). — Riaan Wolmarans
Various: Subliminal SA Volume 1 (Gallo)
Two CDs mixed by experienced Joburg boys Ricardo and Scotty (one each), bursting with really funky house that will get any party started, mostly culled from the Subliminal stable. Get it while it’s hot. — Riaan Wolmarans