Band:
Markus Karlsson (Vocals)
Stefan Brändström (Guitars, Sitar & B Vocals)
Johannes Borgström (Bass Guitar, Organ, Pianet & B Vocals)
Robert Eriksson (Drums, Percussion & B Vocals)
Discography:
Debut
Guests:
Victor Hvidfeldt (Violin)
Cecilia Radkiewicz (Cello)
Nils Janson & Linus Lindblom, a.k.a The Honkeys (Horns)
Info
Made in the Dustward, Stockholm in 2010.
Produced & engineered by Brainstrum, assisted by Johannes Borgström.
Mixed at Riddarborgen, Stockholm by Frans Hägglund.Mastered by Magnus Lindberg.
Released 1/4-2011
Reviewed 6/4-2011
Links:
trampmaterial.com
myspace
killer kobra
Well, with that settled I can conclude this review here and now then? Just pack my bag and go home. Well, not so fast! For once we haven’t heard anything about wether this should be good or bad and for that I must give some credit to the record label because normally labels hail every album they release as the best, most meaningful and unique album ever to be released. No matter how shitty the albums are. And what we are offered from Tramp is a bowl of old music mixed with even older, which normally is something positive when we’re talking about antiques or historic houses but coming to music there are no guarantees of this. I don’t belong to the group of people saying music was better in the old days when groups like T-rex and other dinosaurs ruled the world by sounding most and best. Me, I’ve never understood the concept of trying to do this aged music since it’s already done by hundreds of bands that together have released thousands of albums. The biggest problem you face by doing this music anyway is to stand out from what’s already out there. One way to doing this is by mixing old with other old, like Tramp has done, but the risk by doing this is to get stuck in the same ravine as Bonafide has fallen down in – to copy and paste and not compose the material. So the obvious question is if Tramp, despite the conditions they begin from have succeeded to do something that sounds good, as their own and not worn out, even though they should sound vintage.
Before wtriting this review I just had to find out if the band had been booked as a coming attraction at Jurassic Park. But no, they weren’t. However, many of what I suspect are their inspirations – like Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Kansas, Thin Lizzy, Molly Hatchet and Doc Holliday, to menthion a few - had been so. The reason why I believe Tramp would go well at the Sweden Rock Festival is because they sound just as old as most of the bands that play there. It’s old music made in an old fashion; with something that sounds like rockabilly, Hammond organs and a pretty poor sound quality. Personally I don’t find much fun in this album at all, but I think that comes down to the fact that I’m no fan of this music. I would think there’s nothing wrong with the band, my feelings are that the music sounds well written, well played and overall quite decent – but it requires that you like this kind of music. At least me am not tempted to leave the pessimistic s. After ten runs in the player I haven’t changed opinion anywhere and I feel just as much as I did in the beginning that I rather not listen to this. But as I said, that’s probably coming down to me more than how the band play. To fans of dinosaur music I’d say this is a party piece.
What’s clear to me is that it at least isn’t pure trash and probably more like gold to those saber-toothed cats and mammoths and other beasts that are forefathers of the animals living today, among these guys this album will probably be as popular as a sale on make-up are among old ladies. I don’t like it personally but I don’t hesitate to say it’s decent, and approved. However, the grade stays where it is because I can’t see how this would attract anyone outside the fans of music from this era. Now I hope that you who has spent the last minutes reading through this review can forgive me for not coming to any deeper conclusion that what the label said already in the first sentence of this review. But this is how I feel this album sound – the more I hear it, the more certain I become of what I felt already when I heard it the first time: this album is not made for me and will never be.
HHHHHHH
