Grace Basement is a pretty cool band from St. Louis. And this is a real awesome debut CD.The same kind of enthusiasm that emerged from the first Johnny Polonsky album “Hi My Name is Johnny” is here. However, the best comparison I can come up with on the fly is The Mother Hips. The excellent opening single “BBP (Ball Point Pepper)” is about as sticky a hook as you can get in a song. It has dreamy background choral florishes to a constant rhythmic guitar strum. What follows is “Green Machine” a pretty good Teenage Fanclub styled mid-tempo rocker. Then it gets even better with the melodic opus “Orphan Annie & The Dump Truck” which recalls the best of Camper Van Beethoven. The following track “On The Plane” borrows a bit of laid back Beach Boys harmony with piano and acoustic guitars and is also really good. About mid-way through the album it slows down considerably with several Wilco-like ballads. The remaining ballad tracks are very good, but don’t approach the greatness of the albums first half. It picks up again with “You Must Go Home,” a bouncy rocker and the excellent “She’s a Dream” round out this album. After a few listens, this one really sticks with you and the song melodies grows like a weed garden in your brain. That makes it a top ten contender in my book. So far I see it available on Amazon or you can contact Dren Records for a copy.
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Listen to “BBP (Ball Point Pepper”