Caruso
Sending out a demo CD that contains 50 songs
is not generally a good idea. But North Carolina resident Matt Debellis, aka
Caruso, will tell you that any such advice is sheer bunkum. Why, he even titled
his 50 song demo CD ‘Don’t Ever Send More Than 4 Songs On A Demo’, and so far
it’s landed him 7” releases on Crustaceans & Reptiles, and now Pickled Egg.
Matt's songs are like mini excursions through a series of ecstatic avant-pop jingles, picking out some of the more interesting production techniques and effervescent song-writing signatures of Badly Drawn Boy, ‘Stars on ESP’ era His Name is Alive (whom Caruso covers on his first record), almost anything on 4AD, Smile era Beach Boys, My Bloody Valentine and Phil Spector, amongst others. All of which Matt puts into the blender to concoct a sound that is very much his own.
Discography
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'You Heard Me' 7" EP Caruso is Matt DeBellis from North Carolina, USA, and this is his second release. 'You Heard Me' features a set of eight gorgeous eclectic pop miniatures. "A distant cousin of Grandmaster Gareth’s recent Minute Melodies collection, Caruso’s eight tracks here are culled from a demo apparently containing 50 such delights. Each snippet is perfect at its short length, each is the flashing past of moods or memories – a sunny street café in the Med, the outside of a nightclub at midnight, a crazy dash through a crowded market to meet a loved one – each is like the High Llamas (and all the people they revere) making an album in the time it takes the sand to trickle out of a (pickled) egg-timer" [Jimmy Possession, Robots and Electronic Brains] "With a single already tucked under his belt on Crustaceans and Reptiles, Caruso unveils his one man adventure into sound, a flickering assortment of half formed melodies, scant memories, glimpses of the cutting room floor, tiny particles that waver in and out of earshot like fireflies in the night or ghostly shadows. Caruso is North Carolina based musician Matt Debellis who creates these partial aural gems on his computer, each of the eight tracks available on this delightful 7" are brief interludes, pop eruptions from the ether that glimmer with effervescent delight and whose nearest reference points would have to be the Busy Signals. ‘Anna’s dream’ begins the proceedings with it’s looping drone sequences interrupted momentarily by a distinctly sounding pastiche of the Tony Bennet ‘Protectors’ theme, from there on in he engages us with all manner of splintered pastiches ranging from a spot of Cossack jiggery pokery, summery psyche whisps, wall of sound electro manipulations, yodelling and some remarkably vibrant albeit doom laden Morricone style atmospherics. Flip over for the tasty exotic twang of ‘Sveltino’ and the train running off the tracks antics of ‘Julie come home’. A very disconcerting experience but nevertheless an enjoyable one even if it does make your head ache" [Mark Barton, Losing Today] "You Heard Me is the 21 century 8-track classic. The masterly edit
hints at great sounds to come from Caruso. DeBellis is a chameleon. One
moment he pleases the Mille Plateaux community and then swiftly persues in a
fashion that will make Twisted Nerve ears drip with indie ooze. Caruso's EP
is all eclectic romanticism that re-arranges your schale of music much better
than Beck will ever do" [Maarten Schiethart, Pennyblackmusic] |
UK: £3.00
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Reviews
Losing Today
Robots
and Electronic Brains
Links
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