It’s time for our daily dose of unkown music: this time, the “responsible” band is called I Monster and is based in Sheffield, UK.
But why is it unknown? The answer that easily comes to my mind right now is “Bad PR”. The band is clearly out of the ordinary, they have an original musical style, but they got the wrong kind of advertising.

Do you remember Daydream in Blue? Yes, it’s that mellow song featured in the famous Ford Focus advertisement, and is the song that travelled all over the world and created an a-la-Cafe-del-Mar chillout band image for I Monster. A totally fake one, I might add. As you will see if you finish reading this post, that song has almost nothing in common with the rest of NeveroddoreveN.

First of all, the biggest mistake you can make is take this band’s music too seriously. These two brits, Dean Honer and Jarrod Gosling, have left me the impression that they have a very strong sense of humour, one they clearly used when they composed the songs on this album.

All you have to do is listen to the spookshow-song called These are Our Children, on which a child’s voice sings over a creepy, horror-movie-ish background , and you will understand that NeveroddoreveN fully deserves its title – it’s that sort of music that is impossible to allign to a certain genre.

I Monster – These are Our Children

Back to what I was telling you about Daydream in Blue, it wouldn’t be fair to call it a bad song. I remember that, more than 5 years ago, I used to listen to it on different compilations like Ministry of Sound Chillout or Cafe del Mar. The song’s main flaw is the lack of originality– there are at least another 1 000  songs that you can mistake it with.

During this album, the band sends us from one style to another, without stopping at one for more than one or two songs. Besides the excellent These are Our Children (that I mentioned earlier), the songs that I enjoyed the most are Heaven (a dose of eerie chillout, where the electronically ultra-modified vocals give the song an almost hypnotic effect), Some Thing’s Coming (the album’s first song, somewhat similar cu the style of Fluke or The Crystal Method), and The Blue Wrath.

The Blue Wrath By I Monster – More free videos are here

Upon hearing this last song for the first time, I was left with a huge smile on my face. It might sound familiar to you, because the song was featured as the main theme of the British film Shaun of the Dead (an excellent comedy-parody, I might add).

NeveroddoreveN is a very unique album, it will be my recommendation for those of you searching for something “different”– nimic mai mult. Whether you will like it or not – that’s up to your taste and your mood.

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I am so glad when I run into an unknown artist – an “indie”, that “falls into my hands” purely accidental. You know the feeling, it’s like having a brand new toy

The New Law consists of Adam Straney and Justin Neff, two Americans. Without getting too in-detail about their musical style and its influences, I’ll just sum it up by saying that High Noon is a surprising album. Their sound seems ahead of their time, as the band tries a mix of drum’n’bass, jazz, breakbeat, and even hip-hop – these being just the main “flavours” I’ve managed to distinguish on the first listening.

It appears as the band is enjoying quite their share of success in the underground, judging by the number of concerts that they’ve been attending (most of them with one of my older “acquintances”, Bonobo) all over the world.

If someone would ask me what’s the one thing that’s brand new about this band’s music, I think that finding an answer would be awfully difficult for me. Frankly, it’s something we’ve all seen before, lacking a true revolutionary element. Nevertheless, the final result is surprisingly fresh – it’s like cooking: you can use the same ingredients as another cook and still come up with a far better cuisine than him.

Four songs appeal to me in an “serious-addiction” way: Hell’s Gates (which seems made for a full-size street march and sounds really addictive), Time Stands Still (a chillout song which fits into the genre’s every stereotype, but still manages to sounds extremely good) and the two jazz-influenced songs: Seattle Lights and Blue Horizon. Yeah, I know, It’s a vice – but I’m addicted to anything that even resembles jazz.

To sum it up – High Noon is, in my oppinion, an excellent “easy-listening” album. Playing it end-to-end at a relaxing time of the day will surely demand a second listening.

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