Goldspot - Talley of the yes men
Goldspot began their journey by recording this album, and releasing it on an indie US label. After a Los Angeles DJ played the tunes on his radio show and passed them around the industry, the album became played in the office of Mercury and the band later became signed to recently revived label Fontana. After playing small venues across London, the band soon realised they need to get their music heard by a large audience. The solution to this, they gave their album away for free in conjunction with a national newspaper, by giving readers the opportunity to download it from iTunes. The album was then available to buy digitally where it reached #16 in the iTunes Alternative chart, and #14 in their album chart.
After the recent release of their debut single, It's getting cold, which was so successful that it became the second biggest downloaded track to date in the UK, Goldspot now release CD copies of their debut album Talley of the yes men. The sound of the album varies between Bollywood, the US and British Guitar Pop, representing the different styles front man Siddarha Khosla has been influenced by. Throughout this album there are some very different sounds present such as the chiming of what sounds like bells on the first track, Rewind. From the beginning of each track there is something different to make that song stand out from the one before it and the one that is coming after. Cusp begins with an almost subtle techno style, which then counts into the song; Friday has a more theatrical intro and the feel good program of the year starts like a marching parade. There are upbeat tracks such as Time Bomb, then there are the slower songs like In the past, which is a little disappointing with its continuous bland beat all the way through.
Many of the tracks have a more acoustic than electric sound to them such as the opener Rewind, and The Guard with its calm instrumental guitar acoustics. The track Cusp has so many instruments packed in one by one to the point where it turns into a great alternative track. Vocally, most of the tracks are very strong; Friday is very soft and Cusp stands out very well. Disappointingly, as the album comes to an end, So Fast drones on and on, Motorcase is a simple track with drum pounding and The Assistant starts slow and remains stationary all the way through; on the plus side it has a beat you will end up tapping with your feet. Even though some songs may not tickle your taste buds, the majority of the album consists of some great tunes.