Have you ever known the pleasure of a good tip? You know that warm glow that you get when you realise that someone steered you right? It might be a hot tip on a “sure thing” at 20 to 1 or big money for good service; it could even be just good advice from a friend. Well I got a tip from a regular reader, suggesting I check out an L.A./Montana based band called Korben. And so I did.
Korben’s sound is what you would expect if the Cranberries had married the Foo Fighters and had children. Chad’s guitar heavy rock riffs coupled with Erin’s smooth, Sarah Mclachlan-esque, folk-chick-singing-rock vocals — with a hint of an Irish lilt — combine to create a sound that is both energising and comfortable. Korben’s angst-ridden, poignant and frequently ironic lyrics are a big contributor to that “something special” that Korben have in overflowing abundance.
Korben remind me of a band I loved in college. They practised in their basement flat just off the college campus and had that small-town-kid-pushed-to-far chip on their shoulder. They understood what sarcasm and irony were and I mean they really understood it; not just the definition but they could apply it with deadly accuracy – like the British. They were the intelligent, brooding, pensive philosophy or English Lit. students who were ludicrously talented. Korben have that sound, a sound that is too intelligent and not upbeat enough to be typical college rock but might more accurately be described as basement rock. If there was such a thing as basement rock, Korben would be the embodiment.
The first track on Korben’s debut album Steady Fools, “Super Selfish”, is an excellent example of basement rock and has possibly the greatest intro ever written. The driving Foo Fighter-esque guitar riff and fabulous beat give-way to Erin’s smooth vocals that give the petulant lyrics life. Erin’s voice is creamy smooth, but with an emotive edge that conveys the passion, anger, pain, or melancholy of any fractious lyrics.
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