Music Review: Powersolo - Egg

If I'm not loving rock 'n' roll, I'm loving breakfast. So hey, if you're going to throw an egg on the cover of your record, I'll consider hitting up a diner nearby and read the liner notes with a side of pancakes, sausage, and home fries. I'm not sure what possessed Powersolo to feature the egg prominently in all the photos for the record, but it certainly stands out without too much effort. If only the music was equally worth the appetite.

The Danish trio Powersolo are certainly a rock band but with a quirky twist. This approach could be a bit of a risk around here, for a) Americans like their rock and b) Americans may not like quirk with their rock. Maybe it's a Danish thing, for I had trouble thinking of too many tongue-in-cheek bands that have had a prominent stay in our musical consciences. The only one I could think of was the Presidents of the United States, and they're not from around here either. Regardless of what these guys find funny, their musicianship is quite enjoyable if you take out the words. "Messerschmidt" is an excellent, mostly instrumental dragster-like rocker that features some crafty organ work by a guy named Palle Hjort. The energizing background of "Dans Les Rues De Paris" reminds one of some kind of updated '60s dance track with people doing the mashed potato with pointed enthusiasm. However, the song is in french and translates to "In the Streets of Paris", so for all I know they're jamming wildly about berets.

Unfortunately, the quirkiness aspect of the group just frustrated me. The vocalist, Kim Kix, varies between sounding like Moby and fiddling with his tone so as to be rather obnoxious at times. In "Dumb Dumb Dumb" it sounds as if he's trying his best Bee Gees impression, despite the band playing a fine, sinister-sounding composition that could have been written by Tomoyasu Hotei. So, in a sense, Kix ruins it. Then there's the similarly hard western-sounding rocker of "Plasma Crystal Dope" that has Kix sounding like a nu metal guy raving about smoking that crystal dope. Trust me, it sounds awful. I will admit that the pensive sound of "Gentle on the Nards" is complemented greatly by an agonized ranting towards the end, which has the singer throwing himself at the listener's feet and desperately wanting not to die. It is an interesting way for a record to go out, but it was only one of a few tracks that made me think these guys were remotely amusing. The band clearly feels that their songs with a wink are hilarious, but I felt that the record would have sounded better if it was all instrumentals and they left their humor in Denmark.

Article Author: Evan Mauser

Once a man only known for juggling numbers and finding broken stuff, Evan Mauser finally puts his literary skills on cyberpaper. Sure, he's dabbled with some prose and novel in the past, but he mostly spends his time listening to the guitar and drum. …

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