Who said what to whom?

Trouble Bound Gospel : Let’s Get Physical ! CD

”If porno movies had music as demented and powerful as this I´d be blind (and I suppose, deaf) by now”
(Roctober, USA)

”The music sounds strange, anomalous and just plain malformed, but that´s rock´n´roll, baby ! It’s outta this world !”
(Blank Generation, Can)

”Trouble Bound Gospel on ottanut lujasti groovaavaan ja kiihkeään musiikkiinsa entistäkin hengästyttävämmän otteen”
(Soundi, Fin)

”Trouble Bound Gospel on selvästi alakerran asialla”
(Turun Sanomat, Fin)

Branded Women : Planet Tandoor – Something to Hold On / Feel 7” Single

”Finnish women playing that kinda strange rock the Finnish seems to have patented. "Something to Hold on" is a ballad that sounds like it could be a MTV hit.Very poppy stuff.”
(Savage magazine, Swe)

Tytöistä naisiin. Helsinkiläinen Branded Women on astetta rauhallisempaa, mutta myös urkusaundeihin nojaavaa rockia. Jo viime vuonna ilmestynyt sinkku sisältää kolme hienoa kappaletta, Planet Tandoor, Something To Hold On ja Feel. Keinuva, lanteisiintarttuva fiilistely ja Katjan upea laulu on todella hienoa kuunneltavaa. Tätä stereoihin kynttilätreffeillä niin daami on sulaa vahaa.
(Desibeli, Fin)

North Statesmen : The Real Beat / Back Door Waltz – Duster 7” Single

North Statesmenin The Real Beat edustaa genren rosoisinta reunaa. Innoittajikseen niin vanhan koulun bluesmiehiä (Skip James, Leadbelly), Fat Possum -labelin artisteja kuin Joy Divisionin ja Sonicsin kaltaisia legendoja listaava North Statesmen työstää raakaa ja kiehtovaa musiikkia, joka onnistuu suodattamaan kirjavat vaikutteensa puhtaasti omaksi äänekseen. Kolmesta biisistä eniten säväreitä aiheutti suoranaista ”hautausmaa-groovea” sisältävä nimikappale.
(Desibeli, Fin)

Real strange take on the blues by these two Finns. A heavy drum(-machine?) and a lonesome guitar with a pretty cool sound. A daring move which they actually pull off pretty good. A little like the White Stripes. A Finnish White Stripes might give you an idea..
(Savage magazine, Swe)

These two guys equipped with guitars and a drum machine come Turku, Finland. Turku is Finland's Christmas City. Isn't Christmastime when the suicide rate goes up? Here's music for the funerals with sparkly lights. The brassy guitars of "Real Beat" do a reindeer fat squiggly slide all over the place headbutting against a crashing mechanical boom-boom-tap-boom providing face first in a blustering wind testimony. The repetition of the beat and the bawling of the bending and bottlenecked strings could possibly put someone in a hypnotic stupor. The flipside's "Backdoor Waltz" comes with the boom tap-tap beat that a Waltz is suppose to have but rarely do they sound this cabalistic. By the time this record ends, "Duster", the band find themselves in an underground catacomb with the drum machine sounding like it's being smashed with a rock with a clattering "Clang-Clang-Clang"
(Smashing Transistors, U.S.A.)

Trouble Bound Gospel : In the Middle Finger Jungle 7” EP

“Howlin' Wolf rotisserie's JSBX on a spit til all the funk drips off making the flames rise... they sound like the Raunch Hands drunk on the Cramps blood and locking themselves away from the sunlight in a musty basement”
(Smashing Transistors, USA)

First off, kudos to the folks at Sportin´ Life Records for their impeccable cartoon logo; though of course they should rename themselves as Snortin´ Life, but hey, that´s just me. In this house we applaud such perfection. And then we make bootleg shirts. Anyway, four songs of well-recorded, air guitar mandatory, dirty punk stuff; a little in the garage, but still wearing spikes. "Space Babe Hunter" actually has a funky 100 Flowers sorta sound. Tight as fuck, but still with cool unrhearsed vibe. Add some ´60s note plucking for a retro solo and a great sense of tension, and hell you have me wishing they would take a turn at a 15-minute version of "Black to Comm". There are precious few rules in this life, and one of ´em is that I will always stand behind a song called "I´m Up Shit Creek". Stand proud. And even though rulebreakers rule, TBG pull out a kick ass tune to match the title. The vocals get more Lux Interior and the guitars get a bit more abstract, featuring some cool underwater effects, but the backbone of the song is a relentless Billy Childish-style burner. Maybe it is just me, but these guyes have a lot goin´ on and I wouldn´t mind hearing ´em stretch these tunes out to the ten-minute mark in a live setting.
(Carbon 14, USA)

Finnish bluesgaragers TBG are back. They’ve done a slew of records over the last bunch of years and they are pretty consistent. This single makes a little departure though as it’s more punky than bluesy even tho’ it still has that bluesvibe. It’s very Finnish and pretty good. One of the best bands from Finland over all I’d say.
(Savage magazine, Swe)

Trouble Bound Gospel : Down The Rabbit Hole 12” LP / CD

”Avausraita Hi-Jinxiä on täysin mahdotonta kuunnella loppuun saakka, koska toisen kertosäkeen kohdalla on jo ulko-ovella menossa, kiskoo kenkää toisella kädellä jalkaan ja avaa kaljapulloa hampailla.”

”Down The Rabbit Hole nousee heittämällä vuoden parhaiden rock-levyjen joukkoon.”
(Sue Magazine, Finland)

"Parhaimmillaan Down The Rabbit Hole on 60-luvun Rolling Stonesin tapaan leppoisasti rullaavissa rock-patinaa henkivissä Gamessa ja Safarissa."
(Soundi, Finland)

"Bändillä on soitto omalla tavallaan likaisesti kasassa, ja nastaa on
kerrankin kuunnella suomalaista rähjärockbändiä, jonka vaikutteet eivät tule
voittopuolisesti Detroitista."
(Rumba, Finland)

"Fitting title for an album that'll take you to a surreal R'n'R wonderland and even a little further. The Finnish trio moan and groan about supermodels, cellphones and spirits moving slowly, while relentlessly beating, bending and twisting their instruments and the accompanying organ, piano, sitar, maraccas, backing vocals and slide guitar details on the various songs add interesting and ear-opening layers to the music. Just like Alice, TBG get around and they virtuously mix Rolling Stones swagger with Screamin' Jay Hawkins minor mayhem and Dura Delinqent'ish guitar raunch, but the timeless black hole they operate from is one they dug themselves. To keep the fetichists happy, add a really crisp recording etched into a thick slab of black vinyl wrapped in a full-colour gatefold sleeve and what have you got? A born loser, baby!"
(LOWCUT Magazine, Denmark)

Finnish rock´n roll - that´s something else!
Anyone remember Trouble Bound Gospel?? They were the first band out on the now legendary
Bad Afro Hustler Singles Club, back in 1996. A dirty little 7" it was too, maybe it didn´t do too much to me, but it had it´s charm. And the cover artwork was `superfly´, as I guess the Bad Afro guys called it. TBG was a trio back then and is a trio now, with a little change in the line up.
I haven´t heard anything from them between these two releases, and Down The Rabbit Hole came out sometime this year. Coming from the dark woods of Turku, maybe you are doomed to sound like this.
Not so easy to get at first, but the record really gets to me after a while. That´s the beauty of this job, I have to listen quite some time to a record before I write a review. If I had bought this record, I might have put it aside after the first spin. I´m being honest here now, but I hope you see what I mean. So, after taking it for a few rides in my car, taking it to bed and so on - I´m kind of a fan of more or less most of it. The vocals remind me of one of my favourite garage bands of the 90´s - The Coyote Men. He sounds like a sick and hung over Bagheera! But boy, does he nail those ballads! And the ballads are my favourites. Track 3, Transparent, is so beautiful it makes you cry if you think of something sad at the same time. I´m also hooked to the dangerously sad and piano-driven, I Can´t Give Up Now.
You can listen to a couple of songs on the Sporting Life web site, but those are not the best ones
on the album, but still, Hi - Jinx, the opening track is a nice garage rocker.
But come and visit me after midnight, and I´ll pour you a glass of red wine and play you the ballads,it´s perfect for the nighttime
(Rock´n Roll, Alcohol & Fucking In The Streets)