Music Review: GroundSound “Pay Attention”

Vitals:

Name: GroundSound

Album: Pay Attention

Year: 2009

Label: SotoS Music (Indie)

Genre: Pop/Rock/Funk

The Skinny

College rock. Funky. Nice album flow. Lackluster vocals. Solid musicianship. Fun.

Story

A few days ago a gentlemen by the name of Steve Mura from Arial Publishing contacted me here on the site about a band called GroundSound. After a few days and several emails, I had the album in my hand. Thank you for the opportunity to review this album, Steve!

Highlights

I’ve listened to this album from start to finish ten times and here are my thoughts:

“Funky Junky” was probably the best song to start this album with. Showcases some great guitar work, solid funky bass riffage, and a memorable chorus.

“No They Can’t” showcases a pretty sweet Blues guitar solo.

“Zombie” has an intro that made me go back and listen to a few extra times. I think it’s the bass action that keeps me coming back to this track.

“Get Better” is all kinds of funky. Tower of Power anyone?

“The Lake Song” is a direct descendant of a 50’s ballad. Interesting.

Opinion

I’m grateful for the chance to review this album. Now with that said, I have to be brutally honest here. The vocals really ruined this experience for me. Sad. The music is awesome and the players have gobs of skill. Some of the harmony sections just don’t work. The ideas are great but the execution isn’t there. I hoped that multiple listens would change my mind and it’d grow on me, but in the end, only made it worse. The interesting thing is that on their Myspace, the vocals in the live video sound far better than on the album. I’d rather see them live.

Steve, keep up the great promotion of this band! To the band: nEko, Ray, Jon, Adam, and Bernard… you guys have a solid debut here. I think with some polishing, NYC is in for a seriously funky future. Keep me in mind for a Sophomore album!