Album reviews: Fool’s Gold, the Color Turning
Kevin Bronson on
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Fool’s Gold, “Fool’s Gold” (IAMSOUND Records) – Be still my rockist heart. L.A.’s Fool’s Gold has made an album (out today) that bridges genres, crosses continents and even transcends language. The brainchild of singer-songwriter Luke Top and Foreign Born guitarist Lewis Pesacov, Fool’s Gold has blossomed into a collective that has come up with the soundtrack to a multinational backyard party. It might ’80s dancefloor-meets-Afro-pop, and I’m not going to pretend to know Congolese beats from Eritrean, or gankoguis from chekeres, but the rhythms, and the riddims beneath the rhythms, simply exude the L word, no matter their DNA. Top’s soulful lyrics mix Hebrew and English, giving the album an otherwordly quality. And the melting-pot music holds it all together – “Surprise Hotel’s” twittering guitar line gives you happy feet; “Poseidon” could be a synth-pop hit if any synths were involved; and “The World Is All There Is” is an open-hearted hymn filled with handclaps and chanting. This is me, smiling. Recommended.
||| Download (previously posted): “Surprise Hotel”
||| Live: Fool’s Gold does a 7 o’clock in-store tonight at Amoeba.
The Color Turning, “Good Hands Bad Blood” (Softdrive Records) – The L.A. quintet aims dizzyingly high on its long-awaited first release on Scott Weiland’s label, fashioning massive soundscapes with darned near a prog-rock feel to them. Is this where Radiohead meets emo? Maybe. There’s plenty to digest here – lots of bells and whistles and sundry effects frame singer-guitarist Scott Scavo’s anthems of restlessness and yearning, and at points during “Slow As Passing Cars” or “Marionettes in Modern Times” I feel as if I could segue into “Dark Side of the Moon.” Would I rather hear dream-rock, even slightly overblown, than the electro flavor du jour? Yes. But too often here, the Color Turning’s reach exceeds its grasp.
||| Live: The Color Turning play tonight at the Viper Room and Friday at the Knitting Factory.
||| Previously: The Color Turning interviewed.
[…] L.A.’s Fool’s Gold play around the world with music that bridges genres, crosses continents and even transcends language. The brainchild of Israeli-American singer-songwriter” Luke Top and” guitarist Lewis Pesacov, Fool’s Gold has blossomed into a collective that has come up with the soundtrack to a multinational backyard party. It might ’80s dance floor-meets-Afro-pop, and we’re not going to pretend to know Congolese beats from Eritrean, or gankoguis from chekeres, but the rhythms, and the riddims beneath the rhythms, simply exude the L word, no matter their DNA. Top’s soulful lyrics mix Hebrew and English, giving the band an otherwordly quality. And the melting-pot music holds it all together – Their signature song “Surprise Hotel’s” twittering guitar line gives you happy feet; “Poseidon” could be a synth-pop hit if any synths were involved; and “The World Is All There Is” is an open-hearted hymn filled with handclaps and chanting. After seeing them this summer at the Hollywood Bowl, we knew they were Jewlicious. (Quoted generously from this review in BuzzBands.com) […]