Album of the month : December 2001
Tenfold Loadstar (NL) : " S/T "
( iXiXeS Records)
Sometimes you don't need much money to make a great album: Good ideas are enough. This is just the way this record was made.
Hailing from Lower-Saxony, but now living in Hamburg ( the capital of German rock & pop), this one-girl/ two boys outfit has recorded these 15 terrific tracks in radical D.I.Y. style with stunning results. All based on solid melodic foundations, these songs would be already excellent if they were backed with a simple guitar. But TENFOLD LOADSTAR give them even more appeal and dynamics with a sound of their own: an exciting soundscape that mixes contemporary rhythm-boxes, samples and electronic trickery with traditional acoustic/ electric guitars, bottleneck, piano and harmonica. This recipe is particularly effective on the uptempo numbers ( my favourites...) like the entertaining opener Supermarkets Overfilled. It starts like a boosted all-electonic ditty, breaks in a filthy guitar riff, and slowly fades away on rootsy bottleneck licks. Cheerleaders Dream is just as good and evokes a session with BECK circa " Mellow Gold" meeting Amsterdam's sample-sorceress Elisabeth " SOLEX" Esselink in a smoky Beale Street club. Other uptempo goodies include the atomic-age bubblegum of Spaces Changing or the frisky Ice Ice Baby, a real standout track with its trully compelling coalmine beat and lively chorus.
Besides the merriment of these sprightly pop tunes, TENFOLD LOADSTAR offer a collection of melancholic mid-tempo ballads to die for. On these songs ( erg... my favourites too ! ), the sweet and touching voice of Caro Garske works marvels, floating over a delicate and understated background which often recalls the unique beauty of YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS' classic " Colossal Youth". The well-titled Crystal Clear ( One of the two tracks here to benefit of a "real" production work by STELLA's Thies Mynther), the equally sensitive Icecream Massacre or the deliciously languid Cbc are all of this precious kind. On the graceful Crazy Horses, a light folky touch underlines the subtle melody, giving to the album one of its most moving moments. 8 to P.Point, gently waving on a metronome beat, and the ethereal Never Forgive And Forget come very close behind, while the blatant melodic appeal of Hello Nice Day makes it an obvious single choice.
The album ends on an atypic gloomy hidden track with sluggish rhythms and off-the-wall arrangements, but the overall impression left after having listened to TENFOLD LOADSTAR's debut is more one of a warm, hand-crafted work, simultaneously fresh, inventive and heartfelt.
A sure winner for the mucho sympathico iXiXeS label: XXS by the size, XXL for its talent.