ERIK SCOTT - review added 7th July 2009
Album Review: Other Planets (2009)
For fans of: Instrumental Chillout Rock... and dreaming in bass
Erik Scott is a bass guitarist who has worked over the years with musicians such as Alice Cooper, Kim Carnes, Sonia Dada and more. For this, his first solo album, he expands his repertoire to include keyboards and drums.
The style of Other Planets is hard to lay your finger on. It's very relaxed and not at all how you'd imagine a bass-led instrumental album to sound. Mrs Rock Realms put it well when she suggested it's like the music you hear playing in spas. This is chillout with a capital ccchhhiiilllllllllllllllllllll.
The bass is very obvious throughout most of the tracks, but here it's a sweet subdued sounding instrument, not the monstrously heavy bedrock it is in most rock and metal music. The press sheet makes reference to it having a rubbery sound and that describes it perfectly. It's an elastic boinging bass with a hollow centre and the gait of a squishy leather armchair. It's music you could sink into and never be seen again - but in a good way. The way Erik takes a 'standard' instrument and makes it sound genuinely special is highly impressive.
John Pirruccello cuts in occasionally with his pedal-steel guitar. As you'd expect he emits a number of country-tinged licks, but he's also heavily influenced by Pink Floyd. The P.F. traits are there throughout the album and make many portions of Other Planets come across like a Dave Gilmour side project. His work adds a sublime extra dimension to the work which would have been missing had this been a bass-only affair.
The individual tracks on Other Planets blend into each other making the album an all-in-one experience, not a song-by-song medley. It's not music you are going to focus on, this is a beautiful sound to play in the background... preferably whilst indulging in a mud face pack, full body exfoliation and aromatherapy in a pine and ylang ylang floatation tank. If you like 'The Floyd', instrumentals and relaxing, this is for you. If you like having your blood stirred and your adrenaline rushed, you should steer clear.
Check out... something else if you like excitement, or this if you like to be soothed to perfection.
Track List:
1. Bartalk
2. Other Planets (Sundogs)
3. Proper Son
4. Peace On Saturn
5. Despues de Guerro
6. Donnie & Sancho
7. Basque Revolution
8. Foggy Bridges
9. Bathing Maui
10. Aliens Made Me Do This
Band websites: Erik Scott , MySpace
