Bongo Boy Rock n Roll TV Show Episode 01 Season 12 – “All About You” – Various Artists (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

A new year, a new Bongo Boy Rock n Roll TV Show season. And if you are new to their channel, both welcome and …where the hell have you been? So, for those who don’t know, I will reiterate that The Bongo Boy Rock n Roll show is essential for any discerning music fan, those looking to keep ahead of the curve and anyone who wants to hear the next big thing just before it becomes the next big thing.

In short, if you are one of those people who likes to be able to say, “Yes, but I was listening to them before their album blew up/their single got to number one/before the grammy nomination/etc. Bongo Boy Rock n Roll TV is precisely what you need. Not only a crystal ball for what is about to break this year but possibly the home of your next favourite band.

The Bongo Boy Rock n Roll TV Show has been on National TV in prime time on terrestrial TV channels for over a decade. Each expertly curated episode brings a wealth of new music from all genres, every sound and all scenes imaginable. Since airing on 7th February, this show has been in heavy rotation Nationwide on 72+ TV channels in the USA.

(As always, if you want to submit a music video for their consideration, then do so here  – http://bongoboytv.com/)

Things kick off with Studeo, a name you will already be familiar with if you are a frequent visitor to the show. They are a band that is difficult to place easily in one genre or style, something familiar to all great bands. Rain Down On Me is a perfect example of why that is the case. A blend of pop and rock, light and shade, and dynamic ebb and flow, from which they create an epic soundscape that is shot through with rock guitars and pop gloss. A heady combination indeed.

Wishing You the Best, from Monique Brown follows, a crawling and groovesome blues tune that seems to shift and shake as it tumbles forward. It’s a beguiling combination, musically quite dark to the point of brooding but lyrically optimistic. However, the video suggests that the sentiment might not be too sincere, more a case of goodbye and good riddance rather than it was nice knowing you. That’s what is great about songs; you can take them as you find them and fit them to mean what you need them to.

And as soon as those earthy blues grooves fade away, they are replaced with something more ethereal and floating. What Is Anything by Tremble is the sort of sound you would have associated with labels such as 4AD back in the day, a neat blend of subdued electronica and drifting sonics, delicate pianos chime, and the vocals are a pure charm.

Again, this array of songs is kept interesting by another change of pace, and Hard Time from Jeremie Albino is a real groover, part cowboy cool, part funky soul, part rock salvos, part gospel harmonies. A real mix, but as I said earlier, the best music fits only neatly into one neat package or is summed up but a simple label. When the generic title, in this case, funky-country-soul-rock, is almost a review in its own right, you know you have stumbled on something great.

Val Emmich’s Worry is also hard to place; it seems to be the sort of song that has invented its genre, though what that might be, I’m not too sure. Philosophical pop, perhaps? The song is built on a simple and slow-burning dynamic rise as if the musical temperature is very slowly being turned up until it explodes in all its glory into a wonderfully odd, decidedly dark, powerful and poignant anthem. Not to mention, one of the like you won’t have heard before.

Truxton Mile is easier to place, and California In My Mind is a country pop classic in the making, the sort of thing that will please the purists and catch the ear of the mainstream pop picker alike. Things are rounded off with a cavernous slab of alt-rock, and Heart is dystopian rock meets symphonic grunge that marks Down The Lees out as being a band to watch if you like your music heavy but are also looking to see where things go next. Here! This is where they are going next…

And just like that, we find ourselves on the other side of another fantastic program of new music and about-to-happen artists. Hopefully, that should give you plenty to listen to and fall in love with until the next instalment.