thecontrast.net

Perfect Disguise in top ten albums of 2008 list

Marc A. Price — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 09:43:51 +0000

Perfect Disguise

Happy New Year!

The excellent Paisley Umbrella blog on MySpace has included Perfect Disguise as one of its top ten albums of 2008. Inexplicably they/he/she still seem to think that The Contrast are from Middlesborough but that it a minor detail. The blog originally reviewed the album back in February 2008 and gave it a suitably glowing review. It is really nice when webites pick up on stuff and promote it off their own back. It shows that the material is getting over to the audience and the resultant fans are working to spread the word.

Here is what Paisley Umbrella had to say:

Middleborough’s The Contrast occupy their own space. It’s hard to say what they sound like. One hears traces of early REM, Tom Petty, and Paul Weller with their six-string Rickenbacker sound which is so central to the music, but the song timing is odd at times (especially evident on previous releases like Forget To Tell The Time, the song structures different, and on top of that, it’s highly polished powerpop. The result is that The Contrast are incredibly distinctive and don’t really “sound” like anyone else, but the music remains catchy and accessible. The Contrast is well off the beaten path.

Paisley Umbrella blog’s top ten albums of 2008…

I’d like to extend my thanks on behalf of The Contrast to all of you out there that have worked hard on supporting the band in 2008 whether you are a member of Wicked Cool staff, an enthusiastic fan, or someone that just loved the tracks that you heard and had to purchase them. 2008 was another good year and 2009 is already shaping up to be a cracker. Keep the faith and keep letting everyone know about the best band in the world (and England too).

Q104.3 - Caught in a Trap

Marc A. Price — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:31:53 +0000

Perfect Disguise

The Out of the Box play list on New York’s classic rock station Q104.3 features “Caught in a Trap” from 2005’s “Forget to Tell the Time” and the more recent compilation “Perfect Disguise“. The track is standing tall amongst some real heavy hitters on the show. I would have paid money to hear The Contrast coming after Metallica on the radio. The full play list is below along with a link to the website of the station.

The Complete 11/2/08 “Out Of The Box” Playlist
Guns ‘N Roses-”Chinese Democracy”
Oasis-”The Shock Of The Lightning”
Fionn Olochlainn (NYC)-”Walk My Way”
Supersuckers-”What It Takes”
Metallica-”The Day That Never Comes”
The Contrast-”Caught In A Trap”
Black Water Rising (Brooklyn)-”Brother Go On”
Motorhead-”Rock Out”
The Fireman (Paul McCartney)-”Sing The Changes”
Scott Weiland-”Missing Cleveland”
Happy Anarchy (Staten Island)-”Personal Judas”
Ray Lamontagne-”You Are The Best Thing”

Q104.3 - New York’s Classic Rock.

The Contrast in NYC

Marc A. Price — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:30:12 +0000

The Contrast @ Union Square

The Contrast spent nearly a week in New York last week as part of their performance at the annual CMJ Music Marathon. However, they did not limit their activities to the Saturday night gig at Arlene’s Grocery.

They were captured performing a couple of numbers in Union Square last Thursday (23rd October 2008). The last-minute “gig” was for an ad agency who were taking advantage of the band being in the city. The whole thing was shot on video and photographed for use at some time in the future.

In the photo gallery there are a selection of photos from the performance along with a number of stills from a video of the gig at Arlene’s Grocery on Saturday night. The gig was, by all accounts, the best CMJ show yet and David Reid thinks it may even have been the band’s best live performance ever. So I hope you managed to catch it. Even if you didn’t, footage of the gig may well surface in a future promo video.

All in all it was a very busy and productive trip to the US with the band cramming in several meetings as well as the two performances and still managing to kick back and relax one night at New York’s famous Blue Note Club.

[Tonight] The Contrast @ Arlene’s Grocery

Marc A. Price — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:43:22 +0000

CMJ 2008

This very evening (Saturday October 25th 2008) in New York City The Contrast will take to the stage with some former Rainbow Quartz label mates. If you happen to be in the Big Apple tonight then come along and see them. It is going to be a great night.

Where: Arlene’s Grocery
95 Stanton St btwn Ludlow & Orchard St, New York, NY
New York, NY 10012 map
When: Saturday Oct. 25

The full line of performances at the venue are listed below
Bird To Prey 2:00 PM
Xtortya 3:00 PM
Gigantic 4:00 PM
The Parties 8:00 PM
The Broadfield Marchers 8:45 PM
The Telepathic Butterflies 9:30 PM
The Grip Weeds 10:30 PM
The Contrast 11:30 PM
The Capstan Shafts 12:15 AM

CMJ 2008

Marc A. Price — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:53:23 +0000

CMJ 2008

The Contrast have been confirmed for CMJ 2008 for a little while now but the schedules have just gone up on the CMJ site. So this is the official, official line. The Contrast will be playing on the Saturday night with some of their former Rainbow Quartz label mates. The line up is as follows:

Saturday - Oct. 25
The Parties 8:00 PM
The Broadfield Marchers 8:45 PM
The Telepathic Butterflies 9:30 PM
The Grip Weeds 10:30 PM
The Contrast 11:30 PM
The Capstan Shafts 12:15 AM

CMJ ‘08 will feature four unique performances by Coheed & Cambria at Terminal 5 during Marathon. Bear Hands, Crystal Antlers, De Novo Dahl, Emmy the Great, George Clinton and the Gangsters of Love (w/ special guests RZA, Shavo Odadjian, El Debarge), Passion Pit, Southside Johnny w/ the LaBamba Big Band: the Songs of Tom Waits, Pattern is Movement, Saves The Day and The Ruby Suns also join the hundreds of recently announced artists, highlighted by:

A Place To Bury Strangers, Beach House, Broken Social Scene, Cool Kids, Crystal Castles, Del McCoury Band, Deerhoof, Donavon Frankenreiter, Gang Gang Dance, Jay Reatard, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Lykke Li, Minus The Bear, Roisin Murphy, The Dears and Yo Majesty.

CMJ Music Marathon is also happy to report that panelists have been confirmed for this year’s thought-provoking topics. Panelists just announced include:

Music Icon George Clinton, RZA (Producer/Rapper, Wu-Tang), Shavo Odadjian (Bassist, System of A Down), Dallas Austin (Artist/Producer), Keith Shocklee of Bomb Squad (Hip Hop Producer), Brother Marquis & Fresh Kid Ice of 2 Live Crew, Q-TIP (Producer/Rapper/Actor), DJ Spooky (Artist), Benjamin Wagner (Vice President, MTV News), Patti Rothberg (Artist), Panos Panay (Founder & CEO, Sonicbids), Ali Partovi (CEO, iLike), Juliana Hatfield (Artist) and Daniel Glass (President/CEO, Glassnote Entertainment Group).

Links:

http://www.cmj.com/marathon/
The Contrast’s CMJ Artist page

The Contrast Live Review

Marc A. Price — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:35:34 +0000

The Contrast received a nice write up for their recent gig on home turf. Here it is in full with a link to the magazine that it came from.

The Contrast
Unity @ Goodbarns Yard, Peterborough – July 31 2008
The Contrast are a ‘proper band’. Not in terms of success, although in that sense too they are a ‘prop er band’. They have gained recognition in America, recording five albums on a New York-based record label, and received plenty of radio play and media cove

rage on that side of the atlantic. But a ‘proper band’ in terms of their music.

The songs they offer us here at Goodbarns tonight – and they must play for approaching an hour – are the sort of old school, fully rounded songs which good, experienced musicians used to write before this new era of bands having to be flavour of the minute became… well…flavour of the minute.

Sounding generally like the sort of musical genre that is home to the likes of REM and, more particularly, Elvis Costello, it is not difficult to see why The Contrast would find an enthusiastic audience in the US. What is probably more surprising is that they haven’t quite achieved the same recognition in their native country.

They are at once simple and complex. Watch rhythm guitarist Kieran Wade, and you’ll see that the songs are rooted mostly in basic open chords. At the same time, front man Dave Reid is capable of the sort of guitar solos that aspiring shedders would die for, but never plays them for the sake of it, only ever to add something to the music. It’s this fusion of simplicity and complexity, the balance between basic structures and technical ability used sparingly, and the synergy of good lyrics and strong melody, which put these songs, and this band, in a class above.

As if to remind us that they are not entirely American-influenced, a cover of The Beatles’ ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ is thrown in towards the end, sounding enormous and still relevant, despite being forty years old. On this showing it’s about time we caught up with the Americans, and gave this band the recognition that they clearly deserve.
- Paddy Burke, Art and Soul magazine

http://www.artandsoulmagazine.com/issue18/

Caught in a Trap

Marc A. Price — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:57:32 +0000

“Caught in a Trap” has been sent to radio to promote the “Perfect Disguise” compilation and the video has been placed on You Tube. Of course, this features the old line up… but still worth a look. So here it is in all its glory.

[Tonight] The Contrast - Barfly - Friday the 13th

Marc A. Price — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:29:42 +0000

Just a reminder that The Contrast are playing The Barfly on Friday June 13, details below:

The Fly,
36-38 New Oxford St, London, WC1A 1EP
Meretto + No One Left
+ Run Don’t Walk + The Contrast

Advance tickets are £7 and available now from the
Barfly website…

…and The Contrast open the night @ about 8pm.

Perfect Disguise Review (All Music Guide)

Marc A. Price — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:07:40 +0000

The All Music Guide have posted a review of Perfect Disguise: Introducing the Contrast.

The Contrast, Perfect Disguise: Introducing the Contrast ****
While the Contrast haven’t moved enough merchandise either at home in the U.K. or across the pond in the States to truly merit a “greatest-hits” album, Little Steven Van Zandt is enough of a fan to think they deserve one anyway, and one or two spins of Perfect Disguise: Introducing the Contrast, compiled for Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool Records label, is enough to convince nearly anyone that the guy has a valid point.Featuring choice cuts from the Contrast’s first five albums, Perfect Disguise: Introducing the Contrast is a near-perfect amalgamation of jangle pop melodies, indie rock attitude, and new wave guitar heroics (if Tom Verlaine and Peter Buck had a baby, the kid would play a lot like Contrast brainchild David Reid). These 14 songs don’t exactly shy away from the band’s obvious influences, but the energy and power of the group’s attack are fresh and invigorating, and “Caught in a Trap,” “Believe,” and “Disconnected” really do sound like hit singles, with irresistible hooks and choruses to die for. It’s arguable if this collection really needed two versions of both “Mystery” and “Perfect Disguise,” but the songs show enough variety in electric and acoustic form to show just how strong these tunes are and that they can take on different shapes and still shine brightly. Most fans of smart pop and contemporary garage rock probably aren’t all that familiar with the Contrast (at least not in the United States), and Perfect Disguise is an ideal introduction to a fine, woefully underrated band that truly delivers the goods.
~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide

Perfect Disguise Review (Houston Press)

Marc A. Price — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:31:04 +0000

Perfect Disguise received a glowing review from the Houston Press. Here is it is below:

The Contrast, Perfect Disguise: Introducing the Contrast (Wicked Cool Records)

This guitar-worshipping quartet released their first full-length on Rainbow Quartz in 2000, a year or so after forming, and have studiously submitted four albums since then. Perfect Disguise culls from the first four and adds a few new and unreleased tracks for good measure.

The Contrast are not a group likely to make you sell all of your worldly possessions and pursue the RocknRoll Life, but they will serve to remind you that there’s a lot of good music that goes years without getting any sort of the attention it deserves.

If you don’t like big guitars, this band is not yours. There are driving leads (“Mask”) and rhythm growls straight out of Fables of the Reconstruction (“Can’t Stand the Light”) and the melodies soar, even when melancholia takes the wheel. Towering choruses are the modus operandi, but nothing ever seems to eclipse David Reid’s lyrics. While it would be unfair to compare Reid to Peter Case or Paul Westerberg – they are three distinct writers with distinct gifts – his lyrics tend to recall a less bitter Westerberg, conveying the same palpable disgust of the teenage wasteland and all of its perpetrators.

No single territory of Reid’s vocal range goes unexplored, and his tone is clean without sounding trained, which is emblematic of the band itself. The Contrast are unabashed pop-smiths, not as calculated as Spoon and closer to REM than Big Star (the REM comparison is obvious but unavoidable) with a more an adequate tutelage of Plimsouls style. They have the sound they want, lean into it all the way, and their refined instincts keep the canvas from wearing thin. They may not blow your mind, but they’ll serve as a reminder that rocking pop music is always scratching at the dismal surface of the mainstream.

The Contrast could be the first great 21st century power-pop band, and with any luck, this compilation will help them reach the audience who are going to feel a little cheated when they find that the great new music they’ve been waiting for has been waiting for them since the turn of the millennium. – Chris Henderson

houstonpress.com
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2008/04/reverberations_amplified_heat.php

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