Â鶹´«Ã½AV

EVERYBODY SEE THIS
Sandman Viper Command
Indie
7-out-of-10

Coming to music fans out of Burlington, ON., Sandman Viper Command is Rob Janson, Daniel Reardon, Aaron Harvey and Matt Damon Meyer.

"In the beginning, the four best friends who make up the ambitiously named outfit (Rob Janson, Aaron Harvey, Dan Reardon, Matt Meyer) locked themselves up for days in their parents' basements practicing and refining demos, only emerging when they had stumbled upon the most perfect blend of garage pop/guitar fuzz rock this side of the border has heard in a long time. It's this obsessive compulsiveness in their music that pays off huge on their independently released debut, Everybody See This," details the band's bio on MySpace.com

Well I might not suggest this music, and frankly very little music in general is perfect, but within its genre Sandman Viper Command does it pretty well.

Among the dozen cuts here the best is Using Everybody. A solid song with a hook to catch you.

For the most part the band does a credible job of catching the listener's ear.

It's not necessarily the lyrically deepest music on the planet, but I doubt the band was looking to make political statements, or to create rock anthems with the release of this disk.

What they have is a highly listenable album save for one weak spot that being Dial M, a song which drags and has something of a repetitious drone to it.

Overall worth a listen even though Sandman Viper Command is not likely to become a household name based on this release.

Check it out at www.myspace.com/sandmanvipercommand

- CALVIN DANIELS

GOOD PRAIRIE FOLK
Ray Elliott Band
Indie
9-out-of-10

I am often pleasantly surprised by CDs which originate in Saskatoon. Other Canadian cities; Calgary, TO and Winnipeg might have a bigger reputation than the City of Bridges, but when you hear someone such as the Ray Elliott Band you realize the gap is far less than most probably think.

When preparing for this review I popped to the band's page on MySpace.com and noticed where it asks the band to describe who they sound like Elliott has, "I guess maybe on a really great day I would say Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Blue Shadows, Blue Rodeo."

All right that's pretty heady company. Three of the listed performers are household names in music, at least in Canada, and while the Blue Shadows are less well-known a review of 'Lucky To Me' from years back is still fondly remembered by this reviewer. So I wasn't truly expecting Ray Elliott to live up to his own comparison.

Well the good news is that he reaches for such lofty heights. On a cut such as Hard Scrabble Year he makes it.

Then there is the opening Johnny Canuck, a song which could be a new Canadian folk/country standard.

Of course Bluenose is an East Coast hit which could have come from Great Big Sea and been an automatic hit.

And he doesn't miss a beat on cuts such as I Count the Days, Redwood Giants or Man on the Porch.

Overall this is a gem folks. Find it. Buy it. Enjoy it.

Check them out at www.myspace.com/rayelliottband

- CALVIN DANIELS

Past reviews are archived online at http://calmardan.blogspot.com/