Friday, 12 August 2011

Box Codax - Hellabuster

Hellabuster is the second album by Box Codax - Box Codax are Manuela Gernedel who I know because she works here at The Gate doing art groups, her husband Nick McCarthy who played the keyboards here last halloween when we had a party (I sang The Monster Mash) and Alexander Ragnew from Munich who I have not met.
Manuela and Nick at our halloween party. 
          The first song is called Hellabuster and has piano on it like John Lennon plays at the beginning of Imagine. It sounds a bit like The Beatles but also very modern, it is a happy sounding song and a good start to the CD. The next song, Seven Silvers, is sung mainly by Manuela and sounds like seventies disco, it is a fast song and seems to be a story about a boyfriend and girlfriend who are falling in love because the chorus says "Can't get you out of my mind." A lot of the songs on the CD are about a relationship and i think the songs are telling a story about love and about how hard it is sometimes to be in a relationship. The next song for example seems to be about a man not being able to sleep because he is worried about his girlfriend who is not with him. After this song is a funny song called Choco Pudding, i watched the video for this on the Hellabuster website, where you can also see videos for some of the other songs on the CD, it made made me laugh but also feel a bit sick because the man in the video sings with a mouth full of chocolate pudding. Pour Moi, the next song, has a deep man's voice singing on it and a high woman's voice which sounds like a kid singing, it is a sad sounding song about nightmares - I don't have nightmares much because i have trouble sleeping but I did once have a nightmare once where I went to the beach on holiday and drowned when i went for a swim. After this is faster, rockier song with shouting in it like somebody who is cross because his wife or girlfriend has left and after that a slower song with Manuela singing on it which also sounds a bit sad; Manuela has a nice, very girly voice a bit like Jane Birkin and this song reminds me a bit of Je T'aime by her and Serge Gainsbourg. The next song is another sad song about broken hearts after a relationship has broken up. The song starts out very slow but more starts happening around the middle with the vocals turning into shouts about learning to live with a broken heart. 
           After all these sad songs things get a bit more happy with the next song Sandy Moffat, the 
This song has a good video which you can see here, the video was made by German artist Hank Schmidt in der Beek who I met when he came to The Gate to star in the Video Drama episode The Druggies Next Door which you can see below. Hank has also made a record with Nick from Box Codax and Sebastian who works here at The Gate and I will be reviewing that too soon.




          Next up is a slow song with acoustic guitar and violin and occasionally trumpets, it is a song about friendship - it is good to have friends because they help you with stuff and you can go the the pub and buy drinks for one another, I meet my friends every monday night and we go to different pubs around Shepherds Bush and Hammersmith. The next song is another slow one and is about Bedrooms and the things people do in bedrooms and then there is a faster song which sounds a bit like a reggae song, Manuela sings in this one about sleeping and dreaming. The last song uses the same words as Seven Silvers but is much slower, it's funny how they have done this and a good way to end the CD. 
          Overall I think this is a very good album and I hope many people will buy it. I would like to thank Manuela and Nick for sending me the CD and congratulations to them too. I would give this CD 10 out of 10.

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