Single Review: Santiago Street Machine – Sinking Stone
It has not been a great couple of months for drum and bass fans. Pendulum split, calling it quits in June. Then there was an egregious lack of a single album even touching on dance in the 2012 Mercury Prize nominations. What’s a dance fan to do? Manchester’s Santiago Street Machine new single, entitled ‘Sinking Stone’, may be part of the answer. This single follows ‘Face Your Fear’, which was released in May. (You can download a remix of that song in this previous MP3 of the Day post.)
Santiago’s vocalist Andy Chandler has the huskiness to match Rob Swire’s, but sounds a bit more familiar (and therefore more comfortable) than an Aussie accent. ‘Sinking Stone’ is nowhere near in your face, assaulting you in ‘Noisemaker’ fashion. Instead, the song starts out slowly, building speed and power. About 45 seconds in, everything comes together and in organised chaos fashion, the song takes flight. “Are you looking for a better life these days?” Chandler asks in the chorus, which made me think it was a response to our name sake, Doves’ ‘There Goes the Fear’, which is all about taking chances. Dance music has never been the bastion of amazing lyrics like the singer/songwriter genre has always been, so to have a song with such a compelling sound and thinking man’s lyrics is a definite plus.
Pendulum fans, take note: you don’t have to be sad anymore. Embrace Santiago Street Machine, and you can have a new band to cheer on at gigs. The thing that gets me about people complaining about dance music is that it’s too slick, “overproduced” and over synthesised. I know some others don’t feel the same, but when I hear a track like ‘Sinking Stone’, I can feel the music course through my veins, and it’s the beats that make me feel alive. I used to say that if dance music didn’t have the power to move a person, then that person must be a stone. But now I’ve sort of backed off that premise, because I think it does take a special ear to appreciate dance music and most people, if they aren’t bothered, won’t even have a listen. But to miss out on something like ‘Sinking Stone’ would be a terrible loss.
8/10
‘Sinking Stone’, the new single from Santiago Street Machine, is out Sunday (the 30th of September) on the band’s own Hijacker Records. Watch the official video below.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD6nlRwqoxM[/youtube]
Leave Your Response