Brooke Addamo - 4.5/5

When I saw the title 'love will never die' .... and with Australian Idols ex-contestant history, I thought I was in for a sub standard pop song. Well I can tell you I was wrong. It doesn't seem to matter that I've heard these words before - Brooke brings a sweet sound to the meaning - if that makes any sense. A sound that I personally love.

When I first asked her to do the review she politely asked me to hold off for a couple of weeks until she had added some new songs she said she was much happier with -

I have to say 'I know it'll change' was worth the wait. I love this song. It starts with a guitar loop - simple and effective, followed by a smooth hip hop or break beat 'clap stomp' sample - and then a beautifully performed, and equally importantly - recorded voice. Back to the Australian Idol remark - Addamo is no Diva, and thank god - we don't want or need any more backwashed diva's.

Brooke Told us

'We all have our calling, and I just feel when I sing or perform, that is what I feel most comfortable doing, like I'm meant for it. Music for me is a form of expression both real and imaginative. Some people say you have to experience something to be able to sing about it, but I don't think that. If that was right we wouldn't have the great movie stars, actors that we do.
You can have experienced something which is great but you can also have empathy which helps you feel for what others have gone through.'




http://www.myspace.com/brookeaddamo

You can find her beautiful melodies here. I'm sure you will stop by and give her some love.

Reaching Koda 4/5

Reaching Koda - A band I believe has great potential, a band that will develop. They are a five-piece based in Perth Australia.

'We play a kind of ambient rock and we're starting to play around with electronic samples and the like. We love music and everything about it.'

I hear a bit of matchbook romance, a bit of recieving end of sirens or armor for sleep. A bit of this a bit of that, whatever. The point is - this band has some serious talent, with beautiful - no wait - amazing vocal harmonies, and dynamics. The only thing I'm wanting to hear maybe are some breakdowns, but with the bands statement, about using some synth and samples, i'm sure they've got it all coming along. The classically influenced track 'across the ocean blue' is cleverly composed and that's what I like to see in a band. EXPERIMENTATION!!! So reaching Koda, do some crazy shit, let us hear you continue to expand.



'All of us have been in bands before this (with Ryan and Fraser in another band-myspace.com/wearetheemergency), but we all agree that Reaching Koda is where our best hopes for creative integrity lies. As such, we have the freedom to jump from genre to genre without loosing our sound. Our goal is to be creative and experiment, whilst keeping emotion and soul in the music. I would say that that is our "stamp" if we had one. Most of our songs are based on either experience, but more prominently, fiction. Our lyrics (written by either myself or Ryan Lake) tend to stray from real or personal material, opting for a sense of escapism by creating stories and working them into appropriate music. We get inspiration from films/books or fiction that we've dreamt up ourselves.'

Ryan Lake(vocals), Matt Dewson(guitar), Brayden Cook(guitar), Fraser Cringle(drums), and Ryan Nobbs(currently on bass, but will switch to guitar soon as they are looking at recruiting another bass player).

Influences include just about anything: Circa Survive, The Butterfly Effect, Emarosa, The Sound Of Animals Fighting, Jeff Buckley, Queen, Michael Jackson, City and Colour.