Monday, May 24, 2010

My Favourite Albums Of ALL TIME! #3 Boomkat A Million Trillion Stars [2008]
Boomkat released their first album way back in 2003. They had a minor hit with the lead single 'The Wreckoning' [great song!], and vanished soon after that. I assume they were dropped from their label, because we didn't hear much else from them for 5 years. I was disappointed, i wanted to hear what else Taryn and her brother [forgot his name] could come up with.

Then, one day in late 2008, Boomkat put up a website containing 13 streaming new songs. I was so excited to hear them, and when i played the songs one by one, i soon realized they had something REALLY special happening with their second album. I played the album over and over, i loved it, but i also realized that the album wasn't as commercial as it needed to be to get radio attention. I figured it would go nowhere, and a year and a half on, the album still hasn't even had a physical release. It has hit iTunes, thankfully, but the exposure for the album seemed to never reach any decent heights, so Boomkat have become one severely underrated act.

Boomkat have a very original sound to their music. Their second album is a mix of pop [Runaway], lite rock [Lonely Child], electronic [Run Boy] and a lot of scratch board/trip hop [Four Track Dub]. They're very eclectic, but still have enough of their own vibe in their music to not sound like a mish mosh. That's a hard thing to do.
Taryn Manning provides all the vocals, and her brother does all the music. You may recognize Taryn from the big screen as well. When she's not singing in Boomkat, she's doing movies. She's most famous for her role in 'Hustle & Flow', where she played a hooker. She also starred in 'Crossroads' with Britney Spears [among many other movies].
Taryn's voice is full of attitude, it's raspy and sexy, but it can also be soft as well for the right song. I guess a diverse voice needs to match the diverse sounds of this album, so it makes sense that she can go between each style of song so easily.

I have NO idea where the album will end up, maybe it will forever remain unreleased and be loved only by their very small fan base online? Either way, it's a fantastic record, and until things change, it will remain one of my most unknown loved albums ever.

1. Run Boy [Here I Come] 4/5
2. Lonely Child 5/5
3. Stomp 5/5
4. Runaway 5/5
5. Elated 4/5
6. Not My Fault 4/5
7. Four Track Fub 5/5
8. Don't Be Shy 4/5
9. Instead 5/5
10. Fall On Me 5/5
11. Wish I Could 2/5
12. Burn 5/5
13. Say Hi 4/5
14. Dressed In Grief 3/5

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