Hidden Shoal Recordings » Rich Bennett Reviews

Rich Bennett ‘Misty Valley’ – MOKB

Jamie — Mon, 16 May 2011 05:44:17 +0000

Excerpt: “… Neo-lounge composer Rich Bennett is sure to find favor with the modern yacht rock crowd, but truth be told, his stylistic lineage traces back through folks like Esquivel, Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman. His 2010 release,On Holiday, found plenty of favor with both critics and the martini set, and coming at this point in time, his new video for the gauzy Misty Valley almost feels like a lackadaisical afterthought. Not that I’m complaining. It’s all a passing sad daydream, with found footage casting a soft focus on the breezy buttermilk sky pop. Highly recommended with cocktails and nostalgia.”

My Old Kentucky Blog

Rich Bennett – Beehive Candy

Jamie — Mon, 02 May 2011 14:14:11 +0000

Excerpt: “We featured Rich Bennett back in August 2010 on the strength of his superb album ‘On Holiday’. So the following from Hidden Shoal a week a go was a nice surprise. Today, Hidden Shoal Recordings found an old VHS cassette stuffed down the back of a sofa in their label office. Delighted to discover a playable copy of the movie Buddy Cop, the label is now proud to share its soundtrack, for free, with the world. The back of the tape reads: Dan Lyman (Rich Bennett, star of Badge of Fury and Miami Lockdown) is a classy, refined cop from uptown. When the Deckard Crime Syndicate steals a mysterious mineral, Lyman teams up with streetwise colleague Timothy Sanna (Rich Bennett). Together, travel to the Andromeda Galaxy before syndicate boss Xavier Graffin (Greg Hoy) can turn the minerals into a gateway to a mainframe computer game, from where he can rule all communications of the universe. When Marilyn Miranda (Pam Yawbus) comes into the picture, the question of who is an enemy and who is a friend threatens to unravel the whole mission … Discover how the whole slippery can of worms unravels by downloading the album and checking out the Buddy Cop trailer on YouTube. The download includes a code for 50% off Rich’s other releases, including the much-praised Music for Underwater Supermarkets and this year’s gorgeous album On Holiday.”

Beehive Candy

Rich Bennett ‘Buddy Cop’ – The Underground of Happiness

Jamie — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 02:17:06 +0000

Excerpt: “Not content with releasing a beautiful album of songs towards the end of last year (On Holiday, also on Hidden Shoal), Mr Bennett is back with a soundtrack to a fictional (or is it?) movie. Taking its cue from John Carpenter film music (Assault on Precinct 13 in particular), Bennett weaves an entertaining sci-fi noir atmosphere. Did I mention that it’s free? And comes with a 50% discount voucher for his last two albums, both highly recommended from this direction.”

The Underground of Happiness

Rich Bennett ‘On Holiday’ – DOA

Jamie — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 05:23:03 +0000

Excerpt: “On Holiday is essentially an experiment in the emotionally-ached and the musically placid, several times throughout the album Bennett will be crooning in a theatrical, heartsick demeanor, but surrounded in a lethargic, intentionally-ignorable mashing of guitar wallows and twangy atmospherics… That sense for risky songwriting elevates On Holiday as a whole… the record gets by more on nostalgia rather than memorable songs. That being said, it’s still a helluva lot more interesting than your average, factory-pressed indie-rock album. Rich Bennett is trying to do something incredibly ambitious, and maybe to a fault, taking the essentials of lounge, something almost universally joked about, and recording them in a new context and for a new audience.”

Delusions of Adequacy

Rich Bennett ‘On Holiday’ – Tome to the Weather Machine

Jamie — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 05:21:18 +0000

Excerpt: “On Holiday is more than the sum of its much maligned rhythmic inspirations. In fact, much of the album sounds completely pastoral, equally matching the title… Bennett’s voice never strains to keep up with the relaxed canter of his songs and sounds oddly similar to the ruddy baritone of XTC’s Andy Partridge. On Holiday never sounds like an experiment or a manifesto, it is too good for that. It simply swings on its own between scenic mountain drives and the neon-lit palm trees of a smoky Sunset Strip juke joint. It is both of those things and more.”

Tome to the Weather Machine

Rich Bennett ‘On Holiday’ – 4zzzz

Jamie — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 23:02:17 +0000

Excerpt: “Delicious slice of lounge? Don’t mind if I do! This is the perfect blend of cheesy lounge flavour cut with a scary ambience that is like a deserted shopping centre in the 1970s where someone left the music running. Underneath all of that NY’s Rich Bennett and co. are a pretty gifted bunch of songwriters as well. People have heard everything from Bacharach to Morricone in this; some of them call it retro-futurist pop, I call it fantastic.”

4zzz

Rich Bennett ‘On Holiday’ – Leonard’s Lair

Jamie — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:15:08 +0000

Excerpt: “Rich Bennett’s tastes seem to veer towards lounge pop as evidenced on his ‘better than it sounds on paper’ last album Music For Underwater Supermarkets, not to mention his significant retro-futurist contributions to great records by Monocle and Hotels. As the title implies, On Holiday is a concept album Bennett has created (along with singer-songwriter Rebecca Pronsky) about leisure time away from home and work pressures…. As with some of his previus records, Bennett appears to be in typically laid back mood on the surface. Yet after each listen, the record sounds deeper and more troubled than the last time, which indicates Bennett is a less than ideal travelling companion but at least his music offers an alternative soundtrack.”

Leonard’s Lair

Rich Bennett ‘On Holiday’ – Purple Revolver

Jamie — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 07:36:15 +0000

Excerpt: “New York’s maestro of shadowy lounge tinged pop Rich Bennett is back with a follow up to his stunning 2008 album Music for Underwater Supermarkets entitled On Holiday… Bennett’s latest work is brimming with subtly dark, breezy melodies and the buoyant vocals of both Bennett and Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Rebecca Pronsky. From the gorgeous single ‘Misty Valley’ to the delicious minor key melancholy of ‘Night Part 2′, On Holiday is as intoxicating as it is playful.”

Purple Revolver

Rich Bennett ‘On Holiday’ – Underground of Happiness

Jamie — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 02:29:22 +0000

Excerpt: “Beautiful summery album from the New York composer and multi-instrumentalist. The first surprise is that Mr Bennett has an appealingly reedy voice (sometimes reminiscient of Bob Mould, to my ears), for someone whose last album was wholly instrumental. Like that album, the Beach Boys’ trademark left-right keyboard alternations are evident here, along with some pleasantly disorientating slide guitar. There’s the wonderful wooziness of ‘EPO’, with its whistled main melody and dreamy high-register synths, recalling Angelo Badalamenti soundtracks (indeed, the instrumental coda, ‘Green Memories’, with its ominous, shifting keyboard patterns, would be right at home in a David Lynch film.) The samba shuffle of ‘Night Part 1′ also stands out, with a beautiful vibes arrangement, capped with an ecstatic double saxophone solo over church organ. The overall mood though, despite the uplifting textures, is something like displacement, which after all is one effect of being on holiday. Highly recommended.”

Underground of Happiness

Rich Bennett “On Holiday” – Bluesbunny

tim — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 22:52:11 +0000

Excerpt: “Rich Bennett… claims Martin Denny as an influence, although there isn’t really much in common with the maestro… as what we have here is much darker in tone bearing more resemblance to an amalgam of left of centre troubadours like Baltimore’s The Agrarians and the Mamas and the Papas. The screwed up uncomfortableness of ‘Wild Ride’ is a good example of this… A dramatic, in the theatrical sense, right turn takes place with ‘The Peak’ taking us off in to a lo-fi journey into ambient electronica before ‘Night Pt1′ and ‘Night Pt2′ heads off into the arena of a soundtrack to a really cool sixties European movie… Much of the pleasure derived from it comes from the vocal interplay between the downbeat Mr Bennett and the civilised Rebecca Pronsky, but the lasting value comes from the almost wilful obscurity of it all. I can’t supply scientific proof but, trust me, it just works.”

Bluesbunny

Rich Bennett “Music For Underwater Supermarkets” – Proper Songs

Hidden Shoal Recordings — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:24:37 +0000

“The side project of Rich Bennett from Monocle makes music that brings together the sophisticated pop soundtracks of Burt Bacharach and Ennio Morricone with the electronic detail of Stereolab and Delia Derbyshire. Debut release ‘Music For Underwater Supermarkets’ features full tracks embellished with horns, vibraphone and flutes divided by minimal soundscape experiments. It works well, providing a respite to either style and keeping ears turned on. If you’re a fan of retro-futurist pop such as the High Llamas then this will be up your aisle.”

Proper Songs

Rich Bennett “Music For Underwater Supermarkets” – Jezebel Music

tim — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:41:05 +0000

Excerpt: “The album retains many of the softer sensibilities that his other outfit [Monocle] displays, but keeps them on an even more cerebral level, free of vocals and full of jazzy, nuanced explorations… The album contains no filler – each track, no matter its length, supports its weight in the precious sequencing that defines a large part of this record… a fuzzy trip through the cartoon movie soundtrack of Bennett’s psyche. Perhaps he was left waiting a little too long in his mother’s shopping cart, listening to MIDI versions of Stereolab at the market. Gazing upon an antiquated aquarium, he began to formulate his first thoughts of traversing the sonic boundaries of an Underwater Supermarket in his mind.”

Jezebel Music

Rich Bennett “Music For Underwater Supermarkets” – Leonard’s Lair

tim — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:03:28 +0000

Excerpt: “Normally the concept of background music for supermarkets would only entice advertising gurus to listen, yet this particular mini-album is attractive for two reasons. Firstly, it’s for ‘underwater’ supermarkets so it must sound a bit different and – more importantly – the music is performed by Rich Bennett, one of the key members of Monocle, whose superb Outer Sunset album was one of the highlights of last year… the real essential piece arrives at the album’s denouement as ‘The Underwater Supermarket’ itself makes its wistful, elegant presence felt; it’s a beautiful, mysterious track by anyone’s standards. Clearly this record won’t be the most demanding record you’ll hear this year but its tunes are ultimately involving. It also has enough hidden depth to dismiss any accusations that this is purely background music.”

Leonard’s Lair

Rich Bennett ‘Aisle 8: The Underwater Supermarket’ – Luna Kafe

tim — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:32:05 +0000

Excerpt: “a hang-loose, loungy, dream-pop piece, quite elegant and gracious as it swirls its way with a simple yet efficient melody. A true little charmer, and I might dig up Monocle for a second chance as well. Looking forward to the rest of the mini…”

Luna Kafe