| Ampline |
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The objective a ‘finding a singer’ never even entered into the picture for Kevin Schmidt, bassist and founding member of Ampline. After years of playing in bands, he came to appreciate the beauty of simply writing and playing music, regardless of whether or not some jerk wanted to stand out front holding a microphone.
Five years, a few lineup changes and a handful of records later, ‘finding a singer’ is even less of an issue. The solidified lineup of Schmidt, Rick McCarty (drums) and Mike Montgomery (guitar) is committed to carrying the Ampline torch for as long as the fucker will burn.
In a genre of music littered with music students churning out buttery fluff, Ampline has carved quite a niche for itself by playing music that is decidedly very rock. That’s not to say they’re not without their pretty moments however. Even a cursory listen to 2002’s full-length The Choir, or the recently completed Rosary illustrates the expansive scope of the songs’ reach. Full-throttle jams stop and turn on a dime, easing into quieter, more melodic reprieves. Montgomery’s guitar is fluid, forever searching and investigative, while Schmidt and McCarty seem to know instinctually when to pummel and when to caress. Although one does hear ‘voices’ now and again, the absence of a singer puts the focus squarely on the music.
The release of The Choir laid down a declaration of intent; Rosary offers total and pure execution. Ampline may not have a singer, but they surely have a voice.
- Billy Carter
SSS013
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| Lost At Sea |
"There's something that instrumental music does that vocal music cannot do," so sayeth the sample at the beginning of Ampline's record. All right here's the quiz...
01. Ampline is an instrumental outfit from:
A.) New York
B.) Arizona
C.) North Dakota
D.) Kentucky
The answer is D and if you guessed otherwise than you've obviously had your head up your ass since the inaction of the Slint Doctrine. The Slint Doctrine states that all instrumental music - whether hard rockin' or tear jerkin' - must come from Kentucky.
02. This CD is:
A.) Worth your time and money
B.) Worth your time
C.) Worth your money
D.) Worth a self inflicted punch to your own genitals.
The answer here is a bit more tricky, the answer is a little bit of B and D. Ampline do what they do well, but this doesn't sound like math rock or Slint noodling it sounds like an emo band in need of a singer. And I don't mean emo as in melo-dramatic, I mean emo as in a good well thought out rocking sort of way. These guys can play their instruments very well.
03. The sun.sea.sky rule of thumb applies here (see Proudentall review for an explanation of the rule):
A.) Well, the front cover is sturdy etched cardboard
B.) Well, the back cover is a piece of paper
C.) Well, the CD has a paper label on it
D.) Well, well, well looky what we have here.
Strangely we have a paradoxical answer. The sun.sea.sky rule sort of applies here because this disc has a nice fat cardboard cover upon which all text is etched into the surface. And I'm not going to dis a band for having a paper label on their disc, that just wouldn't be fair. So the sun.sea.sky rule applies in that this disc rocks but you can tell how much faith sun.sea.sky has in it from the packaging. It's not up there in the Proudentall "we believe in you fully" category, but it's close.
