Siesta

Reviews

Scarlet's Well
Alice In The Underword (CD)
Ahoy there, scurvy scum! More twisted fairy tales and sailor's songs culled from the cruel, cruel sea and lovingly dished up for your delectation in what is possibly the best Scarlett's Well release yet.

Scarlet's Well
The Isle Of The Blue Flowers (CD)
When Siesta gave us the first Scarlet's Well album I must admit that I assumed it was a one-off release, but Bid and friends obviously think that indie sea shanties are a musical genre worthy of further exploration. The funny thing is that they could well be right, as once again Scarlet's Well have given us a record as ridiculously catchy as it is ridiculous. But whilst the accordian solo of Dark Dreams Aboard The Hesperus takes the sea shanty theme to it's logical conclusion, elsewhere they go glam rock on Clop's Birthday, and finish the record with Azul Como El Diablo - three minutes of prog rock style guitar solo that Dave Gilmour would probably be proud of.

Edwin Moses
Edwin Moses (CD)
If I tell you that this well produced yet bizarre record features a couple of Spanish musicians pretending to be a forgotten 1970s funk musician, then you'll probably be able to guess that it's got something to do with the Siesta record label. What could have come across as little more than a poor joke is actually executed with great style, intelligence and a genuine feeling for the genre. There is even a highly convincing wah-wah laden theme from an imaginary blaxploitation movie, just one of the many pointers that Curtis Mayfield was the prime inspiration for much of the record, not least on the outstanding What's Going Down? which also seems to steal liberally from the Jackson 5. The consistent high quality of the songs makes this an unlikely addition to the list of 2000's must-have releases.

Beaumont
This Is Beaumont (CD)
Siesta have a talent for drawing this sort of highly polished yet quirky pop from previously "normal" musicians. The label spent much of 1999 releasing concept curiosities from Louis Phillipe, Simon Turner, and various members of the Monochrome Set. Now they have now done the same with Paul Stewart and Keith Girdler of Sarah stalwarts Blueboy, in the form of cocktail pop act Beaumont. Having previously recorded for Siesta as Arabesque, this time the duo take it one kitsch step further, with Keith singing classy pop tunes in the style of an easy listening balladeer, and Paul providing the accompanying latin rhythms and a flourish of Spanish guitar. Once the mute trumpets and chanting female vocals have been added it's a highly potent mix, though never bettering the opening song Bacharach, which sits on an unlikely throne somewhere between the King of Luxembourg and the Gypsy Kings.