Mars Hill

Reviews:: Mars Hill - Fate, Chance, Luck, Dance
Assuming you checked out my ECMA Alternative Recording of the year preview post, and why wouldn't you, then you've got the primer on Mars Hill. Well the good folks at Sandbar Music sent over a copy of Fate, Chance, Luck, Dance, so I thought I'd give it the full-length review treatment. In the preview post, I mentioned that Mars Hill had an ecclectic sound, well after a full-length listen, I can say that assessment was spot on.

The main negative I can see with such an ecclectic sound is finding an audience. Fate, Chance, Luck, Dance is sort of in the middle of a couple genres, a crazy melange of indie pop and hip hop that might be a bit much for the average listener. But what do I know, average listerners are overrated anyway,and there are some very cool songs on the album. The World Is A Cult has some jazzy drumming to go along with some nice horns to produce a cool backdrop for some Beck-ish half sung vocals. It also has a crazy minute-long scratching outro that somehow manages to fit the song and be kind of jarring at the same time. I Don't Know, You Don't Know is a study in contrast with it's Paris-cafe sounding piano & accordian sounds joined partway through by some Mexican horns. Horns are always good, I've said this before, but hip hop, and music in general, needs more horns.

The live drum-break on Singer Wanted, This Music's Haunted reminds me of The Breakestra while the Fun Lovin' Criminal-esque vocals are almost straight ahead rappin'. Where Did The Money Go changes things up with it's reggae style, whereas the latter part of the album has a downtempo feel, kind of a live-played trip hop sound, with songs like Going Home and Empire. I love the vibe of this album, the songs create a mellow, almost atmospheric vibe that is hard to create with live instruments.

If I had to take issue with any aspect of this album, it would be the vocals. Devin Casario utilizes a wide range of vocal styles, from a whispered, spoken-word steez on the opener, to some fairly straightforward rappin' on a couple tracks, and a lot of monotone singing, that reminds me of Buck 65's singing on Secret House Against The World, on the rest of the album. Not that any of it is bad per se, it just comes off a little strange the first time through the album; I did get used to it after a couple listens. Keyboard and trumpetist Chloe Cork did a nice job on background vocals in a couple songs, it might be an idea to try her on lead vocals for a couple tracks to break things up. Just a thought though, I realize the band is attempting to do something different, so the vocals are part and parcel of that.

Mars Hill stood out from the other ECMA alternative nominees because their sound was so different from the indie or pop rock styles offered by the other nominees. Fate, Chance, Luck, Dance is a interesting album because of all the different sounds the band fuses together, but technically it's very solid. There's no sloppiness that you might see if a band was just experimenting with these sounds; Mars Hill knows what they're doing. It'll be interesting to see how the band progresses now that they're in the musical mecca of Montreal, I'll be checking for their next release. - S Nadeau

Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Review: Mars Hill - Fate Chance Luck Dance

Label: Sandbar Music

Released: May 2006


The list of genres touched significantly by Mars Hill is longer than most bands' list of even their most remote influences. Over the course of the album, they hit jazz (of the good and bad variety), hip-hop, Spanish, cabaret, reggae, dance, soul and, of course, rock. Among those who try to bring in disparate influences, few bands can take a list that long and maintain their own sound throughout. Careful arrangements manage to make this album homogeneous, but the actual songwriting and performance lack life as if the experiment couldn't quite be brought to full fruition. To be fair though, the lounge angle is a part of their shtick and adding more personality to the songs may have compromised that.

Their talent as players is generally pretty evident, particularly in the rhythm section that really drives the album to the extent that it is driven. The vocals range from laid-back, spoken style, reminiscent of Damon Albarn's work in Gorillaz, to well-cadenced hip-hop to an ethereal female soprano usually appearing in a backup role. Keys, guitar and horns act more as accents.
There are thousands of cover bands out there that can morph their sound into any genre on command, but there are not nearly so many that can incorporate all of those genres into a single sound. While Mars Hill doesn't quite nail everything, they do come pretty close, so close in fact that they may be poised for an outstanding follow-up to this good, but not great, album. - rnrnonsense.toomanyvoices.com

"Congratulations! The following song has been chosen to be on the Music & Image Take III Compilation CD, a celebration of the Inspired Music program at the 26th Atlantic Film Festival. I Don’t Know, You Don’t Know by Mars Hill.
Cheers,
Sam
Samantha Madore
Executive Assistant
Atlantic Film Festival Association
26th Atlantic Film Festival
September 14-23, 2006" - Atlantic Film Festival

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
December 12, 2006


ECMAs Announce Their 2007 Nominees and Showcase Artists!

“Mars Hill picked up two ECMA 2007 nominations for their second album, Fate Chance Luck Dance as ECMA nominations and showcase performers were announced in Halifax this morning. The band was nominated for Alternative recording and Urban single of the year. Their first album Oxcart also received a nomination in 2005 for Alternative recording of the year. Mars Hill will be playing the Music PEI presents stage during the ECMAs. Other appearances will be announced later. ECMA 2007 will take place February 15th -18th in Halifax NS. The band is currently living and working in Montreal
- Off The Vine

ÔYaaaawwn*hack*wheezeÕ said the traveling reporter. I woke up to the fierce redemption of an all-too-forgotten flu bent on doing my head in and confining me to a Smurf-size futon at my brotherÕs flat. ÔNay!Õ said the reporter ÔCJLO must hear the truth!Õ and with that I was up again, filled up Tylenol: Crazy Strength and enough bloody lemon-ginger tea to drown the cast of all the CSIÕs. Sunday was the actual awards day, with a performance lineup of F-train 120 all-stars: Joel Plaskett, In-Flight Safety, Jill Barber (all CJLO guests from the past year) along with Halifax rapper Classified, charming PEI singer-songwriter Catherine MacLellan, and a truckload of others. I arrived at the Metro Centre (the largest sport arena in Atlantic Canada) just in time to catch Charlottetown-turned-Montreal indie quartet Mars Hill delivering one of most interesting performances of the evening. Mars Hill is a band thatÕs difficult to define, a blend of elements from reggae, rock, jazz and hip-hop. Their sound features Devin CasarioÕs spoken word and loose rap flowed over a bass heavy funk-bed and vibrant melodies from Chloe Cork on trumpet. Their stage act normally just comprises of four members, but here featured three extra percussionists, which really swelled their unique funk sound to a fat head-bobbing groove (Chartattack Magazine) - ROCK_ALT