Channel One

Channel One - Pose & Posture
Posted in Reviews on March 10th, 2009 by Gabe
2009 Megalith Records

If there’s one album that stands out as different this year, it’s Channel One’s Pose & Posture. The band hails from San Antonio, Texas where not only do they know what salsa is supposed to taste like they know what good music sounds like to.

Think of all those great early Jamaican musicians that incorporated that country music influence such as Toots And The Maytals or Lee Perry and The Dynamites.(EX: My New Name/Solid As A Rock) Take those elements and dip them in some Texas made hot salsa with it’s rock ‘n roll flare, alt-country edge, and great story telling and your starting to get an idea of what this album is like.

With songs ranging from topics of love lost to losing faith, Pose & Posture has a little bit of us all in it. The songs are very well written and the attention to detail is very easy to pick up on. So good in fact that I would say they can be played on the radio and the average listener could get into it in no time. It has just the right amount of alt-rock and country flavors that they would be familiar with yet those sounds are carried by a very distinctive ska and reggae rhythm that grabs the listener by the ears and screams this is different! The ska and reggae elements are never compromised to sound like some pop song.

Hum is one of those songs that stands out. Feel good horns, with a great bed of organ and bouncy bass line that’s complimented by a crisp offbeat. The intro to Let Her Run gives you a taste of Gerald Hooper’s vocal country twang and right there you know they are set apart from the pack. This is their signature sound that comes to mind when I tell anyone about them. This one can be a hit on the radio and be a great bridge for someone to find out about ska music. Right Behind One Another has a kind of calypso feel to it and transitions to a rock ‘n roll bridge seamlessly. And Till it’s To Late is an acoustic tune which shows off those country/reggae roots in all their glory making you feel happy and sad at the same time.

Singing with passion and conviction in his voice singer Gerald Hooper knows how to pen a tune with feeling and true life experiences that will have you singing along in no time. And the band is no Rudie Come Lately, the members have been around since the mid 90’s playing ska and reggae music in various groups. I gotta say at first I skipped through these songs thinking I would not really like them since it didn’t appear to be familiar ska territory. But as I turned up the volume I found that is exactly what I love about it, it’s far different from what many bands are doing right now, they really do have a sound all their own.

In my opinion they are up there with the likes of The Dualers and Babylove and the Van Dangos in terms of a tight polished different sound.

Check em’ out! myspace.com/channe1

Buy it at www.megalithrecords.com - musicaloccupation.com