Son of the velvet rat
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Son of the velvet rat

| INDIE

| INDIE
Band Alternative Singer/Songwriter

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Music

The best kept secret in music

Press


"One times one"

Playground, by Son of the Velvet Rat is another example of a small, but growing trend of really profound music. The music does not reveal the secrets of the universe, but it exposes the things we all think while simply walking alone or anytime we begin to feel the constant, dull pain of being alive and all of the experiences that it entails. A great example resides in the line, "are you sad? - no not us we're just confused..... by love" from the song "Ready To Go."

Some individuals are hypersensitive to this pain; they are not numb to it as most of us are, but they are constantly aware of this feeling that we all suppress in the back of our minds, and only glimpse now and again in our most solitary, private moments. Great artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, and Nick Drake all seem to possess this urgent need to convey, even project, the way they feel into the core of anyone who will listen. It is as if these artists want to wake everybody up to grim reality, so that we can understand why the artists are so melancholy.
One way to achieve this is to highlight the best times, then remind us of our mortality; a tactic used to perfection by Richard McGraw on his latest album, Song and Void. It illustrates how the bad times seem to be expected and the good times are phenomenal.

Now, with Playground, Son of the Velvet Rat brings about this understanding in a more subversive way. European singer/songwriter, Georg Altziebler accomplishes this by leading you into an interrogation room, and intimately singing his thoughts and feelings sweetly into your ear, and by the end of the album he has conveyed his message in such a way that you identify with every one of these 14 songs personally.

If I had to describe this album in one word, that word would be "haunting". Not that this album will haunt you, but it will cause you to be haunted by those times when you were small and the dull pain of living was feeding on your young fears. Like when you first thought of your parents dying, or your own mortality; the song "Are the Angels Pretty" does just that by leading you to the edge and watching as you tumble over by yourself. That is what I meant by subversive. It leads you to a thought, and then abandons you to think of past loves, mortality, your personal version of beauty, and unrealized dreams.

In the end, Georg Altziebler manages to put you in a certain mindset by using his thoughts to lead you through certain memories in a way that will make you identify with this entire album on a personal level. I found the song, "I am a Jet Pilot" very ironic, because as this album leads you along near its end, you hear the line "I am a jet pilot, I listen to voice from the tower, and not the voice in my head". As unsettling as this all sounds, it is a beautiful process and you will be grateful for the experience. My advice: listen to this album, then thumb through a Jackson Pollock book. Who knows? Maybe you will identify with a few of his paintings in your altered state.

- Jason Hall| | June 23, 2006


"The chickenfish speaks"

A line from a Leonard Cohen poem begins “I heard of a man, who says words so beautifully, that if he only speaks their name, women give themselves to him.” Well, singer-songwriter, Georg Altziebler is kind of like that, except the sadness in which he sings will make anyone listening to him want to cry. This is a guy who can do a cover of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and make it even bleaker. Recording under the name Son of the Velvet Rat, Altziebler has a song arrangement, writing style and delivery that’s equal parts Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake. From the opening strums of the guitar on “Leaving You” I had the feeling that I was immediately put into a gloomy mood. When I got to the second song “Play a Ghost Note on My Soul”, I just felt empty, and for this song that is a compliment. The song is just so beautifully sad, it makes every other sad song out there sound like “Walking on Sunshine” in comparison. He’s makes Goth bands sound like Dixieland.

There isn’t one bad song on this release. There’s also not one happy song. Yeah, a song might have a positive message, but the way he performs them is just heartrending. If you want a good cry, this wonderful release is for you.
-- Mite Mutant (2006)

- The chickenfish speaks.com | Mite Mutant


"Avoid Peril"

In his latest creation Playground, Georg Altziebler delivers an emotionally impacting album laced together with brooding lyrics and noteworthy musical arrangements. With a quivering voice that still retains a mysteriously cavernous tone, Altziebler has successfully formulated an album that is perfect for the rustic folk connoisseur, but foreign to any casual listener. Altziebler is right in step with the multitude of minimalist artists who have come to redefine the new age folk genre. With that said, this album contains many shining spots and some surfaces that require polishing in order to reach a broader audience. However, one should believe that the intention of said creator is not necessarily to strive for a wider audience.

Playground offers brilliance in bursts. Tracks such as “Are the Angels Pretty” and “I am A Jet Pilot” suggest slight deviations from the overall minimal tone of the album, but the opening two tracks “Flower Song” and “Ready to Go” create a rather dejected first impression. Musically, the tracks are tight and sparse, and this album draws you in with its haunting imagery and overarching themes of alienation and abandonment. For the casual listener, Playground may appear too dispiriting. However, aficionados of the folk genre will find Playground to be a diamond in the rough.

-- Jeff Stevens
- Jeff Stevens | May 06


Discography

Son of the velvet rat:
Playground 2006 (monkey./universal)
Alpha Suite 2004 (starfish/ixthuluh)
By my Side 2003 (starfish/ixthuluh)
Spare some Sugar [for the Rat] 2003 (starfish/ixthuluh)
Bloom 05:
2002 "TIME WAITS…"
2001 "STILLS AND HONEY"
1998 "LONSOME SOLARSURFER"
1996 "SLOW STAR"
Pure Laine:
1993 "4 more"
1991 "BURN"

"i am a jet pilot":WPRK, Orlando,FL
"blue hair":WUOG, Athens , Georgia
"are the angels pretty?":WRFL, Lexington, Ky
and many others

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

Son of the Velvet Rat
is the solo project of Georg Altziebler, formerly the songwriter, guitarist, etc. of Pure Laine (1989-1995) and Bloom 05 (1995-2003). Son of the Velvet Rat is an omnibus designation for the artist's solo work (vocals and guitar) and performances with backup band accompaniment (piano, bass, drums, vocals and guitar).

A good song is a secret, something that distresses and delights in equal measure. Either way-"Playground" is SotVR's most accessible effort to date. 14 songs, open and complexly multi-layered at the same time; different takes on this singular moment of clarity that ultimately remains an illusion; phrased in a language that excises the extraneous and goes for the heart.
The instrumentation is sparing: piano, electric guitar, minimalist percussion plus violin & accordion punctuation that engender intimate tonal imagery. Several cuts were recorded live at Cafe l'angolo in Graz, Austria; the rest in the studio. "Playground" stakes all it's got on fervent, heartfelt interpretation and the magic of the musicians' spontaneous collaboration. The result is an album you can get lost in if you want to, and one in which you can rediscover something if that's what you need.

"By my Side" is SotVR's first full-length CD, a compilation of spontaneous takes on very personal songs and their momentary significance. For the most part, the vocals were done on a small Fender vacuum-tube amp. The resulting distance creates a dimension for atmospheric depth-of-field. On one hand, the instrumentation is suggestive of the work of country-crossover artists like Townes van Zandt and Tim Hardin; then again, the use of melodica and harmonica also gives rise to associations with the '50s chanson. Various mini-organs and an electric bow endow the sound with a somewhat plush texture. The songs tell tales of alienation and estrangement, distance and closeness, love and its absence, in a clear, reduced language that pierces to the core. The world might seem dark and dismal at times but the night sky is sometimes aglitter with stars.