Review Summary: Good, straightforward music that's eclectic but not inaccessible.
I'd like to start out and say that I don't know Jacob Scarcello or Babak Shamsi. I stumbled on their cd from a friend of a friend of a friend. My friend brought over a blank CD with "The Last Supper Club: Urban Gangster". I laughed at first when my buddy told me it was a rock band. I assumed an album called "Urban Gangster" would be hip hop. My friend said that he couldn't stop listening to it, so I gave this unknown band an honest shot.
The first song, "Shadowless Halls" fades in with quiet acoustic guitar surrounded by violins, and thirty seconds into the album Scarcello seems to invite the listener into the album, "Your shackles are torn........you can be my friend". His voice sounds a little like Lou Reed's and, though the song is completely different, it reminded me a lot of "Sunday Morning", the opening to the Velvet Underground and Nico. The song is simple, short and effective. Just when I was getting into the song it faded out after two and a half minutes. I mention this point because it descriptive of the rest of the album. While "Urban Gangster" indulges the musical palette throughout, it never goes overboard, always saying just enough before you get sick of them.
The second song, "Morning Sorrow", is the real opener of the album, starting off with a Dylanesque open chord progression that eventually is coupled by loud drums and electric guitar. The song is simple but hints at the versatility of the rest of the album. Shamsi's guitar playing rides with the acoustic as Scarcello seems to sing about some sort of muse who haunts him. The lyrics are very poetic, and while sometimes hard to decipher, in the mode of dylan, the lyrics still seem to make sense even though you don't always know what they're saying (real Dylan fans know what I'm talking about).
The first half of the album is very blues even though it departs from any old fashioned 1-4-5 progression. Shamsi shows his versatility, playing anything from ambiance, bluesy riffs and even breaking out a country twang on "Tall Woman Blues". The lyrics on the first half seem very sexual and are laced with images of dirty liaisons and drug induced dreams. What's great is, Scarcello never explains too much, leaving much to be interpreted but never sounding contrived (I must note that is one of my biggest complaints about a lot of music these days. If you're going to say you're life sucks, etc., don't say it so explicitly, give me some mystery for Christ's sake). While the them of drugs and sex are rampant throughout, Scarcello also seems to delve into the area of skepticism. This is most prevalent on "Transgression Therapy", where Scarcello laments "Dreams, oh dreams, don't they all seem to come true, you're astrologist is playing you for a fool." It mind sound cheesy written down, but when you hear it in the song it is really effective.
The second half of the album starts on the 8th track "Now Now", which is a 30 odd second song with just drums and ambiance. While the first half of the album is somewhat bright (not exactly cheery however), the second half seems significantly darker than the first and has a very distinct feel. Shamsi's guitar playing is somewhat more complex in the second half as well, and he busts his best solo on "Hazy Love". After "Hazy Love" comes "Jail House", a raw, schizophrenic tale about god knows what, but it works.
While the album ends with a somewhat goofy song "Ladusha", "Queen's Silhouette", a long and simple lyrical ballad, is the real finale to the album. It does a very good job of summing everything up, and though Scarcello at many times on this album sounds downright arrogant,for a brief moment he exposed his insecurity "I keep mincing my words, so I do not feel ashamed, and grasping at thoughts that I cannot rearrange. In the middle of my world, I attempt to write the mile, but my panic is not slipping and my ambition has been sold".
All in all, I can't believe this is a band most people have never heard of, and if the album really is released in January (as rumors seem to indicate), it'll be a hell of a debut. They seem to be gaining some following as I've heard random people bring them up in record stores. Perhaps that's a start. If you manage to get your hands on this album, you've probably found a hidden gem.
(If and when I do find where to get a copy of the album, or if the band posts a myspace account, I will update this review).
