Little Amber: My Mistakes
Within seconds of putting Little Amber's 7-track CD My Mistakes on your gramophone you will discover, possibly to your dissapointment and possibly not, that Little Amber is not the cute art-school hipster chick on the front of the box. Instead, Little Amber consist of three slightly unkempt rockers on a mission from Bob to bring art-punk to the masses. Or, to Edinburgh at least.
The album (or is it an EP? Who knows?) opens with two minutes of insanely bouncy punk in the shape of montecito – a raw, jumping 1977 original – before taking a more melodic, soul-searching turn with the splendid coping stone. The trend towards introspective guitar epics continues in impressive style through the anger/deperation of two songs for the elephants parade and toe tapping beats of there's a fire in the apple tree; a song with all the makings of a future classic. A more relaxed stance is adopted for the title track, a reflective, nostalgic two-act-play of a song followed by the acoustic reminisence of wasted with, as Arlo Guthrie might have put it, two part harmony and feeling. Sitting in the cheerful haze generated by wasted the listener is likely to find himself pulled jarringly back to reality by the up-tempo guitar crunch of the closing track into the black.
My Mistakes is a highly enjoyable record from a very promising band, carefully crafted and professionally produced. Little Amber could certainly teach a thing or two to certain dreary uniform "art-rock" bands currently polluting the airwaves and charts. Never let it be said that they would dilute their artistic integrity with anything so bourgois as shame.
If you are not the kind of person who bursts into fits and starts breaking things when confronted by frames, you could have a poke around their website too, where you will find an extremely cool logo and some songs to download and have a listen to. Enjoy.
by Jon Simpson, Baby Tiger fanzine
Little Amber @ the Liquid Room, Edinburgh
Friday 30 July 2004
Just to confuse the hell out of me, something I have no doubt they did on purpose, every single person I asked suggested a different line-up, so it was a good thing I recognised Little Amber when they walked on stage. God forbid they should mention who they are. It became pretty obvious soon, because Little Amber pride themselves on being the only band in Edinburgh who demand a video screen at all of their gigs to show their home-made features of one of the band members walking through his house. Perhaps this makes more sense when you are on drugs, but I doubt it.
The last time I saw Little Amber was in November, when they played post-grunge tunes with great aptitude, but with the regular staring-at-my-shoes-is-cool attitude. In the last eight months they must have been bending over at one point, because it seems someone was kind enough to stuff a ballistic missile up their rear-ends. Their old songs sound like 33 records played at 45 RPM. Their lead singer has decided the audience in front of him are more interesting than his shoelaces, and to the beat of an incredibly tight drummer the wall of noise that is produced may be post-grunge at the molecular level, but has taken on influences from all over the heavier spectrum, becoming a grunge-punk-metal fusion.
The three members of the band position themselves on stage as far away from each other as is physically possible. This may be because one or more of them smell of course, but it is more likely this is a cunning plan to create as much space as possible to play in. Running, jumping and clashing seem to be their favourite pastimes, and in time-honoured tradition in the culmination of the last song, just after the guitar player had managed to amazingly balance himself on a rail while still playing, both string instruments were duly trashed and bounced about the stage.
by Damien Calis, published on musosguide.com. you should go there if you want to read the full article and know about the other bands.
Little Amber @ Bannermans, Edinburgh
Thursday 1 April 2004
Before the headliners strutted their stuff on stage, support act Little Amber did a fine job of warming up the crowd.
Drawing heavily from influences such as Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr, this local three-piece create quite some racket with screeching guitars and screaming vocals.
But fortunately, for all their post-grunge pretensions, the band keeps their music just the right side of melodic.
If Little Amber can conjure a few more songs of the quality of Mirrorface and Wasted, then you get the impression they could really make their mark.
by Gary Flockhart, published in the Edinburgh Evening News 02/04/04.
click here to see the actual full print version, including the AC-Rid review.
Little Amber @ the Liquid Room, Edinburgh
Saturday 22 November 2003
You have to respect the character of a band that goes out of its way to invite a critic who nearly ran out of the room last time because he thought they were worse than awful. So when Little Amber take to the stage I am strangely torn between tipping my hat and inserting my earplugs.
Little Amber are a trio of post-grunge rockers. They come complete with singer with hair in front of his eyes, looking at his feet while squirming out lyrics you can’t understand, but realise are not about very happy things. Their wild and angry choruses hit you hard as all instruments and both vocalists let rip.
Not only is the sound stunning, visually Little Amber is a special treat. For the occasion the band has edited a video to be played over their heads but due to a technical problem is only available behind us. Fortunately there is more than enough to focus on on stage.
The entire band, including the front man staring at his toes, seem to lose all control over their bodies during the wild instrumental parts, yet maintain full control of their instruments. Whether they be jumping around, falling over or lying on the floor the band don’t miss a beat.
Sometimes you get the feeling the band forget there are people staring at them and unashamedly thrash about as if their lives depend on it. The focus is constantly on the music and the passion, while taking the audience on board as a special treat. At the end of the set the excitement kicks into overdrive and with great determination the band’s bass guitar is smashed to pieces to loud cheers from the crowd. I can’t wait to see this band again.
by Damien Calis, published on musosguide.com. you should go there if you want to read the full article and know about the other bands.
