Review by Paul D Houston
I love being surprised by new obscure artists who make amazing albums that are professionally made and produced. This self-titled album by Reverend Bro Diddly and the Hips is so tight and carefully crafted, at first its easy to think it was a big budget production. While, there's no doubt there's been money put into this, it's generally a low key operation as far as I can tell.
The sound on this album is a a blend of the retro with the modern. I can hear influences from The Beatles and The Beach Boys, but also bands from the modern era like, THEE OH SEES. Throughout this album, there's this heavy rockabilly vibe and psychedelic ballad blend, and while its mixed with an ear to the past, it's modern sensibilities are prevalent.
The flaws on this album are few and far between, in my opinion. If anything it gets a little slow towards the end of the album. Not in any kind of poor songwriting sense, just a little slower from a tempo sense, if that makes any sense. Overall though, this album has what I like most about a good album - the flow between songs. There's no distinct point in this album, where one song is so different from the next, that it bothers the ear. Take song #5 - RUBY RUE....
It's a throbbing little alt-pop style song, with catchy riffs and clever vocals. But then song #6 - LONELY GIRL is a total surf ballad. Super cheeky and silly...
But they blend so well from a flow point of view. Going from a pumping little song like RUBY RUE to a slow and chill ballad is not a thing to me.
Anyway, this is an overall strong effort and it's quite amazing in the sense that it's by a relatively new artist, with only a few credits to their name before this.
Check this out, I double dog dare you!