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Residing on the label that was formed by 4 Non Blonde’s Linda Perry and has James Blunt as its flagship artist might not necessarily whet the appetite for Crash Kings music, but one listen will dispel any negativity. Crash Kings come over like an unusual amalgam of stripped down White Stripes style rock with a touch of Cold Warkids, Supertramp and even Leo Sayer thrown in for good measure. Quirky, oddball but with enough great songs to fill the worlds largest “great” song container if such a thing existed, Crash Kings shun the guitar in favour of buzzing bass, booming drums and soulful vocals. The lack of guitar is compensated for by the use of an instrument so bizarre it makes Mute Math’s homemade instrumentations seem like a lowly Triangle. In a recent chat with Antonio Beliveau the vocalist revealed that he plays a Hohner Clavinet with a whammy bar, which allows the pitch bend of sixty guitar strings. It has guitar pick ups fitted, is run through distortion and finally a Fender Bassman D6 amplifier…..phew! no doubt it makes the tea as well. Backed up by some peppy tunes like the White Stripes tinged ‘Mountain Man’-written by Beliveau after a recent solo hiking trip to Yosemite-the bass distorted piano pop of the tuneful ‘1985’ or the soulful ballad ‘Come Away’, it becomes blatantly obvious that there is something rather special going on here. Add to that the class of the Supertramp meets Jellyfish ‘Raincoat’ and ‘It’s Only Wednesday’, a kind of quirky Melee style pop gem and you realize that great things lie ahead for Crash Kings. Minimalist rock at its best