Astralwerks Beat: The Golden Republic and the 22-20s

A Monthly Check-in on Sounds Coming From Music Spectrum Supporter, Astralwerks


In the middle of a 30 day wilderness canoe trip in Canada, I relied on the songs I had memorized to keep tunes running through my head as I was thousands of miles from my stereo. Fortunately, I had practically memorized every guitar strum of song albums thanks to countless hours on the school bus listening to my headphones. So as the canoe glided across a lake, I’d be strumming a mental guitar singing “What’s My Scene?” by the Hoodoo Gurus.

Flash forward to 2005, I’m walking home from work with my headphones on listening to the Golden Republic’s self-titled album from earlier this year. It’s the kind of CD that makes me want to listen to it all of the time on my headphones, memorize every drum fill and guitar check swing, so that I can carry the tunes with me anywhere I go.

The Golden Republic throw out a great Blues Rock with throw backs to Classic 70’s Blues Rock, such as the guitar on “Rows of People.” Jet’s not the only one doing that these days, and the Golden Republic weave in a lot of other musical elements from the intervening decades. “You Almost Had It” comes on like a straight Blues Rock song with some early Kinks hints, but then the bridge sections slow it down and spin a disco ball beat. “Robots” is an angular 80’s dance rock song like Devo with speak-sing vocals.

The memory of listening to the Hoodoo Gurus wasn’t completely out of the blue. The Golden Republic incorporate dance rock on “I’ll Do Anything” in a similar way to the Hoodoo Gurus. “She’s So Cold” also sends me back to my high school days with its Lenny Kravitz similarities.

Astralwerks may be known for releasing dance beat artists, but the Golden Republic are truly rocking those blues. Only on “NYC,” a funk rock blues, do the keyboards give hints to their label’s beat.

The album kicks off with an overture of sorts in “The Turning of the World,” a two minute track that preps the ground for the Blues Rock to grow. The lyric actually could intriguingly applied to trying to tell someone about Jesus. “I’d love to tell you so,/But the turning of the world/Distracts you from the word.” We all get so easily distracted from hearing the word of truth, but of course, the key is: God would still like to tell us about His love for us.

22-20s
Just in case you thought a Blues Rock release by Astralwerks was a one-off, there’s also the recent self-titled released by the 22-20s. The album feels like you’re sitting in while the band rock away in their warehouse practice room. “22 Days” is pure blazing muscle Blue Rock with good punches off the drum kit. “Devil in Me” has rockabilly break sections on the verses. However, just so you know they know their stuff, “Baby Brings Bad News” lays down a little Mississippi blues steel guitar on the rock ‘n’ roll. The U.S.-exclusive bonus track, “Baby, You’re Not in Love,” actually is a bit of country bar blues. The 22-20s are a rock ‘n’ roll band, but it’s obvious they like the Blues.

Thanks to the Golden Republic, the 22-20s, and Katie @ Astralwerks for the review CDs.