Send "Gruff Rhys " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 If there were ever a map guiding Super Furry Animals mainman Gruff Rhys' musical path, he tossed it overboard long ago. He's set out on an endlessly convoluted route, using his instinct rather than reason to guide him. That rudderless approach has propelled a career full of never-ending left turns, including recent collaborations with De La Soul and Gorillaz (on the latter's Plastic Beach), Sparklehorse and Danger Mouse (on Dark Night of the Soul) and Brazilian TV repairman Tony Da Gatorra (on The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness). Somehow, in the middle of all this activity, Rhys has found time to shoot a full-length documentary (Separado!) and record this, his third solo album.It begins with "Shark Ridden Waters", one of the tracks Rhys recorded with Twisted Nerve/Finder Keepers co-founder Andy Votel, who lives up to his cratedigger reputation by shoveling in generous portions of the Cyrkle's cover of Bacharach and David's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore". It plays out like a vintage, spy-thriller theme searching for a film, with Rhys intoning lines that belie a sinister undertow despite his wide-eyed delivery. "I don't know what's wrong with me," he croons, "but lately I've been feeling like I'm truly... at the end." Such doom-mongering is at odds with the general thrust of Hotel Shampoo-- named after his OCD-like habit of collecting shampoo bottles from hotel rooms-- which opens byways back to the songcraft Rhys expertly mastered with his main band. In fact, much of this album allows Rhys to extract ideas he's worked on in the past and breathe some new life into them. As such, it's hard not to play connect-the-dots. "Take a Sentence" is a warmhearted ballad flushed with gently parping trumpets that mirror "Presidential Suite" from Rings Around the World; "Patterns of Power" offers a measured take on the condensed guitar brawling of "Out of Control" from Phantom Power; and "Sensations in the Dark" spins around the same frenetic Tropicália/mariachi mash-up as "Northern Lites" from Guerilla. Like most of Rhys' projects, there's no particular destination in mind here, no groove that he hits on and settles into. The only thing that binds Hotel Shampoo together are his agreeable vocal tones, which have a soft familiarity to them, whether he's tackling the environment on "Conservation Conversation" or encroaching on folky love song territory with "If We Were Words (We Would Rhyme)"....full text |
| Bbc |
| Despite his well-documented anarchic streak, Gruff Rhys has often showed a weakness for cosy, bucolic songcraft, leading to tunes that while pleasant on the ear, rather sell short the scope of his creative ability. His third solo album began in such a comfortable place: as Rhys puts it, "I thought the time had come to buy a suit and record an album of piano ballads". Thankfully, though, Rhys also boasts an insatiable creative wanderlust, so Hotel Shampoo – the title inspired by his impressive collection of miniature cosmetics, salvaged over a decade of touring with Super Furry Animals – journeys far beyond its simple starting point. Hotel Shampoo was written and recorded around the same time Rhys filmed Seperado! – a so-called "psychedelic western musical" that took him out to South America in search of the Welsh colony in Patagonia – and the influence of the continent’s music suffuses throughout. Tropicalia, of fascination for the Super Furries since 2005’s Love Craft, has left a definite imprint on the album’s sing-song melodies and rich production, while songs like Sensations in the Dark and Vitamin K bloom with samba percussion and warm mariachi brass. Meanwhile, the brilliant Shark Ridden Waters, produced by Finders Keepers head honcho Andy Votel, feels mysterious and exotic, like an alien transmission. Commencing with the wheel of an analogue radio dial, it builds a loop salvaged from 60s beat group The Cyrkle into something sweltering and romantic: "I didn’t know you," sings Rhys, "But you felt like a friend."...full text |
| Musicomh |
| There seem to be two sides to Gruff Rhys' musical personality. One is the reckless, mischievous, funny and experimental side recently exhibited on the last Super Furry Animals album Dark Days, Light Years and on the brilliant collaboration with Boom Bip on Neon Neon's Stainless Style. The other is a reflective, whimsical, hazy, so-relaxed-as-to-risk-sounding-lifeless form of psychedelia. This predominated some of the later SFA albums, particularly Love Kraft, and it may also have the measure of this intermittently engaging second solo album. Hotel Shampoo is an album that starts promisingly but which becomes increasingly introspective. The album gets its title from Rhys' habit of collecting used mini-shampoo bottles from the many hotel rooms he has stayed in whilst on tour. The idea is perhaps not terribly original, but it has a certain cuteness and charm. Much of the music here has a similar feeling to it - pleasant, if perhaps slightly underwhelming. Little here really pushes the boat out for Rhys, and some of his eccentricities seem to have been toned down in favour of a casual and restrained atmosphere. Much of the album floats on a soft, cushioned drum sound and Rhys' vocals often sound thoughtful and dreamy. A handful of tracks here could be described as upbeat, particularly the Andy Votel-produced opener Shark Ridden Waters, but even these seem almost benign. Shark Ridden Waters achieves a gentle variety of psychedelic soul, whilst Sensations in the Dark uses Mariachi horns in much the same way steel pans where deployed on SFA's Northern Lites. The latter also makes use of a calmly propulsive montuno-style piano riff, whilst the former has something of the sound of Simon Nye, the former Noonday Underground member and brains behind Paul Weller's Wake Up The Nation. It's light and deft, but hardly brimming with energy....full text |
Gruff Rhys lyrics
|
| ||||||||||
