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Review: 'VLADECK, ANDREW'
'THE WHEEL'   

-  Label: 'End Up Records'
-  Genre: 'Folk' -  Release Date: '5th March 2010'

Our Rating:
Native New Yorker, Andrew Vladeck has no beef with the fact that people often compare his songs to American folk music of the 60/70s. This is not surprising since the power, simplicity and directness of voice plus instrument, which came to the fore in that era, is very much part his own modus operandi.

Nevertheless, he is shrewd enough to realise that there are pitfalls in being associated with what he calls "the folky comfort zone".

This explains why he has plugged in ("hotwired") his banjo and amplified his ukulele. Alongside these instruments, he also plays harmonica, autoharp and, of course, guitar - his fine slide playing being one of the strengths of the record.

His songs are stories of the street documenting "the resilience of the spirit in the face of adversity". While there is no overtly political content, his folk-rap vocal style is still very preachy and didactic in tone; often too much so. The Dylan-esque verbosity of his wordy narratives are evident from the opening track (Hold Me Back) where he sings "men don't cry they bleed - men don't think they act" and drawls the word "hard" in a very Zimmerman-like manner.

Despite these obvious influences, Vladeck is clearly a skilled songwriter in his own right. He is particularly adept with clever wordplay and quirky juxtapositions as in"Last night I got hammered - today I got nailed" (Waiting For The Coffee To Kick In) or the image of "punks and squatters playing chess in the park" (These Streets).

The album is crispy produced by Kyle Fischer (formerly of Brooklyn Indie rockers Rainer Maria) and the title song and These Streets are good places to start if you want to get a flavour of Vladeck's punchy brand of old time folk with a contemporary twist.

The highlights, however, are two songs which have a completely different feel from the rest of the album and are saved till the very end. Ironically, I suspect that these tracks almost didn't make it onto the record at all.

Chinatown has been described by Vladeck as owing much to Fischer's "hallucinogenic sonic vision" and lines about the sun rising and setting at the same time fit right into this spirit. With its psychedelic slide guitar and sleepy vocals, the song has a wonderfully dreamy quality where Vladeck sounds spaced out but still lucid as he reflects on the fact that "days are half empty and nights half full".

The album closer is a slowed down, acoustic take of his song 21st Century which dispenses with the soapbox style of his original version. When he sings "even the 21st century is getting old", he sounds weary rather than wrathful and the line is all the more effective with this less emphatic delivery.

Wheels is a solid and enjoyable record but still I hope that on future releases this fine singer-songwriter will choose to pursue the more individual direction hinted at in the album's final two songs.

Andrew Vladeck website
  author: Martin Raybould

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VLADECK, ANDREW - THE WHEEL