Madder Rose - No One Gets Hurt Ever LP / CD
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£15.00
£8.00 - £15.00
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Madder Rose return with ten feedback-dappled songs of love and loss
TRACK LIST:
Tangerine 3:40
Mystery Date 4:24
What Do You Know About My Lover? 4:02
Lou Mystery 5:47
Bird (Splinters) 3:40
City Rain 3:16
My Love For You Is Out Of Control 2:28
MLMR 2:53
If I Drift Away 3:13
I Want A New Me (girlghostboyghost) 2:54
TRACK LIST:
Tangerine 3:40
Mystery Date 4:24
What Do You Know About My Lover? 4:02
Lou Mystery 5:47
Bird (Splinters) 3:40
City Rain 3:16
My Love For You Is Out Of Control 2:28
MLMR 2:53
If I Drift Away 3:13
I Want A New Me (girlghostboyghost) 2:54
DOWNLOAD:
CREDITS:
All tracks written by Billy Coté except track 3 by Billy Coté and Laura Cannell, and track 8 by Mary Lorson.
Billy Coté: Guitars, Atmosphere, Production
Chris Giammalvo: bass
Rick Kubic: drums
Mary Lorson: vocals, vibraphone
Matt Verta-Ray: vocals on Lou Mystery, lead guitar and feedback on Mystery Date
Adam Dausch, Drum engineering @BOOMCHAKA Studios
Holly Dausch - Tambourine & bits on track 8
Jason Shegogue - Acoustic guitar, track 5
Matt Saccuccimorano - Mixing with Billy
Fraser McGowan - Mastering
Andrew Wild - Design
Cover photograph by Andy Blair
Roman Coté - photographs of BC and ML
Trome 2023 UK
All tracks written by Billy Coté except track 3 by Billy Coté and Laura Cannell, and track 8 by Mary Lorson.
Billy Coté: Guitars, Atmosphere, Production
Chris Giammalvo: bass
Rick Kubic: drums
Mary Lorson: vocals, vibraphone
Matt Verta-Ray: vocals on Lou Mystery, lead guitar and feedback on Mystery Date
Adam Dausch, Drum engineering @BOOMCHAKA Studios
Holly Dausch - Tambourine & bits on track 8
Jason Shegogue - Acoustic guitar, track 5
Matt Saccuccimorano - Mixing with Billy
Fraser McGowan - Mastering
Andrew Wild - Design
Cover photograph by Andy Blair
Roman Coté - photographs of BC and ML
Trome 2023 UK
REVIEWS
This is the Madder Rose you (may) remember: wonderfully smeary indie rock loaded with swaying feels
Having broken up at the end of the ’90s, undersung NYC indie rock band and college radio faves Madder Rose surprised those who remembered them by putting out To Be Beautiful, their first record in 20 years. It was the mellowest record they’d ever made, with elements of jazz and a few traces of that trip-hop-influenced third album (really), but Mary Lorson and Billy Coté’s bond and the band’s hazy sound was still there. Unfortunately, they didn’t support the album with any live shows, so To Be Beautiful felt more like an unexpected gift than a return. Four years later, Madder Rose are back and sound like they mean it this time. No One Gets Hurt Ever, which also marks the return of Matt Verta-Ray (on one song), is the Madder Rose you remember: smeary indie rock with strong songwriting and atmospheric playing courtesy Coté, and Lorson’s still heavenly voice at the center.
No One Gets Hurt Ever is another of those lockdown records that might have not happened otherwise. “I didn’t feel much music during the pandemic,” says Lorson. “I learned some simple tunes to play at the nursing home where my mother spent her last months, and that was about all the music I could muster, other than going over to Billy’s to sing these songs on Sunday mornings. That’s how Billy spent the pandemic: he wrote and produced these beautiful songs.” While Madder Rose aren’t making upbeat guitar pop like “Beautiful John” anymore, they have always been exceptional at swaying, hazy ballads that rivaled Cowboy Junkies or Mazzy Star. There are a whole bunch of those here, the best of which is “Lou Mystery” that alone justifies this record’s existence. They’re even playing a show, their first since 1999 — a last-minute fill-in at Dromedary Records’ 30th anniversary — and let’s hope this gives them the push to keep going. These songs need to be heard live.
- Brooklyn Vegan
There’s a danger in nostalgia. As the economies of the world tighten around the throats of those who can least afford it, as we leave a month with 21 of the hottest 30 days ever recorded on the planet, and as we witness the inevitable implosion of late stage capitalism, there’s a pervading cultural discourse which seems to be reflecting on how good things were in the 1990s. The recent re-emergence of Pulp and Blur from under whichever rock it is that hosts Britpop bands is testament to this, as is the proliferation of Nirvana t-shirts in high street fashion shops and cargo pants inexplicably becoming a “thing” again. The past viewed through the rose tinted glasses of temporal distance almost certainly always brings a false sense of what those times were truly about.
Madder Rose’s sixth studio album wallows in a sense of space and place, yet always with a spiritual purpose that reaches beyond the superficial nature of nostalgia. The 10 songs that make up No One Gets Hurt Ever spiral in melancholic displays of hurt and rejection, reflecting on heartache and journeys of love with a fixation on the impending grief that comes as a result.
Formed in 1991, New York’s Madder Rose are purveyors of the downside of love, a celebration of exquisite possibility that makes being alive worth it, despite the all too common conclusions reached. Their Velvet Underground influenced form of shoegaze is present and correct, as is Billy Cote’s love for country tinged guitar lines that float sorrowfully across tracks like spectral beings rather than obvious participants.
When Mary Lorson opens the album with the line “Another day of looking backward / Another day to fall apart” the tone is set. The first track, “Tangerine”, is about a soul being set free, no longer weighed down with worries and the strains of every day life. As the song progresses, Lorson’s background vocals become more central in the mix, and their ghostly presence imbues the song with a wistful sense of acceptance of a sense of letting go, of the beauty and transience of things.
An air of wistfulness is the central tie that connects all of the tracks. The gently propulsive “What Do You Know About My Lover?” features a quietly distressed violin loop from Laura Cannell that adds a wandering element to the album’s most understated song. It’s a gentle lullaby, as is “Bird (Splinters)” which uses the simplest of nursery rhyme traditions of anthropomorphising small creatures to detail the burning pain of the human condition. Both tracks share a knack that Madder Rose have somehow managed throughout their career – the ability to produce songs which sound comfortable in their familiarity, yet are never derivative. Anyone who has heard “While Away” from the band’s majestic 1993 debut album Bring It Down will know exactly what I mean; a nagging feeling that you’re heard the song somewhere before, somehow.
No One Gets Hurt Ever contains some of Billy Cote’s most plaintive and concise song writing. It’s a succinct record, but even in its 36 minute run time there are moments of transgression where the band highlight how they have developed as people and musicians. The only Lorson composition on the record is the exquisite “MLMR” which is the very definition of beautiful fragility (and maybe stands for Mary Lorson, Madder Rose). Lorson has said that while Billy Cote was busy writing the songs that make up the album “I didn’t feel much music during the pandemic. I learned some simple tunes to play at the nursing home where my mother spent her last months, and that was about all the music I could muster…” With that knowledge, “MLMR” feels like a gift. There are washes of guitar over a strummed acoustic while there are mutterings and murmurings rather than words, yet the emotions behind the sounds are clear. It’s an exceptional moment of the record. Where their earlier albums showcased a range of styles and influences, including raucous guitars, No One Gets Hurt Ever feels more assured in its trajectory. “City Rain” feels like it could easily sit on their 1994 album Panic On with its focus on wet streets and a love for a city that doesn’t love you back. It feels like a sister piece to “What Holly Sees” in its observational reportage of the mundane as precious. “If I Drift Away” is as delicately introspective as anything from 2019’s glorious comeback record To Be Beautiful, while album closer “I Want a New Me (girlghostboyghost)” leaves us on something of a Motown-tinged pop high. There is absolutely not a weak link on the album, even though some songs take a little longer than others to settle in the brain. A case in point is “Lou Mystery”, which brings all four original members of the band together and sees Matt Verta-Ray and Lorson duet. This is Cote wearing his love for Velvet Underground on his sleeve like never before (the title being not too far away from Lou Mr Reed can’t be by chance, friends), and the song is best summed up the loose drumming from Rick Kubic that sounds both overly languid (half-arsed even) but also entirely controlled. From press statements, it’s clear that this is Cote’s favourite ever Madder Rose song, yet it’s thorny compared to everything else on the record. That’s not to say it isn’t wonderful, it just takes a little while to appreciate it, while the tracks that sit around it are much more immediate. Therein lies the beauty of the band in general.
As with the release of To Be Beautiful, there seem to be no plans at present to get the band back on the road (c’mon, Primavera – get your chequebook out, ffs!), which feels like the only real shame of Madder Rose being back and making wonderful music together again. Despite the whimsical and melancholic longing of the songs, this isn’t nostalgia for the sake of anything other than creative expression. This band deserves a much wider audience, so go wallow in No One Gets Hurt Ever and swim in the musical current that’s strong enough to make you spin your arms in a wild rotation… if you know you know.
Score: 80%
Todd Dedman, Beats Per Minute
Madder Rose belongs to the forgotten cult bands of the 90s, but just like on the comeback album from 2019, the American band also shows on No One Gets Hurt Ever that it is capable of great deeds The American band Madder Rose delivers its sixth album with No One Gets Hurt Ever and it is
their sixth excellent album with very melodic songs and the great guitar work of Billy Coté and by the beautiful voice of singer Mary Lorson, who would make two great albums after Madder Rose as Saint Low.. After the four unsung masterpieces from the 90s, the band surprisingly returned in 2019 and four years later there is fortunately another new album by Madder Rose.
Billy Coté and Mary Lorson still manage to inspire each other in which 90s indie rock and a touch of psychedelics merge beautifully. The band will probably never rise above cult status.
The band’s new album also revolves around the guitar work, production and songs of Billy Coté and the still beautiful voice of Mary Lorson. Madder Rose also quotes from the music it made in the 90s on her sixth album, but this time the band sounds just a bit less gritty, although the guitar work is certainly there and there is room for modest guitar walls here and there.
Especially when the guitars sound a bit more psychedelic and Mary Lorson sings full of incantation, the comparison with Mazzy Star is again obvious, but Cowboy Junkies also provides absolutely relevant comparison material. With this I have two of my favorite bands of all time, but No One Gets Hurt Ever ultimately sounds like Madder Rose,
When I think of the name Madder Rose, I first think of the four great albums that the American band released in the 90s. With 1993’s Bring It Down, 1994’s Panic On, 1997’s Tragic Magic and 1999’s Hello June Fool, the New York-based band delivered four classics.
- The Fat Angel Sings
Madder Rose hoort bij de vergeten cultbands uit de jaren 90, maar net als op het comeback album uit 2019, laat de Amerikaanse band ook op No One Gets Hurt Ever weer horen dat het tot grootse daden in staat is
De Amerikaanse band Madder Rose levert met No One Gets Hurt Ever haar zesde album af en het is wat mij betreft het zesde uitstekende album. Na de vier miskende meesterwerken uit de jaren 90 keerde de band in 2019 verrassend terug en weer vier jaar later is er gelukkig wederom een nieuw album van Madder Rose. Billy Coté en Mary Lorson weten elkaar nog altijd te inspireren tot prachtige songs, waarin 90s indierock en een vleugje psychedelica fraai samenvloeien. Ook op No One Gets Hurt Ever is Mazzy Star niet heel ver weg, maar het is ook onmiskenbaar Madder Rose. De band zal de cultstatus waarschijnlijk nooit ontstijgen, maar wat is ook album nummer zes weer mooi.
Bij de naam Madder Rose denk ik in eerste instantie aan de vier geweldige albums die de Amerikaanse band in de jaren 90 uitbracht. Met Bring It Down uit 1993, Panic On uit 1994, Tragic Magic uit 1997 en Hello June Fool uit 1999 leverde de band uit New York vier prachtige albums en misschien zelfs wel klassiekers af. Het zijn albums die stuk voor stuk moeten worden gerekend tot het allerbeste dat de indierock in de jaren 90 te bieden had, maar helaas behoorde Madder Rose tot de meest onderschatte bands van het decennium en ontsteeg het de cultstatus niet of nauwelijks.
Dat is helaas nooit echt veranderd, maar als ik zelf naar de eerste vier albums van Madder Rose luister ben ik nog altijd diep onder de indruk van de gruizige maar ook zeer melodieuze songs van de band, van het geweldige gitaarwerk van Billy Coté en van de prachtige stem van zangeres Mary Lorson, die overigens na Madder Rose twee prima albums zou maken als Saint Low. De eerste vier albums van Madder Rose zijn verplichte kost voor een ieder die de jaren 90 indierock hoog heeft zitten, maar ook fans van Mazzy Star moeten volgens mij uit de voeten kunnen met de albums van de band uit New York.
Madder Rose keerde in 2019, tot ieders verrassing, terug met een nieuw album, maar ook het uitstekende To Be Beautiful kreeg niet heel veel aandacht. Het is een album waarop Madder Rose voortborduurde op haar albums uit de jaren 90, maar net wat minder gruizig klonk, waardoor de vergelijking met Mazzy Star alleen maar relevanter werd. To Be Beautiful leek zo langzamerhand dan echt het laatste wapenfeit van Madder Rose, maar uit het niets is er deze week een nieuw album van de band.
Met No One Gets Hurt Ever gaat Madder Rose verder waar het in 2019 ophield. Ook op het nieuwe album van de band draait veel om het gitaarwerk, de productie en de songs van Billy Coté en om de nog altijd prachtige stem van Mary Lorson. Madder Rose citeert ook op haar zesde album uit de muziek die het in de jaren 90 maakte, maar ook dit keer klinkt de band net wat minder gruizig, al mag het gitaarwerk er zeker zijn en is er hier en daar ruimte voor bescheiden gitaarmuren.
Zeker wanneer de gitaren wat psychedelischer klinken en Mary Lorson vol bezwering zingt, ligt de vergelijking met Mazzy Star wederom voor de hand, maar ook Cowboy Junkies draagt absoluut relevant vergelijkingsmateriaal aan. Hiermee heb ik twee van mijn favoriete bands aller tijden te pakken, maar No One Gets Hurt Ever klinkt uiteindelijk toch vooral als Madder Rose, dat toch ook steeds hoger begint te scoren op het lijstje met mijn favoriete bands.
Het zesde album van de band, dat vorm kreeg tijdens de eindeloze coronapandemie, doet wat mij betreft niet onder voor de vorige vijf albums van de Amerikaanse band en dat is echt een razend knappe prestatie. Het blijft jammer dat Madder Rose zowel tijdens haar gloriejaren als tijdens haar comeback van een paar jaar geleden zo weinig aandacht heeft gekregen, maar liefhebbers van de muziek die Madder Rose maakt maar de band niet kennen kunnen in één klap een indrukwekkend oeuvre binnen halen.
Zelf heb ik niet alleen No One Gets Hurt Ever direct omarmd, maar heb ik ook de vorige vijf albums van de band weer aan de playlist toegevoegd en het is nog altijd genieten. Het is vooralsnog helaas heel stil rond No One Gets Hurt Ever, maar Madder Rose heeft wederom een wonderschoon album afgeleverd, dat echt alle aandacht verdient. - Erwin Zijleman, dekrentenuitdepop
Avevamo salutato con grande piacere il ritorno, dopo vent’anni, dei Madder Rose, con quel “To be Beautiful” del 2019, l’album che ci aveva fatto conoscere il lato pacato e suggestivo del gruppo di New York.
La band, formatasi nell’ormai lontano 1991, ha da sempre nel duo composto da Mary Lorson (voce) e Billy Coté (chitarra) il fulcro ispiratore a cui si uniscono, a questo giro, vecchi e nuovi compagni: Chris Giammalvo (basso), Rick Kubic (batteria) e Matt Verta-Ray, interprete vocale in “Lou Mystery” e chitarra solista in “Mystery Date”.
Sono passate decadi da quel primo gennaio 1993 che ci portò, oltre al nuovo anno, il loro primo album “Bring it down”, piccolo gioiello di rock alternativo che contiene brani davvero interessanti, come “Swim” o la stessa title track. Buonissimi i riscontri, soprattutto in Inghilterra dove vennero pure considerati i nuovi Velvet Underground ed il loro suono una “lega” di Grunge e Cranberries. Tre album dopo (“Hello June Fool” è del ’99) la band si scioglie anche se la Lorson e Coté continuano a collaborare nei loro rispettivi progetti.
Il resto è storia recente, l’album del ritorno e “No One Gets Hurt Ever” che possiamo ascoltare seduti comodamente sorseggiando un buon calice di vino.
I brani sono stati scritti e prodotti da Coté durante il periodo pandemico.
Sin dalle prime note della opener “Tangerine” è facile lasciarsi cullare dalla tenue e sensuale voce della Lorson che diventa padrona del brano che si sviluppa su quattro semplici note che ben si prestano ai giochi vocali della cantante newyorchese. Un altro brano dove si possono apprezzare gli intrecci vocali è “MLMR”, l’unico pezzo scritto dalla Lorson che colpisce per il senso di fragilità e delicatezza che questi tre minuti scarsi ci sanno offrire.
Se vogliamo un po’ di atmosfere VU “Lou Mystery” fa proprio al caso nostro. Il duetto tra Mary e Matt Verta-Ray ben si sposa con un ritmo lento e soave, dove lo slide della chitarra accompagna il racconto di una camminata tra i grattacieli di Manhattan degli anni 90.
Matt (che ricordiamo come membro della band sin dagli inizi) è anche la chitarra protagonista in “Mystery Date”, che parte mieloso e melodioso per concludersi con distorsioni psichedeliche della sei corde.
“What Do You Know About My Lover?” ci riporta alle già descritte atmosfere dei Velvet, dove Nico, “l’angelo del male”, é qui ben sostituita da Mary che canta con un tono quasi neutro ed elusivo mentre un violino penetrante e straziante accompagna per buona parte del brano.
Ispirata dai Spacemen 3 e dai primi Spiritualized, “Bird (Splinters)” è un altro brano dalle atmosfere delicate, quasi alla Morcheeba di “Big Calm” con le ottime chitarre sovrapposte e lente note di tastiera ben distribuite.
Romantiche e sognanti “If I Drift Away”, “City Rain” e “My Love for You is Out of Control” accompagnano verso “I Want a New Me (girlghostboyghost)” che sembra essere finito nel disco per caso ma che ci sorprende piacevolmente per semplicità e freschezza.
Un album convincente e in fondo non ne siamo sorpresi. I Madder Rose hanno sempre dimostrato il loro valore e anche “No One Gets Hurt Ever” ci ha donato ottime vibrazioni.
- Zacky Appiani, Indie For Bunnies
This is the Madder Rose you (may) remember: wonderfully smeary indie rock loaded with swaying feels
Having broken up at the end of the ’90s, undersung NYC indie rock band and college radio faves Madder Rose surprised those who remembered them by putting out To Be Beautiful, their first record in 20 years. It was the mellowest record they’d ever made, with elements of jazz and a few traces of that trip-hop-influenced third album (really), but Mary Lorson and Billy Coté’s bond and the band’s hazy sound was still there. Unfortunately, they didn’t support the album with any live shows, so To Be Beautiful felt more like an unexpected gift than a return. Four years later, Madder Rose are back and sound like they mean it this time. No One Gets Hurt Ever, which also marks the return of Matt Verta-Ray (on one song), is the Madder Rose you remember: smeary indie rock with strong songwriting and atmospheric playing courtesy Coté, and Lorson’s still heavenly voice at the center.
No One Gets Hurt Ever is another of those lockdown records that might have not happened otherwise. “I didn’t feel much music during the pandemic,” says Lorson. “I learned some simple tunes to play at the nursing home where my mother spent her last months, and that was about all the music I could muster, other than going over to Billy’s to sing these songs on Sunday mornings. That’s how Billy spent the pandemic: he wrote and produced these beautiful songs.” While Madder Rose aren’t making upbeat guitar pop like “Beautiful John” anymore, they have always been exceptional at swaying, hazy ballads that rivaled Cowboy Junkies or Mazzy Star. There are a whole bunch of those here, the best of which is “Lou Mystery” that alone justifies this record’s existence. They’re even playing a show, their first since 1999 — a last-minute fill-in at Dromedary Records’ 30th anniversary — and let’s hope this gives them the push to keep going. These songs need to be heard live.
- Brooklyn Vegan
There’s a danger in nostalgia. As the economies of the world tighten around the throats of those who can least afford it, as we leave a month with 21 of the hottest 30 days ever recorded on the planet, and as we witness the inevitable implosion of late stage capitalism, there’s a pervading cultural discourse which seems to be reflecting on how good things were in the 1990s. The recent re-emergence of Pulp and Blur from under whichever rock it is that hosts Britpop bands is testament to this, as is the proliferation of Nirvana t-shirts in high street fashion shops and cargo pants inexplicably becoming a “thing” again. The past viewed through the rose tinted glasses of temporal distance almost certainly always brings a false sense of what those times were truly about.
Madder Rose’s sixth studio album wallows in a sense of space and place, yet always with a spiritual purpose that reaches beyond the superficial nature of nostalgia. The 10 songs that make up No One Gets Hurt Ever spiral in melancholic displays of hurt and rejection, reflecting on heartache and journeys of love with a fixation on the impending grief that comes as a result.
Formed in 1991, New York’s Madder Rose are purveyors of the downside of love, a celebration of exquisite possibility that makes being alive worth it, despite the all too common conclusions reached. Their Velvet Underground influenced form of shoegaze is present and correct, as is Billy Cote’s love for country tinged guitar lines that float sorrowfully across tracks like spectral beings rather than obvious participants.
When Mary Lorson opens the album with the line “Another day of looking backward / Another day to fall apart” the tone is set. The first track, “Tangerine”, is about a soul being set free, no longer weighed down with worries and the strains of every day life. As the song progresses, Lorson’s background vocals become more central in the mix, and their ghostly presence imbues the song with a wistful sense of acceptance of a sense of letting go, of the beauty and transience of things.
An air of wistfulness is the central tie that connects all of the tracks. The gently propulsive “What Do You Know About My Lover?” features a quietly distressed violin loop from Laura Cannell that adds a wandering element to the album’s most understated song. It’s a gentle lullaby, as is “Bird (Splinters)” which uses the simplest of nursery rhyme traditions of anthropomorphising small creatures to detail the burning pain of the human condition. Both tracks share a knack that Madder Rose have somehow managed throughout their career – the ability to produce songs which sound comfortable in their familiarity, yet are never derivative. Anyone who has heard “While Away” from the band’s majestic 1993 debut album Bring It Down will know exactly what I mean; a nagging feeling that you’re heard the song somewhere before, somehow.
No One Gets Hurt Ever contains some of Billy Cote’s most plaintive and concise song writing. It’s a succinct record, but even in its 36 minute run time there are moments of transgression where the band highlight how they have developed as people and musicians. The only Lorson composition on the record is the exquisite “MLMR” which is the very definition of beautiful fragility (and maybe stands for Mary Lorson, Madder Rose). Lorson has said that while Billy Cote was busy writing the songs that make up the album “I didn’t feel much music during the pandemic. I learned some simple tunes to play at the nursing home where my mother spent her last months, and that was about all the music I could muster…” With that knowledge, “MLMR” feels like a gift. There are washes of guitar over a strummed acoustic while there are mutterings and murmurings rather than words, yet the emotions behind the sounds are clear. It’s an exceptional moment of the record. Where their earlier albums showcased a range of styles and influences, including raucous guitars, No One Gets Hurt Ever feels more assured in its trajectory. “City Rain” feels like it could easily sit on their 1994 album Panic On with its focus on wet streets and a love for a city that doesn’t love you back. It feels like a sister piece to “What Holly Sees” in its observational reportage of the mundane as precious. “If I Drift Away” is as delicately introspective as anything from 2019’s glorious comeback record To Be Beautiful, while album closer “I Want a New Me (girlghostboyghost)” leaves us on something of a Motown-tinged pop high. There is absolutely not a weak link on the album, even though some songs take a little longer than others to settle in the brain. A case in point is “Lou Mystery”, which brings all four original members of the band together and sees Matt Verta-Ray and Lorson duet. This is Cote wearing his love for Velvet Underground on his sleeve like never before (the title being not too far away from Lou Mr Reed can’t be by chance, friends), and the song is best summed up the loose drumming from Rick Kubic that sounds both overly languid (half-arsed even) but also entirely controlled. From press statements, it’s clear that this is Cote’s favourite ever Madder Rose song, yet it’s thorny compared to everything else on the record. That’s not to say it isn’t wonderful, it just takes a little while to appreciate it, while the tracks that sit around it are much more immediate. Therein lies the beauty of the band in general.
As with the release of To Be Beautiful, there seem to be no plans at present to get the band back on the road (c’mon, Primavera – get your chequebook out, ffs!), which feels like the only real shame of Madder Rose being back and making wonderful music together again. Despite the whimsical and melancholic longing of the songs, this isn’t nostalgia for the sake of anything other than creative expression. This band deserves a much wider audience, so go wallow in No One Gets Hurt Ever and swim in the musical current that’s strong enough to make you spin your arms in a wild rotation… if you know you know.
Score: 80%
Todd Dedman, Beats Per Minute
Madder Rose belongs to the forgotten cult bands of the 90s, but just like on the comeback album from 2019, the American band also shows on No One Gets Hurt Ever that it is capable of great deeds The American band Madder Rose delivers its sixth album with No One Gets Hurt Ever and it is
their sixth excellent album with very melodic songs and the great guitar work of Billy Coté and by the beautiful voice of singer Mary Lorson, who would make two great albums after Madder Rose as Saint Low.. After the four unsung masterpieces from the 90s, the band surprisingly returned in 2019 and four years later there is fortunately another new album by Madder Rose.
Billy Coté and Mary Lorson still manage to inspire each other in which 90s indie rock and a touch of psychedelics merge beautifully. The band will probably never rise above cult status.
The band’s new album also revolves around the guitar work, production and songs of Billy Coté and the still beautiful voice of Mary Lorson. Madder Rose also quotes from the music it made in the 90s on her sixth album, but this time the band sounds just a bit less gritty, although the guitar work is certainly there and there is room for modest guitar walls here and there.
Especially when the guitars sound a bit more psychedelic and Mary Lorson sings full of incantation, the comparison with Mazzy Star is again obvious, but Cowboy Junkies also provides absolutely relevant comparison material. With this I have two of my favorite bands of all time, but No One Gets Hurt Ever ultimately sounds like Madder Rose,
When I think of the name Madder Rose, I first think of the four great albums that the American band released in the 90s. With 1993’s Bring It Down, 1994’s Panic On, 1997’s Tragic Magic and 1999’s Hello June Fool, the New York-based band delivered four classics.
- The Fat Angel Sings
Madder Rose hoort bij de vergeten cultbands uit de jaren 90, maar net als op het comeback album uit 2019, laat de Amerikaanse band ook op No One Gets Hurt Ever weer horen dat het tot grootse daden in staat is
De Amerikaanse band Madder Rose levert met No One Gets Hurt Ever haar zesde album af en het is wat mij betreft het zesde uitstekende album. Na de vier miskende meesterwerken uit de jaren 90 keerde de band in 2019 verrassend terug en weer vier jaar later is er gelukkig wederom een nieuw album van Madder Rose. Billy Coté en Mary Lorson weten elkaar nog altijd te inspireren tot prachtige songs, waarin 90s indierock en een vleugje psychedelica fraai samenvloeien. Ook op No One Gets Hurt Ever is Mazzy Star niet heel ver weg, maar het is ook onmiskenbaar Madder Rose. De band zal de cultstatus waarschijnlijk nooit ontstijgen, maar wat is ook album nummer zes weer mooi.
Bij de naam Madder Rose denk ik in eerste instantie aan de vier geweldige albums die de Amerikaanse band in de jaren 90 uitbracht. Met Bring It Down uit 1993, Panic On uit 1994, Tragic Magic uit 1997 en Hello June Fool uit 1999 leverde de band uit New York vier prachtige albums en misschien zelfs wel klassiekers af. Het zijn albums die stuk voor stuk moeten worden gerekend tot het allerbeste dat de indierock in de jaren 90 te bieden had, maar helaas behoorde Madder Rose tot de meest onderschatte bands van het decennium en ontsteeg het de cultstatus niet of nauwelijks.
Dat is helaas nooit echt veranderd, maar als ik zelf naar de eerste vier albums van Madder Rose luister ben ik nog altijd diep onder de indruk van de gruizige maar ook zeer melodieuze songs van de band, van het geweldige gitaarwerk van Billy Coté en van de prachtige stem van zangeres Mary Lorson, die overigens na Madder Rose twee prima albums zou maken als Saint Low. De eerste vier albums van Madder Rose zijn verplichte kost voor een ieder die de jaren 90 indierock hoog heeft zitten, maar ook fans van Mazzy Star moeten volgens mij uit de voeten kunnen met de albums van de band uit New York.
Madder Rose keerde in 2019, tot ieders verrassing, terug met een nieuw album, maar ook het uitstekende To Be Beautiful kreeg niet heel veel aandacht. Het is een album waarop Madder Rose voortborduurde op haar albums uit de jaren 90, maar net wat minder gruizig klonk, waardoor de vergelijking met Mazzy Star alleen maar relevanter werd. To Be Beautiful leek zo langzamerhand dan echt het laatste wapenfeit van Madder Rose, maar uit het niets is er deze week een nieuw album van de band.
Met No One Gets Hurt Ever gaat Madder Rose verder waar het in 2019 ophield. Ook op het nieuwe album van de band draait veel om het gitaarwerk, de productie en de songs van Billy Coté en om de nog altijd prachtige stem van Mary Lorson. Madder Rose citeert ook op haar zesde album uit de muziek die het in de jaren 90 maakte, maar ook dit keer klinkt de band net wat minder gruizig, al mag het gitaarwerk er zeker zijn en is er hier en daar ruimte voor bescheiden gitaarmuren.
Zeker wanneer de gitaren wat psychedelischer klinken en Mary Lorson vol bezwering zingt, ligt de vergelijking met Mazzy Star wederom voor de hand, maar ook Cowboy Junkies draagt absoluut relevant vergelijkingsmateriaal aan. Hiermee heb ik twee van mijn favoriete bands aller tijden te pakken, maar No One Gets Hurt Ever klinkt uiteindelijk toch vooral als Madder Rose, dat toch ook steeds hoger begint te scoren op het lijstje met mijn favoriete bands.
Het zesde album van de band, dat vorm kreeg tijdens de eindeloze coronapandemie, doet wat mij betreft niet onder voor de vorige vijf albums van de Amerikaanse band en dat is echt een razend knappe prestatie. Het blijft jammer dat Madder Rose zowel tijdens haar gloriejaren als tijdens haar comeback van een paar jaar geleden zo weinig aandacht heeft gekregen, maar liefhebbers van de muziek die Madder Rose maakt maar de band niet kennen kunnen in één klap een indrukwekkend oeuvre binnen halen.
Zelf heb ik niet alleen No One Gets Hurt Ever direct omarmd, maar heb ik ook de vorige vijf albums van de band weer aan de playlist toegevoegd en het is nog altijd genieten. Het is vooralsnog helaas heel stil rond No One Gets Hurt Ever, maar Madder Rose heeft wederom een wonderschoon album afgeleverd, dat echt alle aandacht verdient. - Erwin Zijleman, dekrentenuitdepop
Avevamo salutato con grande piacere il ritorno, dopo vent’anni, dei Madder Rose, con quel “To be Beautiful” del 2019, l’album che ci aveva fatto conoscere il lato pacato e suggestivo del gruppo di New York.
La band, formatasi nell’ormai lontano 1991, ha da sempre nel duo composto da Mary Lorson (voce) e Billy Coté (chitarra) il fulcro ispiratore a cui si uniscono, a questo giro, vecchi e nuovi compagni: Chris Giammalvo (basso), Rick Kubic (batteria) e Matt Verta-Ray, interprete vocale in “Lou Mystery” e chitarra solista in “Mystery Date”.
Sono passate decadi da quel primo gennaio 1993 che ci portò, oltre al nuovo anno, il loro primo album “Bring it down”, piccolo gioiello di rock alternativo che contiene brani davvero interessanti, come “Swim” o la stessa title track. Buonissimi i riscontri, soprattutto in Inghilterra dove vennero pure considerati i nuovi Velvet Underground ed il loro suono una “lega” di Grunge e Cranberries. Tre album dopo (“Hello June Fool” è del ’99) la band si scioglie anche se la Lorson e Coté continuano a collaborare nei loro rispettivi progetti.
Il resto è storia recente, l’album del ritorno e “No One Gets Hurt Ever” che possiamo ascoltare seduti comodamente sorseggiando un buon calice di vino.
I brani sono stati scritti e prodotti da Coté durante il periodo pandemico.
Sin dalle prime note della opener “Tangerine” è facile lasciarsi cullare dalla tenue e sensuale voce della Lorson che diventa padrona del brano che si sviluppa su quattro semplici note che ben si prestano ai giochi vocali della cantante newyorchese. Un altro brano dove si possono apprezzare gli intrecci vocali è “MLMR”, l’unico pezzo scritto dalla Lorson che colpisce per il senso di fragilità e delicatezza che questi tre minuti scarsi ci sanno offrire.
Se vogliamo un po’ di atmosfere VU “Lou Mystery” fa proprio al caso nostro. Il duetto tra Mary e Matt Verta-Ray ben si sposa con un ritmo lento e soave, dove lo slide della chitarra accompagna il racconto di una camminata tra i grattacieli di Manhattan degli anni 90.
Matt (che ricordiamo come membro della band sin dagli inizi) è anche la chitarra protagonista in “Mystery Date”, che parte mieloso e melodioso per concludersi con distorsioni psichedeliche della sei corde.
“What Do You Know About My Lover?” ci riporta alle già descritte atmosfere dei Velvet, dove Nico, “l’angelo del male”, é qui ben sostituita da Mary che canta con un tono quasi neutro ed elusivo mentre un violino penetrante e straziante accompagna per buona parte del brano.
Ispirata dai Spacemen 3 e dai primi Spiritualized, “Bird (Splinters)” è un altro brano dalle atmosfere delicate, quasi alla Morcheeba di “Big Calm” con le ottime chitarre sovrapposte e lente note di tastiera ben distribuite.
Romantiche e sognanti “If I Drift Away”, “City Rain” e “My Love for You is Out of Control” accompagnano verso “I Want a New Me (girlghostboyghost)” che sembra essere finito nel disco per caso ma che ci sorprende piacevolmente per semplicità e freschezza.
Un album convincente e in fondo non ne siamo sorpresi. I Madder Rose hanno sempre dimostrato il loro valore e anche “No One Gets Hurt Ever” ci ha donato ottime vibrazioni.
- Zacky Appiani, Indie For Bunnies