Jonathan Blackman aka Cheetah Coats is sort of a modern day renaissance man. He has worked as a cinema projectionist, chocolate maker, cinematographer, insulation salesman, recording studio manager, truck driver and of course he plays music as well. On top of that he has prior experience playing in bands. His debut EP is entitled Sleeping Dogs EP. There are such drastic differences in some of the styles presented that it felt like a completely separate artist.
Up first is “WASN'T IT GREAT” which is rooted heavily in ’90s rock. There is a hint of Americana and grunge but it fits nicely into the alternative category. It’s a very no frills type of song with what sounds like a raw but experienced band playing in a room. This is arguably the highlight and I was digging the simplicity and vocal hook. The vibe and genre already starts to shift with “I'M NOT ALONE” but not in a drastic way. I felt the song was a little more loose and had this ’70s garage rock thing going on mixed with The Pixies. The song gets inventive and interesting when he starts to break into different time signatures. “KIANDRA” is the song where Blackman almost completely sets aside the foundation he was forming with the first two songs. The instrumental song is ambient and atmospheric so much so it felt like it could have been a soundscape from an artist like Windy & Carl. “TYPE AND SHADOW” dips back into similar territory as the first two songs. The off-kilter groove has wicked timing reminding me of Radiohead. Blackman’s vocals also sound top notch here with a strong hook. “SUN STORM” is an eleven-plus-minute soundscape. It’s more atmospheric than “KIANDRA” and deep, ominous and vast. There is very little change in this composition which contain slight, distant signals coming out of the dark. One of the things I always tell a band as an engineer or producer is that a release whether it’s an EP or LP should have a cohesive quality to it. If you are going to do two drastically different genres it’s almost always best in my opinion to separate genres for numerous reasons I will not get into. My one piece of advice for Blackman would be to separate the ambient soundscapes from the guitar driven rock. I would even go so far as to release these two very different sounding genres under different artist names. Sleeping Dogs EP contains a glaring dichotomy in approach but both genres were enjoyable for different reasons. I will say the more rock oriented type material was the genre where Blackman thrives and seems to be at home. Recommended
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