Nick Troop: Reviews for Chemical Jazz

Splendid E-zine
George Zahora

If you've ever struggled with a creative project, you'll probably join me in wanting to kill Nick Troop and everyone else like him. It's nothing personal; Troop is simply one of those overly-inspired folks who can crank out an entire polished, professional-sounding album on his own, seemingly with no more effort than if he was doing a load of laundry on a Sunday afternoon. And after doing so, perhaps because he's embarrassed at the mere thought of being the center of attention, he gives his "band" an implicitly plural name so we'll all think he's just one clever cog in a highly talented machine. Bastard.

Because Troop apparently soaks up inspiration the way most of us eat soup, Catdesigners (or should I say Catdesigner?) have already released a follow-up to Chemical Jazz, and a third album is on the way. Album number three features an actual band, so we can all start feeling better about ourselves and our own creative endeavors. For now, though, we're dealing with Chemical Jazz, which is quite an impressive piece of work as debut albums go.

Does the word "Britpop" actually mean anything anymore? In this case, it's as good a descriptor as any. Troop is British, and his record is full of pop songs. He's been compared to Jeff Buckley, due largely to his fondness for sweet falsetto choruses, but Blur and Suede are actually closer relatives. There's a confident, cocksure swagger behind "Medicine Song"'s syncopated strut, and a decadent elegance in every fiber of the title track's gloriously operatic chorus. "Gravity Means..." and "Vapour Trail" are jangly folksongs, as good for walking through rain-washed city streets as they are for lingering over a cup of tea, and "Where You Go" is alt-country built on a Smiths-ballad foundation, a strummy wagon train epic diverted through Bethnal Green. Expectations are subverted at every turn; Troop has clearly digested a healthy share of indie rock and pop, and his clever spins on their conventions, though never truly out there, are seldom predictable.

The whole thing radiates a very British sort of subtlety. "Human Again" and "Medicine Song" capture Suede's glam-friendly synco-pop and Blur's organ/keyboard circus shtick, but never rub their concepts in our faces. "Chemical Jazz" asserts Troop's faculty with artfully-engineered discord (thank you, Radiohead), and "Breeding (in the 21st Century)" and "While You Were Dancing" give us hooks we can hum and choruses we can almost sing along to. A few of the songs begin to sound a bit samey after multiple spins, and instrumental "Dizzy Q"'s "hey, look what else I can do" braggadocio is surprisingly unsubtle, but for a self-produced, self-released debut, Chemical Jazz is one hell of a calling card.

If you're a creative person in the midst of a bit of a slump, it may even make you feel a little inadequate. You've been warned.

Luna Kafe
Copyright © 2004 Anna Maria Stjärnell

CatDesigners are a prolific and intriguing indie band. Their singer/guitarist and songwriter Nick Troop seems to have some fascinating ideas on how to make music.

The lovely "Gravity Means.." is space age balladry like Bowie used to sing it. Troop's appealingly fragile vocal suits the song well. "Medicine Song" resembles Blur back when they knew how to pen a catchy tune. "Breeding (in the 21st century)" is a sweet little song with a faint psychedelic undertow.

"Vapour Trail" revisits early Bowie circa Space Oddity and has similarly spaced out lyrics. "While you were dancing" is as quintessentially English as the Kinks were. The instrumental "Dizzy Q" rocks out convincingly.

Chemical Jazz is a multi-layered, impressive debut.

Past & Present

One should think this was a jazz-record judging from the album-title. Nothing could be farther from the truth, though, as this has little to nothing to do with jazz (although it‘s quite chemical). Although presented as a band, CatDesigners is more or less a solo-project by Nick Troop. At least on this record and a new one due for release 26-01-2004 (the third one will be a band effort).

Sounds like this guy has ideas, huh? He does, and what is even better is the fact that it’s actually more than ideas: it‘s also great British-sounding rock-music inspired by the likes of Beatles, Bowie and Buckley among other. Favourite track: “Medicine Song.”

Indigoflow and IF E-zine

Rating: 4/5

CatDesigners is essentially the work of Nick Troop. In fact this album and the next one are essentially solo recordings, the third will be a bit more of a band effort. Yes, this is a band with vision, this album is out, the second is on the way and the third is being recorded. The other project Troop has underway is The Rock 'n' Roll Cook Book (visit the CatDesigners website to submit your recipe), a cunning play to worm his way onto TV under the pretence of promoting a cook book!

Someone else said that the CatDesigners sound is a mix of Blur and Jeff Buckley. Much as I prefer to come up with my own conclusions, Troop does have something of Jeff Buckley in his voice and the strange indie sound of this album is quite mid-nineties Blur-esque. Well worth checking out.

Author: Andy Malt

Phase 9
Album Review by EDF
5 stars out of 6

London based CatDesigners is fronted by Nick Troop who regards this album and the follow-up STRANGE LITTLE CREATURES as solo recordings. Regardless, Nick has recruited two more musicians to help him with touring duties and the recording of an upcoming third album. Talk about getting ahead of yourself and I still haven’t finished writing the review for this first album yet.

Influenced by the likes of the late Jeff Buckley, Bowie and The Cult amongst others, the tracks enter minimalist mode a few times here and do not hinder the listener’s enjoyment. The title track kicks the album off in a Jeff Buckley meets Nick Cave mode while GRAVITY MEANS… show hints of 1960’s West Coast acoustic psychedelia.

Nick’s vocal delivery on MEDICINE SONG is a bit too much like Jeff Buckley for my liking and that is my only complaint I can give on this guitar driven track. I suppose Nick really cannot help the way he sings. WHERE YOU GO comes across like an inspired love song that could have come straight from The Smiths which means that the lyrics are more of a tragedy than anything else. The same could have been said for WHILE YOU WERE DANCING but without a sense of irony within the lyrics, this track is definitely more of a love song. The glam flavoured instrumental DIZZY Q is less cheesy than it sounds and you would have to be a cynic not to like it.

Nick had recorded so many songs that he ended up having enough for two albums, the second of which STRANGE LITTLE CREATURES is now available. You know that Nick has put a lot of work into these tracks, maybe with a hint of knowing that they were not going to be the big chorus singalongs that other artists go for. For this he has to be applauded. Maybe his second album will contain the big chorus tracks that will get him some well-deserved recognition.

Copyright PHASE9 Entertainment (http://www.phase9.tv)

Our Rating: 8/10

Whisperin' & Hollerin' recently delighted in discovering the eclectic, homespun delights of North London's Moshi Moshi Records: a label who have been busily injecting London's post-Britpop landscape with an all-important shot of futuristic creativity. The briefest blast of their "We Got Monkeys" album makes you realise the London underground (sorry) is still bursting with fresh talent even in the jaded 21st Century.

And now we've got another reason to run up the flags in CatDesigners: basically the brainchild of Bethnal Green's Nick Troop - a man who clearly knows his way around his rock history, but with a knack for subverting genres and adding his own very individualistic spin on what can only very broadly be described as 'indie' on "Chemical Jazz,": the first of two albums (the second, "Strange Little Creature" is due in April 2004) which are to be released on his Googlie Mooglie imprint.

"Chemical Jazz" is a fascinating listen and nothing like as potentially impenetrable as its' title. Impressively, Nick handles all the instruments and, while diversity is king, the end results hang together admirably, ensuring you'll want to revisit the album again as soon as possible.

The title track kicks off. Immediately atmospheric, with a trip-hop(py) beat, churchy keyboards and Peter Hook-ish bassline explorations, it marries huge E-bowed guitars with Nick's sweet and emancipated vocals and really soars away with a spiritual(ized) feel.

Excellent start, and most of what follows is equally good. Lyrically, Troop's mostly personal and introspective and much of what he writes remains open-ended, but emotionally he always scores here, especially when he's attacking acoustic, intimate material like "Gravity Means" or "While You Were Dancing." The former - in terms of feel - strangely reminds your reviewer of early Auteurs, while "...Dancing" is romantic, but slightly desperate and a little creepy, not least when Nick sings lines like: "If I could cruise into some crisis with you." Cool. And never less than thought-provoking.
 
Often, Nick teases us with possible references, only to pull the rug away and veer off at other intriguing titles. "Six Line Song"s title, for example, immediately has your reviewer referencing Bowie's "Eight Line Poem", but is built around a vibrato guitar figure and a prettily fragile feel akin to Jeff Buckley, while "Vapour Trail" also initially recalls early strummy Bowie or possibly Radiohead at their ghostliest, but crucially the end results are all very much Nick Troop's own work.

This also applies with songs like "Medicine Show" and the oddball waltz of "...Ion", which are both a little reminiscent of Blur and demonstrate Nick can do anthemic effectively. However, he's also headroom to accommodate songs like "Where You Go" and "Dizzy Q"; both of which leave referencing stranded on a distant shore. Suffice it to say the former features a brilliant jaywalking bassline and can only just about effectively be described as 'rockabilly noir.' Unlikely I agree, but it works, as does "Dizzy Q", which is even more startling and bursts from a tinkly electronic cocoon to a full-blown rawk butterfly. Whoa.

"Chemical Jazz", then, is ultimately a defiantly square peg where the round hole pigeonholers are concerned and that's definitely one of its' many strengths. Nick Troop is very surely a man to watch and we intend to get on the case with "Strange Little Creature" as soon as possible come the new year as well.

Antenna up and staying tuned.....

author: TIM PEACOCK

Bona Fide
Deanna

I like this a lot. For some reason it took me ages to review this gem, its like this CD was hiding away from me.

This 'period' indie album got some roots in Bowie, T-Rex and dare I say Iggy Pop but still offers all mod cons.

Thumbs up for your reflective and insightful lyrics my fellow East Enders. Hope to see you live soon.

Rating is 2 arrows (which means "sign them up")