Friday, May 29, 2009

Great Bands You (prolly) Never Heard About (pt2)

Naked Rhythm
Naked Rhythm was a band that I happened to catch opening for Saigon Kick at Big Dogs in Cedar Rapids around '95/'96. I wasn't expecting much. Big Dogs had a habit of booking horrible local bands for the openers and not having heard of them before, I figured they were more of the same.
I couldn't have been more wrong. They were great. Interesting songs, cool lyrics, good beats, and terrific riffs...all with a little bit of humor thrown in for good measure. They were an awesome match with Saigon Kick and really got the crowd into a good mood for the headliner. Pretty much the perfect opening band. Probably my favorite opening band that I hadn't previously heard about. I bought their one and only CD that night and it spent weeks in my player. It is called Fatbox and you can often pick it up on eBay for around $3, it is well worth it. I have bought this CD at least 5 times because I have given my out to others who liked what they heard.
Naked Rhythm are kind of a Hardrock/Funk fusion type band (good I hate people who always describe music as 'fusion'). Sort of like a heavier version of Red Hot Chili Peppers. Very good, very talented musicians. I would love to link you to some music...but I haven't really been able to find it online. Since their time there has been a couple dance bands and belly dancing troupes named Naked Rhythm and their crap is clogging the interwebicon from the delicious candy center that I would like to share with you.
A few examples of lyrics instead.
Mountain:
We hate life until we get stoned,
but once we do we'd rather be alone.
I don't smoke, but that seemed like a pretty accurate and honest statement to me.
Brown Billy Goat:
I've got a brown billy goat,
with great big genitals...
and I'm on medication from the pain.
This song just cracked me up live.
Cafe Improv is probably my favorite piece on the album. It is a piece that they recorded live at an open mic night type event. A microphone, a subtle bass, and a soft drum. It is simple and beautiful. You can hear people chatting and forks and plates clanking in the background but that makes it seem even more heartfelt, sincere, and beautiful. His opening statement of "I wrote this song for me" seems just perfect for this piece. Although when I first got the album I was a little annoyed by all this and wanted a polished studio version. I still wouldn't mind one but I love this song for all its quirks and imperfections.
I wish they had more of a chance and had more music available. I think this is one of those cases where a bands name works against them. Their name just didn't fit there style (and you know it is next to impossible to get radio stations to even listen to something with "Naked" in the title). I'm not saying that is the only reason you never heard of them, but it sure didn't help.

Naked Rhythm - Break You 

Naked Rhythm - Mountain 

Naked Rhythm - Improv Cafe 

5 comments:

cosmo kidd said...

Hi,

this got me intrigued...

can you please upload at least a couple of songs like you did for Speed McQueen? I can't find preview samples anywhere.

thanks

Michael said...

Hey thanks for reminding me. I was going to look into hosting options for music files like this...where they can't be found any place. Hopefully, I will have something in the next few days for you to preview...although I sure the record companies would disagree, I can't imagine that I am hurting any sales on a CD that was released 14 years ago, and has been out of print 13 years.

cosmo kidd said...

well...they frown upon when full albums are posted, a couple of songs are harmless, especially in this case (old and out of print album). Thanks.

cosmo kidd said...

by the way...while googling Naked Rhythm I found out that some band members went on to form the band Wobble, their album is sold here http://cdbaby.com/cd/wobble

Michael said...

Thanks! I'm posting links to a couple Naked Rhythm files in a few minutes...hopefully it works.