Impact
Site Admin Joined: 01 May 2004 Posts: 3258 Location: Pinecrest, FL	Posted: Thu May 06, 2004 11:47 am    Post subject: Band Review :: Rasputina   Artist :: Rasputina Genre :: Cello Rock Locale of origin :: New York Necessary Albums :: How we quit the forest Rating :: 5/10 Two beautiful women, one with blonde hair (Melora), and one with vibrant red hair (Zoe), both of them play cello. Together, with their drummer (Jonathon), whom they plucked out of the 60s, they are Rasputina. It is one of the most interesting setups I've ever seen; two cellos and a drum set. On top of that, the two ladies wear vintage 17th and 18th century underwear during their shows. Just when you thought a woman in a corset straddling a cello wasn't sexy, you were proved wrong when you saw this band play live. Melora does a majority of the singing. Her singing takes on a folk-rock feel if anything. The cellos are plugged into distortion pedals, and half of the time they are playing what sounds like a metal-riff played on a baritone guitar. But the sound is very unique and like nothing I've heard come out of an instrument before. Jonathon is a very talented drummer and plays simple but fitting beats with sporadic wood-block fills. Rasputina is very good in concert, with the outfits, Melora's quarky ramblings between each song, and the occasionally growling rock solo performed by one of the ladies. They play several covers including Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll," and Pink Floyd's "Wish you were here." Unfortunately, they are very repetitive within their style, and you don't hear anything in the last half of the show that you didn't hear in the first three songs. As interesting as it is, they are rehashing the same few ideas in every song. Another problem is that their studio recordings do not do justice to their live performance. Maybe it's the lack of visuals, or the repetition issue again, but for some reason, when listening to them on CD, they are much less intriguing. Hence, I cannot strongly recommend a specific album, but if you were too buy one, I'd start with How we quit the forest. I know I only gave them a 5/10 rating, but that's simply because after the initial shock of this band wears off, they aren't as interesting. So despite the rating, I still urge you to see them perform live if they come anywhere near you, because they really are amazing live. Note: For those of you starting a band and looking for original ideas, yes, it is very cool to have string instruments in a rock band. But realize that this won't last long, and if you want to incorporate strings into your band, act quickly before it becomes an annoying trend.
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