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coverpic flag England - Full Moon 195 - 08/02/12

Tom Block
Initiation
El Mestizo Records

Tom Block is a retuning "guest" to our Kafé. His t0M 810(k + Tom B£o{k EPs were checked out by our Tim last year. His judgement at the time was: '...the first EP is a hyperactive child, then the second EP is a moody teenager...', and the conclusion was: 'Overall, there's a definite something to Tom Block's songwriting that hints at interesting releases to come." Well, the future is now, as Tom Block a couple of moonths ago presented his full length debut album, Initiation.

Block (20) is a singer-songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist/music entrepreneur. He's writing songs, and he's the man behind El Mestizo Records Ltd. Born in Germany, brought up on the Canary Islands, Spain, but now living in London, he's a true European. His music is still deep into the lo-fi aesthetics. This is DIY bedroom electro-pop, sometimes with a psychedelic twist. Most of the time with a certain sense of humour. I sense Tom Block's having fun. And his songs? Well, they somehow make me imagine Beck teaming up with Blur. Sometimes they've got structure and base, other times they're quite free-floating and totally loose fit.

Nevertheless, Initiation - with its 10 songs - feels cool and chilling enough to keep me interested for quite a while. The best tracks are: "City Zen", "Playa Nueva", "Juno Does Dress" (try counting to three in Spanish...), and "Freeze".

Copyright © 2012 Håvard Oppøyen e-mail address

You may also want to check out our Tom Block articles/reviews: t0M 810(k + Tom B£o{k EPs, t0M 810(k + Tom B£o{k EPs, t0M 810(k + Tom B£o{k EPs.

© 2012 Luna Kafé