RECORD - REVIEWS - January 2011

Maybarduk - no hay Pueblo Vencido

Peter Maybarduk is a local attorney who represents some interesting causes concerning various concerns for developing countries. And at times, he plays some music as well. I have enjoyed his live set in the past and it is nice to catch up with this 2009 release. The production, courtesy of J. Robbins, is stellar and Maybarduk creates a few different atmospheres with the arrangements of his twelve original songs. This is good singer songwriter material, but it can rock hard like in "Dom Helder Camara" or move into the light guitar and voice of "Sundays". There is a touch of spacey cello pars on the latter song and other songs have brass, glockenspiels and much more. The songs themselves are a nice mix of styles and quality. A few suffer from a bit too much of a prosaic stance, but a majority of them have nice heartfelt lyrics that are successful. The arrangements and playing works well with just enough touch of rock bite amidst the folk and light rock styles. There is a Spanish theme in guitar style and songs about South America, but it does not dominate. Instead it gives Maybarduk his own spot in a crowded field of singer songwriters. This is a nice album to start out with and it will be interesting to see what he comes up with next, as I believe a new album is expected this year.

Songs to sample:

Darker Days - The first cut has nice alternating acoustic and electric moments as it weaves his personal tale.

Elizabeth La Paz - Nice lyrics and a good atmospheric soundscape. This one shows the production and arrangement skills that he and Robbins are capable of.

Dom Helder Camara - This is a reworking of something he did with his former rock band and it does rock out nicely wtih electric guitars deep in the mix and a clear clean vocal on top belting out the politically stinging lyrics.