Real Love Diplomats - Hinge Magazine CD Review

Current Date : Last Updated : 06/10/2003

Press - Reviews & Articles

REAL LOVE DIPLOMATS: For the Good of Many Phat Planet
Voice: Sarah Ellis
	Real Love Diplomats have proven to be a low key Orlando band, but the release of their seven track album--For The Good Of Many--serves as yet another step for the quintet. Produced by Mark Mason, the cd sways a few yards away from their live show for it’s chock full of unique effects that place it on a long stretch of diversity. While Real Love music contains moments of fairly energetic edgy guitar riffs and strong drumbeats, it glides closer to the poetic realm, delving into the soulful, slower paced, almost mystical energy that could be expressed as melancholy in some instances. It’s an album that borderlines on experimental, with piano, diffused vocals, whispery vocals, and keyboard effects that almost oppose what’s going on vocally, yet adding mystique rather than overwhelming. It’s difficult to categorize, yet a listener is grounded because the spectrum of components blend together to create an album quite worth listening to. The second track, Locomotor Ataxia, contains effects that remind you of the days of Tainted Love, but are woven with a melodic lyrical agenda: “Press up the evening like a child/Proud in the end/When you say that you’re over me/The lap of luxury/Retarded teenage poetry.” Nearer to You (track 3) serves as this surreal song that I swear would be ticking in your mind as you move through the stages of death. It is very abstract and confusing. There is an effect that equates to a person in the backdrop sounding like they are on a walkie talkie, then this odd wha...wha...sound, plus diffused vocals that remind me of when I used to (child daze) speak into the metal bars that protect a fan you plug in to the wall. The first and fourth songs are more energetic than the rest. The fifth track, Cookie, translates to lyrical sex. Lying in a dark room with someone that you feel completely saturated and content with, silent, sets the perfect landscape for this album. In fact, ...As Passive as the Corpse Beneath the Hands of the Washer of the Dead (track 7) serves as sort of a surreal lullaby to end the album. Pick this CD up, for it’s hot off the press. As an aside, Dirty Barby’s Puce Glitz, during an interview, commented on his favorite albums. He decided to reveal the albums in his stereo that week. One of them was the advanced copy of For The Good Of Many and Puce claimed that “Everyone should check them out.”

The Real Love Diplomats, formed in mid 1999, are a musical group that has been skillful in their ability to defy classification. The combination of keyboards, guitars, and dramatic vocal performances seem to have slightly befuddled those who require categorization in order to enjoy music .The Diplomats say they're a rock band, simple enough. The band has a broad catalog of songs, and have finally released a studio EP, ambitiously titled "For the Good of the Many". The 7-track CD has received favorable reviews in local music magazines; Hinge, In Theory, Connections, and Performing Artist, all of which echoed the hard-to-categorize statement. The increase in show attendance seems to be a worthy display of the CD gaining momentum and the song Ded Morotz (Track 4) is currently in rotation at Real Radio 104.1 WTKS. Along with numerous other establishments & functions, The Diplomats have played such notable places as the House of Blues, Hard Rock Live, and the Social. They have played the Royalty Theatre in Clearwater, FL, the Deland Art Festival, and a radio event in Cocoa Beach to generate exposure outside of Orlando. The band consists of five members, a quintet if you will, listed as follows; Michael Wagganer (Vocals), Jason Plourde (Guitar), Jeff Estock (Drums) and John Galt (Bass & Keyboards).

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