Music Review: Tiger Lou

Posted on 22 February 2008 by Erin Kennedy

I stopped listening to country music about the time that they took the line “You complete me” straight out of Jerry McGuire and turned it into a soulless, chart-seeking twaddle of a country song.  I turned to alternative rock just about the time Nirvana was leaving its pulsing red handprint on the face of mainstream rock.  I remember being struck by the lyrics coming from the angst-filled musicians.  They were, at different times, poetic, tragic, poignant, and controversial.  They weren’t pandering to the mainstream, whoring out their talents with trite lyrics and unremarkable melodies; they were actually trying to say something – about the state of society, the state of mind, or the state of their own tortured souls. 

Unfortunately, the Music Pimps…er….Industry… seems to have sunk its gold teeth into rock as well.  Instead of full flavored rock streaming in through the radio, we have, with a few exceptions of course, the same watered down drivel making the playlists.  Whatever makes us happy, right?  The mainstream is always happy as long as no one is doing anything new.  

But for those of us who bore easily, or find that our tastes lie a little more in the fringe, there is a kaleidoscope of rock to enjoy that never makes it to mainstream radio.  I could review the new Red Jumpsuit Apparatus single, for example…everyone just loves that new “Your Guardian Angel” song.  Yes.  It’s sweet.  It’s catchy.  But it doesn’t say a damn thing that hasn’t been said before – and it doesn’t say it with a total of about five chords for the entire song.  Snooze.  And I’m sorry but just because The Industry gave that throaty screaming of RJA its own genre name, Screamo, doesn’t mean I’m going to like it any better.   Screaming does not equal intensity.  

I’d prefer to introduce you to something you might not have ever heard before.  Something sincere.  Something with a message.  Something innovative.  Something with a pulse.  

Something like Tiger Lou.  Tiger Lou is essentially the work of Rasmus Kellerman from Stockholm, Sweden.  Kellerman wants his music to “hit them in the guts, but make them wanna dance at the same time” (http://www.myspace.com/tigerlou).  He released his third album The Loyal February 19th.  It grooves a little like Coldplay; with Kellerman’s smooth vocals and guitar carrying most of the weight.  Tiger Lou, though, adds a rich, layer cake of bass and percussion to the folk rock sound.  The title track, “The Loyal,” questions the blind faith of soldiers facing deployment.  In “Functions” and “Nixon” Kellerman layers his vocals over themselves – a difficult trick to accomplish successfully.  It fills out the songs, giving them depth of sound.  Unfortunately the lyrics of “Nixon” are a bit trite.  The second verse starts off with “I say twice I say thrice I say four times.”  Yup.  I say I heard you the first time.  I’ve also heard the opening riff to “Functions” before.    The deep piano tumbling behind bluesy vocals in “Warmth” gives it an almost eerie feel, which is reinforced at the end by the same run tinkled at the higher end of the keyboard.  Overall, Tiger Lou manages to produce something unique and meaningful with a conceptual texture. 

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