antiMusic.com: The Saltshakers - Up All Night Review

The Saltshakers - Up All Night Review
by J Simpson

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In 2004 a group from Milwaukee Wisconsin released an E.P. of 5 tunes titled Beautiful Mess. Although the EP did OK (at best) it wasn't until the lead track "Amplified" turned into a hit that people took notice of this power/pop garage band named The Saltshakers. The group is made up of 4 members Chad Curtis(the main man with vocals and guitar), Tim Peck(guitar,vocals) Cory Rawson(base) and Jon Strelecki(drums). In 2007 The Saltshakers have released a full length 10 song album called Up All Night which exemplifies how much they have matured and learned since that early E.P.

Up All Night is an album full of fun raw guitar hooks, catchy lyrics with almost retro sounding vocals. The songs are more refined or polished from their previous work, but not enough to affect the music. They still have the unprocessed garage band resonance that they have accepted and embraced as The Saltshakers true sound. The album starts off with a tune called Believe which brings comparisons to The Replacements and Paul Westerberg's vocals. NOLA the third song in the collection is one of those instant hits on first listen. Very radio friendly. Whiskeytown is another standout track that if you listen carefully sounds just like Jack White's singing cadence and vocal style. The entire disc is definitely worth a listen. The Saltshakers do not pretend to have a new sound or innovative style but they are very confident in the sound of their music which helps the disc flow along seamlessly and demand another spin.

CD Info and Links

The Saltshakers - Up All Night
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