Arrows Made of Desire
Indie
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"CHINA tour November '08"
Beijng,
China
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11/16/2008
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| Member Since | 5/30/2006 | | Band Website | tagteamrecords.com | | Band Members | Da Zi, Da Yang & Joewi | | Sounds Like | Songs That Sell Fish Reviews:
Time Out, May 2006
Arrows Made of Desire equals half-Dutch, half-Chinese Joewi Verhoeven, a one-man, multi-idea indie kid. All instruments for this impressive debut were recorded on a simple 8-track, adding to the DYI, unpredictable nature of the music, with subtle production complementing stron songwriting. Even Verhoeven's electric drums are tolerably unobtrusive, with the possible exception of 'The Logic of Smokin' Cigarettes' and a definate case of 'Consider it Done'. Accessible, melodic, experimental, diverse; check, check, check, check, yet the real selling point is that it's not obvious to which records Verhoeven has been listening...and that certainly can't be said about many other acts in Beijing.
Paul Kendall
That's Beijing, July 2006
With a name taken from a line in Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile", Arrows Made of Desire is 19-year-old Dutch expat Joewi Verhoeven's one-boy band. The singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist has released his first full-length album, which was recorded entirely on his Boss eight-track recorder - this may only have been bettered by DJ Shadow, who recorded his first album on a Tascam four-track cassette recorder. Verhoeven's lo-fi sound - stock drum machine sounds, low-end effects processors on the guitag and vocals - would normally induce goosebumps crawling all up and down the neck but one gets over it when the crappy sounding drum breaks roll into hook after pop hook, as on the pening track "Truism". What is most impressive about tracks such as "King of Lonedom" and "Consider it Done" is that the tempo accentuates the melodies perfectly - pop alchemy in its natural state and sweet as can be. Verhoeven cites Nirvana, Sonic Youth and Polvo as inspiration (the latter's trademark fuzz-jangled guitar chops can be heard on "The Logic of Smokin' Cigarettes"). We would add K Records-era Beck (the boyish vocals and sadonic lyrics) and Ween (the drum machine, lo-fi production calues and genre fun-poking lke on "The Wall") to the list. Not bad for a 19-year-old kid.
Leon Lee
Onlinerock, May 2008
One-man band, Joewi Verhoeven has produced a startlingly energetic, if sometimes unbalanced, debut as Arrows Made of Desire. Songs That Sell Fish, splinters into a hundred directions as this Netherlands-raised, current Beijing Film Academy undergrad fuses Sonic Youth-inspired cerebral guitar work, spindly, reverbed vocals and schizo percussion into home-recorded rock opuses.
Verhoeven’s delightfully off-kilter English is immediately disarming, swarming with self assured bombast while spouting stream-of-consciousness, neo-poetic narratives about druggy nights out and busted romances. “The Logic of Smokin’ Cigarettes” finds him playfully adapting cool-dude, Amerindie speak in a skewering of high school melodrama that morphs into a kaleidoscopic funk-rock mind trip Fishbone could be proud to play. Arrows Made of Desire hits its highest potential on a handful of cathartic head-bangers, most noticeably on the mosh pit pop-rocker, “Sober Monk” and acidic slow-burn opener, “Truism” with its Bob Mould-style guitar arabesques and intertwining vocal harmonies. Closing track, “Souvenirs From Another Planet” provides a nicely crafted counterpoint to all the hard-rock fuzz.
On the less stable second side of Songs That Sell Fish, Verhoeven proves himself bold enough to make the right kind of mistakes: erring on the side of experimentation and tricky doses of forward-think on the clunky jazz-centric spazz-out “The Walk” and the softly sweeping eccentricities of easy-listening-cum-avant-indie smackdown, “It’s the Sweet Taste of Rejection.”
With Songs That Sell Fish Verhoeven proves himself to be a self-reliant voice to watch.
Favorite Track: “Truism”
Christopher j Ewing | | Record Label | Tag Team Records | | Type of Label | Indie |
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About Songs That Sell Out:
Less than a year after the release of their critically acclaimed debut album, Songs That Sell Fish, Arrows Made of Desire have positioned themselves as one of the more highly regarded bands in Beijing with a live show that consistently turns heads, blows minds and, ahem, eardrums. With a sound that can only be described as pure, unadulterated independent rock and influences that no one seems to be able to put their finger on, Joewi Verhoeven and Co. have recently finished recording their second long player, Songs That Sell Out at Sweet Factory Studios in the heart of Beijing's Chaoyang District. Legendary BBC dj/ On The Wire guru, Steve Barker, was on hand to co-produce this 12 song effort and Tag Team Records are tentatively set to release the result of said sessions upon the Chinese masses in Spring ’09. If Songs That Sell Fish was the genius chronicle of lo-fi bedroom recording that press described it to be, then Songs That Sell Out can only be pitched as an album which sees an already talented band graduate to a more, erm…’mid-fi’ sound (look Ma, I think I just made up a whole musical genre) thanks to excellent production on behalf of Mr. Barker/ Verhoeven and a whole mess of analogue equipment that would make even the geekiest audiophile mess their pants. Yuck! Look for Arrows Made of Desire to tour China extensively in support of the record’s release and prepare yourself for a life changing, sonic conversion at the hands of a 21 year old kid from rural Holland with a penchant for odd chord structures, out of print blues/ jazz records and a completely fresh take on what modern indie rock in The People’s Republic of China can aspire to embody!
About Songs That Sell Fish:
A debut album hailing from the heart and bedroom of 19 year old Joewi
Verhoeven, Songs That Sell Fish hits us with 10 shots of lo-fi melodicism truer and rawer than anything heard in quite some time. A Dutchman studying film in Beijing, Verhoeven self-recorded this collection of songs before even assembling a band. The album manages to be wildly eclectic, veering from the lo-fi folk of "Lady Nutshell" to the gritty indie rock of "Truism" and all points in between, whilst at the same time being undeniably consistent. Verhoeven wails, croons and shouts like a young man with something to say - about passion, pain, joy, or even cigarettes. Whilst Verhoevens music is absolutely lo-fi indie rock, it is also laced with an underlying pop sensibility and a sense of musical history - blues and jazz motifs are conspicuous in their presence.
Distinctly different from other indie solo artists, both melodic and noisy, soft and edgy, sweeping yet focused, Verhoeven and Arrows Made of Desire strike with considerable force, subverting rock clichés to write astonishing and original music. Songs That Sell Fish may well be the start of something beautiful for indie-rock.
Purchase Songs That Sell Fish directly from Tag Team Records and get a bunch of free stuff along with your order!!! Songs That Sell Fish also currently available at fine record shops throughout The People's Republic of China.
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