Album Review:That Really Hurts EP: Big Charlie

2.5/5

By: Captain Pownzor

Staff Blogger

With vocals similar to bowie and an inventive music style similar to that of beck, Matteo De Ruggieri & Stefano Milella make up the great Italian Electro rock duo that is Big Charlie. "That Really Hurts" The 4 track EP which was released sept 2010 contains something for just about any fan of their influencing artists.

With the radio friendly “Roses” first single there's an instant crooning over tickling ivories. This is a sexy song with a catchy chorus that sounds sort of similar to Fastballs “The Way”. That would be a sure chart mover on the radio. “Roses” has sexy vocal hooks and a toe tapper of a tune. The video gets a bit on the creepy side but is worth a bit of a look if your into a whole scary kidnapper vibe.

Some of the other songs of mention on the EP is “Ants” with sort of an old Ricky Martin vibe, using an almost Latin style instruments with a Blue man group sound as well. It gets really interesting and leads to a very cool experimental sound.

The intro “Jitterbug” is a nice little introduction featuring a nice jitterbuggy tune and a rarely used soloing instrument, The kazoo.

Backseat is probably one of the weaker songs on the album, not for the feel of it which is great. There is a whole electronic daft punk sort of sampling about it, Its just the simplicity of the lyrics and the meaning of the song is a little bit lost on me. It has a good vibe but I think the majority of an English audience would hear the lyrics: “oh my god, I'm sitting in the back seat, but no one drives for me, I'm hitting all the cars around, but no one helps me.” Not a club jam thats for sure. But still some really cool stuff to do with the use of that daft punk sound on this track.

Overall the EP is a decent effort, the main single has definite potential as a hit maker the only thing really holding this band back from an English market could lie in lyrical styling and updating some of those lyrics to make for a more profound song. The instrumental work however, is very experimental and different and for that reason this album is worth a quick listen.

If you want to check out more Big Charlie look no further than their website.