REVIEWS FOR SPOTTISWOODE & MCMAHON'S S&M
Performing Songwriter, Mare Wakefield (December 2007 issue)
"THE BEST DIY ALBUM OF 2007!!!"
Aiding & Abetting, Jon Worley
“A truly great album. There is an emotional depth past mere melancholy, and the music is sparsely sumptuous. One of the finest albums of any year ”
San Francisco Beyond Chron, E. Doc Smith
“Spottiswoode and McMahon’s chemistry is undeniable here, and their partnership must be considered one of the truly great ones to come along in some time.”
Performing Songwriter - DIY Top 12 Reviews, Mare Wakefield (Jan 2007)
“Deliciously wacky vignettes!”
KMTT Seattle The Mountain, Drew Dundon
“Purely brilliant.”
CD Baby, Tamara Turner (staff reviewer)
“There is something fully numbing and stunning about Spottiswoode & McMahon that freezes the brain much like eating ice cream too quickly. While one ponders influences such as Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen, these songs blissfully inhabit the spooky, the derelict, the tossed out and forgotten nuggets of human creativity and therefore, steer the listener towards territories that stir and titillate the underbelly of one’s mind, the deserted corners of one’s heart. Giving the impression that no genre, no style, no sound effect, no far-fetched musical idea is off limits, S&M is an album that is so easy to fall in love with that you’ll almost be grumpy about it. Brilliant..”
AdultPop.com, Larry White
“One of the more enjoyable listening experiences of this or any year. The British “S” and American “M” have created a musical melting pot. Listen and you’ll hear American jazz, blues, folk, lounge, and pop, along with French chanson, German cabaret (and ‘oompah’ music), Brazilian bossanova (or is it tropicalia?), Mexican mariachi, Russian folk, and a bunch of styles we can’t quite put our finger on. There are the Beatles, the Pink Panther, and Spike Jones. ‘S&M’ makes even the worldly and eclectic music of Manu Chao sound provincial.Incredibly, despite this cultural hodge-podge, the music sounds of one ilk. That’s because: 1) Spottiswoode’s songs sound like no other. They are wise, literate, funny, biting, graphic, romantic, eccentric, personal and universal. 2) Spottiswoode’s deep and theatrical voice, an amalgam of Leon- ard Cohen, Serge Gainsbourg, Cyril Ritchard, Rex Harrison and Anthony Newly is the ideal vehicle for this material. 3) Riley McMahon is the perfect companion. Like that sidekick in ‘The Wild, Wild West’, he is the technician, the master of disguise, in charge of setting the mood, abetting our hero and making sure he gets the girl (although, if these songs are any indication, he rarely gets her for long).”
Moors Magazine (Dutch e-zine)
S&M by Spottiswoode and McMahon is reminiscent of Gavin Friday at his very best with a touch of Tom Waits. Spottiswoode wrote the songs, sings and plays the guitar, Riley McMahon does the rest. The rest here means a lot - the always surprising percussion, the short but perfectly selected samples, the pitch-perfect mix. Think of opulent songs that get stuck in your head, think of radio-friendly arrangements, think of humor but also think of intimate music. Listen to Mummy's Got Strange Friends: Not only are those strange friends nicely characterized in a single sentence ("A senator's daughter now living abroad, she damaged her liver, still she drinks when she's bored"), but the arrangement is also somehow very funny while simultaneously creating a somewhat ominous atmosphere. Or take Cold Days of December: It immediately evokes a languid, tropical atmosphere with percussion and a muffled trumpet and it therefore follows that the singer misses the cold days of December as much as he says. In Jessica, Sit Down, the gentle refrain works perfectly against the rough fuzz guitar mixed so admirably into the background. A grown-up album full of highlights and an absolute must.
*****