This is a review of "Untitled" recorded by Mickey Charbagz. The review was written by Danny Martin in 2006.
Irish Ratbag Mickey Charbagaz resides round these parts, he touts his wares on myspace, has lots of cuties leave messages of love and adoration and he looks rock and roll... well in sort of a dishevelled skinny David Badiel sort of way. So he should be bloody good, shouldn’t he?
The man can sing, although his dirt filled larynx reflects more Texan basement bar than it does Leeds or Belfast taproom. Bitter, open wound lyrics grind through a musical bed laden with folky acoustic riffs. Some striking backing vocals on opener “Night of the worm” add to a pallet which can do no wrong, really.
I spent most of my time listening to this CD in the car. I told the missus “Shut up a sec, I have to review this and your constant twittering puts me off delving deep, getting involved in the music” (Or words to that effect) Halfway through 2nd track “Karen Karpenter” though I was back talking away. And that’s my problem here, and one which reflects the rating you see at the top and not the talent of the lad. All three of these tracks are stale and boring, and moreover instantly forgettable.
There are 6 gazillion (approx) Mickey Charbagz touting their wares at the moment, they all have a decent dose of trendies and arty likes who would gladly grovel over hot coals to listen to their music, and they would all sound flippin' fantastic on a random Sunday afternoon down at Dr Woo’s. But it's just musac to me. It doesn’t excite any passion in my bones and it sure as hell isn’t original. Christ it doesn’t even stir up much of a giddiness from me on a cold, piss wet through driver home from another day in the rat race.
I respect Charbagz and his like, for they do write beautifully simple tunes, which thanks to t’internet can be fawned over by the trendies. This CD just didn’t do anything more for me though, so I will get my coat.