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The Fea Street Hustle - EP Review - The Fea Street Hustle

23 Aug 2008 // A review by BrendaF
I was concerned when I received this 5 track EP as my only previous experience in country music was being dragged along to the Topp Twins by my Mum when I was younger. However, I discovered I’m a closet country fan.

For the most part, this EP is bright, refreshing and uplifting with toe tapping beats stringed out with captivating vocals. The transition from one track to the other was smooth and the EP as a whole flowed beautifully. Of course, what would a country album be without the whaling guitars and heartbroken cowboy ballad? Abandoned City captured this emotion beautifully.

That being said, I did have a couple of issues with the EP. I found that each song was over 5 minutes in length and for a couple of songs, this was too long. Also the production quality of the EP suffered. I’m sure that these were only teething issues and will be resolved in future albums.

Not much is known about The Fea Street Hustle and their website doesn’t help despite being well presented and laid out. I’m sure those in Dunedin and surrounding areas will be more familiar than myself with this band.

My favourite song would undoubtedly have to be South of the River. This is the strongest on the album and the guitar chords are spectacular.

If you are looking to venture into this genre then this is a good little album to start with.

3 ½ yihee haw’s from me.
 

About The Fea Street Hustle

The Fea Street Hustle finally got their EP out! Buy it and support local music!

Hustle first evolved in September 2006 when two lonely, confused,melancholic, & socially challenged wayward preacher's sons decided to deal with the apparent futility of existence in the most base and primal manner known to post-colonial western society- the embracing and expressing of one's inner turmoil through country music. Gareth Bedford and Emerson Yeoman decided to take this much loved form, which in its various manifestations had been a soundtrack to life since their earliest years in the semi-rural small-town New Zealand we all love so well, and inject it with a shot of the prevalent indy-alternative aesthetic of Dunedin City - the great bastion of New Zealand creative culture where the Hustle reside and where many great New Zealanders have cut their creative teeth.

They soon realised there was one man, and one man only, who could give this form of country song the raw on-stage energy it required. Enter long-time friend, the irrepressible 'Animal-esqe' (ala The Muppets) drummer, Matty Hegan. Matty fitted the bill perfectly not only on account of his infectious energy (not to mention his many infectious other things) but because Matty's roots were also in small town New Zealand. Once upon a time Matty even milked cows - before he discovered the Dead Kennedys, dyed and spiked his hair, got a studded belt, and several tatoos - and subsequently got 'hustled' out of the dairy shed on the end of a rusty pitchfork, yet he too had felt the call of the big city life with its creative freedoms and intellectual stimulation.

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for The Fea Street Hustle

Releases

The Fea Street Hustle
Year: 2008
Type: EP

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