Chute's Great Debut Album

Bruce Von Stiers

I got an email a few months ago from Ben Bargman. He is the frontman for a Washington , D.C. area alt rock band called Chute. He was wondering if I'd be interested in listening to, and possibly reviewing, an album that the band had recorded. I let him know that I would be interested but it'd be a while due to other commitments I'd made.

Well, I finally got a chance to listen to the album. And I'm sorry I didn't get to it earlier. The album is a tremendous mix of different elements; alt rock and classic rock with a hint or two of grunge and punk. The album is titled Crooked Doses of Happiness.

The members of Chute are Ben Bargman, Konstatin Grodsky, Javier Landa and Alex Vakhlis. Ben does the vocals and plays guitar. Konstantin is on guitar. Javier is the bass player and Alex is the drummer.

As happens a lot, most of the guys knew each other from other bands before joining up. Ben and Alex had played together in a regional band called Scarlit. They knew Konstantin from his days with bands like Force Major. And Javier had played in a Peruvian band called Diazepunk.

The album was produced by BJ Kerwin. Not only does BJ produce albums, he is also the drummer for one of my favorite rock bands, the Niki Barr Band.

Kicking things off to a great start is the song Venom. The vocals by Ben are really good and the music has killer guitar. The drumming isn't half bad either.

Roll The Dice has a more of a light rock touch. It has a great guitar bridge that is reminiscent of ‘70's styled ballad rock. The band did a pretty cool music video for this song.

So You've Heard begins with some great acoustic guitar and aching vocals. It is a terrific love lament ballad.

In A Fix is a tough anthem with a lot of different sounds melded together. Slick guitar moves the song along as Ben sings at times in an almost falsetto.

Thorn is a fast and furious paced tune. At least you'd think so from the intro. But after the intro, the song slows down a bit. The main verses are moderately paced and the chorus ramps it up again. This is another love lament tune. The vocals are great and the music even better.

Another really good ballad is This Ain't a Science. It has solid vocals that might remind you of a couple of different artists from different eras in rock history.

Lone Star has a solid drum background. There is some too cool guitar work in the middle of the song.

Brace Yourself is a soft ballad with sometimes aching seeming vocals.

Keep It Together begins fast and then slows down a bit. It has a head bopping, Billy Idol kind of sound at times, at others a moderate rock anthem tone.

Then there is the song Hanging Around. It has an almost classic rock anthem sound.

Killer rock anthem music backs somewhat aching vocals in the song Filter.

Head shaking music with tough guitar gives a decent backdrop for great vocals in Running In Circles.

Cure is a song that has fantastic rock ballad guitar. This ballad is probably my favorite on the album.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I'm sorry I didn't get to this album earlier. It is a fantastic album with several styles thrown together. The guitar and drum music on the songs are terrific and Ben does extremely well with the vocals.

So, if you like great rock music and are looking for a new band to listen to, check out Chute and their debut album, Crooked Doses of Happiness.

The album is on iTunes and can be found at amazon.com, CD Baby and other online venues.

To find out more about Chute and their debut album, you can visit their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/chutemusic

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© 2012 Bruce E Von Stiers