Los Dominados
Basura Blanca Y Oro Negro
Australian/
You can't fool me, Helen Cattanagh. I'd recognise that voice anywhere: forceful, exuberant and always ever so slightly out of tune. But I can't for the life of me work out why the record label biography to this album wouldn't mention Cattanagh's origins as the former lead singer of Moler. I mean, it's not that embarrassing, is it? Sure, they were a little inconsistent, but the grunge-slut anthem of Shopping Trolley is still up there in my favourite moments of teenage anxiety, and who could forget the sublimely simple Infatuation ("I know what I want but I don't know how to get it..." Remember the Brashs ad? Actually, remember Brashs?) That's all in the past now, of course, but her new band, Los Dominados - Spanish for The Dominated - is a corker, taking all the Sonic Youth inspired anxieties of Moler but adding new layers of sound and all sorts of new ideas, not to mention the brilliant melodies of fellow vocalist
'Basura Blanca Y Oro Negro' - Spanish for 'White Trash And Black Gold' - is a superb album. It's not as clean and polished as Moler; there's a rawness and intensity here that was missing before. The pop sensibilities are back and this time they're unashamed - they know their place and they know to enjoy it. At around the halfway mark things start loosening up to great effect - the acoustic singalong of Capsule Therapy is an unexpected gem, and the Kinks-esque Kids In The Cubby House is sure to be a live favourite. Then Ain't No Cinderella, the almost Mediterranean closing track, comes completely out of left-field in the best way possible. It still retains Moler's trademark inconsistency, but this record will be one of the best of the year.
BAR STAFF AND BARFLIES TELL ALL:
PENNY IKINGER
Aussie guitar femme fatale
Los Dominados debut album: "Basura Blanca Y Oro Negro" (White Trash & Black Gold) Los Dominados are a Melbourne three-piece featuring the gorgeous & talented Helen Cattanach on guitar (Helen is bass guitarist for Spencer P Jones & the Escape Committee, ex Moler), Michael Alonso (guitar) and Harold Fischer (drums). Vocals are shared amongst all three. Pacey, sassy and gritty garage rock at its best. I love it.
ABC website
The Dominated
Talent: Los Dominados
Date of Review:
Aussie garage punk rock band Los Dominados have followed the tried and true traditions of their genre, and kept the sound a bit harsh, a bit atonal and a bit angry.
Hard working bassist and vocalist Helen Cattanach (Moler, The T Bones, The Escape Committee) has teamed with sometime producer
The Dominated (basura blanca y oro negro - white trash and black gold) is street based, dirt smeared, but sometimes even a little sensitive. I liked the uke backed last track "Ain't No Cinderella."
Of course Cinderella had soot in her throat, but that track is the odd Cinders out on The Dominated. Electric guitars rule.
Pick of the CD is "Desperado" which has a touch of the plaintive in Cattanach's singing.
- Steve Bake
Los Dominados
The Public Bar, Melbourne, Feb 23 08
Posted Monday, Feb 25 2008
Los Dominados - PET HEAD
The Melbourne band, at that time a trio, had just launched its first album, Basura Blanca Y Oro Negro (Spanish for White Trash and Black Gold), after only a handful of gigs.
``It wasn't the best of timing, but Helen and I went overseas for six months after we released that record,'' Alonso says.
``We spent six months in Spain, I've got a house there in a tiny little village up in the north. Helen was doing a quick European tour with Spencer P. Jones, so we decided to stay in Spain and catch up with my family. I hadn't seen any of my extended family for probably 22 years.
``I got in touch with my roots, so to speak, and wrote a few songs for Pet Head when we were over there.''
A lack of instruments and recording equipment was only a slight hinderance.
``Helen had a bass but we didn't have any other instruments, so I had to ask a cousin, who asked around town and got us a couple of really dodgy classical guitars. We just sat there in the house, sweating and writing songs.''
A further development for the band, previously two guitarists and drummer Harold Fischer, has been the addition of bassist Marcelo Riquelme for Pet Head.
``It's given us a bit more scope to be a bit bigger and wider with our songwriting, so we could have a bass player to lock down the rhythm and let the guitars wander a bit more, to do some slightly more interesting arrangements. I originally never wanted a bass player, but got talked into it by the other guys.''
The band was formed in 2004 but the Pet Head launch will be its first Adelaide visit. The album is now available on Ejected Records.