Nimboe - Last Ones

Nimboe

Last Ones
self-released; 2015

3.0 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Any time before the turn of the century trying to record yourself was a pain in the ass and usually a joke. The portastudio in the ‘90s was usually awful and if you had a laptop back then it most likely couldn’t handle more than a couple of tracks and would usually freeze. Before then people recorded to tape and unless you really knew what you were doing the sound was nothing you were going to brag about. 

These days all you need is a run of the mill laptop, an audio interface and a DAW. Even for those bands on the most modest of budgets this is usually feasible. Subsequently bands are recording themselves more and more in just their practicing studios. The recordings are pretty much rubbish but still can give a good idea of what the band sounds like live. 

This preamble leads me to Last Ones by Nimboe. The two members Alec Perrone (drums/co- producer) and Chris Reynoso (guitar/keyboards/vocals/co-producer) did the best they could with the gear and budget they had. I have to respect that. You have to start somewhere. That being said Last Ones sound like a live demo of a practice session. There is just no denying that.

The band plays a mix of lounging around the beach Ben Harper style funk, alternative, jazz and even hip-hop. At this point it seems obvious the band is still searching for their sound. They jump to a different style on every song creating no sense of cohesiveness. 

They open with “All Trouble” which is more or less a combination of Sublime and Ben Harper. The song is well written but whoever is singing is going to have to work on pronouncing their words. I could barely make out a word and while a lot of this you can blame of the recording quality it can also be attributed to his delivery. “Where Are You?” is a very standard, mainstream sounding pop song. Take Hootie and the Blowfish and give them a bit more flair and that's what “Where Are You?” sounds similar to.

Out of left field comes “Too Late” which is by far the best song of the five. The song features slick guitar playing and also the best vocal performances. If they can save up their money to get in a professional studio they should record this track. Between the piano and the Spanish singing the song sounds like a completely different band. The band concludes with “Go For It (Feat. Cente)” which is sort of hip-hop. The disparity between this and the other tracks is baffling. 

I would never have guessed Last Ones was from one group if it wasn’t labeled. Last Ones plays like a compilation album. More than anything Nimboe need to start figuring out what type of music they are going to play. At this point the band is flirting with many different styles instead of focusing on one.

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