michael carpenter, rolling ball. review by alan haber. buhdge

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Rolling Ball Michael Carpenter Not Lame (2004) Five years after exploding onto the melodic pop scene with the miraculous album Baby--creating his own scene, actually--Michael Carpenter has released the latest in his growing line of spectacularly accomplished recordings. Rolling Ball is everything its five predecessors were, and then some. With each successive album, Carpenter finds new ways to both refine and expand on his unique pop sensibilities. Working principally here with drummer Nando Pettinato, Carpenter delivers 11 powerfully melodic treatises on the wide swath of human emotion, set against a distillation of pop conventions and sounds drawn from decades of what has come before and synthesized into a wholly wonderful pop melange, delivered with love and care. The entire album is a collective highlight, but here are some particulars. The title track smacks your ears like a blazing train at peak speed, a pop-infused, rhythmic trip sweetened by wonderful, high harmony and background vocals from Kate Duncan and Zac Anthony. A heightened pace, aggressively laid out, takes hold in the exciting "No One," one of only four tracks on which the multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist Carpenter plays drums (no offense to Pettinato; he's one hell of a powerhouse himself, but the image of Carpenter completely consuming the drums at Fitzgerald's Irish Pub in Huntington Beach, California during an International Pop Overthrow show in 1998--well before Baby came out--is indelibly etched in my mind; Carpenter is one of pop's top drummers). "No One" is bulging with pop muscle, and is one of Carpenter's best upbeat tracks. A bit of a departure for the Aussie wonder, the slow, dreamy "Let Down" bristles with sixties feel, thanks to a lovely Mellotron string part. A whole lot of emotion is invested in the vocal for "The Ache"; Carpenter climbs deep inside and sings from the heart. The loving sentiments of "You & Me" are true and sail toward you on clouds of joy, thanks to the folky arrangement and Suzy Connolly and Matt Fell's sweet backing vocals. All hail the unlisted bonus track, a song about hopefulness driven along by a catchy acoustic guitar/mandolin double strum. And while we're at it, all hail Rolling Ball. Its performer, now a seasoned veteran, is only getting better. His talent knows no bounds. This is one of the year's best, and is recommended without reservation. Alan Haber October 26, 2004
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Rolling Ball
Michael Carpenter
Not Lame (2004)

Michael Carpenter's Rolling Ball Five years after exploding onto the melodic pop scene with the miraculous album Baby--creating his own scene, actually--Michael Carpenter has released the latest in his growing line of spectacularly accomplished recordings. Rolling Ball is everything its five predecessors were, and then some.

With each successive album, Carpenter finds new ways to both refine and expand on his unique pop sensibilities. Working principally here with drummer Nando Pettinato, Carpenter delivers 11 powerfully melodic treatises on the wide swath of human emotion, set against a distillation of pop conventions and sounds drawn from decades of what has come before and synthesized into a wholly wonderful pop melange, delivered with love and care.

The entire album is a collective highlight, but here are some particulars. The title track smacks your ears like a blazing train at peak speed, a pop-infused, rhythmic trip sweetened by wonderful, high harmony and background vocals from Kate Duncan and Zac Anthony. A heightened pace, aggressively laid out, takes hold in the exciting "No One," one of only four tracks on which the multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist Carpenter plays drums (no offense to Pettinato; he's one hell of a powerhouse himself, but the image of Carpenter completely consuming the drums at Fitzgerald's Irish Pub in Huntington Beach, California during an International Pop Overthrow show in 1998--well before Baby came out--is indelibly etched in my mind; Carpenter is one of pop's top drummers). "No One" is bulging with pop muscle, and is one of Carpenter's best upbeat tracks.

A bit of a departure for the Aussie wonder, the slow, dreamy "Let Down" bristles with sixties feel, thanks to a lovely Mellotron string part. A whole lot of emotion is invested in the vocal for "The Ache"; Carpenter climbs deep inside and sings from the heart. The loving sentiments of "You & Me" are true and sail toward you on clouds of joy, thanks to the folky arrangement and Suzy Connolly and Matt Fell's sweet backing vocals.

All hail the unlisted bonus track, a song about hopefulness driven along by a catchy acoustic guitar/mandolin double strum. And while we're at it, all hail Rolling Ball. Its performer, now a seasoned veteran, is only getting better. His talent knows no bounds. This is one of the year's best, and is recommended without reservation.

Alan Haber
October 26, 2004