Cassette Review: Kostis Chaveles "A Mad Tea Party" (Custom Made Music)

[$8 // http://custommademusicva.com/release/a-mad-tea-party-cassette/] 

A lot of what I hear in the sound of Kostis Chaveles sounds like Nirvana, but it doesn't all sound like Nirvana and that's the key to this one for me.   I think over time the idea of hearing Nirvana for the first time and going out to start a band that sounds exactly like that (i.e. a kid's dream to be Kurt Cobain) has sort of faded in time in that I don't hear nearly as many bands ripping off Nirvana as I once used to hear.    But it doesn't even sound like these songs were intended to sound like Nirvana but rather just have a heavy influence on them.

I'd use fractions but a lot of people are bad with math but consider it with juices.  (Yes, juices)   If you think of Nirvana as being orange juice and then another influence in these songs- let's say Neil Young- as being apple juice then when you combine them you get some sort of orange/apple juice.    On top of this though, you might have another band who sounds like they were influenced by Nirvana coming out in these songs and that could be Campground Effect.    If you think of Campground Effect as orange pineapple juice then you have to add that to your existing blend of orange/apple.

The point is that the more influences you pull from- and no matter who they are influenced by- one source will always be diluted so as to never sound completely like something such as Nirvana.    But yes, these songs do remind me a lot of Nirvana, though not in the way that I'm screaming for a lawsuit but just in the way that they are loud and rocking.   In some ways, they sound like a cross between some form of classic rock and Marcy Playground but overall they have a modern feel and, well, that's one thing Nirvana doesn't have, isn't it?   Since, you know, Nirvana hasn't had a new song in twenty some odd years.

I'm not trying to disrespect Nirvana or Kostis Chaveles I'm just trying to point out that even with the amount of songs Nirvana left behind- even if Nirvana was still making music right now- there is room enough in this world for this music because it's the type of rock I like to listen to with the windows open.   And for the record, the last song reminds me of Stone Temple Pilots, who I also love, but you don't see me making a whole big thing about that.   Just appreciate and love this one for what it is-- a truly great rock cassette.