Minotaur Shock - Amateur Dramatics Album Review

Read our review of Amateur Dramatics by Minotaur Shock

David Edwards (aka Minotaur Shock) has come up with a unique slant on Radiohead’s innovative ‘pay what you want’ policy. Each track from the Bristol-based musicians third album comes with a suggested retail price as set by the artist himself, with each song priced accordingly to criteria such as: technical difficulty, extra musicians, fun/replay rating etc.

With the exception of one song, Amateur Dramatics is an instrumental album consisting of playful (if not, sometimes tired) electronics. Luckily, the inclusion of saxophone, clarinet and violin bring something else to the table, and with that, the tracks become a little more interesting.

The inventive drums, sweet violins and clarinet in ‘My Burr’ and the twinkling electronics, violins and sparse, melancholic vocals in ‘This Plane Is Going To Fall’ offer notable moments on this well-crafted, if not, slightly under whelming record.

Ultimately, Amateur Dramatics would have probably fared much better had it been aimed at the gaming industry, because, if truth be told, there’s just not enough substance or character to warrant many repeated listens on a purely musical level.

Colin Burrill