Sinomatic

Sinomatic: Ken Cooper (vocals, guitar); Rick Deak, Bryan Patrick (guitar, background vocals); Dave Markasky (bass); Matt Lawrence (drums).
Additional personnel includes: David Campbell (arranger, strings); Eric Valentine (keyboards, percussion, background vocals); Mike Busbee (keyboards); Josh Freese (drums).
Reocrded at Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, California.
Personnel: Ken Cooper (vocals, guitar, cello); Bryan Patrick (guitar); Eric Valentine (keyboards, percussion, background vocals); Mike Busbee (keyboards).
Audio Mixer: Eric Valentine .
Recording information: Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, CA; Sound Images Studios, Van Nuys, CA.
Photographer: Roy Zipstein.
Born and bred in the Midwest and corn-fed a diet of hard rock and powerhouse pop, Sinomatic are all about influences and familiar sounds -- astute listeners will pick up pieces of both U2 and INXS (look for a bit of Michael Hutchence resemblance on the jacket pictures) on this debut set, with a little bit of R.E.M. thrown in for good measure. They're a slick lot, and doubtless will manage to heave a couple of tracks onto movie soundtrack albums along the line, but the exercise ultimately has an empty quality to it -- this set of sounds and musical notions has been heard too many times before. Influences and familiar sounds tend not to create something that sticks in the cultural memory. ~ Steven McDonald