July 5th: Great review in MusicMaker!
Dutch musicians magazine Music
Maker wrote an excellent review on Kharma Baby. Our latest album is
highlighted in the review page:
SUPERFLOOR
Kharma Baby
Although the Arnhem based Superfloor of female vocalist Floor Kraaijvanger
has already been around for several years, this is their first full length
CD. Where at previous demos the basis is a little more bluesy, this CD
is a bit rougher. In fact it’s blistering rock with a soul feel.
And al in a very pleasant form! Bass player Rob van den Broek and guitar
player Frank van der Wiel played in Bittermoon prior to this band. Master
drummer Thomas Calis (perhaps one of the best drummers of our country!)
has a past in Wildebeest, a super band that perished untimely. Bring
those peple together, give them a little time and something very beautiful
originates! Kharma Baby is a CD filled with passion, flashy guitar parts,
beautiful harmonies and a smashing foundation. To me a complete surprise,
but I like to be surprised in this way! Superfloor rocks, grooves and
swings away lustily. Lead singer Floor throws all her belongins into
the fray like never before.
Demerit? Now and then the production is a bit too decent. As far as I’m
concerned it could've gone more loose, like it does in Lose My Cool and
Miss You.
However this is an excellent CD. Gimme more!
Marco Miedema, Music Maker
June 10: The Germans love Superfloor...
We'd almost consider moving to Gemany with all these awesome reviews
:-)
Here's another one:
www.rocktimes.de/gesamt/s/superfloor/kharma_baby.html
June 1st: Another great review!
This time it's LiveXS that
praises Kharma Baby:
SUPERFLOOR
Kharma Baby
Superfloor makes psychedelic Bluesrock, with a big fat wink to seventies
hard rock including the powerful, sometimes raw, sometimes gentle voice
of leadsinger Floor Kraayvanger. The musicians master their instrument
more than adequate and compositionally they know the ropes. Everything
sounds very tight and well-considered. The production is honest, but
also a bit basic, with very few overdubs. Luckily this doesn't affect
the sound at all, but a little more layered and fat production would
probably lift a song such as the strong Kharma Baby to an even higher
level. And although the CD tends to retreat into the background after
a while, Superfloor will most certainly be a smashing live act.
- unaccustomed sound balance
+ the whole product
(LHD, LiveXS, juni2008)
May 24th: Stunning review at Home of Rock
The most consulted German
rock e-zine Home of Rock wrote a stunning review on Kharma Baby. Go
check it out here:
http://www.home-of-rock.de/CD-Reviews2/Superfloor/Kharma_Baby.html
If your German is a little
rusty we tried to translate it in English the best we could:
Ah, Rockpalast again? Ladies en Gentlemen from Funk Rock Arnhem (well
okay, Georgia sounds somewhat... more glamorous): Floor Kraaijvanger & SUPERFLOOR!
No discussion please now, this Florence Kraaijvanger is the first and
biggest hope for the Funk-Rock-Throne, nevertheless she's remarkably
blonde. From now on we'll call her Baby Floor.
"Kharma Baby" is the first real album of this Dutch band SUPERFLOOR,
that doesn't glorify the first name of the singer for nothing. In fact,
it's been ages since there's been such a drastically rocking album from
the Funk, Soul, Hard Rock department, let alone with such a woman at
the microphone. The three men around this Goddess can do what they want,
even sometimes sound after the BLACK CROWES and relatives or a good half
dozen of heroes from the Seventies ( the bass line in Been Down however
is incredibly THIN LIZZY-sounding), in the end there's little more than
this fantastic voice left.
Hopefully none of the gentlemen has an oversized ego. That would be fatal,
because in the end each instrumentalist MUST subordinate himself to such
a singing talent, no matter what he could or would. On "Kharma
Baby" the
devotion of the men works, even a class singer such as Rob Lamothe doesn't
stand out, much less in a negative way.
Above it says: "...in the end there's little more than this fantastic
voice left." That is the only - completely subjective - point of
criticism at "Kharma Baby", and it cannot be justified really,
realistically. The band rocks, Floor drives it to final extasy with her
incredible voice, meanwhile there's wonderful Hammonds, guitarist Frank
van der Wiel lets it wail/rip/slide exactky in the right places, the
production is more than pleasant for today's standards, nevertheless
one has the impression also after the umpteenth run that is a solo artist
at work here. Honestly!, that is unfounded, SUPERFLOOR is a band and
they perform that way, but the voice is supreme. What a luxury problem.
Bass player Rob van den Broek can whirl up low tone mud in the opening
track No Good For Me any way he wants, the Leslie horn in the title track
can rotate till it turns black, the spectacular accents are set by Baby
Floor.
Not until the ballad So Cold you notice the band, although that is horribly
unfair, because the guys not only give it their everything, they're also
good.
Such a disproportion between actual condition and perception is rare,
possibly BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY were the last "victim" of
this type, although they could not withstand their boss actually.
As said, one cannot practice genuine criticism at "Kharma Baby",
at the most remark that not all 11 titles burst with tension, perhaps
slight boredom creeps up twice, otherwise one gets offered first class
Soul and Classic Rock. At the guitar Van der Wiel alternates time and
again between SRV-like tones and butt-kicking Hard Rock, Van den Broek
doesn't just play along with his bass, he also gladly leads the way,
and when Floor sings I Wanna Rock With You one falls on one's knees anyway.
Word goes that Tina Turner wants to tour again. Perhaps someone can send
her this CD to the elderly home, so she knows that it is no longer necessary
- the granddaughter completes the job much better than grandma.
P.S. There's also a ballad of the year. Although you shouldn't have
pangs of love when Miss You is delivered. Then the mood
changes from dreamy beautiful into heartbreaking.
Fred Schmidtlein. Home Of Rock. May 20, 2008
April 27th: Kharma Baby on iTunes!
Yeeehaa! The new album Kharma Baby is also available on iTunes! Get
your iPod loaded with some Superfloor :-)
April 25th: Kharma
Baby available at www.justforkicksmusic.de
We're proud to announce that our new album Kharma Baby is also available
at one of Europe's largest online record stores: www.justforkicksmusic.de
check this link
April 24th: New Review in Aardschok Magazine!
SUPERFLOOR
Kharma Baby
www.superfloor.net
Stan Novak
I've always considered Superfloor
a fine band, and with this album too there's nothing wrong. The band
still operates within the familiar musical
pattern and therefore doesn't open any new doors, but the professional
execution has to be accepted lock, stock and barrel. Again Floor Kraayvanger
leaves a distinct mark on the whole with her soulful vocals and also
the rest of the band cuts a tasteful figure. "Kharma Baby" is
filled with extremely solid heavy rock seasoned with blues- and soul
influences. There's no real peaks on it; or maybe it's the Oriental-ish
title track or the tasteful "You're So Cold" that features
former Riverdogs frontman Rob Lamothe singing along. However, you won't
find any bad songs on this extremely solid rock album.
April 3rd: Kharma Baby available at cdbaby.com
You can
buy your copy of Kharma Baby at cdbaby.com/cd/superfloor
For
only $16
Available worldwide now!!
March 26:
cool support gig!
We're invited to do a support
gig for Mother's Finest.
At De Lantaarn in Hellendoorn. At April 19th.
That is gonna be one cool
evening!
March 13: The first review came in today!
RETROROCK/BLUES/SOUL
SUPERFLOOR
KHARMA BABY
A few years ago Superfloor had the honour to open Arrow Classic Rock
on the very same stage where later that day archetypical rock representants
like Deep Purple and Thin Lizzy would perform. An ambiance where the
quartet, that was founded in 1997, felt right at home. Once started as
a blues cover band the quartet has developed into a rock group that should
be reckoned with. Hard rockin' blues for the soul is what they call it
themselves. Not a word of Chinese in there, Kharma Baby to bear witness.
In two songs the band is assisted by Rob Lamothe, ex-frontman of The
Riverdogs. Mellotones' Mike Donkers provided the affair with a steady
production. Across a solid paved foundation, laid down by rhythm tandem
Thomas Calis and Rob van den Broek, guitarist Frank van der Wiel collects
appealing power riffs en well oiled solos by the dozen. Black Crowes
and Led Zeppelin spring to mind at first ear, but just as well influences
of -let's say- Ginger Baker's Airforce and Stone The Crowes throw their
weight about. Because of the heavy groove and the rough sanded voice
of front woman Floor Kraaijvanger the trash soul of Now Time Delegation
is never far away. And let's be honest; her soulful strut is -without
any doubt- the highest trump of this highly inflammable quartet. High
time for a reprise at Arrow Classic Rock.
MARCEL HAERKENS. Oor Magazine nr. 03 April 2008.
February 15: Radio Blues Rock Nestor Gerry Jungen wrote:
Kharma Baby Superfloor
I first met Superfloor a couple of years ago when I was the music director at
the only true Rock radio station in Holland: Arrow Classic Rock. We organized
what you could call: Idols avant la lettre. We were in search of a new talented
Dutch Rock band to open on the big Arrow Rock Festival that year.
I went through a million demo tapes, some of them were really crap and some of
them were a real labour of love. There was one CD that stood out for me. The
singer was an odd mixture between, blues vet. Tineke Schoenmaker,
Jan James, Bonnie Tyler and Elkie Brooks. In my book that means: the dame really
can sing!! To cut a long story short. Superfloor won the contest, they opened
on the festival and got a shitty record deal.
A few moments of glory and succes and after that, it was back to obscurity for
this hard working outfit. Obscurity?...No, not really, they went on the road
and gained a healthy reputation as a live band and a growing fan base. In 2007
they decided to take the big leap and went into the studio to record a
complete album. They asked Dutch Blues nestor Mike Donkers to help them produce
it. Mike Donkers is the leader of Mike and The Mellotones and has helped countless
bands and singers to improve their sounds and performance.
A Donkers production you can recognize by the first notes, it’s a live
studio sound, with the rawness of a roadhouse gig and yet the finesse of a
studio freak!
Last week I got the album on my desk and was pleasantly suprised. The outfit
sounds tighter than ever before, the guitar is constantly grabbing you by the
short and curly’s. Floor Kraaijvanger
is always on top with her powerful and soulful voice, although Donkers makes
her work for it! Guitarplayer Frank van der Wiel is a guy who loves the early
seventies riff based Blues Rock from bands as Led Zeppelin. But his true inspiration
lies decades after that with band called Cry of love, lead by ex Black Crowes
guitarplayer Audley Freed. COL only made two albums and actually they were albums
made for musicians, the sophisticated
riffs and beautiful dynamics from Freed can be heard on the new Superfloor album.
It’s not a rip-off, no it’s Franks own interpretation and craftsmanship
that makes it work. Supported by an excellent Rhythm section he can dazzle
you with catchy riffs and hooks.
Bassplayer Rob van den Broek is steady as the new John Paul Jones. That means:
he’s really there! playing more than just notes.
Thomas Calis has done a fine job on his drumkit, thundering away when he gets
the opportunity, but soft and solid when the song is asking for it. That is
a rare quality in a drummer and it’s usely only found with the guys who
see their drumkit as a real musical instrument.
Long time friend of the band Rob Lamothe joins the band in a couple of songs
on Kharma Baby.
Kharma Baby deserves your attention, it deserves more than just Internet sales.
It’s an album that you will play over and over again. It’s a good
companion in your car. It’s actually a statement. It tells the world
that with persistence, love of music and stamina you can go far. Superfloor
is one
of the best Dutch live bands in their field. Finally they got an album out
to prove it!!
Gerry Jungen |