Album Notes

ASK is Angel S. Krasnegor. ASK is adept at guitar, bass, keyboards, mandolin, harmonica, trumpet and shiny red bongos. ASK took up piano at age 9 & guitar at 12, about the same time she started writing her own songs. Her new album, entitled simply “A.S.K.” is her 5th self-produced record. Influenced heavily by Bob Dylan, Syd Barrett & Robyn Hitchcock, ASK’s songs feature a wry wit and quirkiness that are her hallmarks. You won’t hear any overwrought ballads here, as ASK has instead been known to write songs songs about frogs, chocolate, crappy drivers, fish & of course, dysfunctional relationships. Her music can rock one moment then the next, be as warm & inviting as a cup of cocoa on a chilly day. www.asktunes.com
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A.S.K. Review
by Nathan Ganley on 09.21.2006
Originally published: http://www.411mania.com/music/album_reviews/45383/A.S.K.---A.S.K.-Review.htm

What do you get when you cross Johnny Cash with Divinyls?

I'll be honest and say I don't like a lot of female vocals, not for a bad reason, I'm all for female vocalists and female bands and such, my ears just don't take a liking to some female vocals. Lucky for A.S.K. I like Christina Amphlett, and A.S.K. just happens to sound a lot like her. It's really uncanny, I'm not sure if A.S.K. is inspired by Divinlys(and no, there's not meant to be a "the" in front) but her voice sure has some similarities to Miss Amphlett.

A.S.K. writes, performs and produces all her songs, and you can really feel that there's a lot of effort put into every song. You can sense that she has a love for song making, every aspect of it, and it shines through on this album. This is something I can relate to, playing solo, and recording songs and editing them myself. The most prominent instrument used on the album is her acoustic guitar. She's a great guitarist, and the music itself has a nice solemn feel to it, and it really reminds me of the later works of Johnny Cash.

The songs have a great country experimental feel to them, especially with the use of a keyboard/organ and an echo harp, there really is a great atmospheric feel to the songs. The lyrics themselves are stripped down to very core, and are honest lyrics that reflect things that have happened in her life. There are funny moments on the album too, but most of the album is a serious look into bleak goings-on in A.S.K.'s past. The recording and production of the album is a good fit for the music, it's not cleanly polished and I like it that way because A.S.K. just lets her voice do the work.

My only complaint here would be the lack of songs. This seems to be a running trend with albums I'm reviewing lately, the album is really not long enough. It feels like half an album, and the final song doesn't fade out but ends abruptly. If this album was longer then it'd be near perfect, but sadly it isn't. I can understand the argument that quality is better than quantity, but I'm sure A.S.K. has enough songs in her head that she could have put on this album that would be equally good as the other songs.


The 411: Short albums are one of my big peeves, and this one is really short. The music is great however, and if you can appreciate some good music that's familiar, but also throws some different things at you along the way, then get this album.
Final Score: 9.0 [ Amazing ] legend