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April Reviews Artist of the Month: The Decemberists As I waited for my car to get serviced and plopped down to do work, I put in the latest from this epic Portland, OR five-piece and was immediately blown away by the opener “The Infanta.” Previous encounters with the Decemberists had hardly registered a blip beyond the ordinary. But now I was fascinated with every inkling of this eleven-track opus. At first, I thought that there was something wrong with me that I would find such pleasure in such theatrics. Of course, there is something wrong with me, but this was different. The fascination led to uncountable spins of the record and a mild procrastination in actually trying to review the gorgeous Picaresque. The Decemberists formed in and around 1999, when frontman Colin Meloy headed into town from Montana to pursue a musical absorption. Having a previous familiarity with the Portland area, Meloy realized it was difficult to do music in Montana and broke up his band Tarkio to head west. After some common open-mic nights, Meloy enlisted the efforts of Jenny Conlee, Chris Funk, Nate Query and, later, Rachel Blumberg to form the Decemberists. While it is hard to escape concentrating on Meloy’s hyperliterate storytelling verses and perfectly situated vocals, it is clear from the Decemberists’ songs that Meloy relies in great detail on his band mates in creating the magic. All pieces need to be fluid in making great music and when it clicks it is wondrous. The Decemberists debut record Castaways and Cutouts came out in 2002 on the relatively small Portland label Hush Records; and was subsequently re-released in 2003 by KRS. Production thrived as the band also unleashed the EP Five Songs for Hush in 2001 and the full-length Her Majesty the Decemberists for KRS in 2003. In addition, the Decemberists released a short EP entitled The Tain for Spanish label Acuarela Discos based on an eighth century Irish poem. For Picaresque, the Decemberists reenlisted Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie to produce the record and a score of additional musicians to fill-in horns, strings and voice where needed. Weeks recording in Portland and Seattle have now paid off in droves for both the band and the listener. As mentioned, the Decemberists are noted for epic, theatrical numbers that illustrate just a ridiculous literary flair; something that is both marvelous and bewildering at the same time. Meloy generally prefers relatively obscure synonyms for basic words in his lyrics, typically suited to rhyme lines – for instance, using “Purloined in Petrograd” in “The Bagman’s Gambit.” But, it not necessarily the case that Meloy is sitting there with a thesaurus trying to be obscure and it doesn’t come off as too much. Picaresque begins on “The Infanta” with jungle moments as the song tells the tail of a child princess’s coronation with all various royals and elephants moving within the show. While a strong number with galloping beats, my preferred part of the song comes on the opening line “Here she comes in her palanquin.” Aurally, I hear this line as “Here she comes in her Colin Quinn” and laugh every time. The following number “We Both Go Down Together” is one of the musical highlights of the record, though it is about a couple committing suicide. The chorus of “And O! My Love! My Love!” is memory-burning and lyrics such as “Meet me on my vast veranda” will have you coming back for repeat listens. “Eli, the Barrow Boy” is a solemn acoustic number about a brokenhearted boy who is found downed in the river but whose ghost still walks singing about his lost love. The Decemberists pick up the tempo and pop-appeal on “The Sporting Life” as the character plays the role of injured soccer player. The song echoes a vast disappointment on several levels within a hyper-competitive world – not just sport. The seven-minute “The Bagman’s Gambit” is a slow, acoustic picking number that moves to full orchestration several minutes and continues to dip back and forth. “The Bagman’s Gambit” concerns a classic Cold War-style love affair between two spies and dazzles on the quasi-chorus “No, they’ll never catch me now.” “From My Own True Love (Lost at Sea)” is a short first step into the common Decemberists’ theme of ocean adventures; though here it is about a person asking about a lost love at sea. The Decemberists pick the tempo up again on “16 Military Wives” where they musically go for mass pop appeal along with a critique of the Iraq war. The chorus is most pointed: “And America does if America says it’s so/And the anchorperson on TV goes “la di da di da….” “The Engine Driver” revolves around four characters – an engine driver, a county lineman, a writer and a moneylender – and their quest for a love that they can’t have for whatever reason. “The Engine Driver” flows right into “On the Bus Mall,” a quite sad lyrical number about runaway prostitutes who have banded together like family. However, it is musically beautiful and is a stunning storytelling number. The most obviously epic and theatrical number follows on the nine-minute “The Mariner’s Revenge Song.” The tale, recorded live around a single microphone and punctuated by Conlee’s accordion, involves a boy – now a young man – avenging his mother’s death on the sea. It goes that this guy moved in with his widowed mother, put her in massive debt, left, their property was taken by the government and then his mother died. He finally catches up the captain when a whale demolishes both boats and they find themselves alive inside the whale. If there were ever an epic pop song, “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” is it. Picaresque ends on the glorious, mellow acoustic number “Of Angels and Angles,” which serves a sweet contrast to the frantic opener. Here, Meloy sounds much closer to mellow Weakerthans’ number than to the other ten songs on this record. There is little doubt that Picaresque is the Decemberists’ best effort to date and clearly illustrates a band progressively improving. Don’t miss the amusing stagecraft photos in the booklet accompanying several of the songs. On the unfortunate side of things, the Decemberists gear was stolen this past month in Portland while they were about to set off for tour. The spectrum of the gear is enormous and you can gain information on it, as well as provide support for the band, through this link: The Decemberists’ Fund.
Abileen One name. One name: Heidi Phillips. Phillips is what makes Abileen roll and what will take them beyond their Kansas City hideout. Phillips was previously in mid-90s Kansas City-based Frogpond that released two records during their time. Along with Marty Robertson, Danny Krause and Jeff McGinness, Phillips and Abileen excel at mild tempo alt-rock on their debut EP’s six tracks. In that respect, Abileen’s sound is similar to mid-90s college radio fair, and is actually quite refreshing to hear such loveliness today. While the instrumentation is solid, with flailing and smart guitar work, what takes Abileen over the top, and with little doubt, are Phillips’ vocals and their match up with shifting song sections. Her voice has a strained indie rock feel – almost like she lost her voice for awhile, got it back and it now sounds infinitely cooler. Obvious places of magic come on songs such as “Drive,” where Phillips shines on the chorus and pushes the band to new heights. Besides from “Drive,” notice should be given to the gorgeous “Abileen” that could be the sister to the Weakerthans – producing grinning smiles – as well as heart-stopper “Crazy and Losin’ It.” This is easily one of the best self-released records in the past few years and it would be stunning not to hear Abileen doing great things in the future. If nothing else, this is now your new favorite local band even if you don’t live in Kansas City.
Breaking Point This is simply the opening single for Breaking Point’s May release of their full-length Beautiful Disorder. What is the fair? Unfortunately, “Show Me a Sign” sounds nearly the same as many of Windup bands’ songs and it would be an impossible to pick it out of a lineup. If you enjoy post-grunge with metal-tinges rock then this is another member to feast on.
Des Ark Living in Chapel Hill, it seems the Durham-duo of Des Ark have been around and kicking for years. Well, technically they have – three years – but they have only now gotten around to releasing their debut full-length – after several singles and their Day of Prole EP. Looking to take on the world proper, Des Ark have laid out eight tracks of their guttural vocal and drum/guitar attack. That is Tim Herzog (Milemarker) bangs out the beats, while Aimee Argote (Rubeo) lays down the guitars and anguished vocals. With some parallels to Milemarker, Des Ark concentrate on often dissonant, angular, stop-start guitars and intensely luscious vocals that lazily compares to an indie-art version of PJ Harvey. Recorded with J Mascis and Zeno Gill, there is little doubt that whatever Des Ark brings to a live show was captured on tape. The records begins on the haunting acoustic-folk number “Some Are Love,” where you swear this could be one of the best things you’ve heard in awhile – and serves as a nice companion piece to I’m Wide Awake. Des Ark knocks this comparison with the following “No More Fighting Cats, OK?” where the guitars dissonantly thrust and Argote’s shout without screaming. “Queen of the Sketch Patrol” follows a similar pattern as the duo flush out the sections, while “Yes Sir, Yes Way” is starker and actually does have Argote screaming for emphasis. Des Ark back off a bit on “It’s a Hard World Sometimes For Little Things” as a strangled piano accompanies Argote’s haunting vocals. “Jesus Loves You (But Yr Still Comin Home With Me Tonight)” satisfies your guitar hook fix as the duo dirty things up with a touch of blues before a four-minute eclectic ending soaks up the gorgeous opening. After the solid “Send Jolley to Raleigh,” comes the brilliant short closer “For Bob Riecke.” Simply featuring piano, the song illustrates Argote’s vocal range and the type of materials that are fair game for Des Ark as a project. This full-length is one of the best things out of the Triangle in a good while and makes me regret taking Des Ark playing all the time in Chapel Hill for granted.
Engineers It is simple to see why we need more bands like the Engineers. Graceful and hypnotic, the Engineers hit you immediately with the magical opener “Home” that within two listens will be etched in your memory forever. Featuring four Londoners, the Engineers cross the ambient rock music world somewhere between Brian Eno and Air. As far as the latter is concerned, the Engineers certainly focus on more rock elements, but on a headphone-listen you can’t avoid vocal comparisons to Air; which for me is highly appreciated. Moreover, they engage in accompanying visuals during shows. After the opening “Home,” the Engineers just come at you on the next ten tracks with one breathtaking, whispering song after another. Highlights come from “Waved On,” “Forgiveness,” “Said and Done,” the closer “One in Seven” and “Thrasher.” Based on this self-titled record, it seems like only a matter of time before the Engineers become the next big thing. While they don’t possess the same strident pop harmonies and melodies that Air radiates, you surely will be aurally pleasured indeed.
Every New Day As Winnipeg, Canada grows and grows their vast cadre of bands, Every New Day adds more meat to the bone on their debut for Hand of Hope The Shadows Cast. Every New Day seems to be working at cross-purposes at times on the record’s twelve songs. Musically, band members Murray Campbell, Scott Campbell and Matt Colonval rip through numbers with the technical skill of metalcore bands. But Campbell’s vocals are on target with old school hardcore and punk and the use of gang vocals only enhances this. This tends to present a product that tries but doesn’t succeed at what could be excellent. This is immediately illustrated on the opening numbers “Break the Mold” and “Out Hearts Bleed.” When Every New Day turns down the metal in the instruments and plays closer to punk, such as on “October Painted Red,” “One Day Older,” “Long Drive Home,” “Fight Amongst Myself” and “Chasing the Wind,” the band truly comes into their own. While it is understandable why Every New Day would want to liven up a sometimes trite punk sound, they are so much better when they retract from all out metal. Yet, if faced with the situation of having only so much money to buy one record from recent Winnipeg hardcore bands’ releases, then Every New Day easily takes the prize over Comeback Kid’s Victory release.
The Factory Incident Though this DC-quintet features former Government Issue member John Schroeder on vocals, the Factory Incident do little to move past solid bar-band-playing-originals status. It is actually Schroeder’s bored, forced vocals on top of generally weak songs that dooms this EP from the start. I can’t quite figure out whether the songs are just poorly written or whether Schroeder takes what might be good songs and turns them into rubbish. That is, if the songs were sung by someone else would they be better? Or do the songs themselves need a reworking? The distorted and angular dual guitars of Karl Hill and Aimee Soubier are easily the highlights across the six songs on the EP; which makes me suspect that the band could do better. Admittedly, the Factory Incident has an early-80s art-punk feel to them, but it is if time has mellowed and genericized the music.
Howard Hello This four-song EP serves as Don’t Drink His Blood – The Epilogue in many respects for the brilliant collective that is Howard Hello. After releasing last winter’s lovely Don’t Drink His Blood, headmen Kenseth Thibideau and Marty Anderson went on to focus on other musical projects. For Thibideau this included Pinback and also a prog-metal endeavor Sleeping People. Anderson has focused on a double-album for his outlet Okay. When Thibideau had the desire to follow up quickly on Howard Hello music, Anderson said ‘and with my blessings, for now’ allowing Thibideau to create on his own. Bringing in a familiar group of players including Zach Hill on drums, Amber Coffman, Chelsea Rose and Shizuka Hyashi, Thibideau unleashes ambient pop bliss. The EP opens on “More of the Same” and closes on “Even More of the Same” that most obviously follows the previous record with the wall of voices echoing ‘do, do….’ The second track, entitled “Interlude,” has a slightly darker ambient feel, while “Follow” is nearly a straight-up rock song for Howard Hello. As something to tide you over until Howard Hello’s next full-length, this EP is perfect.
Hundred Year Storm How is it possible that there has never been a band called Hundred Year Storm – it’s such a great name. Anyway, Bill McCharen formed the band – then titled Shady Angels – in the summer of 2002 in the always bustling music scene of Austin, TX. Combining bassist Ben Beach, guitarist Mike D, drummer Brandon Johnson and guitarist David Kiesel, McCharen has taken this group to the next level. In several respects, Hundred Year Storm is an excellent combination of some of the best bands and sounds out there. In other respects, they have the potential to be special. That specialness can be traced backward by listening to the last song “Pilot’s Last Broadcast” first, as Hundred Year Storm flurry an instrumental number in the vein of Austin-mates Explosions in the Sky. Though different from the other five songs, “Pilot’s Last Broadcast” hints at what may be in store for the group in the future. These other five follow more focused indie rock methods with some nice results. The EP opens up on “Someday You’ll See” with excellent instruments and brings in very mellow multiple vocalists. “Someday You’ll See” could be bolstered by strong out-front vocals or at least a better mixing job to draw out a Mazzy Starr effect. “Deep Inside” intermittently illustrates the experimental guitars that Hundred Year Storm is capable of in the face of rather common lyrics. Gorgeous guitars finally show up about a minute-and-a-half into “Mental” and continue to thread along this excellent instrumental number. “Consider This” steps off a bit towards Mineral, while “Arms” provides a rather uninspired lead into the finale “Pilot’s Last Broadcast.” As Hundred Year Storm’s last EP in their short history, they illustrate the capability of brilliant musicianship. Based on what is here, the instrumental aspects are the band’s real talents and they would do wise by exploring them further. An album consisting of “Pilot’s Last Broadcast” and “Mental”-type numbers would instantly create a new favorite band.
Kasabian It is probably both a curse and blessing that the Leicester, UK, four-piece Kasabian came up and out during this moment in music history. It is a blessing because they are able to jump on the Brit-pop/rock international takeover; though taking a slightly different track with a wider use of electronics. It is also a curse since they are easily lumped with such an infinite cache of like-minded bands – almost always championed by NME. Coming up through the hardcore electronic scene – here, House mixed with darker hip hop – Kasabian attempt to fit these influences to a rock base. (As a side note, this Kasabian CD is one of the first to be outfitted with limited copying technology – it allows to copy like three times or so – and is not a joy to put into your computer as it forces you to use their crap player.) The opening track “Club Foot” truly sets the tone for the next ten tracks – as rock is mixed with margins of electronics and illustrates that Kasabian prefer hard-hitting choruses. The following “Processed Beats” sounds so incredibly familiar that you double-check to see if it is a cover – but it is probably just that it was released last year as a single. “Reason to Treason” is a step too close into the generic rock world, though “I.D.” brings heavy use of electronics back into the fray. Another single comes from the rock-blocking “L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)” that follows a very familiar dictum of music – repeat catchy lines over and over again to make the song instantly recognizable. However, Kasabian may be called out for drawing from such countrymen as the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, among others, on “L.S.F.” The start lyrics on “Running Battle” calls for strangling, while “Test Transmission” has this convincing, epic 80s pop to it that makes it one of the top songs here. “Cut Off” comes off too much like white guy rap rock and “Butcher Blues” believes its title too much, slowing things down and meanwhile dulling it down. “Ovary Stripe” has all the instrumental elements including strings, but could really ratchet the game up with well-fitted vocals. The record closes on “U Boat,” a song that while appealing sounds like a cross between Radiohead and the Eurhythmics. There is little doubt that Kasabian write melodies and harmonies that are instantly appealing and pleasure to enjoy. However, it is a mild concern that these boys can’t nail more of their own identity to the wall – though they do make inroads due to the stronger reliance on dark electronics.
Ludo This St. Louis, MO punk five-piece have been gaining ground over the past couple of years, including receiving love from FUSE that is likely to help infinitely. What is at heart of Ludo is a fascination with verbose storytelling through lyrics melded with mild-temper simple punk. The songs have the sort of innocent teenage fun that Lookout Records used to champion with Mr. T Experience, the Queers and the Groovie Ghoulies – but with less a nod to strict punk music. This is both a curse and a blessing for Ludo. The benefit is that they aren’t pegged into a once overfilled sound, but the curse is that Ludo take way too long to tell their stories. The songs routinely cover four-plus-minutes, which makes for often agonizing moments as you wait for the progression. Nearly all of the songs could benefit from cutting out a minute or so and quickening the pace. That said, the lyrics are where Ludo separate themselves as a band. This, again, has both good and bad angles. Most songs have comedic lyrics that having a charming late high school, early college flavor with copious references to pop culture of today and yesteryear. This is immediately gleaned from song titles such as “Ode to Kevin Arnold” and “Good Will Hunting By Myself,” before actually hearing accompanying and separate lyrics to those songs as well as numbers like “Saturday Night Thunderbolt.” This presents both an element of fun as well as a fine line towards pushing a joke too far and mass awkwardness. Ludo have received vast mileage out of “Hum Along” and it is clear why, as the song brims with catchiness and they drop their sometimes sophomoric lyrics. Given this record, Ludo have the potential to do much better things and reach much higher places.
Neon For solely name reasons, I was completely expecting an electronic onslaught from Australia’s Neon. What you receive instead is power pop rock sunshine that will bring smiles to some people’s faces and looks of constipation on others. This EP was released last year in the UK and clearly did well as they fit the pop interests of outlets like NME. Finally being released in the U.S. and with an accompanying ‘Aussie Invasion’ tour with the Vines, Jet and the Living End, Neon is pushing to make their mark on the U.S. The title-track “Hit Me Again” stabs you with an enticing guitar riff as the rest of the band moves in and leads to the melodic chorus. “Hit Me Again” certainly lends itself to single quality. “Dizziness” follows in a similar light but with vocals reaching higher scale levels, while “Million Sons” is a more standard and generic rock number. Besides from “Hit Me Again,” Neon does a tremendous cover of Cheap Trick’s “He’s A Whore” that will likely attract attention. Look for much more from Neon in the near future.
No Warning
Out Hud This is not an easy or wise album to just skip around the tracks on as you will inevitably lose something to the overall draw. On this ten-track full-length – also available on double LP – the five-piece electronic-dance rock outfit Out Hud compile what is invariable a brilliant live show onto tape. Initially forming in 1996 out in California, the members of Out Hud have only released one other full-length in that time entitled Street Dad; though they have a host of 7”s, etc. This is partially due to Tyler Pop, Nic Offer and Justin Vandervoigen also rocking out in !!! This trio is joined by childhood friends Molly Schnick and Phyllis Forbes who most importantly lend their gorgeous vocals to the collective. Originally recorded in the Spring of 2003 and sufficiently molested together by Vandervoigen over the past year, it is clear that Out Hud are founded in early 80s New Wave but merge vast influences to create an unnervingly appeasing product. This is no doubt enhanced by a nearly constant bass-heavy rhythm and Schnick’s and Forbes’ vocals. After the brief intro track “This Just In,” comes one of the hottest tracks “It’s For You” where the ladies’ vocals sink in perfectly on the catchy chorus. Thumping heavy Jackson 5 bass underlies “One Life to Leave” and is the first instance that Out Hud sounds not just like an electronic ‘dance’ band, but also live within the indie eclectic world. After the average “Old Nude” comes an eight-minute instrumental, “The Song So Good They Named It Thrice,” that moves Out Hud probably furthest into techno. “How Long” has a similar feel as “One Life to Leave,” but with more ambience before Out Hud begin a four-song mostly instrumental close to the record – save for actually the finale “The Stoked American.” This includes the smoking eleven-plus-minute “Dear Mr. Bush, There Are Over 100 Words For Shit and Only 1 For Music” where sweet electronics clash and dance with Schnick’s cello. There should be little doubt that “Dear Mr. Bush…” will get some serious club attention. As Out Hud’s second full-length for the masses, they have provided a lot to sink your teeth in and stop complaining about lack of material.
Over It If Over It are able to steer clear of the Orange County surf gangs then they will likely receive appreciable attention for their third full-length Silverstrand. Apparently, some surfers weren’t too happy that these Virginia transplants were naming their record after the Silverstrand beach area and confronted them at a show. Moving on, formed in 1998, Over It had a couple of releases for Negative Progression Records, before Santa Barbara-based Lobster Records picked them up. And this was a natural fit as Over It’s sound was one of pure Left Coast punk and hardly resembled the tougher attitude of many East Coast punk bands. 2003 saw the release of Over It’s first Lobster record Timing Is Everything – a twelve-track album competently illustrating SoCal punk. Naturally, this led to Warped Tour dates and concurrent and subsequent touring with like- minded bands such as Yellowcard and Brand New. The first thing that strikes you on Silverstrand’s opening number “Siren on the 101” is the infinitely-improved production job. The other thing is the moderately-slowed tempo and more pop than Timing Is Everything. This becomes entirely clearer by the slow mover and tedious “Shine,” as well as “We Are the Ordinary” and “Avalanche.” While bands prefer and desire to mature in their sound, some of the moves on Silverstrand seem to have backfired for Over It. There are still strong numbers coming from “Siren on the 101,” “Waiting” and “Chef Yan.” However, the general move towards more pop and less hardhitting punk here dilutes the strength of Over It and lumps them in with more generic mainstream bands. If you thought that Timing Is Everything smoked, don’t expect the same overall satisfaction from Silverstrand.
Rock N’ Roll Soldiers It is very difficult to think of a worse name for a band than Rock N’ Roll Soldiers. When I worked at this radio station in western New York, I threatened the music director with playing a children rap group named Lil’ Soldiers if I couldn’t play a Cave In song. I would threaten the music director with this album as well. Getting past the name, this Eugene, OR four-piece focus their efforts on glam punk that recalls the MC5 as well as nearly every rock band in the past few years – though in a more punk tradition. That can suit them well as they have the sound that NME loves to love. If all of these twelve songs were pure satire and mockery done in obvious fashion – Spinal Tap like – then I could hand them praise. But these guys are seemingly dead serious about it all and that is frightening.
Ruins Japan’s Ruins have been unleashing their nervous, spastic energy for two decades and on this latest American release they offer up fifteen tracks of ball-kicking love. Ruins, Yoshida Tatsuya and Sasaki Hisashi, are not ones to grab low-lying noise fruit, preferring to push vocal and bass/drum exercises to their limits on numbers that can last over six minutes. Still the market for Ruins is limited and targeted – though within they are sweetness. Thanks to artist like John Zorn and Mike Patton (as well as his label Ipecac), Ruins have a considerably expanded audience in the U.S. for their music. This partially helps explain why this CD, originally recorded in 1998, is only now being released in the U.S. As such, if you haven’t heard Ruins, but get wet from the Fantomas then this is the latest offering to expand your collection.
Seemless Somewhere along the way I must have missed the memo that EVR was looking to take over Windup Records’ corner on the grunge market. Though Seemless lend smidgens of 70s heavy rock/metal to their sound, you will quickly want to stab yourself eye listening to this record. The record is actually just being re-released by EVR, after a small run pressing on Losing Face ran out; though EVR is taking over the next record. Even more inexplicably, members of Seemless have spent time in bands such as Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage. In the end, this Seemless record is extremely hard to take.
Spitalfield This may be the first Ed Rose-produced record that I’m not entirely enamored with – at least that I’m aware of. The Wizard of Eudora, KS isn’t able to pull off pure magic on Spitalfield’s second record for Victory and that is unfortunate indeed. Spitalfield come out of the suburbs of Chicago and focus their attention on melodic punk that falls in parallel with bands such as Jimmy Eat World. Their 2003 debut for Victory Remember Right Now was their salvo to the rock world with ten tracks of catchy punk that instantly endeared you to the record. You felt it immediately on the opening track to that record “Those Days You Felt Alive.” On Stop Doing Bad Things you aren’t greeted with the same memory-burning sensation on the opener “So I Heard You Joined a Convent.” What is clear from “So I Heard You Joined a Convent” is that Spitalfield tried to make a more ‘rock’ album and wanted to expand beyond a genrefied sound. Commendable indeed, but they forgot to write songs that grab you by the collar and call for your attention. At the risk of being boring, Stop Doing Bad Things is just that, boring. You keep searching for a magical moment, but you are consistently disappointed track after track. What you have are eleven solid songs that fit nicely together, but little to get excited about. “Tampa Bum Blues” is one of the few moments where Spitalfield break from the doldrums, but it is fleeting and the gang vocals on the chorus sound artificial. Maybe I’m being too harsh here as there is nothing bad about the record – particularly on numbers such as “The Future Is Now” – but Spitalfield set the bar so high with Remember Right Now that any drop is disappointing.
Summer’s End On an average day you can walk into a record store and immediately be able to discern a band’s sound based on the cover alone. Metal bands look dark and evil, punk bands run the gamut, indie rock bands have high fashion sense, rap groups have glitz and bling, etc. With Summer’s End, you would fail miserably in this endeavor. The artwork on this self-titled debut is pure horror-Misfits and you immediately come to the judgment that this will be simply Misfits-induced punk. How wrong. This five-piece from DC bristles on the edge of brutal metalcore with dazzling dueling guitars, solid screams and tight musicianship. This full length is actually a partial full-length as there are only six studio tracks (at twenty-plus minutes) coupled with three live tracks recorded at Fletcher’s in Baltimore. Though Summer’s End slams you in the head instantly on the opener “Buried Near the Living Dead” and illustrates their metal soloing proclivity on songs like “Haunting Hallowed Graves” and “Victim,” they don’t lose sight of other influences. This is most obviously illustrated by having Michael Graves of the Misfits lend vocals and lyrics to “Headwound;” a thick six-minute metal-punk number. The three live tracks, “Through My Blood,” “Flawless Seasons” and “Final Goodbye,” leave something to be desired particularly in respect to the latter-day Earth Crisis style vocals. While Summer’s End currently swoons in the metal circles, they may be better matched up with bands like metalcore city-mates Darkest Hour. Look for more from this talented group.
Sweetheart This CDEP by Kent, Ohio’s Sweetheart provides the music and the sound of what local art-punk bands used to sound like before major labels and MTV started picking them up and polishing them off. And in that respect, the four-piece of Sweetheart make some fabulous, modestly recorded punk that I used to enjoy so during the 90s. Coming across like Piebald, Engine Down and Party of Helicopters, this EP contains two songs from their first 7” and four previously unreleased tracks. Highlights are thick and fierce on the first three songs “Am I Saying ‘Tight’ Too Much?,” “Oh-Snap/Martyr Monday” and “Don’t Flatter Yourself, I Just Write Songs.” The multi-segmented and strung along “Am I Saying ‘Tight’ Too Much?” sets up Sweetheart’s sound well and “Oh-Snap/Martyr Monday” follows up as the best track here. “Don’t Flatter Yourself, I Just Write Songs” only becomes well received during a breakdown where they change modes to milder tempo. The next track “This Song Is About Arms” is worth attention but the final two tracks should just be skipped. The CD also includes a number of videos of live songs from various shows around the country – all of which have very low sound quality. Sweetheart have a full-length forthcoming this summer, which will hopefully take the good of this EP and run with it.
Todd Headed by London-relocated Texan Craig Clouse, Todd seek to pummel you with uncompromising thick, heavy sludge rock that contains a well-managed degree of random shit. As their debut full-length, after 2002’s EP Loose Lips Sink Ships, Todd offer up twelve tracks of mildly connected aggression and insanity that one could hardly manage in London though perfectly suited for Texas. Though sharing similar parallels to bands such as the Butthole Surfers and the Melvins, one shouldn’t be under the delusion that tepid enjoyment of those bands will lead to love for Todd. Todd exists on a less accessible plane for most, save for numbers such as “Mr. Harry,” and the band focuses on more sludge. If you are looking for drunken, shit-breaking, dirty Texas metal than Todd is your answer. Most should limit their exposure as such a life will hasten your move towards death.
Treiops Treyfid From the first song “No One Is Taking A Chance,” it is clear that Treiops Treyfid is more of an artist than a pure musician on his second solo full-length. Not that he has to be and often people are better for it. Treyfid started off recording many years ago as Triptic of a Pastel Fern in between other art endeavors and soon enough formed Pitchblende with Justin Chearno. After three records and several years on the road, Pitchblende split up and Treyfid knocked out a few solo 7”s and a full-length entitled Reach the Explosion in 1998. Feelings of Unreality is the first album in seven years for Treyfid after concentrating on artwork. The sound across the album’s eleven songs consists of slowed tempo art punk with edges of electronics at times. In that respect, there are few songs that will hook you (though see “Time In Between” and parts of “Ute I Solen”) as most contain very direct vocals but angular and random instruments. Treyfid’s work here is commensurate with the art-noise bands of the 1980s, particularly from the LA and SD areas (not in the sense of the Locust et al.). copyright exoduster.com 2005 |