Bleach 03 "s/t" CD
[Australian Cattle God]
This all-female trio from Japan plays a very odd style of punk/funk indie/noise rock with little hints of everything from metal to ska riffs, all with sugar sweet singing vocals that have a catchier sort of edge and some harsher screams/yells to boot (granted all of the lyrics are in Japanese so I can't understand a word).  It's definitely a quirky as hell approach that sounds dissimilar to most of what's out there in the grand scheme of things.  Opener "Kuropen Bigaku Tenshi-Chan To Kangaemashita" is among the more varied and at times chaotic compositions, including some truly harsh shrieking towards the end, but somehow it's more effective than most of the tracks.  Something about the vocal performance in "Sun-Dance-Moon-Dance" gets on my nerves and has a weird sort of folky/nursery rhyme kind of bop to it that I'm just not into.  Similarly, the chorus of "Canary Teikoku No Gyakushuu" has a great punk rock kind of flow and a catchy vocal line, but the ska riffs and high-pitched singing in the verse are really annoying and break up the flow.  "Chousen" is more somber and uses clean guitars with softer singing and a slower pace, with "Raiko-Kareki Ni Hana Wa Sakanai" and "Howling" among the more abrasive pieces both musically and vocally.  I do like the noisier dissonant chords/leads and funky basslines in "He" though, which also has a nice vocal performance.  Something about this track stands out to me over the others and is a really promising outing - nice and memorable, but not necessarily too direct either.  Definitely my favorite track herein.  The recording is nice and clean, but despite a great bass presence with a lot of space to move around things sound really thin to me, which does harm the band.  All of the tones sound pretty good, and I do love the bass sound, but the end result feels a little lacking in power since the mix is kind of distant.  I don't know what it is that's causing it, but there's a significant lack of force at the core of this recording that needs to be filled for these songs to really deliver in full, you know?  Either way the bassist kicks ass and really makes the band for me.  Her playing is more technical than the rather basic drum patterns and far more rhythmically sound than the looser guitar work, so her playing pops out a lot and drives a lot of the songs big time.  At the end of the disc after some blank space there's an unlisted track that has a much more distant and raw sound, I don't know if it's a demo or what.  It could be live in the studio or a rehearsal space, who knows?  No lyrics are included, I assume because all of the content is in Japanese (English translations are provided for the song titles), so the layout basically revolves around photos of the band - all of which look very nice, especially the more brightly colored shots.  This is a rough one.  I have to commend the band's sense of originality and energy, but I just don't really get into the songwriting or their general style.  A fuller sound that would give more power to the center of the mix and really bring out more density in the instrumentation could sway me just a tad, but for the most part I'm just not feeling this.  Sorry!  It's really not that bad at all, I do appreciate what they're going for, definitely. (5/10)
Running time - 30:00 (approximately), Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Kuropen Bigaku Tenshi-Chan To Kangaemashita, He]
Australian Cattle God - http://www.australiancattlegod.com

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