Ehhh, I thought this might be good, but I'm not really feeling it.? It's not terrible, it's just a pseudo raw and kind of halfassed sounding brand of indie rock (though it's really more like, I don't know, just... slightly atypical rock or something).? The band's a trio so it's a pretty stripped down affair that lets each instrument play an even role, but the songwriting does very little for me.? The drum patterns are overly simple, there's a lot of repetition across the board, the vocals are a little loud and I find the "singing" to be somewhat flat and plain, etc.? There's a little bit of jangly playing or some looser guitar parts that get somewhat noisy, but the drumming tends to remain stagnant throughout the entire record, and the basslines are fairly rigid as well - despite possessing a good level of differentiation from the guitar riffs.? Something about the vocals has a weird sort of 80's thing going on, or maybe like a modern Beatles kind of twist or something, and I just don't care for that stuff.? I wouldn't call the material overly melodic or anything, though there's definitely melody there, but the songs aren't catchy and don't seem to be going for much of that whole angle, despite being relatively straightforward and basic in both playing style and the structure of the arrangements.? "Downstream" is among the noisier tracks has a lot of layered guitar effects and such that are maybe hitting on a little Sonic Youth kind of tangent, but that's another whole shtick that I've just never been a fan of.? Then "Headway" sort of reminds me of Dinosaur Jr. from a musical standpoint, therefore making for the only track that I kind of like (along with the somewhat more fluid and somberly melodic "Western Star"), despite a few shortcomings that keep it from being 100% solid.? The recording is really dry and has a distant kind of ruggedness to it, which wouldn't be so bad if I liked the songs, but it would still need a little more force to be optimal.? The drums are pretty crisp and the vocals sound good, but I think the bass tone needs a fuller grip with more low-end, and the guitars could use a balance more akin to the drums or vocals in order to fill the space better.? It just feels like there's a gaping hole in the mix that needs to be filled, and that adds to the somewhat halfassed delivery that I perceive here (not regarding performances, just regarding the energy level).? No lyrics are included, just credits, but I really like how the layout makes use of thick white borders surrounding really solid color photography of random everyday scenes: Buildings, telephones, streetposts, etc.? It definitely looks nice and clean.? Sadly I just don't care for this music, though.? I don't know, there's just this whole retro sort of thing about it that doesn't work for me.? Not in a trendy way, I don't want to toss them in with that kind of stuff, it's just that I don't think I care for the influences that they're drawing from and I don't feel like the way they're approaching their music works for me.? Maybe it's all a matter of personal taste, who knows?
[Crank Automotive]
Running time - 36:09, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Headway, Western Star]
Crank Automotive - http://www.crankautomotive.com
