Fuck keyboards.? Seriously.? These guys are a solid little emo/indie band out of New Jersey but they ruin it with the fucking stupid hipster keyboard bullshit.? That crap serves no purpose at all.? It adds nothing to the songs in any form, and the keys tend to be obnoxious as hell whether they're mirroring piano or instead some "hipper" tones, which I have absolutely zero fucking tolerance for in this case.? Aside from that I like the songwriting, though.? It's pretty straightforward material that has a solid sense of energy going on with a rocked out vibe and typical singing with a couple of dashes of vocal harmonies and all that.? But let me tell you, there's nothing more obnoxious than a stupid fucking bunch of new wave bullshit synths littering the entire mix and taking up all the extra space, therefore giving the other instruments no god damn breathing room at all.? They need a little work regardless, make no mistake, but I love this style when it's done right, and if these guys said to the keyboard player, "Hey, dude, sorry, you're out.? No personal offense, buddy, we're still friends," they'd be 100% better immediately, because there's no denying a catchy tune like "An Illusion Called Circumstance". You can't buy choruses that good kids, so please, I beg of you, get rid of the motherfucking keyboards. You'll thank me when you end up on MTV raking in the dough from screaming 12-year-old girls. They've already got a pop/rock kind of Weezer thing happening at times, so... with polishing up (and the dismissal of synths) I'm sure they could win me over. The recording's fine. Not quite as pristine as it ought to be for this stuff to really shine, but it works out just fine. The bass is there, the drums sound alright, the guitars are about where they should be, etc. I might like to hear the vocals given a little extra kick in the ass somehow, perhaps performance-wise, but what the hell, it ain't so bad. I'll take this opportunity to remind these guys, again, that it is essential that they get rid of the keyboards, though. Those fuckers are clouding everything up pretty fiercely. It's frustrating. I'm not that into the layout because it sort of looks like it's going for some kind of 60's/70's aesthetic but it doesn't go far enough to pull it off, so it's crisp and looks decent but ends up being visually on the bland side. Lyrics? Well, there's actually a line that says "purple like a monster", and another that says, "I can't wait until she opens up, the excitement flows from the pores of my sweater." So... those two combined with a reference to "the hot dog show" are enough to make me not want to invest any further thought into trying to figure out where these kids are coming from. Like I said, they need some work, but the framework they have in place as songwriters is pretty damn promising. If these guys were my friends I'd smack them in the face one by one and sternly recommend them to stop letting flavor of the month keyboards obscure their talents. I mean, god damnit, this is an angering CD. I hate hearing good songs do down the tubes because of absurd decisions. The only explanation for why those keyboards are even present is because that crap is trendy as hell, and who ever wants to be trendy!? Give that shit the axe and you're good to go, guys.
[Stab Me]
Running time - 18:28, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: An Illusion Called Circumstance, A Prospect of Better Things]
Stab Me Recordings - http://www.establishment-clothing.com
