Ehhh... this isn't my thing at all. In fact, not only do I generally not like this stuff, but I'm even more sick of it now that it's "the next big thing". What's that, you ask? It's that weak and redundant "garage rock" type of stuff. You know, that crap that sounds like The Hives, The Strokes, and a bunch of other "The..." bands that all sound basically the same, playing unoriginal rock that lacks power and has a really thin sort of intentionally raw recording with a little bit of distortion on the vocals, really simple drum beats, etc. 16 minutes of that mess is what you'll get with this EP. Nothing more, nothing less. After the first track the songs are a lot more discordant and less direct musically, but it's still pretty bland nonetheless. I just can't get into this at all. It doesn't really rock. It's just boring to me. As mentioned, the recording is pretty raw and typical for this style. The drums are dry, the guitars are lightly distorted with a fuzzy edge, there's a light distortion filter over the vocals, the bass peeks through just a little bit, etc. It sounds okay, I just think the songwriting lacks any memorable qualities. The first thing I thought when I looked at this was, "Hmmm, the layout honestly looks sort of like some kind of trendy garage rock type of thing", so the bright orange and yellow sunburst and silhouettes of the band members in "we are here to rock" position does portray the music well. Though oddly enough the lyrical content mixes "rock out" phrasing with political interests, and the booklet includes quotes from both Howard Zinn and Shakespeare regarding world leaders and their hunger for war. The lyrics are generally fairly vague, only hinting at what the real picture is, "Buy the weapons, Lay the asphalt, Set it off, Does the heaven that the ad sells get you off? We're here so you might as well, We're here so you might as well, Glory falls, So I wrote this ditty down, Temptation calls, So I wrote this ditty down, Future stalled, So I wrote this ditty down." I don't know... are they having fun, or are they trying to convey a message? I imagine they're trying to do both, but as a result they're failing on all accounts, because they haven't balanced anything out. If I wanted to listen to a band that was billed as being reminiscent of MC5 or Television, I'd probably listen to MC5 or Television... not this.
[Uprising]
Running time - 16:00, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: Feed My Flame Starve the Game]
Uprising Records - http://www.uprisingrecords.com
