Rick's Mailbox Volume XIII: Get Lucky
Posted 03/05/2010 11:48AM by Rick Gebhardt as Rick's Mailbox
Being an editor here at Decoy, I get a fair amount of mail from bands, labels, PR companies, and other random sources. Most of the mail comes in the form of packages containing CDs for bands that want reviews, coverage, or just a mention somewhere in some publication to get their name out. It would be impossible for us to review every album submitted to us, and I think many bands know that, but I sometimes feel guilty letting things slip through the cracks, especially since people no doubt went out of their way to send something my way for consideration by Decoy. In the spirit of trying to get the word out there for artists who might otherwise not get much coverage elsewhere, let’s dig into my mailbox and see what interesting submissions have come through lately.
Untied States – Instant Everything Constant Nothing
Art-rock is a genre that you either enjoy or you don’t. It’s hard to be a casual art-rock fan, mostly because one of the key tenants to being an art-rock band is creating songs that are discordant, jarring, and unpredictable. Instant Everything Constant Nothing is a difficult listen, but should be appealing to music fans that like their indie rock very esoteric and odd. Portions of songs glitch along buffeted by stretches of dissonant and almost out of tune guitars, while others showcase vocals that are spit out with a seeming lack of care to whether they match the music or not, and then you have moments where the band sounds downright listenable… but they usually use that only as a springboard to dive into something quirky. At the end of the day, you’ll either love this or loathe it. (artist website)
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Number 9 Hard – All Lubed Up and Ready to Go!
Remember what Rancid used to sound like on their first couple of albums? Number 9 Hard definitely do, but they take the ska-punk sound and infuse it with a fairly large dose of love for partying. I can imagine that these guys are pretty fun to see in a live environment, but unfortunately All Lubed Up and Ready to Go! doesn’t quite capture what they’re going for, mostly because the production quality makes it sound like this album was recorded on an antique four-track and put to press without any production or mixing work done on it. I know this keeps things “raw”, but it also keeps the album from being listenable since everything is muddled and there are no dynamics to the music. In today’s day and age there is no reason for bad production quality. (artist website)
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Indyus – Ashes of Dystopia
Instead of treading down the same path of so many current metal bands, Indyus have decided to model their sound after some of the greats from this decade and the one before. Throughout this self-release effort you’ll hear elements of Living Sacrifice, Vader, Slayer, and Obituary. There are, to be sure, some modern thrash revival moments to be heard, but the vast majority of the album is spent paying homage to yesteryear’s greats. It is satisfying to hear a band not afraid to actually play guitar solos, eschew breakdowns, and keep from letting trends invade their playing style. (artist website)
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Matt Morris – When Everything Breaks Open
As I flipped through the liner notes for this album, I noticed that it was produced by none other than Justin Timberlake. Doing some research I found out Morris has written songs for the likes of Kelly Clarkston, Reba McEntire, and Christina Aguilera. On his debut album, however, you’ll find mostly soulful pop and balladry. There are also some moments of R&B, some light jazz, and indie rock, but for the most part Morris sticks to keeping his focus on slow, soulful, singer-songwriter style tracks. Considering who he has all worked with, I’m sure he’ll find one way or another to be successful. (artist website)
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Gooding – The Return
The easiest way to describe The Return would be to say that it feels a lot like an album U2 would record if they were a little more eclectic and occasionally strayed to a slightly more industrial territory. You’ll also hear some David Bowie influence rearing its head throughout various tracks. As interesting as some of the darker songs on this album are, the ballad-oriented tracks don’t fare quite as well. They’re passable but feel a little too much like U2 rip-offs. All in all, though, Gooding could really carve out a name in the modern pop-rock scene if they want. (artist website)
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Deadwalk – Scandalous
Breakdown-centric metalcore has been done to death. There really isn’t anything new to be done in the genre since, well, there are only so many combinations of simplistic breakdowns and hardcore progressions that you can employ. Deadwalk fall right smack dab in the middle of this long oversaturated genre. If you’ve listened to Bury Your Dead, Too Pure to Die, Emmure, or any of the other similar sounding bands, you’ve heard absolutely everything Deadwalk has to offer. This is an album for pit monkeys only. (artist website)
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Johnny Cakes and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypso – Rise of the Pink Flamingos
Well, that’s quite a mouthful for a band name… and a pretty fun album cover to boot. Opposed to what you may think, this is a pretty laid back album with a lot of playfulness. Using a ska-punk base, Johnny Cakes adds their own steel drum flavor to keep things fun. This gives the band something of a luau feel. Adding to the mix is the very juvenile lyrics. You’ll hear plenty of interesting passages focusing on butt sex, donkey punches, urination, sluts, and such sophomoric topics. If you think this is probably geared towards a middle school crowd, you’re probably right... either that or frat guys. (artist website)
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The Subtle Way – Thus Far, the Channels Speak
Just what the world needs, more keyboard-core! This trend has already outlived its shelf life if you ask me. As enjoyable as some tasteful keys are when added to metalcore, it’s a little overdone as of late. On top of that, The Subtle Way don’t really tread into any new territory. I See Stars, Attack! Attack!, and The Devil Wears Prada have been down this road and there’s no real reason to come back down it. With all of this in mind, though, there are a few songs that have some catchy moments, but two things kill most of the songs. First, the harsh vocals aren’t very convincing (they sound strained). Second, the production on this album is atrocious. There is very little in the way of dynamics, which is something that you need in this genre of music. It’s almost like they shipped an unmastered version of the album, which is unfortunate because it puts the band at a significant disadvantage when compared to their peers. (artist website)
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Musikanto – Ghost Pain
If anyone is familiar with the band Sleeper Car then you’ll know who Musikanto is. After leaving his former band, this is his first solo work and it appears he’s entrenched himself into the twangy-country-indie-rock mish-mash genre that’s been popular for a select subset of singer-songwriter types in recent years. I guess you could call it alt-country if you want, but only if you consider the likes of Wilco and The Old 97’s alt-country since they appear to be two of Musikanto’s main influences. Assuming alt-country is your thing, you’ll most definitely enjoy this album. (artist website)
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Derelict – Unspoken Words
Holy melodic death metal, Batman! Derelict are one hell of an aggressive band, playing some extremely fast and pounding death metal, as well as slowing things down to get their groove on. To top it off, there are even some great modern thrash elements (mainly some solos here and there) tossed in. At times you’ll also hear some very interesting similarities to the great Strapping Young Lad, especially during the more progressive moments of the album. As if to put an exclamation point on their tough as nails sound, the album ends with the 5 part “Unspoken Words”, which when listened to as a whole, makes for one hellacious 19 minute song. Definitely a very, very solid album. (artist website)
Comments
Minnesota
A couple great metal releases from Derelict and Indyus in this batch (for you metal lovers).
Chapel Hill, NC
Definitely checking out Derelict [my balls] thanks to the SYL reference.
Minnesota
It's easily the best release of this group. Great album.
Chapel Hill, NC
Checked them out on Myspace and I'll definitely be tracking down the album. They remind me of another band called Divinity that released a solid, SYL-esque album last year.
San Luis Obispo, CA
The Subtle Way was produced by Casey Bates, just goes to show .. names doesnt mean good production or sound.
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Minnesota
Yeah, that album just sounds so amateurish and nearly unlistenable because of the bad production.