Rick's Mailbox Volume XX: The Most Interesting Music in the World

Posted 10/19/2010 01:22PM by Rick Gebhardt as Rick's Discoveries

10/19/2010 01:22PM

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.

The Black Heart Procession – Blood Bunny / Black Rabbit

Three songs and five remixes. That’s what you’ll find on this album. The remixes are, well, what you’d expect—various artists taking The Black Heart Procession songs and turning them into weird compositions of varying styles, from minimalist to noise to ambient. This would be all well and good as a bonus to have tacked onto the three new songs from the band if they weren’t so lackluster. The only decent song is the opening track, a depressive indie rock track. “The Orchid” is a half-baked 3-minute soundtrack-esque track, while “Devotion” is a jangly mix of Beck and modern quirky indie. This is really only for completists and people who buy anything Temporary Residence puts out. (artist website)

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A Clever Con – The Robot EP

There’s actually a lot of variety on this 6 song EP. A Clever Con stick primarily to a pop-punk mixed with pop-rock sound, but there are some classic hair metal tinges here and there. The first three tracks are extremely solid, keeping you going with a quick pace and plenty of good choruses to sing along to. However, the band loses steam on the second half of the EP. “Heroin(e)” drags at 5 minutes in length when the band tries to mix a reggae influence into a slowed down power-punk ballad. It’s a novel effort, but is definitely too long. And speaking of too long, the final 6 minute track is half ballad, half bongo solo… which is just weird. Barring those missteps, A Clever Con are pretty rocking. (artist website)

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Solid Lines – Skin

It’s like Hot Water Music made dirty love to Hopesfall and left their illegitimate child to be raised by The Foo Fighters. It’s interesting to hear the combination of Midwestern emo and spacey post-hardcore as filtered through a hard rock style. Solid Lines have synthesized a number of disparate elements into 3 well crafted tracks that show a lot of future promise. It’s tough to get an idea of what the band can truly do on the basis of 3 songs, but assuming a future full length can maintain the high level of quality of these tracks, it’ll be well worth hearing. (artist website)

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Biters – It’s OK to Like Biters

Glam rock is a pretty awful genre that somehow managed to get extremely popular in the 80’s, but looking back there’s some nostalgia for those days of excess and simplicity. Biters definitely try to tap that, sounding like a rip-off of Cheap Trick and Ratt. This EP could easily have been a cassette tape unearthed from the back of someone’s El Camino that was just now digitized and released—it’s that authentically 80’s sounding. So if you want some new “old” music, this’ll do it. (artist website)

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Cas Haley – Connection

Huh. Cas Haley was a runner up on America’ Got Talent. If he was second place, I’d hate to see what everyone worse than him was like. I would have hoped that with Haley supposedly having talent that he’d put out an album not nearly as boring as this. For 13 tracks he meanders through reggae and pseudo-soul music, daring you to close your eyes and nod off. Maybe if there were some sort of variety or faster tempo tracks the album wouldn’t feel like such a drag, but as it is… snore. (artist website)

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Live From Heaven – People Who Don’t See Hear Very Well

Rock revival has had quite the… revival, I guess… as of the last year or two. Live From Heaven have definitely gotten caught up in the revival, but also have a decidedly Midwestern rock feel as well. There’s some post-grunge mixed in as well, sporting fuzzed out guitars and loads of distortion when needed. The hard rock underpinnings are wonderfully accentuated by the band’s ability to channel the sounds of Queens of the Stone Age or early Soundgarden. This is a solid effort all around for rock lovers. (artist website)

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Tidewater – The Seas We Sail

Tidewater is predominantly Brett Allen. This is his baby. And his baby really wants to be a mix of Coldplay and Bloc Party. Simply mentioning those two bands will either turn people onto or away from this album, and for good reason--The Seas We Sail feels so very much like the output from those two bands, but not quite up to their caliber. To be completely clear, however, that’s not to say this is a bad album; it simply can’t live up to some of the greats in the genre it is a part of. The album does do something not often heard, however, in that it starts off slow and mellow and slowly gets more rocking and upbeat as it goes on. Usually albums come the other way around, so it’s unique to listen through the album as it grows and grows on you. (artist website)

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The Redemption Center – Land of Plenty

Huh. Turns out The Redemption Center is the latest adventure that Jesse Sprinkle has become a part of. If you don’t recognize the name, you should. He’s worked with the likes of Poor Old Lu, Demon Hunter, Dead Poetic, Morella’s Forest, and many other bands (usually doing percussion). Land of Plenty is a departure from most of what he’s done in the past as he dives in with the rest of The Redemption Center in creating jangly, country inspired rock. It’s very laid back, easy-going, and slightly melancholy country rock that you wouldn’t have too hard of a time getting into on a fall day in the Midwest. It has that county (geographical, not musical) feel to it that creates a sense of normal, small town simplicity. (artist website)

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America Addio – Cotton Kingdom

Oh God… make it stop! America Addio’s glitchy, synth filled, auto-tuned, quasi-pop mess Cotton Kingdom is a chore to sit through for any amount of time, and I can’t understand why you’d voluntarily listen to this unless you’re in some Nintendo/LSD fusion fever dream. It’s like Kill Paradise raped Zelda and made an album that was the audio representation of the event. My ears… (artist website)

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Meris – Abandon All

Don’t let the album cover fool you—Meris aren’t a post-rock band. No, instead you’ll find Abandon All to be a mix of mid-career Metallica (think Load), Bullet For My Valentine (their power ballad styled songs, at least), and Helmet. Meris have definitely listened to a lot of groove metal in their day and it shows in their playing. Even though they try to mix it up every now and again (a solo here, some distorted vocals there), they have a hard time breaking out of the standard groove metal mold. On top of that, the vocals feel a tad forced at times, detracting from some otherwise decent grooves. There’s some potential here, but the band needs to work on honing in on what they’re good at and eliminating their weaker elements. (artist website)

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Nottingham – Talk to Strangers

If you’ve made it to the end of this article, this album will be a treat! Nottingham, on their debut full length, sound like a mature, veteran pop-punk band that had their start back in the late 90’s. Reminiscent of bands like Jettingham, Over It, and Amber Pacific, Nottingham avoid the traps of being a modern pop-punk band. Instead of using auto-tune, keyboards, and gimmicky crap they just play solid, catchy pop-punk that will get stuck rattling around in your head for days. Don’t overlook these guys; they’ve got what it takes to excel in the genre. (artist website)