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Look Mexico - This is Animal Music

Rating

RIYL

The Get Up Kids
The Starting Line
The Early November
Saves The Day

Tracklist

1. You Come Into My House, While I Sleep?
2. It’s Been A Long Time Since I Smelled Beautiful
3. I Promise We’ll Swing For The Fences
4. I Had A Wrench And I Hit Him
5. Watch Out For This
6. Dude, You Have A Bazooka
7. You Ever Get Punched In The Face For Talking Too Much?
8. Me And My Dad Built Her
9. I Mean Pushups!
10. Not On My Watch
11. Done And Done.
12. Comin’ In Hot With A Side Of Bacon
13. Half That Money Is Mine, And I Want It
14. I Like Being A Millionaire, You Will Too Believe Me

Sugar is a substance that – while pleasant to the taste – is not always beneficial to the body. In some instances the same thing can be said about sugar in music. Make a metaphorical connection in your head if you so choose – often times popular music is dusted with a sugar coating in order to appeal to the masses. While the music is pleasant to snack upon from time to time it lacks the nutritional value to sustain life over a long period of time. It is rare to find a certain candy that is both agreeable to the taste buds and the body. If you’ve been following along with our little metaphor you might make the assumption that Look Mexico falls into a bin that has been heavily dusted with sugar and possesses little nutritional value for the body (or at least for the ears).

False. While the emo genre is a candy store filled with rubbery nibs and black liquorish bits (the sweets that have given the genre a bad reputation in the most recent of years) there are still those hidden treats that can take you back to the time when emo was the bees knees and those paper saucer candies with the sprinkles in them rocked your eight year old world. Basically, This Is Animal Music is all the sugar of a great emo band plus the nutritional value you would get if the jolly green giant himself punched you right in the mouth.

While bands like The Get Up Kids had innovation and sincerity on their side in the early stages of emo, it has become increasingly difficult for similar sounding bands to make an impression in a scene as stale as those marshmallow bananas in the back row. Metaphors aside, Look Mexico is a band that possesses talent in every facet of the word. While other kids were out riding bikes these guys were at home boning up on their respective instruments and their debut disk shows this perfectly. Both drum and bass parts are catchy and somewhat technical with guitar parts that fit well to cover the open-ended parts of the songs. Vocally, This Is Animal Music is strong with a sound that is sometimes reminiscent of early Saves The Day. Taking an overall view of the disk it’s possible to see elements of math rock and random instrumental solos that add levels of depth to the record. The only shortcoming of this record is that it had an abundance of those little spoken word interludes courtesy of an unknown female. However these interludes do little to interrupt the overall tone of the disk. While they may seem random the segments represent a mathematical assessment of a relationship – something that has never been seen before as far as emo is concerned – can you say meta-mathematical emo? Overall, Look Mexico are a tasty treat that does as much for the ears as it does for the mind. They have created one of the best breakout albums so far this year.

--Chad Quenneville

Author

Composing

Last updated: 09/29/2009 08:59PM