(the)Lines - Will You Still Love Me When I've Lost My Mind?

Name: (the) Lines
Album: Will You Still Love Me When I've Lost My Mind?
Year: 1987
Style: Jangley & Dark New Wave
Similar Bands: Midnight Oil, The Bolshoi, Game Theory, The Alarm, Aztec Camera, The Bluebells
"One-Word" Review: Gloomy-College-Fodder
Based Out Of: Brockton, Mass

Will You Still Love Me When I've Lost My Mind? - Cover & Record

Will You Still Love Me When I've Lost My Mind? Back & Record

Will You Still Love Me When I've Lost My Mind?(1987)

1. Snowbound 4:43
2. Someday 3:55
3. Rain on Me 3:44
4. On My Way Home 3:43
5. On and On 3:06 /
6. In My Car 3:35
7. Indian Summer 4:38
8. Same Old Scene 3:50
9. Once Bitten 3:00
10. One Last Time 4:28

Album Rating (1-10): 5.0

Members & Other Bands:
Paul Carchidi - Producer, Management
Eric Hafner - Author, Vox, Guitar
Wouter Habraken - Keyboards
Paul Robbins - Drums
Bob Skaltsis - Bass, Vox
Paul Arnold - Engineer
Toby Mountain - Digital Mastering
Ted Jensen - Mastering

Unknown-ness: I’ve never heard of these guys. I respect the sparse album cover and enjoy the puzzling line drawn figure with the rotated face. But there is a lack of color scheme and the only chosen color is a horribly boring tan. It looks low budget enough with the minimal band info on the back, but at the same time, there is something appealing about the whole package…perhaps it’s the “this could be anything” mystery.

Album Review: “Snowbound” rises with a chilling, somewhat eerie synth section. The vocals remind me of the aggression that Midnight Oil conveys on their albums. There is a cold, early U2 and other desolate rock trait to this song. Soaring guitars mix with a jangly melody. I guess the Alarm and Aztec Camera would be good comparisons. Maybe Wall of Voodoo.
“Someday” brings us back to an overly complicated melody like the Alarm and much of the college radio of the 80’s. The chorus is just the title repeated over and over again to a catchy melody. But there are so many layers of synth effects that I don’t know what is bass and guitar and what are keyboards. The production is frigid and uncontaminated, basically much smoother than it should be
“Rain on Me” has a chugging guitar buried deep down to keep the tempo up, and the vocals are wondrous and wise, but not in a good way. They are more pretentious. But this is the sound that many bands went for back then, and the amount of echo imbedded in the songs feels like they were preparing for stadium tours. The end takes the chorus and extends it for a bit too long. It is not dynamic enough to maintain interest.
“On My Way Home” has a dark mysticism that like the Cure tend to produce. And the smooth vocals make me think of Tears for Fears a little. The song seems optimistic, but it is buried deep in sorrow. There is more echo and cold synth that draws a very drab picture of the listening experience. But it has a place, at events like the dark & cold wave of the monthly Sex Dwarf dance party in Philly.
“On and On” has the vocals experimenting a little more, and it reminds me a little of INXS. This song is a little more upbeat and sunny, but the church organ keeps it grounded in solemn-ness.

“In My Car” has an almost industrial feel at the outset with a factory drum beat, and metal grinding effects. The song evolves into the normal genre they have created of cold synth and shiny, fragile plastic. There is a little bit of Robyn Hitchcock in the guitar-bells effect used through out the song.
“Indian Summer” feels like it will become a Gene Loves Jezebel song, or that Siouxsie Sioux vocals will begin shortly. But the chorus of this song is truly bold and great. Even if it has the worst lyric in all of music: “There once was a man who thought he couldn’t fall. That man was me.” The line leads back into the anthemic and catchy chorus, and I have to look past it. There is a gritty guitar breakdown that has a little bit of promise, before it casts the hope away on a full on crying guitar instrumental. The chorus reminds me a little of Psychedelic Furs with deep vocals, and an overproduced musical background. It might even be reminiscent of Crash test Dummies.
“Same Old Scene” has a new waveish siren like guitar as its driving tempo for the verse, but the chorus is light and fluffy and gives away any edginess the song built up. The end of the song allows the synth keyboard a bit of free range, which it fills with a neat prog-like section, but it only lasts for 20 seconds.
“Once Bitten” begins like it is going to be Journey’s “Separate Ways.” But the lyrics are terrible. And they should be punished for the overuse of the synth effects and sections in one song. It is just too much and comes off as a mess. The melody might be catchy, but it is buried below too many ideas.
“One Last Time” is a dreary, yet potentially uplifting final song. It feels calculated and with purpose. But the emotional outcry in the chorus is too over the top, especially coupled with the flashy new-age-like synth instrumentation. Aside from the chorus, this song has a little more room to breath, there are not too many ideas overlapping, but the crystalline, earthy production feels about as shallow as a high-school football star.

Stand Out Track: Indian Summer

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Flesh Eaters - Destroyed By Fire (Greatest Hits)

Name: Flesh Eaters
Album: Destroyed By Fire (Greatest Hits)
Year: 1987
Style: Punk, Gothic Rock/Metal.
Similar Bands: Cows, X, Social Distortion, Dead Milkmen, Iggy Pop, Bay of Pigs, Danzig
"One-Word" Review: 3-chord-Chaotic-Jagger-Punk
Based Out Of: LA, Cali

Destroyed By Fire - Cover, Liner Notes, Tape

Destroyed By Fire (1987)

1. See You In The Boneyard 3:29
2. Cyrano De Berger's Back 3:20
3. Dominoes 1:58
4. Impossible Crime 1:53
5. Secret Life 4:54
6. Hard Road to Follow 5:25
7. Divine Horsemen 7:07 /
8. The Wedding Dice 4:16
9. Pony Dress 2:31
10. We'll Never Die 3:20
11. Everytime I Call Yr Name 4:07
12. Lake of Burning Fire 7:41
13. Drag My Name in Mud 6:33

Album Rating (1-10): 6.0

Members & Other Bands:
Dave Alvin - Guitar (Blasters, Knitters, Dollar Store)
Bill Bateman - Drums (Blasters, Red Devils)
Steve Berlin - Saxophone (Los Lobos, Blasters)
D.J. Bonebrake - Marimba (X, Original Sinners)
Chris Desjardins - Producer, Vocals Composer (Divine Horsemen)
John Doe - Bass (X)
Robin Jameson - Bass
Jill Jordan - Vocals (Background)
Don Kirk - Guitar, Composer
Christopher Wahl - Drums, Composer
Ed Colver - Flesh Eaters Picture

Unknown-ness: I don’t believe I’ve heard of them. The name is very symbolic with a type of music, that I could only assume this is going to be dark punk, perhaps with Gothic tones. Maybe I’ve heard of them before, but I can’t really recall what the music is like or where I’ve heard of them from. So as this is a greatest hits collection, I do not expect a cohesive album, but a good introduction to their sound.

Album Review: “See You In The Boneyard” begins with a jazzy sax and rocking, driving drum beat. The vocals are gloomy but cartoonish with a side of evil. There is a Stray Cats big band element to the music, but the energy from the rambling lyrics and the shriek energy at the end of each verse gives is a classic dirty punk element. Like an organic Social Distortion.
“Cyrano De Berger's Back” feels like a 50’s greaser love ballad, full of sax and rock-a-billy qualities covered by a morbid punk act. The vocals are raw and full of emotion while the music is just a repetitive canvas for the poetic vocals to flow across.
“Dominoes” starts out as a lazy side swaying melody, but you can feel the tension building, and it launches into a faster, straightforward punk song. It lacks the brass or jazzy backing instruments. But it goes back and forth between the two sections of slow catch-your-breath sections and fast-forwarding circle pit action.
“Impossible Crime” is a nervous, speedy three chord punk song. It changes key for the chorus but quickly changes back for the short verse sections. It is repetitive and driving, never letting down like a good short punk song should be. It actually reminds me of “Tiny Town” by Dead Milkmen. “Secret Life” starts with a nice bouncy bass beat. And the vocals sound drunk, and tripping all over the place up and down off key. But the shrill expression reminds me of Mick Jagger at his most chaotic, and more so, Iggy Pop. The sax is back, but not as produced and prevalent as the start of the record, and it feels less Americana punk, and more smooth jazz.
“Hard Road to Follow” is another drunken King Missile sounding song with minimal, actual singing, and a more slurred tempo. But the range of vocal styles and pitch changes keeps it very interesting, and the music is less punk, and more dark, heavy rock. This reminds me of the other album I reviewed by Bay of Pigs. The guitar has a sounds that is like “Money for Nothing” but heavier.
“Divine Horsemen” starts with some sort of sax sound that reminds me of Akira Kurosawa’s film Dreams, specifically the Peach Orchard sequence. But the music is just a repetitive back and forth guitar and bass section, with a repeating 2 note xylophone bit. The vocals are erratic and agitated, good for the dark punk atmosphere they like to project. The instrumental section at the end just goes on without much variation, to the point where I’d assume it would be quite boring to play.

“The Wedding Dice” starts out with dark prog, like Black Sabbath. And then the pace picks up to a driving punk pace. The vocals lack sobriety, but they parallel the melody to the point of repetitive boredom. During the instrumental break, we revisit the slow prog guitars, which are backed by a squealing sax loop.
“Pony Dress” revisits the short speed punk with erratic singing. It is a simple fast verse, rearranged melody for the chorus, and return to the verse. The monotony is broken up with a bit different section referring to the title of the song at the end. It is repetitive in itself, but as a whole it is refreshing.
“We'll Never Die” starts with a guitar hook that is quite catchy, and then the vocals range from deep, nasally and yowling all in the same lyrical line. At their darkest, they are deep and nearly crooning, like Danzig; at their highest they are raspy and a bit screechy. But there is an undeniable energy the entire time.
“Everytime I Call Yr Name” begins with a fuzzed out metal guitar played at a punk rock pace. The deep vocals again remind me of Danzig or X at their lowest and like an angry feral cat at their highest. Like most other songs, the music does not diverge much from the initial melody, so you have this long song without much change, except it acts as a blank canvas for vocal experimentation and exaggeration.
“Lake of Burning Fire” sounds like it should be a prog song, and it comes off that way with an unconventional beat and a backing sax. The vocals are whine-yelling at first, I’m guessing like they are stuck in hell. It feels a little like a Half-Japanese song. The vocals are the same cadence, but lower than Jad Fair. Then they surpass Fair, and resemble Megadeath’s shouty vocals. The repetitive loop of jazzy prog continues and more yelling moans overlap and feels like an unsupervised jam session. The song then comes back to more lyrics, but nothing new is brought to the song. And they revert back to the howling jam session which is very tedious and extended.
“Drag My Name in Mud” is a heavy sax influenced metal stomp. The drums kick in and it begins at a fast, driving pace, but the vocals feel like they are constantly trying to catch up to the music. This is three chord metal-punk. The slower stomp-tempo is brought back for a breakdown section about 2 min in. By this point, listening to this much, the song feels like it is just rehashing everything that has come before, and the result is a forced feeling, like ideas have all been used up and that well is dry.

Stand Out Track: See You in the Boneyard

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(the) Laughing Dogs - s/t

Name: (the) Laughing Dogs
Album: s/t
Year: 1979
Style: Power Pop, Classic Rock
Similar Bands: Jellyfish, Badfinger, Steely Dan, The Knack, Sorrows, Hawks, Billy Joel, Queen, Journey
"One-Word" Review: All-Purpose-Power-Garage
Based Out Of: NYC

Laughing Dogs - Cover, Sleeve & Record

Laughing Dogs - Back, Sleeve & Record

Laughing Dogs (1979)

1. Get 'Im Outa Town 3:26Low Life 2:56
2. No Lies 3:00
3. Johnny Contender 3:19
4. Reason for Love 2:19
5. I Need A Million 2:54/
6. It's Alright, It's OK 3:17
7. I'm Awake 3:14
8. Round & Round 4:20
9. It's Just the Truth 3:48
10. Get Outa My Way 2:46

Album Rating (1-10): 8.0

Members & Other Bands:

Ronny Carle - Vox, Bass, Harmonica
James Leonard - Vox, Guitar
Carter Catchcart - Keys, Guitar, Vox
Moe Potts - Drums, Vox
Eric Block - Assistant Engineer

Bruce Botnick - Producer
Keith Brown - Assistant Engineer
Tom Dwyer - Assistant Engineer
Rob Freeman - Engineer, Mixing
Breuer, Finkel, Koplik - Management
Andrea Klein - Design
Josh Berg - Design
Jerry Abramowitz - Photography
Wally Traugott - Mastering

Unknown-ness: I’ve never heard of these guys. From the looks of the gritty, black & white sepia artwork, I’m gonna guess they are Pub Rock. That is also derived from their clothing on the back. They look like dressed up working class, and the boy and his dog image on the front supports a working class mentality too.

Album Review: “Get 'Im Outa Town” rings in with an electric guitar strumming one annoying note. Then a piano driven Billy Joel type song begins with smooth ELO vocal harmonies. But there is a dark tone underlying the song that comes from the guitar that began the song. Otherwise, this is straight up power pop. The lead vocals sound like Billy Joel too.
“Low Life” also treads the line of straight up power pop with a foot in the door of pub rock, thanks to the guitar sound. In the sections where the guitar is mixed in the background, the song bops along with smooth production and vocals, but then the chorus grows a little darker. The lead vocals remind me a lot of Jellyfish here. And the chorus is a harmonized, near prog, group effort.
“No Lies” is a piano waltz. It sways side to side with high pitch near-yelling vocals. But the chorus is again harmonized like Jellyfish or Queen, and is very “My Best Friend” catchy. The piano melody reminds me of something out of “Little Shop of Horror’s.”
“Johnny Contender” is a rollicking honky-tonk bar-blues song. It starts off with a yell, and rolls right along with a confident swagger. The chorus is harmonized too, but strangely does not detract from the momentum or the image of the song. The end of the song brings out a “Bad to the Bone” bass section.
“Reason for Love” is a harmonica driven Big Star or ELO power pop song with a very catchy bass hook, and harmonized vocal melody. It is a little bit like the verse to Steve Miller Band’s “Rock n’ Me’.”
“I Need A Million” is a fast, rocking, near-classic rock / glam song with melodically manic lyrics. The song is driven by the fact that it keeps on building, and never finds that release.

“It's Alright, It's OK” wades into the bluesy pub rock pool with a soulful guitar and pulsating rhythm. It evolves into what could be a Journey song by the time it gets to the chorus.
“I'm Awake” starts out exactly like another song I reviewed called “Hang On” by Axe. It has a bouncy piano and bass beat. But this song has a 60’s garage rock feel to it, accented by the harmonized backing vocals that give it a little psychedelic twist.
“Round & Round” is a bit slow, gloomy and reflective in the beginning, sounding like a sad story song. Actually it reminded me of Sound Garden for some reason. But as the song moves forward, the vocals and chorus are more rooted in true classic rock, not alternative’s filter of classic rock. Actually there is one little vocal twist that reminds me of David Bowie. So there is a bit of a Glam quality to it too. The last instrumental minute of the song features a freak out on a bluesy organ sounding keyboard.
“It's Just the Truth” starts with the same drum beat from The Box Top’s “Letter.” But the song begins with the chorus, a harmonized poppy hook that reminds me of Jellyfish. Even the lead vocals sound just like Jellyfish, especially when the vocals get excited and energetic. Ok, so it sounds a lot like Badfinger too, but that’s just because there is a whole string of similar sounding bands.
“Get Outa My Way” begins like Pinball Wizard. Then it really kicks into garage rock mode. And it also reminds me of Soul Asylum’s “Get on Out” when it hits the chorus. With Rolling Stones backing “Do-Do-Do’s”

Stand Out Track: It's Just the Truth

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(the) Elevators - Frontline

Name: (the) Elevators
Album: Frontline
Year: 1980
Style: Powerpop, New Wave
Similar Bands: Cars, Hawks, ELO, Dire Straits, Tom Petty, Richard Marx
"One-Word" Review: 80's Personality Disorder
Based Out Of: Pioneer Valley / Boston

Frontline - Cover & Record

Frontline - Back & Record

Frontline(1980)

1. Frontline 3:21
2. Girlfriend's Girlfriend 2:52
3. Stop The World 3:03
4. Stickball Kids 3:37
5. Lie Detector 2:32
6. Don't Let Me Die 3:29 /
7. Tropical Fish 3:09
8. Lies 3:22
9. Johnny Train Your Mind 2:56
10. Friends 3:16
11. On the Wire 3:57
    

Album Rating (1-10): 8.0

Members/Other Bands:

Tom Myers - Vox, Keys (Bailey Brothers Band)

Earle Mankey - Producer, Engineer (Sparks, The Pop)

William Benjamin - Drums, Vox (Fat)

Jerry Ellis - Bass

Zonder Kennedy - Vox, Guitars (Bailey Brothers Band)

John Clark - Guitars, Vox (Bailey Brothers Band)

Tori Swenson - Engineer
Irwin-Dresner Mgmt - Direction
Ria Lewerke-Shapiro/Grafis - Art Direction
Lanning Stern - Design & Illustration
Gary Regester - Photography

Unknown-ness: I’ve never heard of these guys. From the generic football clip-art cover design and the group photo on the back, it would appear they are trying to position themselves somewhere between jock-rock and Madness. But some of the clothing styles on the back point to new wave, and with this being from 1980, I definitely wanted to take a chance on it. I’m guessing it will be more pedestrian than Madness, but probably more interesting than Reo Speedwagon or Loverboy.

Album Review: “Frontline” starts off with a pulsing guitar alarm beat, and a bass beat that makes me think this will be a disco song, or perhaps The Four Seasons “December ’63 (Oh What a Night).” But then the nasally vocals that are an immediate match for Ric Ocasek singing a bit like David Byrne with a disjointed verse, partially with a spoken cadence. The chorus brings in the synth and a harmonized chorus chanting “Frontline” with ELO falsettos mixed in the background as well.
“Girlfriend's Girlfriend” revs up, and feels like a mix between the Cars and Dire Straits. It is a catchy hook for the chorus, and a nah-nah, sing song keyboard hook. Then there is a bridge after the chorus that features a more anxious, higher pitch vocal that reminds me of Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309.” For the instrumental, there is a nice loud pub rock guitar. And the song finishes out with about a minute of repeating the chorus and a fade. This is a great 80’s pop song, featuring lots of examples of typical, dated production.
“Stop the World” begins boldly with a drum and an in your face bass line. The verse moves along like Dire Straits “Money for Nothing.” The chorus, singing “Stop the world, I want to get off” feels like it is just a half baked version of the previous song’s chorus. But the singer mixes in an urgent, nervous and anxious, high energy output along side a confident smooth performance. They mix together as if he’s trying to figure out his emotions.
“Stickball Kids” is more of a folky, middle-American Tom Petty type story-song. It has a darker, sinister bass line that gives it a gritty feel. All in all it has a Graham Parker singer/songwriter quality to it.
“Lie Detector” brings more powerpop and Americana rock to the album than new wave. The verse rushes to the chorus, only to slow down
“Don't Let Me Die” continues the vibe set by “Stop the World” a gritty, dark alley pub rock song. This song has higher pitched, almost like a light-metal sound, like Richard Marx or something. They try to make it more new wavish with their choice of synth keys, but the melody creates such a gloomy, that it cannot break free from the Americana vibe.

“Tropical Fish” has a bit of a Devo feel to it initially, but the rock guitar wipes the nervous, mechanical jitteriness that makes the best Devo songs, and the mood is replaced by a Dire Straits & Cars blend of pop-wave sound again.
“Lies” has a dark Cars “Let the Good Times Roll” sound, mixed with a juvenile Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack feel. The vocals are a little wavering, and there is are a barrage of new wave synth tones in the song, but they follow the slow rhythm of the song, rather than creating fast pace fun hooks.
“Johnny Train Your Mind” is more angular and a cleverly arranged song. There is a lot of pauses and empty space in the verse, which creates the feeling that everything will come crashing down at some point in a positive way. And in the chorus, the instruments align and it becomes solid and catchy. The vocals are very Cars like again here, with a deep throated, nasally tone.
“Friends” has a prog beginning with weird time signatures. This is quickly abandoned for a typical driving new wave beat. There is another odd section where the Cars type vocals are swapped out by a voice that is basically spoken through a megaphone, cutting out the highs and lows, giving a lo-fi but loud section. This is a fun song to follow along with as it never really gives up the driving momentum, and continues to roller coaster along the trip.
“On the Wire” starts with a slowish prodding, methodic drum beat and alarm-sounding keyboard. The bridge into the chorus builds nicely from the verse. The chorus completely breaks out of the minimalism and flirts with Arena Rock production.

Stand Out Track: Girlfriend's Girlfriend

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Nervus Rex - s/t

Name: Nervus Rex
Album: s/t
Year: 1980
Style: New Wave
Similar Bands: B-52's, Devo, A's, Bananarama, Squeeze, Daves
"One-Word" Review: Smooth Wave
Based Out Of: NYC

s/t - Cover & Record

s/t - Back & Record

Nervus Rex (1980)

1. There She Goes 2:45
2. Go Go Girl 3:35
3. Spies 2:29
4. Real Life 3:29
5. Start from the Start 3:02/
6. The God Sheila 3:36
7. Don't Look 4:00
8. The Incredible Crawling Eye 3:40
9. Nobody Told Me 3:18
10. Venus 1:54

Album Rating (1-10): 9.0

Members & Other Bands:
Shawn Brighton - Vox, Guitar (the Puppets)
Lauren Agnelli - Vox, Keys, Guitar (writer: Trixie A. Balm, Washington Squares)
Jonathan Lee Gildersleeve - Drums (Ohio Express)
Dianne Athey - Bass, Design (The Riddles)
Commander Mike Chapman - Producer
Doug Schwartz - Engineer
Steve Hall- Mastering
Glenn Ross - Art Direction
Tim Owens - Design
Moshe Brakha - Photography

Unknown-Ness: I’ve never heard of this band, but from the artwork, the brilliant colors, the electricity in the name, and their clothing, I am super excited to review this record, in hopes that this is the type of new wave record I always hope for. I assume it is new wave; hopefully with angsty neurotic (nervous) vocals and angular catchy pop hooks. The name, image and year are spot on.

Album Review: “There She Goes” starts boldly off with a bouncy bass note repeated to give the nervous beat. The vocals are smooth and catchy. The keyboard in the background has a great organ sound to it. The chorus is very catchy with a pounding, urgent feeling. The verse repeats over and over, but it is so catchy that it is quite desirable. This is a great example of new wave music from this era. It even features female vocals in the background.
“Go Go Girl” has an 80’s radio pop guitar sound, and the tempo and rhythm of the song is like the Ramones, where the same tone is carried out at different levels. But the production is much smoother. The chorus has a dark and secretive tone. The title is revisited at the end of the song with a revised melody that loops and goes off like a siren, like the end of Elvis Costello’s “Accident’s Will Happen”
“Spies” a male/female harmonized vocal starts off the song repeating “the spies.” Then the song bounces right off the handle. It is all the great elements of nervous, anxious, and rushed. It drives and is a rollercoaster of pitch, with the chorus driving right down the musical scale. This reminds me of the Daves.
“Real Life” first feels like the B-52’s with a bit of surf guitar. But the melody is disjointed and rollicking along, more like Devo. It is a constantly building melody that never quite reaches the boiling over point. The chorus, once it is reached, simply simmers down, never giving a satisfying delivery. But this song’s vocal production is incredibly smooth, also featuring female vocals in the background.“Start from the Start” features a blip beeping like a heart monitor in the beginning. This offers the tempo. This is a female sung new wave song, not quite as free-natured as a B-52’s song, but in tight mechanical control. This is a song that builds up and resets, also one that does not offer a satisfying delivery. It ends with the same pulsing blip.

“The God Shelia” starts with a familiar set of tones, but is sung in the same style of real life: incredibly smooth. It has one basic stanza that is only elevated in tone to make the chorus. But it is the same couple of rising and falling sections repeated through out. It is a little repetitive and simplistic, but that does not make it a horrible song. The changing tones are fun to follow along with. On a side note, I’ve been watching the League, so I cannot stop picturing their god of praise on the show, Shiva.
“Don't Look” was apparently their big single on an earlier release, re-recorded here. It feels a little less jumpy and neurotic until the bass kicks in and the song reaches the chorus. It uses the creative lyric structure saying “Don’t look at me that way” which evolves into the opposite phrasing of “Look At Me That Way.” The verse is more pub rock than new wave.
“The Incredible Crawling Eye” is by far, the most campy and creative of the tracks. It combines the surf guitar style of many B-Horror Movies with a storyline about going to see a stupid B-Horror-Movie all the while advertising the movie to the listener. The verse is built on a call & response with the female vocals answering or elaborating on the lead vocals commentary. This is a very B-52’s, fun song. In the middle of the song, we actually hear from the Eye itself, via use of vocal manipulation and distortion, including a wacky laugh from the eye.
“Nobody Told Me” also is rooted in oldies rock and roll, with a bit of a surf guitar overlapping a jangly guitar, and a bouncy bass beat. This song builds up with a smooth let down, such is the production style.
“Venus” is a cover of the song, made more popular a few years later by Bananarama. It is pretty true to The Shocking Blue’s original, minus the honky tonk, with a female vocals, a nice organ & surf Guitar enhancement. It sounds like a version that ? & the Mysterians might have done, just a little quicker and tightened up.

Stand Out Track: There She Goes

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Lesser Known Neutrinos - New Language

Name: Lesser Known Neutrinos
Album: New Language:
Year: 2007
Style: Acid, Prog, World
Similar Bands: Tub Ring, World/Inferno Friendship Society, Cows, Beru Revue, X
"One-Word" Review: Trippy Renaissance Punk
Based Out Of: West Philly

New Language: Cover, Insert, Record

New Language: Inside, Lyrics, Record

New Language (2007)

1. Phantom Cargo 3:48
2. Psychic Studies 4:50
3. Hell's Reflection 3:23
4. Warm December Days 4:32/
5. Inheritor 3:52
6. Legacy 3:46
7. New Language 3:34
8. Stasis 6:42

Album Rating (1-10): 5.5

Member & Other Bands:

Tony Cesa - Bass, ARP Odyssey, Sequencial Circuts, Pro One Synths, Vox (Sgnls, John Denver's Airplane)
Paul Walker - Guitar, Yamaha AM1X, Korg M3R Synths, Insert Layout (Sgnls)

Monica Pasquinelli - Drums, Cover Art (Vulgar Remedies)

Eleanor Buffam - Electir Viola, Vocal

Steve Roche - Mixed, Mastered, Recording

Erik Ruin - Printing

Sean Fenton - Insert Photography

Unknown-ness: I’ve never heard of this band, but I love the homemade nature of the album cover printed/stamped/sick screened on the cardboard, twice, I believe, because the inside try was blurry. The artwork has a cold, bleak landscape, with a bomb cloud rising into the name. So what kind of music will this be? I’m guessing Indie Rock with a cold edge.

Album Review: “Phantom Cargo” has a distorted guitar riffing through some noteless chords. Then a gothic piano adds a dark vibe, and the song begins to feel like a World/Inferno Friendship Society song. There are competing male and female vocals that are harmonized in an odd way. Later some psychedelic swirling synth sounds are layered over the buzzing guitar, which reminds me of the band Tub Ring. The vocal style is very progressive, like dark crooning metal.
“Psychic Studies” starts off with a fast paced punk guitar hook. A viola is layered over top, and then the male vocals start. They are the same as the first song, singing in cadence with the drums, and occasionally belting out a note at the end of a stanza. Also thrown in for genre-confusing are hard-core/emo screams. But a buzzing organ carries the song on its back. It’s a noise that you can’t tell is there at first, but when you do, it becomes all you hear. There is an earthy, space, new age breakdown mid song with a very dark sorcery, Black Sabbath vibe. The song winds down in this section, before rebooting and kicking back into the chorus of singing and isolated screams.
“Hell's Reflection” starts with a chamber music production of strings, echoing as if a cold, stone conservatory. The feed-back guitar is back to insert a note or two here or there, and the anxious vocals are peppered with one-off screams for emo reasons. But the song still feels like it could be a gothic W/IFS song. It changes gears as it goes further into song, and takes on a driving, Gang of Four vocal quality. The song winds down with quick surges of guitars and specks of stings a final mushroom cloud that gives way to the next song seamlessly.
“Warm December Days” begins lightly with a sad Balkan violin sound backed by what sounds like a mandolin. The vocals are half sun, half chanted to the swaying tempo. It feels very renaissance fare-ish. As it almost loses all musical form, and flirts with bad opera. This reminds me a little of Beru Revue for some reason. It really becomes taxing, and barely listenable in its minimal production.

“Inheritor” starts with some odd moog sounds, squirting up and down. The singing is muted in the background at first, and sounds like the hard core Tub Ring songs. And then female vocals give it a go at the same pace and melody, reminding me a bit of Sleater-Kinney. Eventually they are overlapped together. This is just a quirky, weird hard core version of something I’d expect to hear from Forbidden Zone musically. There is a middle breakdown of fast singing the same phrase over and over again, that melts down into yahhhs. The electronic synths wind down, and the end of the song is full of tweeting and static ebbing and flowing, ending in a flat line.
“Legacy” is a heavy display of Prog. Then both male and female vocals take their own individual approaches of speed and melody, seldomly overlapping, which reminds me of X. It has an urgency and intensity, while using some B-horror movie sound effects and instrumentation.
“New Language” combines Dexy’s Midnight Runners celtic strings with a driving punk rhythm. The buzzing guitar nearly drowns out the female vocals, and is mixed up way to far. The time signature changes, and a slow trudging stomp with wavering synth comes forth, covered with male vocals, sung in a very dark vibe. Then the DMR section comes back, but is drown out by the discordant, random, angular guitar mess. Nothing seems to match up at this point. And, as the other instruments give up, the guitar gets more and more staticy until the song just peters out.
“Stasis” is an instrumental (for 3 minutes) with a slow, reflective tempo created by strings, the annoying static guitar, and a slow, stumbling drum beat. It staggers on and on and mourning guitar solos. The vocals, with an X style of harmony, come on in a high pitch singing style that further adds to the sorrow of the song. Nothing ever really changes or expands from this singular vision of a funeral march until the last minute, the pace picks up and they give you one last bit of punk with an eerie moog effect in the background that has a fake ghost sound, a sound of a Halloween decoration.

Stand Out Track: Phantom Cargo

Links:

No.Libs Split 7 inch

Live Photo Set

SGNLS

Bandmind

Chromatics - Cavecare EP

Name: Chromatics
Album: Cavecare EP
Year: 2002
Style: Post-Punk, Lo-Fi
Similar Bands: Enon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Coachwhips, Glass Candy, Liars
"One-Word" Review: Distorted-Angular-Demos
Based Out Of: Seattle Wa

Cavecare - Cover & Record

Cavecare - Cover & Liner Notes & Trackless Record back

Cavecare EP (2002)

1. Cavecare 2:00
2. Steps 2:17
3. Arms Wither Away 1:37
4. Trnbrrd 1:22
5. Beach of Infants 2:35
6. Jesus 3:30

Album Rating (1-10): 7.0

Members & Other Bands:
Adam Miller
Devin Welch - Guitar
Michelle Nolan - Bass (Straylight Run, Taking Back Sunday, Destry)
Hannah Blilie - Drummer (Gossip, Shoplifting, Sarah Dougher, Stiletto, Mr Yuk, The Lumpies, Vade, The Vogue, Soiled Doves)
Aaron Coyes - Recording

Unknown-ness: I’ve never heard of this band, but I love the cover art, the basic color scheme, the angular presentation, and the randomness of the logo. I realize it is an EP only, but I imagine it will either be good punk or angular rock.

Album Review: This EP is only on one side of the record, as the other side is just a trackless piece of plastic.

“Cavecare” starts with a dark thudding bass beat and constant drum beat. The vocals are completely distorted as if sung through an un-tuned TV set. But random angular guitar notes are played along with the side to side rhythm as the track ends.
“Steps” is more heads down & driving with a looping guitar hook, pounding drum & cymbal beat and more angular guitars in the bridge, which continue through out the song. The vocals are just as distorted and lo-fi as the first track, but altogether, this song is more cohesive.
“Arms Wither Away” starts with the distorted vocals and mid-pace drum beat. Then heavy angular guitars are added in a sing song manner.
“Trnbrrd” starts out musically just like The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s song “Black Tongue.” And at first the vocals sound like a very distorted Rolling Stones, but the devolve to something Enon would create. I wish this song were longer, it is a good little snippet.
“Beach of Infants” begins with distorted feed back guitars and a plodding, dragging drum beat. The vocals sound whiney in there distorted nature. There is a surprisingly uplifting guitar hook after the first verse, but the vocals come in and yell and whine over the slowish tempo.
“Jesus” has an echoing drum beat, and a dark, murky feed back-like bass line. The five note musical procession, almost like a military drum beat, marches on as the vocals take their own emo-screeching, distorted path over the repetitive music. It reminds me a bit of Early, Early Ween. I mean Synth Socks Ween.

Standout Track: Trnbrrd

Links:
Last FM

Punk for Peace
ebullition
Discogs
Wiki
Pitchfork Links
Echo Park

allmusic