Grim Fandango serve up another helping of their own version of alt-pop-core (is that even a genre?) with their new 7 inch EP - In The Rough. With two songs on the EP plus a free download code for those and 3 more and coming in under $10 the record is good value for money.
The A-side “Modern Aliens” is a great example of how Grim push the envelope with catchy pop sounds laced with Tom’s trademark vocals. There is, as always, some intricate guitar work and some nice sing along parts for good measure. Sounding different from their 2011 full length Birthmark Blues their effortless maturity and progression is evident but not forced.
On the B-side Grim have given a song much more resemblant of the Birthmark Blues record with that full sound and layers of vocals and majestic guitar work that makes you feel like you’re in the room with them. “Clear Lines” is also incredible live and will quickly become a crowd favourite at the bands intense live shows.
The other three songs- “Switch”, “I’d be Corin” and “In The Rough” – round out the EP nicely with more progression in the song structure and writing as further evidence of the bands ability to expand their boundaries to keep things fresh and exciting without alienating old fans and all the while recruiting more to the cause.
“Switch” is dominated by Tom’s prodigious vocals over subtle guitar work at the start of the song before it speeds up and is filled out. The song certainly “burns like a candle” in the dark of most music being released these days.
Burgs pops up again on “I’d Be Corin” and his unique sound (if you can actually call it that) is a fresh change from most vocals going around. It brings the song together well and makes for a fun intermezzo from Tom’s more intense vocal sound.
“In The Rough” is a little more epic and almost branches at times into an alt-country sound only to be railed back in so as to not scare any of the older fans too much.
Grim Fandango are glowing as a band both on record and live, this record is just another example of that. The band is constantly maturing their sound and moving more and more into a group that can’t be pigeon holed into one genre or another. For fans of Archers of Loaf and Sebadoh; In The Rough is available in black, beer or bone coloured vinyl through the Poison City Records webstore.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Review: Suburban and Coke - It's My Party And I'll Get High If I Want To
Everyones favourite party band Suburban and Coke (featuring Kian, Burgs and Chancock) bring you their first packet of tasty pop-punk with the aptly titled “It's My Party And I'll Get High If I Want To.” Featuring members of hall of fame punks from Perth, Western Australia (from bands including Chilling Winston, Grim Fandango and Burning Fiction) the band puts the DUI in DIY with this free 13 track record (available at their bandcamp page).
Recorder in one day at the famed “Warren” and mixed and mastered by local legend Harry Decline the sound is surprisingly well compiled while still maintaining the DIY/"we have no money" type sound. This self-released record is already putting it’s hand up for a bunch of industry awards and is my tip for a WAMI in 2012.
Kicking off with the 7-second ode to Burgs favourite type of music (he “loves Slayer”) “Are You Into 80’s Thrash-Death Metal” you get a good idea what the record is about. It’s about having fun, lots of fun, fun fun fun! The record goes on to detail the sad loss of pop punk girls that have been converted to the dark side and no longer listen to the stuff we all grew up on but are now fans of Parkway Drive.
“Single Single” is one of the stand outs on the album emphasising the frustration that a young guy can go through when all he really wants is someone to hold him tight at night and whisper sweet nothings into his ear. When Burgs breaks into "I've asked out almost every single single girl I know and they all said nooooo" you just feel like he means it!
Mid record on "Dead To Jack 5" the band shows their roots with a touch of The Ramones and a whole lot of fun and really all they wanna know is "if you guys wanna hang out!?"
"Kidz In Da Park' is all about partying in the park with some kids (who'd have thought?) and features party gang vocals just the way they should be, gruff, fun and rough around the edges.
“Homesy” is brilliant. Skateboards, bongs, posters of Joe Strummer and Springstreen and you know they partied hard with Harry “passed out on the bathroom floor”. This reviewers personal favourite “Steve the Cat” is brilliant. Not taking themselves too seriously the lads have time to squeeze in a song about their lost friend.
Track after track of quality DIY pop punk with references to local punk rock haunts and hanging out with mates, taking the back streets to avoid the cops and singing old songs that the young kids don’t know, don’t forget all the "history ‘n’ shit" and getting wasted. This record will not disappoint and covers all bases.
DIY party punk the way it should be and at the right price (it's free ya cheap bastards!) 3 and a half stars!
Get it now at: http://suburbanandcoke.bandcamp.com/
Recorder in one day at the famed “Warren” and mixed and mastered by local legend Harry Decline the sound is surprisingly well compiled while still maintaining the DIY/"we have no money" type sound. This self-released record is already putting it’s hand up for a bunch of industry awards and is my tip for a WAMI in 2012.
Kicking off with the 7-second ode to Burgs favourite type of music (he “loves Slayer”) “Are You Into 80’s Thrash-Death Metal” you get a good idea what the record is about. It’s about having fun, lots of fun, fun fun fun! The record goes on to detail the sad loss of pop punk girls that have been converted to the dark side and no longer listen to the stuff we all grew up on but are now fans of Parkway Drive.
“Single Single” is one of the stand outs on the album emphasising the frustration that a young guy can go through when all he really wants is someone to hold him tight at night and whisper sweet nothings into his ear. When Burgs breaks into "I've asked out almost every single single girl I know and they all said nooooo" you just feel like he means it!
Mid record on "Dead To Jack 5" the band shows their roots with a touch of The Ramones and a whole lot of fun and really all they wanna know is "if you guys wanna hang out!?"
"Kidz In Da Park' is all about partying in the park with some kids (who'd have thought?) and features party gang vocals just the way they should be, gruff, fun and rough around the edges.
“Homesy” is brilliant. Skateboards, bongs, posters of Joe Strummer and Springstreen and you know they partied hard with Harry “passed out on the bathroom floor”. This reviewers personal favourite “Steve the Cat” is brilliant. Not taking themselves too seriously the lads have time to squeeze in a song about their lost friend.
Track after track of quality DIY pop punk with references to local punk rock haunts and hanging out with mates, taking the back streets to avoid the cops and singing old songs that the young kids don’t know, don’t forget all the "history ‘n’ shit" and getting wasted. This record will not disappoint and covers all bases.
DIY party punk the way it should be and at the right price (it's free ya cheap bastards!) 3 and a half stars!
Get it now at: http://suburbanandcoke.bandcamp.com/
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Punk Rock Engineering
So it’s a tough life for some. But not for me. I do pretty well for myself these days with a good paying job, a home of my own and a beautiful fiancé. It’s a long way from that angry kid I was in high school and university but it was pretty much inevitable. It’s hard when you have two paths in life, which are going in completely opposite directions, to not take the more socially acceptable one. The other place I could have been right now is rolling around in some third world type living conditions as I followed my love for punk rock around the world.
I still listen to the music I love but I’m finding it harder and harder to identify with it. As I sit here typing away at this stupid waste of time webpage and listening to Joyce Manor I think to myself, “am I ever going to be that angry about something so small? Are issues like that ever going to affect me?” I really don’t know, I just can’t say I do. But who cares right? If I love it, does it really matter if I fit the mould? Isn’t that what punk rock is, not fitting into a mould? Who cares!?
Maybe there needs to be a new (another one!) genre within the punk rock bubble. I’ll call it “suit punk!” It’s where the music sounds the same and we’re still as angry as before but now it’s about our issues. It’ll be about taxes and interest rates, mortgage repayments and the current exchange rate. It’ll have lines like “another 8 hour day in front of a computer, I hate the prime minister somebody shoot her, plotting graphs and stupid emails, another pay rise that pails, into nothing now my taxes are up, biggest problem, there’s no coffee in my cup!” or something way better than that but with the same idea. What do you think? Could we make it work? I need a drummer and a bassist. And a guitarist. You in? Call me!
I still listen to the music I love but I’m finding it harder and harder to identify with it. As I sit here typing away at this stupid waste of time webpage and listening to Joyce Manor I think to myself, “am I ever going to be that angry about something so small? Are issues like that ever going to affect me?” I really don’t know, I just can’t say I do. But who cares right? If I love it, does it really matter if I fit the mould? Isn’t that what punk rock is, not fitting into a mould? Who cares!?
Maybe there needs to be a new (another one!) genre within the punk rock bubble. I’ll call it “suit punk!” It’s where the music sounds the same and we’re still as angry as before but now it’s about our issues. It’ll be about taxes and interest rates, mortgage repayments and the current exchange rate. It’ll have lines like “another 8 hour day in front of a computer, I hate the prime minister somebody shoot her, plotting graphs and stupid emails, another pay rise that pails, into nothing now my taxes are up, biggest problem, there’s no coffee in my cup!” or something way better than that but with the same idea. What do you think? Could we make it work? I need a drummer and a bassist. And a guitarist. You in? Call me!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
It starts this week. Wait! It starts next week... or sometime after that.
So! I've decided that I want to write more fluid essay type posts with the aim of venting/developing my output. Maybe I will start this week, or next... or after that. We'll see....
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
word association
here's a list of words that are awesome...
beijing
kayak
material
paronomasia
nape
i'm bored, can you tell?
beijing
kayak
material
paronomasia
nape
i'm bored, can you tell?
Friday, July 23, 2010
benifits of thinking out loud
hey look another post! killing it!
i'm listening to a wilhelm scream right now. shit they're awesome!
so it's been a little while since i last posted. what's new? the king is dead... and now we have a queen. that's interesting...
i dunno. i'm just procrastinating at work right now. working 5 to 9 ya know?. it's how i roll.
i really wanna go for a surf. it's been forever. not cool. or a skate. a skate would be rad too. but then i'd die while we're young. you know. you get it right.
i always wondered if i had to explain to someone (or something) what the world was if i'd use pictures? or a single picture... is there a picture of the world out there?
so i'm still in love with a beautiful girl. disease, that's what it's like, a disease. she has infected me. she is sooo awesome. probably not a good simile but hey it fits the vein right?
i feel like i've become more pretentious of late... not as much as morrissey though. he'd still win. he's like the undertaker in that wrestling show. jsut unbeatable...
how good would it be if everyone on the earth got a whole month of weekends... wait. people work on saturdays hey... a month of sundays! get that in ya! and if ya did have to work! hello huge pay day for double time and a half! boom!
anyways...
go out there and get mad (you son of a bitch!)
oh pardon me, thanks a lot for reading
i'm listening to a wilhelm scream right now. shit they're awesome!
so it's been a little while since i last posted. what's new? the king is dead... and now we have a queen. that's interesting...
i dunno. i'm just procrastinating at work right now. working 5 to 9 ya know?. it's how i roll.
i really wanna go for a surf. it's been forever. not cool. or a skate. a skate would be rad too. but then i'd die while we're young. you know. you get it right.
i always wondered if i had to explain to someone (or something) what the world was if i'd use pictures? or a single picture... is there a picture of the world out there?
so i'm still in love with a beautiful girl. disease, that's what it's like, a disease. she has infected me. she is sooo awesome. probably not a good simile but hey it fits the vein right?
i feel like i've become more pretentious of late... not as much as morrissey though. he'd still win. he's like the undertaker in that wrestling show. jsut unbeatable...
how good would it be if everyone on the earth got a whole month of weekends... wait. people work on saturdays hey... a month of sundays! get that in ya! and if ya did have to work! hello huge pay day for double time and a half! boom!
anyways...
go out there and get mad (you son of a bitch!)
oh pardon me, thanks a lot for reading
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