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Review: |
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This is the debut release from the well-titled Creative Capitalism record label out of Baltimore. For their initial release they chose the band Ponytail.
There are 2 guitarists here, Ken Seeno and Dustin Wong, and they do a smashing job. Backing them up is drummer Jeremy Hyman, and he really keeps the beat moving. This is punky angry stuff. Molly Siegel, the vocalist, was recorded down the hall, down two flights of stairs, and in a concrete room illuminated by only one naked light bulb on a cord. And even that doesn't do enough to suppress the vocals. Let me transcribe what, as far as i can tell, is a typical vocal for a Ponytail song:
"YOWL!!!! Yip yip. Gurgle. Ie-ie-ie-ie..."
Yeah. She screams in a high-pitched and discordant manner over this interesting
music. Fortunately, she is poorly recorded. Unfortunately, i can still hear
too much of the vocals. The music isn't really interesting enough to carry
itself with out a vocal to focus on. With better vocals (and pretty much anything
could be better), this could have been a pretty cool little EP. As is, well,
i consider it unlistenable. I sat through this thing twice while trying to
review it, and that feat required some serious willpower on my part.
I understand that Siegel is simply trying to push boundaries, to do something
new and different. I also understand that without people doing radically different
and weird things, music doesn't progress. Heck, i own (and enjoy) Autechre CDs!
But this... Well, you know, some experiments do fail, and you can still
learn from a failed experiment.
Still, i bet there are some people out there who would enjoy this, like those
who emjoy so-called "No Wave" or "difficult listening music". Unfortunately
i tend to find such people to be as irritating as the music they enjoy, so
i do not know if any of them will ever read this. Oh well. I think that the
average EvilSponge reader (if there even is such a thing), who enjoys catchy
indie rock, shoegazery guitars, and garagey beats will find the music moderately
interesting and the vocals unbearably irritating.
Fortunately, (or unfortunately, depending on how much this EP annoys you) when i try to do internet research on the band all of their links now point to a new act, Low Moda. The new act appears to have a very different sound (more avante, less rock), but with less irritating vocals.
Whatever. This just isn't my thing.
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