Their 2008 debut Street Horrrsing delivered a nice hypnotic mix of electronic textures that went widely ignored by the music community. I certainly could not blame it on their moniker. This band EASILY gets the award for best band name ever (sorry Hoobastank…you never had a chance). No, I blamed it on the fuzzed out screamo vocals that they interjected into their songs at the eight minute mark. Yeah, they like to go big dog on their song lengths. I guess that’d be strike two for many people.
The thing is some of those epic jams were pretty fantastic. “Sweet Love for Planet Earth” from their debut was one of my favorite songs of last year….till the vocals kicked in. I think they heard my complaints because these guys have stepped their game up. Their second release, Tarot Sport, delivers more of their signature sound, but now sans vocals! The less is more approach pays off as the music is streamlined and the band makes greater use of their electronic rhythms.
For those of you who didn’t download their debut and are looking for one sentence of pop culture imagery to describe their sound, here it is: Picture Battles sent into the future to go play a concert for Skynet.
This is either going to be a big hit with you or a big miss. There is no in between for this sound. That said do I like this CD? Yes. Are they any more accessible now? Ummm let me put it this way I don’t see this album’s lead single getting played before the start of the World Series next year. Maybe they should have gotten Alicia Keys to sing some hooks.
Highlights: “The Lisbon Maru,” “Olympians,” “Space Mountain,”
