YOUNG
WIDOWS- Old Wounds (Temporary Residence Ltd.)
David Spade: “Yeah, I heard Young Widows.
But I liked them better when they were still
called Fugazi.”
Audience Laughter.
Yuks aside, folks, something real keen is
going on with this record. All the credit
in the world will go to famed producer of
all things heavy, Kurt Ballou. And deservedly
so, as the combination of live performances
and studio recordings is ingenious in its
design and subsequently brilliant execution,
allowing for a particularly dense and penetrating
bass to act almost as a lead instrument.
The Fugazi quip is based mostly in this heavy
bass and the all-of-a-sudden guitars throughout
the album, and hey – those are some
of the best elements of both Fugazi and Young
Widows, who employ the dynamic very much on
their own stylish accord. Young Widows successfully
add a little bit of soaring noise rock to
the hardcore-ish mix, which helps sidestep
the obvious pitfalls of hardcore clichés:
of always going with the damn screaming of
their lyrics when it would just be better
to sing, seeming like a bunch of jocks who
hate hooks and love their bros, etc.
Overall, Old Wounds is a sonically challenging
record that booms and ballasts, without ever
aping its very much ape-able influences. Noble
effort, well-written tunes, and well worth
a purchase. Even if the SNL joke went right
over your head. - Robert M. Delap
ATTACK!
ATTACK! UK – Attack! Attack! (Rock Ridge
Music)
A lot can be said for an “up-and-coming”
rock band that sounds this well polished and
possesses such a timely, though fleeting,
image. Unfortunately for them, most of what
will be said will be either, “I feel
like I’ve heard this song and dance
before” or something along the lines
of “zOMGzz XxX i luv U guyzX”
– yikes.
I’m no crazed, teenaged MySpace girl
myself, so I’m left to just say that
there isn’t really much going on here.
Attack! Attack!, hailing from the UK, embody
the gold standard of mediocre, every-band
emo rock. Their riffing is certainly catchy
enough as to elicit a quick bop of the head,
yet is instantaneously forgot, the progressions
essentially sounding like thinly veiled reworkings
of the same bad idea. The vocals are of the
Fallout Boy/Panic at the Disco school of regrettable
yelping, and well, that is what it is.
The boys certainly have their moments, perhaps
most notably the stop-and-go guitar work on
the opening track, ‘Honesty.’
And the production is thoroughly exact, making
the record sound like one released by a band
already appropriately famous. But with Attack!
Attack!, sounding famous doesn’t necessarily
equate with sounding good. – Robert
M. Delap
FUN
HOGS – Party! EP (Bird Mouth Mouth Records)
You know what’s really fun?
Going to house parties and putting back a
few with your pals, even though you don’t
know whose house it is that you’re in.
And when that girl from high school walks
in, who you haven’t seen in a couple
years but still totally think is a babe, even
moreso because she got rid of that lame eyebrow
ring; man, you just know it’s on.
Or even just driving around with some buddies
in the back of your car at midnight and going
to the gas station to settle for ninety-nine
cent iced teas and burritos, because the good
twenty-four hour pizza place in town has the
creepy cashier tonight, and you’re not
trying to deal with that guy again.
Or rockin’. Driving really fast on
the way home from work when Cheap Trick comes
howling from your radio – that would
rule. And the band practice when you and the
drummer and his weird bassist friend (who
you’ve been actively trying to replace)
decide to stop only doing Clash covers, and
to start writing some of your own damn songs.
Fun Hogs’ debut EP, Party!, probably
arose from storylines like that. Nothing new
here, really -- just the same tried and true
formula of trashy pop punking about girls
and books and cheap beers and going crazy.
From the scene that brings you Be My Doppelganger
and Dick Genius & the Shithouse Rats,
Fun Hogs give one last reason to crank up
the stereo and act like an idiot.
And that’s fun pretty fun, no? - Robert
M. Delap
CD
Reviews by Robert M. Delap
