Labels: Jade Tree Records
Review by: Tony Era
You may or may not have heard about Boss Tuneage’s proposed re-vamp. Basically the label wants to cut down on releases and concentrate on bands that are still around, touring and making music, notably Blocko, K-line, The Milwaukees, Southpaw and thankfully Despitado.
This release came as a big surprise as I was expecting pop-punk or emotional rock, as was the norm from Boss Tuneage. Despitado are an emo band my friend albeit of the kind that I have wished would come along for the past two years. Now then, forgive me if I can’t make this clear but I’ll do my best. Music and genres go through changes and you end up with generations of a style notably in emo. Despitado play a Midwestern style of emo but it is a second generation take on things.
All the stuff you would expect is here. Sung/screamed vocals, twinkles, all over the place drums, wandering bass lines, octave chords and those elusive yet ever sweet midwestern melodies. However, its all done in a fashion that is just remarkably “new”. It hails back to the past and looks forward to the future in equal measure and the inventiveness of it all is something I find out of my reach to accurately describe. The best I can do is band comparisons which include Kossabone Red, At the Drive-In, EARLY Get Up Kids and a bit of Braid. Its fast, slow, poppy, heavy “” it’s great!
Also the artwork is sublime, pictures of a black and white camera and film and not a capital letter in sight! This all adds up to something I have prayed for. Emo got big, get over it but the “tr00″ (sic) scene survived and has got stronger and stronger. However, Despitado really take the genre to a different place, not a re-hashed place of the same traditional ideas but an actual progression for the genre. This is only a £3 ep but seriously you have to get it, trust me. If this was a self released seven inch you would be fighting over a copy so ignore the label and format and just get it. If you don’t then you obviously don’t want emo to go somewhere new.