Labels: All Star
Review by: Nadia Almashoor
A debut release from All Star. This comes in a retro-ish screen printed cover that made me think of the records my parents owned. Before I dive into the music, a big shout outs to Two Faced Distro. One of the most efficient services ever. (and I got a free zine, too. whoo hoo!) This 12″ appears in a slab of 220 grams of white vinyl. And other than that, and the record sleeve, there are zero inserts. Zilch. Not even a track listing. This is bad when you open the packaging for Bread & Circuits 1st. If you know nothing of B&C, I urge you to read the review now. NOW. Go on. One side here shows a little leaf or what seems to be a leaf, the other with the numbers 1979. So I started with 1979. Coz that’s my favourite year. (go figure) Starting out with R2D2 quirkiness, late 80’s synthesizer influences and lo-fi vocals ala early Grifters, (refer to “One Sock Missing’ by Grifters) etc I’m guessing it’s TRK (and I was right.) And just as their band name suggests, their work is killing. “if only if only if I have half of what it takes, this world is on its knees.” Whoa. Track after track I couldn’t get enough. Perfect party music to get you shaking in no time. #4 is a winner. It gets you totally mislead. Just when you thought you’re heading west, TRK slides you east then down south up north and in circles sky rocketing all over the place, letting you fall but instead of crying, you’ll end up desperately demanding for more such “brutality’. Band comparisons: A bit of Sweep The Leg Johnny, a bit of Hal Al Shedad, a bit of We Ragazzi but sounding nothing like any of these bands either. And then there is Lovesick. (I was told they were reminiscent of Native Nod. Being a big fan of the Nod, I was excited.) And then there is the music. Which is awesome. A bit alterna – college – rock at times. Not exactly like the Nod at all. And then there is the vocals. Which is just so fucking annoying! At least the Kinsella men got away with it in Cap’n Jazz/Joan of Arc…blah blah but what the hell is Lovesick trying to do? Mixed with frustration and devastation I had to remove the needle from the record. Someone save me please. So I was told the autistic drummer from the band is doing the vocals. How far this is true, I don’t know. But so what? That isn’t changing my mind. Singing about falling in and out love. Yes, like as if I don’t get enough of it already from The Get Up Kids. I reassured myself to have a listen to it again this morning. My mind changes 979 times a second so Lovesick could be in luck. Too bad. So sad. Apart from track 5, it’s not working. They’ve received good receptions from their live performances but I’ve not seen them live. So until then, they score 3 upon ten. 10 points for This Robot Kills minus 1.5 points for no inserts. (Oh sue me for being a sucker for such trivial stuff.)