Ha, if this band didn’t personally tell you they were from San Diego you could at least hazard a guess. I have a feeling these folks are going to be pretty damn popular. And for good reason. They are a highly good band. And have it be known that they sass to a stupidly high degree – my tolerance for sass is very low – yet this CD I enjoy an awful lot.
I have the Plot’s split 7″ with Necktie Party (and preferred the NP songs on that if the truth be told), but here tPtBUtET (I really love that name) have taken their sound to the next level. They intersperse their groove laden rock with some utterly smooth jazz moments (more of which as this review progresses) which brings about a nice contrast in styles. One moment they are busting out some dance-ridden San Diego grooves (perhaps, Clikatat Ikatowi), then they get all jazz on our arses. Or asses. Whichever. And not in a contrived way whatsoever. “Sometimes I Wish I’d Lost A Leg” (CWV-esque title!) is a bombastic spazz out with a killer sax part right in the middle. Don them dancing shoes my friend! And take to the floor. This is some seriously catchy stuff. It’s quite peculiar as every now and again they can sound right angry and HARDCORE, like Hail Mary (i.e. Born Against) then suddenly they up their IQ’s by whipping out a sax or two and inspiring you to tap a toe in their general direction. There are tracks on here that seriously loosen my limbs up into crazy shapes.
13 songs in total and it clocks in at under two minutes a track in average, which gives you some idea as to how hyperactive this band are. It’s certainly really neat when they slide out of some quickfire rock and morph into a Chicago jazz band all of a sudden. And at 25 or 26 minutes in total there is no way you could ever get bored of what’s going on here. This is a mightily fine dish of havoc, if they don’t split up (as original hardcore bands are wan to do) I am sure they will go on to innovate severely over the next few years and come up with even more creative (that’s the watchword here) and blistering tunes. So catch them in their infancy or catch them once everyone else has. Your call.