Labels: Deep Elm
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Hmm, I don’t know if its because I am in the wrong mood or what, but this latest ’emo’ comp from Deep Elm seems slightly odd. Last time out, there were some truly fantastic bands to check out. This time, it seems like practically half of them are clones of Texas Is The Reason, the Get Up Kids, Christie Front Drive or the Promise Ring. Sometimes all of them at once. I can’t say that the songs are bad, they certainly aren’t, and it’s not a crime to sound a bit like other relatively popular bands, it’s just that there is a fair chance you’ll have heard it all before.
The other gripe I have is that emo bands are supposed to like ‘affect’ you, or something. And whilst the likes of Rainer Maria, the Promise Ring and the Gloria Record all can do funny things to me, all these bands just sound like bands really. Rock bands, that just happen to play their instruments way cooler than other rock bands. So whilst they go by the tag of emo-rock, I’d think twice before saying they were emotive. Emotional, yup, they shout a bit, and are distressed, but even I can do that. WAAARGH! *cry*. See.
OK, band by band, here is what we have.
Starmarket – not sure how to categorise their rock – a mix of a poppy and hardcore emo sound, but certainly one of this comp’s best bands. features some cool high pitched vocals. catchy to the max. should be huge
Planes Mistaken For Stars – some standard emo rock, with some shouting and some crying to make them sound different. hmm. decent track though. nice fast/slow/fast/slow bits
Penfold – sort of acousticy intro, ploughs into a chunky and repetetive hardcore riff and a song that sounds like 1000 other bands. at least they do it well
the Saddest Girl Story – erm, this is Texas Is The Reason on their less hardcore efforts
Cross My Heart – pretty moody, builds up into noisy and powerful, yet poppy chorus, built around the slower rest of the song. I like, though they borrow the Promise Ring guitar sound at times
Sweep The Leg Johnny – ooh, ooh! band that sounds like themselves instead of someone else. way more poppy than their Postmarked Stamps song, and very cool indie rockin’ stuff, with occasional shouting
Schema – hey, a Brit band! and they are doing something different. sort of dark and repetetive guitar, with talky vocals. reminds me a bit of Cable in a way. one of the best here
Ultramagg – what are the Get Up Kids doing on here?
Speedwell – in case you’ve forgotten what the Promise Ring sounded like when they started out, Speedwell are here to remind you, but their singer is not so fun
Psara – nice and slow to start with, sort of Minerally, then explodes into loud chorus. repeat. singer sounds unhappy. formulaic but rockin’
Biblical Proof of UFOs – just a rocky instrumental, don’t see the point to be honest
Chase Theory – plodding rock band, decent thick bass guitar, but this is plain old rock
Epstein – lovely CFD / Pop Unknown style intro, which I always fall for, then they get going with a drifty, rocking CFD style song – good stuff
Last Days of April – uh, rock? starts off bad, gets a bit better
Shoulder (bonus track) – ah, this is cool. strange clips of people talking litter a dreamy yet rocking, quiet and slow backing track. different, and pretty darn good
And oh yeah, another thing. A number of the singers are interchangable – solid indie / rock voices that are indistinguishable but would sound ‘good’ on radio. Mere coincidence? Or is this style mainstream already?
Certainly worth getting if you’re a sucker for the emo rock style, as there’ll be a band or two on here that will knock your socks off, and there is barely a *bad* song. It’s just that, well, I think this genre requires perfection, and this doesn’t quite reach it.