Labels: Seismic
Review by: Andy Malcolm
This here comp is the first release from a newish UK label. They’ve gathered together various talents from around the world, and all of the bands play indie rock. Does that idea sound familiar to you? I thought so. Anyway, the difference between this comp and that comp is that some of the songs on here are actually listenable. Want a list? I thought so.
* Seconds Separate the Days – under-produced indie rock with bouncy guitar parts alternating with crunchier bits, basically it’s just a lesser Mid Carson July but with horrid vocals. And I don’t understand their band name.
* the Sheila Devine – alterna-rock with annoying strained vocals. Nice tune and very melodic, but really, most people would rather listen to the Foo Fighters or simply anything. And who is Sheila Devine? Or did they mean Divine? That would have been better
* Water Smells – painful! the whiney vocals disgust me, the mid-paced indie rock that goes absolutely nowhere is just boring. think the first Beezewax lp but with no redeeming features
* Gymicrae – a demo recording by the sounds of things. basic indie rock with nothing to make me interested. think early Get Up Kids but without the spark
* Half Seas Over – a UK band, this is a track from their self released CD. kinda moody indie rock in the vein of bands like Tribute and Baby Harp Seal. i think this track is good, but works better in the context of their EP. get it
* Cortina – probably the comps best track. ex-members of Tribute. this is total emo indie rock, really melodic with great vocals, reminds of stuff like Beezewax with a hint of Texas is the Reason. very ’97. but where this track excels is the old school emo twinkle breakdown in the middle. beautiful. these guys are great live too.
* And Academy – this is good. really strange dual vocals, this bounces and jangles like mixing up the mellow Cap’n Jazz tracks with early Promise Ring. especially the bass line. has some neat simple keyboard too.
* Sunshine – strange new-wavey rock stuff with vocals that are whacked and freaky in that kind of Antioch Arrow-esque way. liked the dischordance and the rumbling bassline. this is some good shit
* Athalia – swaying twinkle emo rock circa “97 with annoying alterna-rock vocals. they play the style solidly, but if you’ve never heard a band that sounds exactly like this, you don’t listen to emo rock
* Carver – more UK stuff from these ex-Schema sorts. starts out very prettily and twinklesome and goes nowhere. generic as fuck and a tad disappointing, ready made for deep elm
* Her Fly Away Manner – shockingly these guys are on caulfield, I thought that label was discerning. anyway, this is vapid indie rock with grating fx-ed vocals. see a band like this at your local pubs battle of the indie bands competition
* Jay Schraeder – sound stuff from these part time UK emo rawkers. Does the moody and slow -> fast get up kids thing and you’ve heard the style a thousand times, but the great vocals help. very solid rock music, though i like their punkier stuff better
* Shabono – alterna rock badness
* Split Last Pristine – terrible band name, shock, has a twinkle intro. and gets louder. oh man, it’s how the promise ring sounded on their really early 7″. Do they think no-one is going to spot this? crazy fools. But then they confuse us all by having a scream part. did they think anyone was going to notice that one minute they were pop, and the next they screamed? for no reason? I hate pop bands that scream, and it seems so forced. nice – ANGRY – nice. it’s a shame, cos i liked them when they sounded like early promise ring. the screams are just shit though
* Sometimes Seven – simple indie pop rock with jangly parts. strange bouncy vocals. passable yet irritating
* Clouded – why? why do so many of these bands have pretty intros then start playing bland alterna rock? why not build that intro up for 3 minutes and do something that flows from it? it’s like they got bored of listening to the Christie Front Drive cd after 30 seconds or something. GRRRRRR! Aherm.
This may as well be Emo Diaries 6. Except this has good packaging.