Labels: Faux Discx
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Seems that right now in the garage scene, it’s the thing to put out a lot of sevens. I am not sure if I think that’s a great idea or not. It’s good, because bands should certainly get to grips with what they’re doing before writing an LP. But it also leads to a lot of un-necessary records, bands would be better off doing a demo or something but I guess if they get big in a hurry the demand is there for actual physical product that lots of people can get their hands on. Anyways, I am rambling. Male Bonding really disappoint me here, as I was pretty excited after their awesome song on the Eat Skull split. This is really bog standard indie, the vocals are a bit annoying, the simple repetition early on in the song comes across as child-like and not in a good way, and the rush of blood to the head at the end when it speeds up doesn’t really do it any favours either. I am not really taking anything interesting from this, it sounds like the mediocre Camden circuit type nonsense to me, and I was not expecting that at all.
Cold Pumas crank it up on the other side, playing a mathy, repetitious dirge. I think there are vocals buried in there somewhere. Mathgaze? It careens off in a couple of different directions, and is an intriguingly uncomfortable listen, but it is all a bit lumpen and crafted in a way that does not appeal to me. I think I can see where they are coming from but I am moving in the opposite direction. The song is called “Altered Yeast”, I hope that is a reference to Altered Beast.