Labels: Atarms Mechanics
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Excellent format here – 4 band 7″, all bands from the Michigan region gathered together in one place. I could give you all kind of reasons why it is such a good format, but I won’t, because I already did, and it’s not my fault that I forgot to save the review is it? Fuck that. Stupid computer.
Great packaging here! Lil’ passport pics of various members of the bands, which means I can make disparaging comments. Such as, woah, Mike Reed of Small Brown Bike, you look like I did when I was in high school, sans glasses. When are you off trainspotting? Awesome! And then there is Joel Wick of Quixote, sporting that good ole “bald with emo glasses” thing. Fred Thomas of Lovesick is doing an eyetest, but not looking at the wall chart, Mike Gard of Keleton & Quixote (busy fella) looks downright shocked. Travis Dopp of SBB is by far the hardest out of all these guys.
Enough! Enough of the frivolity and piffle and disecting of the appearances of people I will never know! How does the music sound? Pretty way solid, is the answer. Small Brown Bike lead things off, and they destroy my puny face with the sheer awesomeness of “Mine of You”. Using crunching melodies and rough vocals to combine into an absolutely spot on rock song, this kills left right and centre. The backing vocals chime in at exactly right times, and the whole thing is anthemic as fuck. Their best song yet? It is. The album is going to being a hurricane. Sit by the calendar.
Following SBB, is the delectable Lovesick. These guys are the saviours of emo rock (check out the classy 12″), and they understand the importance of vinyl. Musically they are whizzy and mathy, using starts and stops and helter-skelter vocals that work perfectly. I like this band an awful lot, I guess they deserve a lot more recognition, but fuck it, they rule.
The flip side houses Keleton DMD, who have weird lyrics and a neat style – makes me think of a rougher SBB. Scratchy bassline, and a whole lot of rumble in the music. Vocals are distant sounding, strained and desperate. I think they’d hold my attention better over the course of an LP. Finally we have Quixote, who play a neat, melodic and mathy indie rock style. I am not sure who to compare this to. Strongly sung vocals and a good solid track. Again, an LP would be a better starting point.
The SBB track ensures the worthyness of this 7″.