Labels: self released
Review by: Andy Malcolm
I think I saw the name of this band a little while back and subsequently forgot about them, so when an LP turned up in the post a few weeks back I was quite excited to give it a whirl. Especially when I learned they were from Kent, Ohio, a small town that has produced a bloody good lineage of DIY bands over the years. And the excitement was utterly justified as this record is super solid and eminently worthy of your time. CCC play a kind of free-wheeling emo / indie mix, slotting in mathy rhythms that never get overly technical. So it bounces back and forth in a manner previously honed by the likes of Braid and Colossal. I played this back to back with the Colossal LP on Sunday morning and felt they complimented each other nicely. No trumpetmo here mind you. The only minor quibble I really have with CCCs sound is that sometimes the vocals get a little bit too much and up front but for the most part they mingle in with the guitars rather nicely, for example the soft intro on the superb “They’re Digging the Wrong Place”, which actually brings to mind Chune. Which is nice. There’s also a couple of tracks which groove into parts with both singers urgently shouting, kind of like Kolya or Sinaloa. These are slightly different to the other tracks on here but works super well, and the album as a whole seems to show off a wider range of genre influences than most emo bands tend to flaunt these days, which is great.
This is a rather enjoyable album all told, and I have given it plenty of listens whilst procrastinating on coming up with a few words to spill. In that process it has firmly embedded itself as one of my 2012 favourites. CCC’s take on emo is different to most, and their album is all the better for it. Look forward to hearing what they do next.