(Hopeless) www.hopelessrecords.com
A fairly mixed bag of melodious malarkey from this Calif label from grungey metal to indie pop rawk ska, oh, and some singer songwriter drivel. But save the best to last, as it were. Not gonna set this Boogie boys ass on fire and convert him to the hopeless cause but at least it's thrown up some pretty humdinging tunes. Particularly the spectacularly Maiden-esque Second Heartbeat by Avenged Sevenfold. No idea what he's on about but it's got harmony guitar twiddles, woah woah woah backing vocals (in a good way, not in a Living on a Prayer way), and tempo changes at the drop of our Wigley's sticks. Great to hear some real classic metal without the hint of a deck and some lame scratchy hip hop rip off sheeit. Their second track's not so hot being a bit of a retread style wise, but it's got some fantastic vocal harmonies, one guy growling away in the trenches while another sings the high(er) part in a legible manner. The other real highlights that are worth a speaker shredding session are Against All Authorities Out A Luck which has a glimmer of The Murder City Devils roar in parts and maybe even The Wildhearts in a heavier moment. A mantra - "I'm Fuckin shit out a luck" - pounding away in your head. Their other track is pretty nifty too, all nimble metal-ska menace, but I'm buggered if I have a clue as to what Dinkas When I close My Eyes means. Illumination please. Also on the tip of the titfer list is The Weakerthans Past Due. Quite a beautiful little lullaby it is too, world weary Lou Reed and a less junked-up Spacemen 3 around the time of their height of perfection on The Perfect Prescription album, along with a less consumptive and more mainstream Will Oldham. Thrice's pair are melodious grungey metal grind which is fine by me...Atom and his Package are a left turn after the metally opening sequence, being all kitschy kooky camp and quirky electropop revelling in keyboard sounds as novel as the Human League's early stuff. The start of their first tune here Upside Down From Here begins like The Buggles classic moment Video Killed The Radio Star. Not really the same musically but kinda reminds me of They Might Be Giants. As does Mustard Plug's singer. Songwise they're okay, breeze by you but I'm still working out whether the ska-ified horns do my head in or if it's my general mood at the minute, or if I just have a natural aversion to this cheery, chirpy material. Probably so as it does leave a mental picture of loads of little shits bouncing about in inanity at some festival with a roll-call of rot. Likewise Common Riders Small Pebble fills my head with visions of some big-shorted buffoon making daft hand dances and stupid jerky knee movements, but the song itself is fine as far as I like that kinda thing reeking of Rancid. They are redeemed by offering hints of The Dead Milkmen's wonderful cutesy pop from their Soul Rotation album (as opposed to the hunka shit they put out on the album before it).
The comp sags a bit round the midriff area with Samian's Jam style song that has none of the spit and anger of classic Jam. Better than Paul Weller solo tho'. Selby Tigers Cheerleading is Big Business is like playing spot the influence by song title before you hear the song which tells you the influence. It's Offspring by the way. The Tigers songs saved a wee by some nice guitar interplay on the verses but I aren't one of those anywhere near in agreeance with Offspring getting a special songsmith award at this years Kerrang gongfest. Digger's The Ninja, The Pinto, The Dan Marino just recalls far far too vividly Feeder, especially with that student indie title (see the awful Buck Rogers). Scared of Chaka's Glass Socket/Broken Jaw buzzes by in a couple of minutes in okay fashion. I still can't think what that chorus reminds me of, but it sticks in your head which is the whole point of choruses so they score.
And as promised the best till last. Jeff Ott? He can just jet off cos it's fucking appalling to these ears. Mr. "I feel the worlds pain and bear it on my shoulders for you all". It'd be worth the $3.98 recommended price to bear witness to his pitiful stab at slice of life social commentary. This is the kinda thing that us lot would have our head in our hands in embarrassment at acoustic nights in town. Give someone an acoustic guitar and they think it's a licence to show how sensitive they really are, but in reality anyone with half an ear would recognise it as whinging. There's some irritatingly awkward rhyme schemes too, and lines where he has to say the odd word dead fast to make it fit, which just makes me want to kick the walls in. More annoying as it sounds a bit like The Beautiful South too, tho for all of Paul Heaton's sins I don't think he'd ever come out with such sanctimonious, pious drivel. Get this folks "Learn how to live in your heart, learn how to take care of yourself before you have children....hey Mr. Freud, we both know about the problems...". Hey, Jeff. Fuck off and go sing Lesbian Seagull cross legged in the park! I didn't like him much. - Stu Gibson