It's hard for me to wrap my head around this band for a couple reasons. Lets get this out of the way first off, the guitar's are pretty boring. That's heavy criticism I know especially when your talking about a genre thats fairly reliant on awesome off time guitars ( yes, math rock. what flip else do I talk about? :) They are light, airy, repetitive, occasionally aimless, lacking in dynamic's but they do get the job done not from lack of skill. Why even mention them then?
DRUMS!
This dude is seriously carrying all the weight on his back and its obvious to all because the production has him front and center. The reason I pick them apart is they have the potential to be soooo good. At times they really are good and everything comes together so nicely that you forget the past 4 minutes but then its back. Below is the full length and 3 demo cast offs from an upcoming release.
Bones in the soil, Rust in the oil
demo
thanks for the links! not sure if you quite understand the guitars. listen without the "math rock" genre in mind, there is something else...mood and depth!
ReplyDeleteThis is just an opinion from a cursory listen of a couple tracks off "Bones in the Soil...", but I think the issue with the guitars is that A) they're super loose in contrast to the rhythm section, which is a bit jarring when they're doing these mid-tempo tremolo-picked sections for minutes on end and B) there are a lot of strange moments where a melody is suggested rather than actually executed, as though the parts were all half-written.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting stuff, but I agree with Acey that it's more demonstrative of potential rather than a realized idea.
the guitars are well-played but aren't really doing anything memorable. for me, mood and depth is created indirectly, by taking something strange and making it beautiful.
ReplyDeletenice grammar there, FranklinDC.
ReplyDeletei completely disagree with this review.
ReplyDeleteGoing back and re-listening to this album. yes i do feel like i was a bit harsh in my wording. however i still support all of my points. I do feel that a lot of times bloggers on music sites post generalized fluff so as to not rock the boat and upset "readers" and "bands".
ReplyDeletePretend is not a horrible band, in fact I think they are pretty good hence why I posted them in the first place. Though after listening and reading peoples thoughts and impressions I think that people were not addressing the actual music and more grasping onto a band that for the genre is pretty unique in a positive way.
honesty is the best policy.
ReplyDelete