By Jake Shenker
Honestly, I’m sorry. Summer months are surprisingly busy, and though the new releases are less plentiful, they still pile up. Here’s a short selection of this week’s best, and a promise from me to keep bringing you new release reviews every week.
Here’s what’s new this week:
Bygones – by- (Sargent House)
Frankly, this album scares the crap out of me. Bygones — comprised of singer/guitarist/bassist Nick Reinhart and singer/drummer Zach Hill — have created an incredibly weird disc that escapes absolutely every musical category in existence. Tracks like “Cold Reading” and “Fool Evolved” are like a less heavy, more confusing grindcore, while “Click on That (Smash the Plastic Death)” bears a palpable resemblance to some of Frank Zappa’s heavier work. I haven’t yet formed an opinion about by- because, well, I don’t understand what I just heard. There are definitely some great performances on this album, but Bygones’ disordered style of songwriting definitely takes time to digest.
Tides of Man – Empire Theory (Rise Records)
There’s a nice musical alchemy going on with Tides of Man. Sure, they give off an emo-rock vibe — I cringed at the predictably dirty opening of “Not My Love” — but something in their sound is worlds above your average pop-rock act. It might be the surprising number of styles they’ve melded together: from traditional (read: boring) pop-rock to hints of country and trance, or the impressively malleable vocal acrobatics of singer Tilian Pearson, who brings to mind singers as distinct as Thom Yorke, Blind Melon’s Shannon Hoon, that annoying yelling guy from Billy Talent, and even — yes, I’m saying this — Jeff Buckley. Whatever the ineffable quality present on Empire Theory, it has transformed an otherwise dull, carbon copied album into an unexpectedly unique — and enjoyable — record. Well done, guys.
