Music Reviews

This one came to my attention thanks to Duderocket's own Mattdicknose, who recommended it amongst a whole slew of other new indie/punk releases. As is usually the case, I didn't really "get" it at first but repeated listenings soon put that to rest. It grew in my estimation to become something huge and revelatory. I don't want to go down the route of writing a whole bunch of hyperbolic bullshit to try and sell it to you, but on each progressive listening I get closer and closer to this album and what it's trying to say.

I guess I would describe it as jangly and indie but there's a lot of variation in the songs...

I always fucking hated that mariachi music when I was a kid. It made me think of old fat guys in those stupid Three Amigos clothes getting all up in everyone's grills at American restaurants, pretending not to know English so they don't have to go away when people start shouting out "Fuck off we're trying to eat!"

Anyway, I'm much older now. I like westerns, especially spaghetti westerns, and I like eating at Mad Mex and I also enjoy drinking Coronas, so I think I'm now suitably equipped to enjoy mariachi music.

Continuing on from last week, my #49 is Bad Religion's mid-'90s album The Gray Race. I'd already heard two songs from the album back when I was a teenager - the singles Punk Rock Song and A Walk. I love both of these songs a lot. So I was in the mood for some '90s punk stuff and I thought I'd finally get around to what had been in the back of my mind for a good ten years or more - checking out the album these two corkers came from.

I gotta say... I wasn't impressed! The only other Bad Religion album I've listened to is The Empire Strikes First, and I thought it was pretty good, so I was surprised to find The Gray Race kind of boring and repetitive.

This album has been out for a little while now. Since it was released I've listened to it a whole bunch of times, and I'm constantly changing my mind on whether I like it or not. On one hand I feel like White Walls have definitely put out a worthwhile album that I have enjoyed listening to. Sonically, this shit is unreal and I am totally in love with what they are doing. They've tapped into the sounds of bands like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr, and are producing new noise that is youthful and fresh. The tunes are extremely dense and there is so much going on. The band use swirling textures and layers of guitar fuzz to paint vibrant pictures, creating songs that are buzzing, energetic and pretty damn catchy.

On the flipside, the vocals sorta bug me with this element of brattiness existing that I find fairly off-putting. No matter what is going on with a song musically, the words mostly always stumble along in a dull, nasal, monotone whine, and it kinda drags the record down a bit. They do change it up with the second last track "Accept/Regret" that injects some dynamic and urgency in the vocal delivery, and it definitely is one of the albums better moments. I get that they're going for that lazy and laconic slacker thing, and it does work on a few tunes, but on the whole I feel that the boring, emotionless vocals sit funny and distract from all the other cool shit going on. Sometimes while listening I can't help but think that the record would have been better off if a few of these songs were instrumentals, as that is clearly White Walls strength.

LP/CD released on Poison City Records