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Shade:
Forever Now, Nowhere Tomorrow
This is a fun album. Shade hail from Pittsburgh, PA which their bio is quick to point out as a city that wears its decay like a crest actually a decent description for the rock sounds employed on Forever Now, Nowhere Tomorrow. Ive never been to Pittsburgh, but I imagine a scene from the backdrop of Flashdance would suit these guys quite comfortably if such a place exists. Whats refreshing about this album is that the songs display a lot of variety. The vocalist Matt Stuart pulls off a dead accurate Bobby Gillespie imitation, but theres a bit more disorder in the music here than what can be heard on a typical Primal Scream release, which, as it turns out is quite a plus. Shade loves to wear its influences on its sleeve though, and the Jesus and Mary Chain tribute thats named unsurprisingly Automatic, rips the oh-so-killer do do duh do do duh duh duh duh off of the JAMCs Cut Dead in fine fashion. But the music isnt just an inferior copy of these other bands. The messy distortion gives the album a trial and error feel that really is the hallmark of any good noise rock album. As the singer spits out his vocals in a daze of seeming indifference, the band uses a dab of synthesizer (at least on Chemicals and Criminals) and some heavy guitar riffs. Effect pedals seem to drip in and out of their proper frequencies, and youre left with an album that simply rocks you. Songs like Smile even throw in what sounds like some harmonica for good measure, which just adds to Shades bag of tricks. Again, fans of Primal Scream will love these guys. If you dont know them too well or arent a big fan, Id still suggest that you give this album a listen. The music here is a bit more honest and, in my opinion, better than most of the stuff that those guys have come up with recently. And if a band like Longwave can get signed to RCA, lets hope that the music world has a little niche for Shade to fit in as well.
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