|
|
|
BANDS: Punk
& Ska INTERESTS: Venues ETC... About
LOTD
|
Various
Artists: Transistor Compilation
What we have here is a mixed bag. Sixteen songs by eight bands that range in style hardly at all. Things start off sort of questionably with the pop of 9-Fiftys Heads Up/Face Down, which reminds me of an old song they used to play on WHFS 91.1 FM back in the 90s. A local band called Buck O Nine had a Ska song about Baltimore called My Town that must have been one of the most simplistic recordings Ive ever heard in my life. It did have an ounce of pop appeal to it, but the horn section seemed to consist of one note, and I recall the lyrics being no more than one or two sentences. That more or less sums up 9-Fifty too, except they must have fired their horn section and can thus be classified probably as pop-punk. Still the song is catchy, and if WHFS could play Buck O Nine, I could see them playing 9-Fifty as well. To my interests, things picked up a bit with The Atomic Hep Cats and their mild takes on rockabilly and alt-country. Their Westerburg Song catalogs the heydays of The Replacements in an amusing way. Dont know if well see Chilton, hes a rock n roll ghost, well color me impressed he won the talent show. Alright, tribute songs like this are pretty dangerous, but The Atomic Hep Cats pull it off with a ludicrous amount of title dropping and some creative humor. The end result is quite fun, even if it may not quite be the next Alex Chilton. The Modifiers seem to conjure a bit of The Replacements too, but unfortunately Favorite Waitress reminds me of a mediocre Replacements song, which if you know the band isnt really a complement. Maybe thats a bit harsh. The music is actually pretty good, and a few of the lyrics work, but the chorus has me itching to switch tracks. This band might have potential, but I dont think theyve reached their peak yet. The Smarties come off a bit more convincing, but by track 13 youve heard a lot of traditionally-styled rock n roll songs, and it might be a case of too little too late. The drumming on Make It Glow makes me very happy, but their singer conjures up memories of more WHFS radio bands, which isnt exactly my style. Perhaps we save the best for last as The Wondernaut delivers two tracks of atmospheric pop that share a bit more of the lo-fi tendencies I seem drawn to nowadays. In summation, a few of these tracks show some potential, but we dont really have any real homeruns here. Since most bands here share a similar style, Id look at this CD as a decent sampler of what American Laundromat Records has to offer rather than a carefully mixed compilation that youd want to listen to straight through very often. Still, some of the pop-punk styles that disturbed me here might carry into the alternative market, and I wouldnt be surprised if a couple of the artists here had some decent full-length releases.
About LOTD Contact/Staff Advertise Home All content LEFT OFF THE DIAL 2001-2005. All rights reserved. |
