Musicurious

Released on: 27 April 2011
They’re from: Sacramento, California
Sounds like: an indie band from the Double-Rainbow Dimension where everyone has a third arm.
Hear it: http://bit.ly/seawater

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again because it makes my blogs look like they have more content when I take up space like this: math-rock is my catnip. It makes me hulk out except my muscles turn to rainbows and my pants definitely do not stay on. If I just told you that they sound like Tera Melos, American Football, and This Town Needs Guns, would you sprint to their Bandcamp page and just listen? Do I really need to write more words than that? Because I will. You know I will.

I swear, finding Sinatra has changed my life, not only because they’re awesome in and of themselves, but because I keep learning about other great music through them, the latest being The Speed of Sound in Seawater. These strapping chaps have three EPs out: Blue Version, Red Version, and Underwater Tell Each Other Secrets, all of which are awesome. Catch ‘em all.

The run-down on their sound? Sedate math-rock, but groovy and nimble, so more like math-indie. Every song is one part stress-relieving relaxation tape, one part churning rapids of epileptic guitars. The resulting sound instills this odd feeling in me to seek out and lay in a hammock, and then dance— which is a great way to fall out of a hammock.

So if you’re a fan of math-rock, of hammocks, or maybe just talented dudes playing some chilled-out music and showing their guitars who’s boss, check out The Speed of Sound in Seawater.

Genre: Hardcore / Metal
From: Melbourne, Australia
Dropped: 26 March 2010

Regret-o-Meter: Tasting the pre-packaged slices of store brand “white cheese product” for the first time. There’s a reason you get 16 for 99 cents.  

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Not gonna lie, I downloaded this album just because I thought the name was awesome. Had I seen this album cover, however, I probably would’ve steered clear. It’s pretty obvious this is going to be a straight-up metal album, what with the band’s name in splatter-type and the whole lady-with-flaming-skull-head falling into shark-infested waters. It’s really uninspired art, considering a Beauty is Falling, Fed to the Sharks. And with track names like “Murder Monogamy” and “Outta My Way Satan… Gard!” I knew I’d be in for an equally as uninspired album.

Within seconds of pressing play, things were going pretty well. It sounded aggressive, and a two-step beat kicked in. Alright, I thought, I can handle this. It’s kinda dancy. Cue double-bass and “YEEEEEEAAAAAAARRRRRGH” one second later, and my hopes were dashed. Shit got metal. I don’t really like a lot of metal. It usually has to be diluted with lots of clean vocals and several minutes of not-metal for me to bite (think: any Between the Buried and Me album).

Short aside: How do metal bands get away with lyrics that sound like they’re written by sad preteens? The opening lines to “Extinction / Ressurrection,” The Beauty of Falling’s first track, are, ”There was a time! There was a time, that I would hate myself, searching for solace, consumed by loneliness!” That shit is hackneyed and terrible, and I guarantee if an emo band sang that, metal kids could crucify them.

Anyway, back to the shit getting metal. As much as Feed Her to the Sharks leave me with the taste of orange juice in a freshly-brushed mouth, I have to give them a lot of credit. The Beauty of Falling is heavy like a dying star, and the production is spectacular. The bass kicks are crisp and have a nice sound. The guitars chugga chugga quite nicely. The sparsely-placed clean vocals have a good tone. And you know what? The band does a nice job of changing up song structures and differentiating all twelve of the album’s tracks from each other.

That does not mean, however, that after 10 minutes I wasn’t ready to throw myself to the sharks. Fuck, after 20 minutes I was researching the closest aquatic animal that could make the metal stop if I threw myself to it. The answer? The Moon Jellyfish. I’d probably need several of them, just to be safe. (Actually, the singing part in the background of “Murder Monogomy” followed by the noodle-y guitar solo is probably my favorite part of the album, and it falls right around the 20-minute mark.)

This is probably a good album for fans of metal, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to violently shuffle myself off this mortal coil in less than a half an hour. Thankfully, the Jersey Shore is just far enough away that the urge subsided before I even crossed state lines.

Considering my first foray into my disturbingly massive backlog of downloaded albums went so… swimmingly, I’m a little afraid of what comes next. But I will press on! Will you read on with me?