Drahla : "angeltape"

When saxophone opens a post-punk band's album you know it's going to be different.  I was not expecting them to sound like Romeo Void's "Never Say Never". Their new wave ways continue to pay homage to the 80s on  "Default Parody".  The first two songs have worked off a quirky angular jangle, and going into "zig-zag" they are going to have more to prove   What is at stake? Well, it's bad enough to be a glorified tribute band but if you can only cover one song it's even worse. Do they pass the test?  It's more of a lateral move as they take the same theme and play it more aggressively. 

From this point, the songs begin to run together until they allow the song some room to breathe on "Talking Radience" , though it sounds like Grimes covering Romeo Void instead. "Talking Radience" sound bass line was ripped from a pre-Purple Rain Prince song, Yes, I know the song, but I am going to make you guess. There could be decent songs buried under some of this chaos. By "Concrete Lilly" this is beginning to lose my attention. It's not until the odd groove of "Lipsync" that I pay attention once more. They casually hit you with moments of abrasion. 

By the time it gets to the end of the album, I might not be sure what I heard though I expect it was a noise rock band trying to cover Romeo Void in the style of freeform jazz. I will give this album a 6.5, as feels generous enough considering it was terrible from a songwriting perspective, but when thought of as a deconstruction of new wave music, or an anti-rock take on the 80s there might be more substance to it. If this is something would keep in regular rotation, you might also like doing coke in coffee shops and getting fisted in the bathrooms of art galleries, which is fine as long as you know who you are. 

pst188