Here's a perfectly odd and disturbing cover featuring crash test dummy midwifery. I have no idea what the seat belt is being used for and I'm not sure there is really a need for latex gloves? Happily this is exactly the type of cover befitting of this project.
Onto the music. The album title Brace Yourselfseems to be offering some quiteexplosive but in realityDropping Daylight simplycrank out some fairly decent rock tracks. There are no surprises, it is really just a standard MTV rock sound. There is a welcome change of pace and tone with Answering Our Prayers but overall everything sounds good but slightly unremarkable.
Best Track: Apologies, Blame Me, Answering Our Prayers.
I must admit that I made a mistake when selecting this CD by Hot Rod Circuit for purchase. I thought the cover was a photo of someone sitting on the toilet but it turns out that they're sitting on the lip of a bath. Nevermind, it still fits within my "People Sitting" category. I also selected the album for some of the track titles, namely Radiation Suit and The Night They Blew Up The Moon.
Now for the music. The album kicks off with The Pharmacist, a reasonable cocktail of guitar power-pop, not quite Green Day, it actually reminded me of Busted or McFly. I have to admit that I don't really know how Busted or McFly sound as I've happily erased anything I might have accidentally heard by them from any memory, so I might be wrong. I suppose the solution is to say that it reminded me of McBusted. Move on.
Nature's Mercy carries on in very much the same vein, then so does Radiation Suit. Everything is fairly well done, I can't say it glows but it isn't bad enough to make your hair fall out. That's really how the rest of the album continues, an intermittently shouty male vocal with some guitars powering their way each song, not much variety and nothing to get excited about. Consumed By Laziness is a good example, I kind of liked it but it is just not very original.
The production is fine and it is all slickly done but to me it lacks personality and comes across like power-pop-by-numbers, strange for an act on the B-Unique label.
Top Tracks: Now Or Never, Consumed By Laziness
Verdict:Fail - not atomic. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I cannot remember why I bought this CD, the cover is odd but not exactly something I would consider essential for this project. It is possible I was enticed by the tracks titles Magic Pee, Silly Pepper, About A Gold Fish, Wrong Time Capsule andWeird Boobs?
Musically this is something I might have briefly enjoyed about 20 years ago, the entire album is a collection of cute electro tracks, mainly very simple rhythms with a few bonkers arcade game sounds and "character" vocals. Actually, it is possibly the type of album I might have made 20 years ago on a dull Sunday afternoon - and trust me, that's not a great accolade.
At times mildly amusing, at time highly annoying, it sounds like music made by a non-musician, stuck in a telephone box, using toy instruments. For a while I hated it but I get the odd moment where I find it wonderfully refreshing. It made me want to play my old Harry Hosono records again.
Here's yet another CD cover featuring a woman wading in water. I can only presume all the artists find it difficult to illustrate legs? Imagine the conversation "Great design but her legs don't quite look right. I know, show her standing in water and that will solve it!". It doesn't matter, I like the concept on this one as the woman appears to be part-robot with some serious laser-vision, oh, and a cowboy hat? I'll overlook any concerns I have about rust issues, not to mention the health and safety nightmare of allowing circuitry near water. An album called Who's Got The Biscuits? and track titles such as Go Go Me A Big Pop, Idiot Radar helped with my purchase decision, not sure about the obsession with fingers though (Superfinger, Airfinger, Pulling With The Fingers, Beach Finger).
I have to admit something here. I'm not sure where I mis-educated myself but whilst browsing this album I'm sure I read somewhere that it was a heavy rock album. So, I had a lot of trepidation when I first put the CD on, I mean, you have to take a little extra breath before stepping into that zone, a bit like when visiting a relative. But to my surprise Superfinger started the album with some zany samples, beats and a groove, nothing like the hideous heavy rock I was expecting. There's even male and female crossover vocals and synths!
Schoolroom Headrush cranks up the groove and throws in some great power guitar, retaining strong pop credentials despite some dubious lyrics like "my fingers want to get muddy around your flower bed" and "I want to do the scuba and dip in your fishpond". The mind boggles!
Idiot Racer bounces along nicely "metal rusted by chicken blood" (told ya!) but it is Airfinger which really lights up the dials, a great little rock out and there's even some vocoder in there to please me. The remainder of the album bubbles along nicely mixing beats with big choruses, always accompanied with wonderfully absurd words. Hooks aplenty! The airy Beachfinger is worth a special mention for the line "she always seemed so suitably international, she made me love my wooden leg"
Oh, as a final observation, there's a hidden "heavy rock" track at the beginning of the album, it almost seems to have been put there to mock me. Good job!
Favourite Tracks: Superfinger, Schoolroom Headrush, Airfinger, Go Go Me A Big Pop.
Verdict: Pass - nice! (that's a biscuit joke, in case you're a bit slow) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
