Wednesday 25 June 2008

Review - Reemer - Maniac (Single)

Reemer - Maniac (Single)

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6 out of 10

Named after a character Matt Stone (One of the South Park creators alongside Trey Parker who also starred, but as Joe Cooper) played (Doug Remer) in the 1998 comedy BASEketball, Manchester's very own Reemer are hoping to make a slot in your CD collection (Or space on your iPod's hard drive if you're that way inclined) available for them with their debut single "Maniac" that is released on the 21st of July.

I can't help but thinking that if Reemer had appeared during the mid-late nineties that they would have more success than I think they will in the naughties. What with the likes of P-Rock, Scuzz and a high-profile scene for the rock-lite that Reemer brandish around back then they would have fitted in a lot snugger. "Summer Sun" the b-side on the single is easily the best track out of the two on offer here. The chorus is much better, far catchier and the entire song has a more fully fleshed song structure to it that even lends itself to some high-pitched "Woo hoos"! Why they didn't pick this as the a-side single is beyond me.

So on to "Maniac", well it's not awful and it certainly has its redeeming qualities, but the production is frankly dreadful for the style of music they are playing. The drums sound really tinny, the cymbals sound horrendously muffled and don't have the clear crisp sound that they really should, which just drags down the rest of the efforts on the actual song-writing.

I do think there's a raw talent here waiting to be somehow unleashed, but they need to dig quite hard to find it and polish it a lot before they really shine. Here's hoping they improve as "Maniac" may as well be a demo that simply shows an overall promise, very much not the finished article though.

Listen: www.myspace.com/reemerband

Tracklist:
1. Maniac
2. Summer Sun

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