Thursday, 2 October 2008

Review - Crime In Stereo - Is Dead

Crime In Stereo - Is Dead

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8 out of 10

Post Hardcore is an overused and oft misunderstood phrase, and probably one best ignored. However it's bandied around often in relation to music similar to this (accurately or otherwise) so it's probably worth a mention. I believe the phrase was first coined when members of the DC hardcore band Minor Threat formed Fugazi, combining the energy and politics of hardcore with a more complex, syncopated jazz influenced sound. It was very much the sound of hardcore growing up. However, it seems that more recently the term has been applied to music often referred to (again, accurately or otherwise) as emo - bands like Thursday, The Used, Taking Back Sunday. You get the idea.

Anyway, I mention this because Crime In Stereo lie somewhere between the two extremes. The production on this record is very clean and crisp, but there's an element of rawness in there too. There are definite similarities to stuff like early Thursday, but there are hints of more traditional punk and hardcore bands too - a bit of Gorilla Biscuits here, some Lifetime there. It's nothing new, exactly, but it's a somewhat different combination, and I'd say worth a listen if you don't mind your melodic post hardcore (or whatever you want to call it) just a little bit progressive. I for one am quite a fan - it lasted well over 1,200 miles in my CD changer, and only came out so I could listen whilst reviewing.

Listen: www.myspace.com/crimeinstereo

Tracklist:
1. XXXX (the first 1000 years of solitude)
2. Third Atlantic
3. .but you are vast
4. Animal Pharm
5. Small Skeletal
6. Unfortunate Tourists
7. Nixon
8. Vicious Teeth
9. Almost Ghostless / Above the Gathering Oceans
10. Orbiter
11. Choker

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