Review #131: Reproach/A.N.S. Split (EP) (2008)

REPROACH/A.N.S. SPLIT EP

Year: 2008

Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Hardcore, Thrash
Label: Still Holding On Records
Tracks: 11
Length: 11 Minutes
Style: Angry/Wild
My Rating: 6/8

Obviously, this is a split EP between Reproach and A.N.S. And it's a 7" vinyl. Wax. Know what I'm sayin'? I think you do. Both bands are hardcore punk groups with heavy metal influences and a love for skateboarding. A.N.S. formed in 1999 in Texas (U.S.A.), and Reproach formed in 2000 in Belgium. There are eight Reproach songs (all extremely fast and short) and three A.N.S. songs (slightly less fast and short).

1. Reproach - "You Deserve It"
Loud, angry vocals. The second half of the song is ultra-fast.

2. Reproach - "Skateboarding Saves"
Slow intro with an awesome metal-ish riff. Extreme blast-beats thrash about in the second part of the song. There's backing vocals, also.

3. Reproach - "The Fallout"
The first part is slow. The second part is extremely fast. The third part is slow.

4. Reproach - "Onward to Destruction"
Very fast parts and kinda fast parts. Really growly backing vocals. Durrrrhhh!

5. Reproach - "L.A.P.D. Can Suck It"
Shortest song on the 7"! Sweet Seventeen seconds long. Lightspeed mega-thrash beats and awesome slower bits inbetween.

6. Reproach - "Kicked in the Teeth"
Yet another fast song. Not much else I can think of to say that makes this track stand out.

7. Reproach - "Family Shooting"
FUCK! SFLDFLKJSGFJKLFDG;'LLDFG;FLDG;LFDLGD;LGD;FLGFD

8. Reproach - "Fuck Us All"
This song's about a person who probably wants the listener to fuck ALL OF US. EVERY ONE OF US. YEAH. GOOD GOIN', BUDDY. Anyways, that's the end of the Reproach side of the record.

9. A.N.S. - "Kooks Go Home"
Now for something fast, but with slightly more emphasis on musicality than speed. The first half of the song is instrumental. Slow, very cool, sort of ominous, and I like it. Midway through the song, things speed up, and the vocalist starts singing, sounding like a cross between Henry Rollins and the guy from J.F.A. A head-pumping beat, and excellent riffage. Even a few mini-solos in the background. The song changes again towards the end of the song to get even faster, and then, believe it or not, it continually gets speedier and speedier until we're at speeds rivaling the eight tracks before this song. But then things cool down and the song slows down. This is the longest song on the EP. And probably the best, also.

10. A.N.S. - "Locals Only"
I wonder if it's named after the J.F.A. EP of the same name... anyways, it starts off with a slow intro until the vocalist screams "LOCALS ONLY!!". Pretty much a typical hardcore song. A little mini solo here and there.

11. A.N.S. - "Dawn Patrol"
An instrumental track. Begins with the sounds of sea gulls and waves at the beach. And with that said, this song has a bit of a surf-y guitar sound to it. It's fast, too! In one part it gets extremely fast. But yeah, no singing here, so you can just enjoy the krazy franticity of the whole thing. There's a short heavy metal-type solo in one part. But yes, that iz the end.

"Kooks Go Home" is definitely the stand-out track, here. I personally prefer the A.N.S. songs over the Reproach songs -- they're excitingly fast, but eventually it gets quite same-y and grating. The best track of that side of the EP is probably "The L.A.P.D. Can Suck It". What you like best from this little 7", that'll be up for you to decide if you have listened to it. But if you want to listen to some extremely fast music today, go listen to this or something. Until next time!

Top 3 Favorites:
1. Kooks Go Home (A.N.S.)
2. Dawn Patrol (A.N.S.)
3. The L.A.P.D. Can Suck It (Reproach)

Review #118: Pandora - Shoot Me I'll Pay You (EP) (2008)

SHOOT ME I'LL PAY YOU (EP)

Year: 2008

Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Post-Punk, Hardcore
Label: Radar Music
Tracks: 4
Length: 15 Minutes (Short)
Style: Emotional
My Rating: 5/8

Pandora is a band from Eupen, Belgium. The group formed in 2006. Since then, they've come a considerably long way... they nearly made it on to the Rock am Ring festival for this June (only finishing at second place in the contest), and they have an album, two EPs, and a music video out as of now. They are one of the most popular bands in the European "grunge-punk" scene, and their musical style takes elements from bands of the early '90s like Nirvana and Hole, as well as hardcore punk and splicing in their own shade of grimness and twangy guitars into the mix.

"Shoot Me I'll Pay You" was the band's first release ever -- it's a four song CD. I think it might be out of print. But for those who have heard it, it contains four early versions of some songs that eventually got on Melancholic Freedom. The production here is somewhat less polished... sometimes it's a good thing and sometimes it's not as good of a thing. But here we basically have an audible snap-shot of the band in their very early days. I'm not even sure if that's Roman in the back of the cover art! Either that or he just has a different hairstyle. Hard to tell. But yeah, this is their first EP and it's the same one I've been talking about this whole time so now I'm going to talk about the songs.

1. Like a Pissed Flower in Spring
The opening guitar bit is a little dirtier, but every bit as cool. Then comes the No-Wavey verse section. Annie's voice isn't all echoey like in the newer version, but more just calmly spoken and stuff. The song has a much more lo-fi feel to it. Annie's voice sounds more ragged when she's yelling in the chorus section. One of the faster songs on the CD. There are things about the other version I like more, and there are things I like about this version more. As soon as I first ever heard this song for the first time, I could tell this was going to be a good band.

2. Bored
A slow hardcore punk-type song. "Whoooaaaa, Mr. Bloody Knife". Damn, Annie's gotten away with fucking MURDER! BLOODEH MURDAH!! Know why she says "My enemies should stay, I want my friends to get out" so much? 'Cause she wants them to meet her other friend(?), Mr. Bloody Knife. Like, he's gonna get all stabby n' stuff. There's another weird-o sol-o in this song-o. Pretty nice melody, especially combined with the beat, which is a legit kind of beat.
3. Bottle of Wine
The first thing you'll notice is that the guitar here is a lot cleaner than on the two songs before this one. I noticed the PATTERN! With this EP, each song is slower than the one before it. THAT is how it works, kiddies. It's pretty much a song about a person relationship with the wine they drink. I like Annie's vocals here. The melody is good. Reminds me of a sunny day, like the two songs before it also do but I forgot to mention that or something.

4. Born In My Eyes
The guitar in the beginning of the song sounds weird, but in a good way. To be honest, this song is kinda depressing. It's very mellow and slow and bleak-feeling. In the first buildup to the chorus, the song is picked up a little bit a light beat. The chorus starts, and suddenly it feels a little more upbeat. It's a very angsty but heartfelt song. In the second chorus, there's some guitar noize that floats around from place to place. Definitely the longest song on here, being six and a half minutes long!

So, there you have it. This was the first Pandora record I ever listened to, and upon hearing it I instantly become a fan. Something just made me keep coming back to it. As I said before, all of the songs here were later featured on "Melancholic Freedom", but these versions are more low-budget sounding. Luckily, before the contents of the EP disappeared off of the MySpace page of the band for good, I had uploaded all of the songs to YouTube, so you can listen there if you didn't get a chance to hear them earlier. It's a pretty good look at the beginnings of a band which is now touching upon greatness. So, stay legit, friends.

A LIVE PERFORMANCE OF "BORED"

Review #72: Pandora - Melancholic Freedom (2010)

MELANCHOLIC FREEDOM

Year: 2010

Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Post-Punk, Hardcore, Grunge
Label: Xochipilli Records
Tracks: 14
Length: 46 Minutes (Long)
Style: Emotional/Angry
My Rating: 6/8

Once in awhile, you come across a group that's pretty special. Pandora is a Belgian rock band that formed around 2006. The group fuses hardcore punk, grunge, and some other style that I'm not even sure what it is together to create their own sound. It's pretty cool. They released their first EP sometime in 2008, and when I first heard it, I could tell this band had a lot of tricks left up its sleeve. Well, after that, in late '09, they released a single called "Breed My Dye", which was basically a sort of demonstration of what was to come when they finally did their first album. When they were about to release it, they did this thing from January 1st up to January 15th when it finally came out -- they let you hear a track of the new record each day (just about). That was pretty nice. Well, the album is pretty diverse. In a sense, you could say it has nearly every Pandora song in one album, except for maybe "Fall" and a few one-offs that I've heard snippets of in videos of their live shows. But it has three of the four songs from 'Breed My Dye', re-recorded versions of the songs from 'Shoot Me I'll Pay You', a song that was on a compilation, and some great new ones as well. What are these songs like, though? Let's review the damn album and find out!

1. Rock N' Roll
This one was originally from the OX Fanzine Compilation #86. What I love about this one is how the melody is pretty upbeat and happy-sounding, but the vocals are very aggressive and snotty. It's pretty fast. It delivers what the title promises. I imagine it would sound pretty cool if played acoustically, actually.

2. Sophisticated Attitude
Another fast one. This one's all-new, though! I guess it's about someone with a sophisticated attitude. I don't even know the lyrics to this song, so I don't entirely know what any of these songs are about. But that's okay, 'cause then I just get to make up my own stupid meanings for the songs. But if you are the band and reading this, you should post the lyrics to these songs somewhere. It would be pretty cool.

3. Breed My Dye
This is the one they made the music video for. And it was released as a single months before this album even came out. So a lot of Pandora fans know about this one. I guess it actually got mildly popular where the band is from when it first came out. That's pretty cool. The song showcases the band's more downbeat, twangy style. It starts out cold and calm as Annika sings "You Breed My Dye". And I don't even quite know what that means. But that's alright. The song picks up a little bit starting with the drums, and then the guitar gets more loud and fuzzed-out in the chorus part. After the second chorus, there's an outro section, which I consider the best part. There's a solo in that part and it's also the part in the music video where everybody starts puking up that goopy stuff. The tempo for this one is a lot slower than the first two songs.

4. Like a Pissed Flower in Spring
Now before I even talk about the song, I think I'm understanding why this flower's pretty pissed. Okay, put yourself in that flower's shoes. Think about... it's real cold outside. A lot of snow (just like today, dammit)... you're taking a nice, long nap. Real nice. Real long, too. And then all the sudden, the sun just shines right into your fucking face and all of these people are expecting you to get up and make them happy so they can rip you out of your neck and display your corpse in their homes. The pressure's on. Now you have to GET UP, and just STAND THERE all day! Damn, that'd be lame. So I KNOW why there are pissed flowers in Spring. Now, the song... it was originally the first track on the band's first EP, "Shoot Me I'll Pay You". This version is re-recorded, and I like it a little better. Except for the intro. I thought the intro of the original version sounded better. Y'know, the part where it's just the guitar at the beginning. The vocals sound a little stronger here, but that could always be due to a complete lack of budget in the original version. In the original version Annie sounds like an actual pissed flower in spring (hehe, get it?), but in this version she sounds like some sort of mysterious angel. I also like the little kick of feedback that pops up right before the chorus. It's a pretty happy-sounding song. The riff is sweet-o. And it iz fast.

5. Breakfast Saturday Night
One of the various b-sides to Breed My Dye. Starts with the twangy intro and a soft, calm verse, complemented by a hard, punky chorus. The chorus has sort of this adventurous feel like ya don't exactly know what's gonna happen next. It's a good feeling. Remember what I said last time I reviewed this song about having breakfast on Saturday night? Yeah, I'm gonna ask that question again. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Guess we'll never know... maybe they should solve that problem in the next album or something.

6. Cup of Poison
This one's more mid-tempo like Breakfast Saturday Night and Breed My Dye. The verse vocals have a nice flow to 'em. The solo in the middle is really cool and differs greatly in the different parts of it.

7. Post-Vomit Lines
I'm not even gonna ask what a post-vomit line is. I get an image of little lines of vomit everywhere but then I realize that these lines are POST-vomit! What's a guy to do? The song opens with Annie screaming and a discordant stroke of 'lectric guitar 'cause she's so stoked that she wrote another awesome song. Something like that. Yep, it's another fast thrashy song. It's good. It sounds like it's over for a moment, but then a soft part can be heard. THEN it sounds like it's over. BUT IT IZN'T! The band makes one final return as Annika screams "FUCK YOU" a few times. Fuck who? Fuck me? Geez, I hope I didn't do anything to piss you off THAT much! Nothing that couldn't be solved with some damn LYRICS!!! kjafjsdhfkjsdfshdfhdsgfhdf
8. Dark Milk
Easily my favorite one on the whole album, but there are so other contenders for that sorta thing. Hmm... Anyways, it's one of the slower songs. The verse part is sad and soft, but the chorus is a lot louder. The chorus is my favorite part of the song. I really like the vocals on that part. It's pretty hooky (to me, at least) in that part. The chorus ends with a little "PING" noise that sounds like a hammer hitting a nail really hard or something. There's some silence, and then the next verse begins. Etc. Like the name suggests, it's a very dark track, but it's one of my favorites on the whole album. It just feels good.

9. Bored
Also originally from the first EP and re-recorded. The song's called "Bored", but it's pretty energetic. It's a lot more upbeat compared to "Dark Milk". The drumming is really cool, here. The chorus is sung, "My Enemies Should Stay, I Want My Friends to Get Out". Not sure what it means, but I thought it sounded pretty clever.

10. Bottle of Wine
From the first EP. Slow, calm, but also upbeat in a way. I think it might be about alcoholism, but I'm not entirely sure. The vocals are great. The bass guitar is a nice touch. Just a nice relaxing song, still. Every band needs a few of those.

11. Rad Masturbation
I'm gonna be honest with y'all. I masturbate. A lot. So I think it's pretty cool that they wrote a song about it n' stuff. Before it was on here it was on the Breed My Dye single. Gotta love the little splash of distortion right at the beginning. The chorus reassuringly goes "You Don't Need to Masturbate, I Will Fuck You Anyway" -- I got the lyrics wrong the first time I reviewed this song. It's their shortest song, and appropriately, it iz also fast. I really like this one.

12. Born In My Eyes
The song begins sort of wry -- not quite happy but not quite sad. It sounds neat, though. The vocals are softer and calmer than anything else in this album... like a lullaby. Her voice sounds just as sad and sincere as she did in the original version. Slowly, the drumming and bass is coaxed into the song. Kinda like waking up. My lyrical interpretation: there's a literal fetus getting born in Annie's eyes. Don't ask me how or even why. Well, it all builds up to a heavier, raspier chorus with this sort of pessimistic optimism. Yes, I know, that made absolutely no sense. But is good music necessarily supposed to? I know what I'm saying, anyways. Kind of like "Bottle of Wine", it's one of the more delicate points of the record. Longest song, also.

13. Bohemian Dust Cakes
Some of these song titles are just plain goofy. And I like that. It's one last hardcore song from the album -- but this one has a more distinct noize-punk influence to it. And by that I mean it sounds abrasive and lively. Definitely a cool song. Really like the chorus vocals, once again. The bassline for this is really cool. The song really starts to get fucked up at the end, with an improvised (I think, at least) noize-fest between different strings on the guitar as the bass and drums just keep chuggin' along like it's not even happening. The final seconds of the song just sound like Space Invaders.

14. Rays Light Our Last Day
And one last song... it's easy going and quiet with softer vocals. It's not very long, though. Still, a nice way to end the album. The poetry is good, here. Unfortunately, that's all.

The album really is a beautiful experience. My one gripe is the fact that it does suffer from the whole "loudness war" thing -- it sounded a little too jarring on the first listen. However, I found a way to remedy this. I ran a high-pass filter through all of the songs and they all sounded so much better. It does considerably turn down the bass levels (sorry Michelle), but it DOES restore the dynamics of the sound... I recommend they should be more careful about this next time, though. But with that, the album's sound was then much more listenable and I could truly appreciate the songs for how good they really are. Every song on this album is different. Each one is unique. There are fast, thrashy songs. There are mellow, twangy songs. There are dark, grungy songs. The album seems to be based around depression, loneliness, and trying to find happiness in life. I don't know the lyrics to the songs (as I said too many times before), but the music does speak for itself. It just sounds very different from other things I've heard before. Nirvana IS a strong influence to the band, but the music has a feel of its own. And the people in this band are friendly people. Listening to this one the whole way through, though, I realized this is a better record than I thought. It has its ups and its downs, almost like a person. I dunno, maybe it's just 'cause I was tired when I reviewed this record. I'm just saying that it's an interesting album and I like it. And I'm real excited to hear what they're gonna do next. So... penis.

Review #15: Pandora - Breed My Dye (EP) (2009)

BREED MY DYE (EP)

Year: 2009

Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Post-Punk, Grunge
Label: Xochipilli Records
Tracks: 4
Length: 11 Minutes (Short)
Style: Emotional/Bleak
My Rating: 6/8

Pandora is a new lil' band from Belgium, over thar in U-Rope. Two sisters, Annika and Michelle, decided to pursue rock n' roll as their future against the wishes of their parents, n' they have a drummer named Roman. Anyways, they've been around since 2007 or 2006, I believe. Last year, they got signed to Xochipilli Records and released their debut EP record, "Shoot Me I'll Pay You". A few months ago, they released a new record to precede their first LP, "Melancholic Freedom", which will come out in less than a month in January of 2010!

Pandora's style of music is reminiscent of early '90s alternative rock, and there are elements of '80s post-punk as well, but the sound is pretty original-sounding. Also, on this album, Lucia Rehab from Betty Poison appears on the final (and best track) on this record. AFDSGSDFGDFGDF

1. Breed My Dye
The title-sake of the album. It's a mid-tempo rock song that alternates between calm and not-that-calm sections. My favorite part is the ending section, but the chorus of the song is pretty legit, as well. They made a music video for this one, and it has a lot of puking up of stuff that reminds me of that "Gak" stuff that I used to play with as a little kid. Hell, maybe that's what it was.

2. Breakfast Saturday Night
Similar tempo to "Breed My Dye". The song begins with cool, asian-sounding guitar noises, but then the song turns into something more normal-sounding. The guitar actually sounds pretty nice here, 'cause in the verses it sounds kind of airy and neat, and then it retains the eastern twang of the intro in the choruses. By the way, what IS it to have breakfast on Saturday night? Would it be like not eating on Saturday until night? Or would it be to eat eggs and bacon and stuff on Saturday Night? Who knows...

3. Rad Masturbation
A FAST song!! Well, as the title suggests, masturbation is actually pretty rad. Hell, I've done it up to 5 times a day (that's how lonely I am). Annie's mellow groan in the first half of the album transforms into a powerful and angry yell here, and the song ends pretty nicely. She reminds whoever the hell she's directed this song at that "It's okay if you masturbate, I will fuck you anyway." That's nice to know.

4. Fall (ft. Lucia Rehab)
This could almost be mistaken for an acoustic track, but you can tell that it's electric, just with very little distortion. There is no percussion, here. In the verse, Lucia can be heard with her more aggressive backing vocals, with Annie's softer front vocals. My favorite part is the chorus, mainly for the riff during that part. It's a pretty depressing song, but it sounds great, and is an accurate musical depiction of that mood.

"Breed My Dye" is a bleak, emotional piece that seems to revolve around depression and isolation, but I'm just getting that from how the MUSIC sounds. I don't know the lyrics, so for all I know, they could be singing about how they're the fucking happiest people in the history of the Planet. If you like this, on January 15th of this upcoming year, they are going to be releasing their first full-length LP, "Melancholic Freedom". YAY!!! And on that same day, over in U-Rope, they will be throwing an ALBUM RELEASE PARTY. And I won't be able to go. So go for me. At least one of you. Whatever. Enjoy this album. Bye.

"BREED MY DYE" MUSIC VIDEO