Native - Wrestling Moves

[Blake Solomon]

Native – Wrestling Moves
Record Label: Sargent House
Release Date: October 30th, 2009 (digitally) / January 26, 2010 (physically)

It’s to Native’s credit that the most jarring aspect of Wrestling Moves is also its most hidden. A band with so much screeching and so little paucity of any type will inevitably create layers. Some more immediate than others (like Bobby Markos’ frantic vocalizing), these tiers of post-hardcore mathiness tend to make for a dense record, one that’s in need of some serious unwrapping. Wrestling Moves would be a gag gift if its climaxes weren’t so everlasting. And after you remove the at-times heavy chugging of guitarists Ed O’Neil and Dan Evans, or the through-the-telephone effects of Markos, you see that what Markos is saying, what this music is actually about, makes it so much more than some indie record that we’ll all pretend to like just because we’re supposed to. On “Five Year Payoff”, a slow-moving force of a song, Markos uses cryptic effects to hide his super simple message: “These verses show readers the pictures of history / Words will age but never will fade.” Switch that light bulb on.

To describe a song on Wrestling Moves is to describe a soooong. And by giving the listener gobfuls to play with, we are allowed to overcome the initial feeling of extreme musical gluttony and pick out only the most nourishing parts. The fullness fades into a yearning for content, and that’s exactly what Wrestling Moves possesses. “Marco Polo” features but two lines from Markos, and yet despite my masturbatory remarks above, it’s the album’s finest piece. For nearly too long, a lone guitar chisels away in hopes of finding a rewarding melody, but once the discovery is made it is gone again. Markos does his best Pyramids impersonation and hammers us all to hell in less than a minute. A song like this takes trust in not only one’s talent but also in one’s listener. For an overactive band like Native to make us sit and chew for 3+ minutes, and for it to be a success, is almost unthinkable. Think of "Marco Polo" as a reimagining.

But Wrestling Moves isn’t completely devoid of that which made We Delete; Erase so memorable. “Legoland” and “Members List” bounce around from kinda loud to really loud, feature gang vocals and oddly timed moments of contemplation (especially the “NO HE DIDN’T” drum solo on “Members List”). Who’s to say if songs like those are appeasements to older fans or just signs of the band’s true calling. Either way, I’ve found myself filling up on the Minus The Bear-esque instrumental of “Pocket Jingle” and discordantly blissed-out ending of opener “Backseat Crew.”

I don’t believe that bands actually experiment on records, because I feel like it’s impossible to call any type of music anything other than, well, an experiment. (Some choir nerds at my high school took a class called Musical Theory, so I’m inclined to agree with myself here.) Suffice it to say that Native try a foreign thing or two on Wrestling Moves. And by god, or maybe by Fender(?), they all work.


Recommended If You Like: Minus The Bear meets Pyramids, Botch in a field of flowers, i don't know, other loud stuff


native.bandcamp.com

[Adam Pfleider]

YES!!!! I could not have done this the justice you have...people need to hear this album...

[will and life]

this sounds sort of mind blowing...

[Keagan Ilvonen]

Fucking Native are the best. Everyone needs to listen to them.

[kemichels]

Yes.

[IWasHerHorse]

This band is so good, I need to see them play the next time they come near me.

[houli253]

Native FTW

[spansen]

good guys. i'll hope they come by soon so i can avoid shipping costs.

[Travis Parno]

beautifully worded review. really good stuff, blake

[mogley]

the link to the artist profile is the wrong band

[barkingincision]

loved we delete; erase but when i heard a few tracks off this i wasnt sure
gonna give it another listen soon

[Blake Solomon]

the link to the artist profile is the wrong band
not sure how to fix that, but if you click that bandcamp link you can downolad/hear the whole record for free

[kemichels]

not sure how to fix that, but if you click that bandcamp link you can downolad/hear the whole record for free
I don't know if that was advertised on this site (At least I don't remember)...think you could throw it up as news?

[mybreakingpoint]

this album is incredible.

[Blake Solomon]

I don't know if that was advertised on this site (At least I don't remember)...think you could throw it up as news?
it was

[Rich Duncan]

Excellent record and great review

[sargenthouse]

Thanks for the Review! you can hear all of the album and buy it if you want now here:
http://native.bandcamp.com (http://native.bandcamp.com)

their link is : www.myspace.com/nativein (http://www.myspace.com/nativein)

[Alex DiVincenzo]

The vocals take a little getting used to, but I'm enjoying this a lot

[DogSizedBird]

This is an incredible album from an incredible band.

[jtjt43]

I like it, but I think the vocals might start to annoy me soon.

[apresnuledeluge]

Great album. It fits in perfectly with everything I've been listening to lately.

[will and life]

I like it, but I think the vocals might start to annoy me soon.
i agree

[Blake Solomon]

i agree
i guess i will never please you!

[will and life]

i guess i will never please you!
actually, i really like your reviews. they're always well written. i'm just picky about certain things i gues...

[-ben]

so good. such a rad band.

[FullCollaspe]

Good album. They have a lot of talent

[voncorn]

Love the album, love the band.

[TheSkyline]

The Minus The Bear RIYL has convinced me to listen to this. Excited to hear it.

[barkingincision]

also


FOALSSSSS

[chaosagent]

amazing review for an epic album. i cant stop listening to it...

[jeff1391]

botch in a field of flowers :D

suuuuuuuuuuch rad dudes, this is without a doubt one of my favorite albums of the year.

[rpk004]

the instrumentation is filthy. hoping the vocals grow on me a little more.

[springsoldier]

why is an album this good, with mostly positive comments getting such a low member rating?

[iamtaylorrr]

This CD is excellent. Thank you for writing this and getting me to listen to this great band.

[osirisFIVE]

Just had a listen on the bandcamp website.

Not really a fan of 'hardcore' vocals and would prefer some snippets of clean vocals, but every song never fails to amaze me.
Shining guitar riffs, booming bass, and intricate drum patterns; I'm hooked.

[DogSizedBird]

10 of 10.

[jeff1391]

for those who aren't fans of the vocals: check out their EP. the vocal style fits perfectly on it. the production isn't nearly as good but the vox are pushed to the back of the mix and it's got a rougher feel to it.

personally, i love it either way.

[osirisFIVE]

for those who aren't fans of the vocals: check out their EP. the vocal style fits perfectly on it. the production isn't nearly as good but the vox are pushed to the back of the mix and it's got a rougher feel to it.

personally, i love it either way.
Checked it out.

Loved it.

It's on repeat.

[apresnuledeluge]

The drumming on this album is phenomenal. This has already worked its way into my top 5 of the year.

[iamtaylorrr]

This CD honestly couldn't have come at a better time for me.

[songydarko]

Fucking awesome, is what this album is. That is all. They're pretty sweet live too.

[quittla]

The album is underdeveloped and a weak link when compared to other Sargent House releases. This record shows that Native can sure play a lot of shows with six songs in two years, but in that time there has not been much creative growth. I can’t say with certainty that they haven’t written many songs, but I’ve seen them several times and I never heard them perform any of the songs on “Wrestling Moves” (or any other material, for that matter) until after they had recorded them. This means that before SH’s push for a new Native release, they had only written (maybe) 6 songs. Then, without writing and slowly developing new material through performance and time, the band was pushed into writing and recording a full-length release on a limiting schedule. Only further releases will tell if this band is capable of developing its compositional voice. The group’s harmonic language seems to be limited to simple chordal movement, never straying far from the piece’s key center. The guitarists seem complacent enough to fill instrumental passages with accented, sustained unisons that follow a generally mundane, unoriginal, rhythmically constricted harmonic progression. Repetitious, tacky tapping pull-offs that permeate throughout the genre solidifies Native’s mimicry of already established SH artists. Of course kids love the head-bob-inducing backbeats that plague every one of Native’s tracks and I think this allows relatively unimaginative pitched material to go unnoticed. The bass parts also leave much to be desired. Redundant and harmonically simplistic motives, namely following root motion without much rhythmic diversity only feeds the animal that my iPod-induced musical ADD has become. Vocals are a sore subject. They rudely destroy the aesthetic, an overall sound Native has borrowed from other SH artists (you probably know which ones). Indeterminably pitched vocals (yells, screams, etc.) are used successfully throughout the umbrella of music with typical rock instrumentation. For Native, the monotone deliveries that remain rhythmically and stylistically static song to song represent the band’s biggest weakness. The only thing moving in a positive direction for Native’s music has nothing to do with their compositions. An obvious financial supplement from SH for “Wrestling Moves” allowed the band access to expertise and a studio that can produce high quality recordings. However, the well constructed sound of the record cannot hide apparent compositional immaturity. It seems that Native has fallen into a comfort zone defined by their musical inexperience. Redundancy is the bane of Native’s writing. I would expect something more developed and mature from Sargent House. Native's overly consistent pattern might attract some listeners but I can tell you they certainly aren’t holding my interest.

[jeff1391]

:(
that hurts because it's true
but that doesn't stop me from loving this band.
to each his own!

[barkingincision]

The album is underdeveloped and a weak link when compared to other Sargent House releases. This record shows that Native can sure play a lot of shows with six songs in two years, but in that time there has not been much creative growth. I can’t say with certainty that they haven’t written many songs, but I’ve seen them several times and I never heard them perform any of the songs on “Wrestling Moves” (or any other material, for that matter) until after they had recorded them. This means that before SH’s push for a new Native release, they had only written (maybe) 6 songs. Then, without writing and slowly developing new material through performance and time, the band was pushed into writing and recording a full-length release on a limiting schedule. Only further releases will tell if this band is capable of developing its compositional voice. The group’s harmonic language seems to be limited to simple chordal movement, never straying far from the piece’s key center. The guitarists seem complacent enough to fill instrumental passages with accented, sustained unisons that follow a generally mundane, unoriginal, rhythmically constricted harmonic progression. Repetitious, tacky tapping pull-offs that permeate throughout the genre solidifies Native’s mimicry of already established SH artists. Of course kids love the head-bob-inducing backbeats that plague every one of Native’s tracks and I think this allows relatively unimaginative pitched material to go unnoticed. The bass parts also leave much to be desired. Redundant and harmonically simplistic motives, namely following root motion without much rhythmic diversity only feeds the animal that my iPod-induced musical ADD has become. Vocals are a sore subject. They rudely destroy the aesthetic, an overall sound Native has borrowed from other SH artists (you probably know which ones). Indeterminably pitched vocals (yells, screams, etc.) are used successfully throughout the umbrella of music with typical rock instrumentation. For Native, the monotone deliveries that remain rhythmically and stylistically static song to song represent the band’s biggest weakness. The only thing moving in a positive direction for Native’s music has nothing to do with their compositions. An obvious financial supplement from SH for “Wrestling Moves” allowed the band access to expertise and a studio that can produce high quality recordings. However, the well constructed sound of the record cannot hide apparent compositional immaturity. It seems that Native has fallen into a comfort zone defined by their musical inexperience. Redundancy is the bane of Native’s writing. I would expect something more developed and mature from Sargent House. Native's overly consistent pattern might attract some listeners but I can tell you they certainly aren’t holding my interest.
http://memegenerator.net/Instances/963/Cool-Dog-Hey-Cool-story-bro41.jpg

[Earlstein]

ok