OKComputer1016
07/14/08, 05:32 PM
Modey Lemon - Season of Sweets
Record Label: Birdman Records
Release Date: May 12, 2008
There are about a million reasons why Modey Lemon has got a totally new take on the overplayed garage throwback. The reverb-soaked vocals and drums that hang above aggressive instrumentation; the random bursts of guitar noise and dissonance that offset barreling grooves; the hauntingly distant production that gives the album sort of a Velvet Underground push. Rather than just glorifying the shit out of The Stooges and spinning out 2-minute power chord tracks like everybody else in that field of music, these guys play a style that’s anything but stale. In fact, the only tag that really fits them at all is “jam/stoner rock,” and even that is stretched to its outer limits on Season of Sweets.
This is an album with excellent replay value, and that’s due in part to the insane heaviness of Modey Lemon’s grooves, but I’d also like to give the guys some credit for their intentional ugly-ization of flowing riffs. You can notice it best in the excellent “The Peacock’s Eye” where the opening riff switches from harmonized Thin Lizzy to discordant Sonic Youth in about one second. That’s the same track whose Wall of Sound could be used to end immigration issues; it’s a static burst of energy that transplants itself from the group to you with the speed of sound.
As for the audio quality, this is pretty much the definition of lo-fi so it’s hard to say whether any given listener will love or hate the crunch. The first time I put it on in my car I had a hard time listening to it (although that was immediately after seeing the band live, and I was more than a little bit deaf at the time). With each repeat listen, the music has presented itself more and more, either because the riffs and vocals become familiar in my mind or because I went ahead and turned down the treble a little bit. Either way, the absence of any sort of glossy finish totally gives the album the character that keyboard/guitar/bass parts this bizarrely and stunningly indie deserve. So you’ll just need to get past the headache.
Recorded, you can’t really hear just how fucking insane this drummer is. That’s something that you’ve really got to see live to experience – the dude’s a madmen, musically and visually. His standard groove is a John Bonham strut thrown off by Keith Moon drum fills left and right, chaotically balancing the styles behind whatever rhythmic pieces of riffing the other guys are laying down. See this band live – it will be the best thing you ever did. This is a 4-star album by a 5-star live band.
I really can’t say enough good things about this band. Ah, I fought of the cliché statement for so long, but I think you deserve to see it, especially since I’m so hyped about this album: When life gives you lemons, you bang your head furiously.
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, CKY
myspace.com/modeylemon1 (http://www.myspace.com/modeylemon1)
Record Label: Birdman Records
Release Date: May 12, 2008
There are about a million reasons why Modey Lemon has got a totally new take on the overplayed garage throwback. The reverb-soaked vocals and drums that hang above aggressive instrumentation; the random bursts of guitar noise and dissonance that offset barreling grooves; the hauntingly distant production that gives the album sort of a Velvet Underground push. Rather than just glorifying the shit out of The Stooges and spinning out 2-minute power chord tracks like everybody else in that field of music, these guys play a style that’s anything but stale. In fact, the only tag that really fits them at all is “jam/stoner rock,” and even that is stretched to its outer limits on Season of Sweets.
This is an album with excellent replay value, and that’s due in part to the insane heaviness of Modey Lemon’s grooves, but I’d also like to give the guys some credit for their intentional ugly-ization of flowing riffs. You can notice it best in the excellent “The Peacock’s Eye” where the opening riff switches from harmonized Thin Lizzy to discordant Sonic Youth in about one second. That’s the same track whose Wall of Sound could be used to end immigration issues; it’s a static burst of energy that transplants itself from the group to you with the speed of sound.
As for the audio quality, this is pretty much the definition of lo-fi so it’s hard to say whether any given listener will love or hate the crunch. The first time I put it on in my car I had a hard time listening to it (although that was immediately after seeing the band live, and I was more than a little bit deaf at the time). With each repeat listen, the music has presented itself more and more, either because the riffs and vocals become familiar in my mind or because I went ahead and turned down the treble a little bit. Either way, the absence of any sort of glossy finish totally gives the album the character that keyboard/guitar/bass parts this bizarrely and stunningly indie deserve. So you’ll just need to get past the headache.
Recorded, you can’t really hear just how fucking insane this drummer is. That’s something that you’ve really got to see live to experience – the dude’s a madmen, musically and visually. His standard groove is a John Bonham strut thrown off by Keith Moon drum fills left and right, chaotically balancing the styles behind whatever rhythmic pieces of riffing the other guys are laying down. See this band live – it will be the best thing you ever did. This is a 4-star album by a 5-star live band.
I really can’t say enough good things about this band. Ah, I fought of the cliché statement for so long, but I think you deserve to see it, especially since I’m so hyped about this album: When life gives you lemons, you bang your head furiously.
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, CKY
myspace.com/modeylemon1 (http://www.myspace.com/modeylemon1)