Dance Gavin Dance - Whatever I Say Is Royal Ocean
Record Label: Rise Records
Release Date: November 14, 2006
Dance Gavin Dance are a five-piece post-hardcore band out of Sacramento, California. Their sound consists of high pitched clean vocals, rough screams, and inventive guitar work.
The opener to the EP, "Whatever I Say is Royal Ocean," is simply an intro. It's a mere 48 seconds long, and consists of nothing more than a few strange sound effects. The clean vocals on this EP are amazing. Jonny Craig can unleash some of the best yells and high pitched melodies I have heard in a while. His high-pitched vocal style fits the overall sound of the band perfectly, and he sounds like he could be an amazing R&B singer.
Dance Gavin Dance seem to have a thing for robots and strange song titles. The next track, "The Robot With Human Hair Pt. 1," is a good example of this. The song starts out with a soothing guitar riff, then Craig gets the song going with his mellow vocals. Jon Mess gives the song a boost of energy when he kicks in with his emotional, somewhat forced screams. This track, as well as all of the others, features some unique and creative guitar work as well.
"The Robot vs. the Heroin Battle of Vietnam" is the next track. More robots. This song is ridiculously catchy, and by far the best song on the album. It features both Craig and Mess about equally, with Craig's clean vocals layered over Mess' screams. Again, the guitar work is nothing shy of amazing. When this song is over it will leave you wanting more. Much, much more.
"Tidal Waves: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner" and "The Importance of Cocaine" are two of the more mellow, and melodic songs on the EP. "The Importance of Cocaine" is Craig's strongest song vocally, and it's easy to relate to what he is saying in this song. With lyrics like "This hits too close to home for me / I don't need to be reminded of this pain," you can easily see into the mind of Craig.
"The Robot With Human Hair Pt. 2" is, as you can tell, the second part to "The Robot With Human Hair." While it is the second part of the first song, it is very different. This song focuses mainly on the combination of Craig's and Mess' vocals, and it goes well. It features some call and answer vocals, and also layering of the two's very different vocal style. This track as some strange sound effects thrown in as well, mainly towards the end of the song. This is not a song to forget, and it's better than the first part.
The EP closes out with the track entitled "Burning Down the Nicotine Armoire," which is where screamer Jon Mess finally takes the spotlight away from Craig. The tune starts with some powerful, and extremely rough screams from Mr. Mess. It works well and gets the song going very quickly. At about the four minute mark, the song makes a change, with a quiet drum beat, and a soothing guitar riff from Will Swan. Jonny Craig is crooning away at this point, and you can just relax and listen to the sweet sound of his voice. Then, the track explodes again with the guitars and drums speeding up, and Mess starts to scream again. Overall, this is one of the stronger tracks on the EP and a great way to close it out.
Dance Gavin Dance's Whatever I Say is Royal Ocean is definitely not something to be looked over. Sure, it has it's faults, but it is still one of the catchiest and most enjoyable EP's I have heard in a very long time.
Haha thank you. I just realized this got posted, I didn't get a PM.
When did you submit this?
Edit:
And good review, but you're kind of all over the place. As well, I couldn't stand this EP, haha, so nice to see someone found something worthwhile in it.
And good review, but you're kind of all over the place. As well, I couldn't stand this EP, haha, so nice to see someone found something worthwhile in it.
I submitted it..last friday I think. Haha, thanks.
Definitely better than the Death Cab review but....it doesn't really flow. A good review needs to flow just like any solid essay or novel, but this is just everywhere man. You kind of name raped too, saying the vocalist or guitarists name more than once or twice is overkill. Just revise more, type it and then come back a day or two later and look at it with another set of eyes. Good effort though dude.
Definitely better than the Death Cab review but....it doesn't really flow. A good review needs to flow just like any solid essay or novel, but this is just everywhere man. You kind of name raped too, saying the vocalist or guitarists name more than once or twice is overkill. Just revise more, type it and then come back a day or two later and look at it with another set of eyes. Good effort though dude.
I've yet to check this out. Downtown Battle Mountain is good to to me, at least a few songs. I'm not sure how I'd feel about this release though, I'll have to listen to some of the tracks now though, good review.
And good review, but you're kind of all over the place. As well, I couldn't stand this EP, haha, so nice to see someone found something worthwhile in it.
coming from someone who liked the Foxy review? thats interesting, I thought this was well done
Why is there no mention of Alexisonfire or ATDI? Considering that both of those bands heavily shaped DGD's influence on this record, I would have at least liked to see them in the RIYL section.
Also, lower definition? rly?? they're a lot closer to the layered, noisy mess that was Finch circa SHTS than DGD.
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