Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, HEY! Hold it right there. You got my prog in your hardcore! Let me just grab that --- shit! --- there go my fingertips. Oh well, it's not like it isn't the most radical mess I've ever been gored upon. I'll just drape this round me and write the swarming heap up from my reserved, hardening-of-glue pace in the world.
I dig this record in the same way I liked Japanther's Dump the Body in Rikki Lake. It's got such a bratty energy and devil-may-care willy-nilly to it that's plain irresistible. It's yelping and bright pleather helium glam vox are quite obnoxious indeed, but the non-stop surprises ever keep you on your toenails. It's some of the most unhinged, scattershot progressive rock plundering I've ever heard, which is exciting in and of itself. But above all else, it's got a keen sense of commanding rhythm and melody running through the bracing madness. "Love Hounds," with its bizarre and unwieldy movements and stirring, cavernous chorus has got to be one of the best songs of 2005. A lot of Chandeliers' songs are simultaneously reminiscent, and a triumphant reaming of, the material on the last Trail of Dead LP.
I never quite got into The Blood Brothers, of whom Neon Blonde's Johnny Whitney and Mark Gajadhar are members. But the hyperactive vocals zooming from every possible careening point made quite an impression. On this equally barbaric, but considerably more song-oriented excursion, I've been pleasantly whiplashed into shape. The shrill vocals may grate on some after a while, but they're always throwing in gorgeous detours of hook-filled bliss that oughta prevent skipping around or moving on to something else. Once they take hold, the ferocity, the imagination, and the ceaseless schizophrenia of these bizarrely anthemic numbers will surely knock the wind out of you.
They're like the electro of Edie Sedgwick fully realized and re-wired to rock out. Conversely they're like the prog of Mars Volta made scrappy and adorable, rather than indulgent and pompous to the point of nausea. So do yourself a solid and pick up one of 2005's most enticing forays into fun-loving experimental rock. We're talking deconstructed sugar highs whose quality will eclipse most any keening emo-schlock available -- all the while tapping into the very nerve center that made you receptive to that shit in the first place.
1. Black Cactus Killers
2. Crystal Beaches Never Turned Me On
3. Chandeliers and Vines
4. Princess Skullface Sings
5. New Detroit
6. Headlines
7. Love Hounds
8. Dead Mellotron
9. Cherries in Slow Motion
10. The Future is a Mesh Stallion
11. Wings Made out of Noise