A garage band with all the usual obvious influences, Catheters manageto develop a sound more concerned with crafting interesting, imperativesongs than aping the components of their idols. They've melted it alldown and assembled it in their own way. For every heavy riff andscreeching vocal there is a bright melody, slicing its way through themurk and giving the songs a deeper character and personality. "NoNatural Law" sets it off at high speed, and rarely does the band slowdown over the course of the album. "Reaction" swaggers along with atambourine shake and the vocal acrobatics of singer Brian Standeford.While he is rarely not bellowing or barking out the lyrics, he uses thefull value of his vocal cords by imbuing every word or phrase with adistinct feeling and cadence. This contribution is yet another layer ofingenuity, raising HowlingÉ It Grows and Grows!!!a cut above the rest. Every opportunity to fall back into typical,everyday rock maneuvers is subverted by an attention to detail andcraft that brays out of the speakers with full force. "Brave Drum" isan archetypal rock song, not because it sounds typical but because moresongs should sound like it. It is a great blueprint, every instrumentknowing its role and at peak performance. The arrangement shakes andshimmies, at once bursting at the seams with reckless abandon but alsodeftly thought out with an ear for balance. While the album lacks anyreal shifts in dynamics or tone, it is loaded full of great, full onrock songs. The band clearly knows what works for them, and may feel alittle reserved about taking a stab at something different. Theintricacies of these songs, however, demonstrate that Catheters mightjust be capable of any number of progressions in their future, and mayfind themselves there soon enough if they keep up with the song craftheard on HowlingÉ -
Two new shows just for you. We have squeezed out two extended release episodes for this weekend to get you through this week. They contain mostly new songs but there's also new issues from the vaults. The first show features music from Rider/Horse, Mint Field, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Anastasia Coope, ISAN, Stone Music, La Securite, Bark Psychosis, Jon Rose, Master Wilburn Burchette, Umberto, Wand, Tim Koh, Sun An, and Memory Drawings. The second episode has music by Laibach, Melt-Banana, Chuck Johnson, X, K. Yoshimatsu, Dorothy Carter, Pavel Milyakov, Violence Gratuite, Mark Templeton, Dummy, Endon, body / negative, Midwife, Alberto Boccardi, Divine. Cow in Maui from Veronika in Vienna. Get involved: subscribe, review, rate, share with your friends, send images! |