Big Orange Crayonmusical thingsCalibos Calibos Arlingtone Records You know, there really aren't that many bands dabbling in instrumental rock music out there anymore. I'm not saying that there isn't instrumental music, just not a lot of experimental rock music in the indie world. There are certainly tons of electronic experimental bands, Germany makes sure of that, and completely instrumental bands like Pele, but there aren't that many "normal" bands that decide that a song would be better if they just refrained from singing on it. But then there's Calibos, who do just that. They make pretty straight up rock music, with a big emphasis on rhythm and guitar repitition, which makes for a dizzying experience when you listen to them. The drums are really loud and booming and the guitars are sort of relegated to providing some notes to go along with the rhythm, and the vocals hang out even lower than them, which is pretty much the opposite of the way things are normally done. You find this out pretty early in the album. The first track, "Offsides" begins the disc with a pounding drum beat, followed by two altering guitar chords and then the vocals. As for how the singing sounds, I just think of them as normal "rock vocals". I guess it kind of reminds me of Daydream Nation Sonic Youth, in a way. I think my favorite track on the album is "Draft", which is a really dreamy and melodic instrumental track that I just love. Other spiffy tracks are the more agressive "Locust Ballet" and "Station" which is bouncier and poppier than the rest. It's a pretty short album for this kind of music, it's under half an hour long, but in a way maybe that's kind of a good thing since it doesn't have that looming feeling of a super long album with bunches of instrumental stuff. Of course, it's not like you won't want to hear more of them, but that's the way life is. Total score: 413 out of 428 |