Review:

on 2011-06-15 CharlesMartel Said:

When I first heard this, I liked this. This was party music  good fun-filled ska which was surely guaranteed to liven up any gathering. Quickfire lyrics, a plethora of engaging horns and sneaky guitar work which on occasions, such as on "That'll Be the Day", even mimics some metal riffs. What more could you want?

But the more I listened to it, the more my opinion changed. For a start, you can't dance to it. It is broken up by tempo shifts and quiet pieces which, while putting it above a simple run of the mill ska track, makes it something which you can't really tap your foot to, let alone, get up and dance to.

And Mrs Martel hated it. Now I dont normally go much on Mrs Martel's musical opinion - someone who listens to the Pussycat Dolls and Twitney has a musical taste which is nothing to brag about. That we only share eight tracks on our respective iPods says something else about our divergent musical taste, but she compared it to a bunch of City Boys making arses of themselves while drunk in a pub having just got their fat cat bonuses. You know what? I could see her point.

The band itself is a combination of members from two defunct outfits, Catch 22 and One Cool Guy and the music follows very much in the same vein. After listening to it a few times, you begin to pick out some flaws with it. First off, while the vocals are engaging at first, you quickly realise that the throaty delivery at breakneck speed often leads to the vocalist slipping out of tune and occasionally slurring into quasi-rap. Secondly, the production is awful. It seems to have recorded everything at the same level as everything else, guitar excepted, and this results in it becoming a litany of tracks which merge into a sort of sameness, broken only by the occasions when it slows down. The result is that the whole thing sounds like barely controlled mania. Maybe that was the purpose, and I can see how it would work better in a live setting, but it doesn't come off that well on a recording.

The opening two tracks are probably the best on the album, but that may be because the album hasn't had time for the flaws to become too apparent by the time you have finished listening to them. What you start off with, then, is some measured ska punk which almost invariably is going to make you turn your iPod down to avoid you blasting your ears off. The first change comes with the third track, "Point/Counterpoint", which is a sad lament about a guy who regrets his arguments with his girlfriend and the poor state of his life, so poor it seems that even the gun with which he tries to kill himself doesn't work properly.

From this point on, the album gradually begins to adopt a pattern of sameness which led to me changing my opinion and downgrading my rating. Of course, in parts, it does rise above that feeling, but these do not seem to be a natural event. Moments such as some good lines in the lyrics of "Failing, Flailing" or the contrast between "A Moment of Silence" and "A Moment of Violence" in terms of the stories they tell stand above the rest, but they are small lights in an otherwise shady grey expanse. Thankfully, the final track, "The Big Sleep", with its denunciation of war and the pointlessness of it all, serves to bring the album back to the point where it started.

This is not a bad album, it is just not as good as it really ought to have been. I am sure it sounds better as individual tracks than when it is played as a whole from start to finish. Still, as a debut album, this is not a bad start. If the band can clear up the production glitches and introduce a bit more distinctiveness into their music, Streetlight Manifesto should be a band to watch.
Rating: 6/10

Review:

on 2006-10-24 AndyFromJersey Said:

Guitarist/songwriter Tomas Kalnoky couldn’t have picked a better place to pick up where he left off with Catch 22 than to continue with the talented musicians of Streetlight Manifesto. Here’s the deal: Tomas quit Catch 22 just after the release of Keasbey Nights, went to Savannah College of Art and Design for awhile, and continued writing while living in a rented house just off campus in Savannah, Georgia. He recorded a few tracks at home, composed some tunes, sent out guitar and vocal tracks to assorted musician friends (chiefly former members of defunct New Jersey ska outfit One Cool Guy that he’d known while playing in Catch 22). These songs were later released as a demo once Streetlight developed a healthy following, but they were first reworked and rerecorded to be included on Everything Goes Numb, which brings us to the present.
It’s pretty obvious after listening to this for a few minutes that Kalnoky has grown up significantly since the days of such KN tracks as “On & On & On” and “9 MM and a Three Piece Suit.” There’s an ample amount of bitterness on the record, with many more classically influenced, Russian sounding horn riffs than those of his younger days (the track “If and When We Rise Again” even quotes one of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances). In short, the album completely transcends the sub genre of ska punk, moving farther into the realms of post-hardcore, minus the obnoxious donning of eyeliner and quasi-metal screaming. Subject matter is just as widespread, ranging from unspecified crime reminiscent of film noir (“Everything Went Numb”) to suicide (“A Better Place, A Better Time“) to a Holden Caulfield-like loss of innocence and failure to adapt to growing up. In fact, there are ample allusions to The Catcher in the Rye and use of author J.D. Salinger’s name in on of my personal top tracks, “Here’s to Life.”
Speaking of favorite tracks, every single fan of this album has a different one. Maybe you prefer the bittersweet goodbye of the final track, “The Big Sleep,” or the multi-layered, strong willed anthem “We Are the Few.” Personally speaking, though it may sound hopelessly cheesy, every track is my favorite, depending on what mood I’m in at the moment. Furthermore, every aspect of this album--lyricism, musicianship, whatever-- is absolutely phenomenal, right down to hyperactive drum fills and classic ska bass lines.
It’s hard to stress how unique this album is, even though it’s ostensibly a run of the mill ska punk combo. Even if you’re not a fan of ska, Everything Goes Numb will have something to offer you. Brilliant musicianship, songwriting, subject matter, and general catchiness come together to bring you a beautiful, fun, and heartbreaking debut album from a crew of experienced members of a scene long over run with generalities and imitators. And this is only the beginning.
Rating: 9/10