Radical Empathy / One Percent Press / Swimming Faith (2019)
I wanted to like this album more than I actually do. One Percent Press has put out some really cool records over the years and I'm always grateful that they take the time to send some to me to check out every now and again. I also really like the colorful artwork and palm trees on the front cover. Not too mention the little note that was packaged in with the album made reference to all of the Weird Al reviews I did last year. It was a charming little package and I went in with positive expectations.
Unfortunately, the tunes are a little too out there for me. It's an arty style of punk rock with dissonant chords and vocals that veer a bit too much into yelling for my personal taste. There are elements of the song construction that are positives, such as the Unwound style riffage, but there's also a few unnecessary sound effects/synths that spoil the party for me on a few tracks.
One of the things I have liked about bands like Unwound was their ability to go from quite whispers to uncontrolled roars in a surprising, but totally effective way. Alpha Hopper seems to be stuck on loud throughout the record and it's missing some of the dynamics I look for when venturing out of my pop punk bubble. In particular, the vocals just seem to sound the same to me on every song, regardless of what the music is doing. As a whole, it's not a bad record, but it's somewhat one dimensional and it just isn't my cup of tea.
Alpha Hopper - S/T:
https://alphahopper.bandcamp.com/album/aloha-hopper
No comments:
Post a Comment