Anxiety BlanketCold Cranking Amps |
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Gotta love the name… Cold Cranking Amps, I mean, how perfect a name for a band. However, this trio from the Twin Cities possesses a style more derivative of a name such as, moderately progressive amps? Okay so it wouldn't come off too well so we'll go with this, though they're not quite as sharp and direct as such a title might indicate. Then again maybe it indicates nothing. This is an intriguing listen so far, though I'll dare suggest it'll remain so all the way through. On the one hand, there's a very Tool-like correspondence in terms of their key changes and oft-flighty inner song structures and on the other, they embody seemingly everything that was classic sounding about 1970s Rock with the full on jam focus and grassroots approach that defined a generation who went along for a wild ride and who today simply refuse to let things lay where they may… Yet Cold Cranking Amps is not quite so simple to pin down-they're very Rock oriented and focused firmly in the groove, again the throwback to the organic swing and style of the classic era yet one quick glance in the other direction and you swear you're listening to Stone Temple Pilots… In spite of the external references, CCA is an existence all their own-and lyrically stimulating to the point you have to wonder whether they were still of sound mind at the time of writing or whether they went to the Morrison hotel once to often… So far the biggest and brightest of the bunch has to be song five, "Everybody Else" which has a catchy rhythm and lullaby-like choral harmony that precludes a nearly Hell-bent Blues and Boogie beat that carries the tune to its dissonant conclusion. Going further, the jazzed-up and somewhat lyrically disturbed "Sundrown" is dynamic and dreary all in one breath, very rootsy and altogether strange based upon the figurative meaning of "cloud cover" we may assume and the disappointment it brings. "Anxiety Blanket," marks the band's first full length after a number of demos and a 1998 EP, and is inspired in its technical complexity and knack for strange musical wanderings and left of center lyricism. Definitely a distaste for the mainstream, theirs is a musical vision that some might find difficulty focusing on at first but once they do I trust it'll be an enlightening experience. Released by Major Label Records Review by Vinnie Apicella
[va85@columbia.edu] |