BOAT- Soul Thrash Train (1999)

This is a very interesting album, not only that, but this is a band from Japan that I can't really seem to find any bio on.  I have looked online, went through many different links, and even had Firefox translate Japanese pages for me, all to little avail.  Now, I have found pages that list this album, and others that they have their discography, but I can't seem to find any info. on the band itself, that's why you will see very few, if any, links in this post, regarding the band itself.  (So if you read this, please post a link if you find any background info.)

Boat is from Japan, sings in Japanese, and that's pretty much all I know at this time.  Like my usual precursor, I have no idea how I stumbled across these guys, more than likely, and I'm 100% sure this is how it went, I was browsing different users' files on Soulseek and decided to go ahead and try it.  I pride myself in being able to describe what genre(s) a band falls into, for the most part, but for some reason BOAT just seems to escape labeling.  But let me try nonetheless:  Imagine a poppy Japanese band, with the usual shoegaze style female vocals, playing standard Japanese Pop music, then completely switch that up, for every single track; seriously every track!  Every track, out of the 13, are pretty different from the rest; the style changes, the tempo/timing changes, the vocals change, pretty much everything is different, as you go from song to song on the 35+ minutes this release has.  (pop, punk, rock, experimental rock, noise rock, etc.)  I really want to find out more about these guys, and I have plans on getting their other 4 releases to see what they are like as well. 

After reading through this, I feel like my review of this band/album is lacking quite a bit, but this is one of those, and I know I've said this before, bands that you have to check out for yourself.  I really enjoy music, and when you mix in music form other cultures that switches things up so drastically, it's usually a hit with me.  Depending on where you live, you might be able to find this in a store, but more than likely you'll need to look online or download it, if you want to check them out; which you should. 

Official score- 3.75/5

To Kill A Pretty Bourgeoisie- The Patron (2007)

Throughout my entire collection of music, I would have to say that this is by far one of the most unique releases that I have heard.  I am not too familiar with To Kill A Pretty Bourgeoisie, but their mix of genres on this album is something new- Shoe Gaze with Noisy Drones as the rhythm, to produce this fluid and full amalgamation of experimental rock meets harsh electronics.  

The Patron has 10 tracks, all of which pretty much follow the same line of style: tonal intro, heavily effected tones that builds into a nice rhythm then enter the shoe gaze style female vocals followed by a beat, that is hard to tell if it is live drums being ran through some kind of effects or just programmed beats.  I really am not trying to downplay this album, although I might be coming across a little negative, this is a really interesting album.  For me, I like it, but then again I really enjoy inventiveness/experimentation when it comes to different musicians/projects that I find and hear for the first time.

There is a major drawback to this though; I would assume that this style really only appeals to a certain demographic of listeners.  I don't see being able to copy this off for someone and hearing them rave about it when I ask their opinion of it, not because it isn't good, but due to the fact that there isn't any real hooks that would grab the average listener.  It is overall a little downtrodden in style, no uplifting sounds on this release, but it is a dark portrayal of something that the artists are trying to get out, and with that they did a good job.

I would recommend this to my friends that are into different experimental progressive styles of music, but not the average music fan.  If the songs were a little more diverse, even if they stuck to the same style, I would give it a better score.

Official Score- 3/5