Dark Meat
Universal Indians
VICE
I saw Dark Meat live before I’d heard them recorded or read much about them. The acid riddled 14 plus-piece band took up a large stage and much of the floor space in the venue. It was a barely controlled mess of face paint, brass instruments, streamers, and confetti. The audience including myself looked on with curious glee.
Universal Indians saw VICE Records sending the Atlanta based band to New Orleans to live in a house, do drugs, and record. What could have been a disaster somehow ended up perfectly capturing the vibe of the Blues Brothers meets Captain Beefheart outfit. Vocals mimic a ghostly Appalachian croon, a myriad of marching band instruments swirl around each other chaotically, blaring with a confidence that ties them together. If you’re one for pitch perfect melodies, start with the pop minded “Angels of Meth” and work your way into the record from there.
—Chris V
We Are Scientists
Brain Thrust Mystery
Virgin Records
The dance-pop scene keeps sending release after release but how do We Are Scientists (pioneers of the present scene) stand up to it? With tracks like “That’s What Counts,” where dance meets a lush brass section sound; “Lethal Enforcer,” where the 80’s meets the band Men, Women & Children and; the mostly electronic ballad “Spoken For,” the band does pretty well to keep their billing as supreme. However, the album is not without it’s kinks. Noise-ridden and overproduced “Dinosaurs” is the most skip-able track on the album and “Ghouls” is a ballad in the same formula as “Spoken For” but not done nearly as well. Overall, with stand-out track “Altered Beast,” the band will keep you on your feet just as easily before but—as a whole—you may have to skip a few songs here and there to stay on your toes.
