Sunday, July 24, 2011

Veneers & L/P Split 7"

~AB - Big absence on my end. Sorry sorry sorry! To make up for it I took a picture of this record next to a big scary knife. 'Street Cred'.

Bought this record on a total whim...well sort of. Mr. Stebner recommended it to me, so I guess that's reason enough to purchase a record. This 7" contains offerings from two rad new eastern Canadian bands, Veneers from St. John's, Newfoundland and L/P from Truro, Nova Scotia. Like Alberta, the maritime provinces are raised on a healthy diet of isolation and long, cold winters, and like Alberta produces some kick ass bands because of it.

Veneers was a bit unexpected. The band contains members of Polina so I was expecting something a bit heavier, full of screams. Instead I got slow plodding post punk with just a bit of swagger and snottiness. Even though I don't jam the Haram record nearly as much as Kevin does, I immediately thought of it while listening to the Veneers songs. This may turn some people off, but some of the vocals have a bit of an older Mae Shi vibe to them, but maybe that's just me. A good mix of attitude, urgency and frantic shouting. I really dig both songs a lot and I'm super excited to see what they do next. I guess there is a tape floating around somewhere, so I'll have to get my hands on that soon.

On side B, 3 songs from L/P. Really fun and fast punk rock with a bit of a garage pop edge to it. Like a bunch of east coast pop kids who grew up listening to that Halifax pop sound doing their best Stooges impersonation. Toss in a bit of Bad Brains rippin' hardcore punk style for good measure and you have a pretty decent idea of what to expect. I figured I'd like this side of the record a lot less than the Veneers side, but in all honesty it's grown on me quite a bit. There is a lot of interesting stuff going on, and they're really fun tunes.

I really like when a record surprises me like this one did. 5 solid jams from 2 solid bands! Lesson learned? Always listen to Kevin Stebner.
~AB

No comments:

Post a Comment