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June 2006 Losing Today (NYC).
On their second EP Chicago's Walking Bicycles continue the hone their unique sound, which I still find myself at a loss to categorize. Is it Post-Punk? Shoegazer? Indie-Rock? Stoner-rock? All of the above? I don't know the answer, and it doesn't really matter, because with so many unadventurous bands flooding the world of music, being hard to pin down is probably a good thing. The major difference between this EP and the band's first is the major overhaul in production style. This time out, they chose two big name producers, with four songs produced by Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Wheat, Califone) and four by Steve Albini (Nirvana, The Pixies, and pretty much everyone else) who never takes a producers credit, instead referring to himself as "engineer and mixer".
Although I expected the hot shot producers would bring a new richness to the band's sound, I think that both Deck and Albini actually made the sound a bit too dry and brittle with Julius Moriarty's guitar sounding too restrained and Jocelyn Summers' vocals too far in front (possibly as a result of the restrained guitars). If anything, I prefer the more "action-packed" sound the Walking Bicycles got on the first EP. Despite my production gripes I still found the songs on Disconnected as strong as ever, with "Desparate", "Welcome To The Future" (which shows up twice - one version from each recording session), "The Hermit" and the Gang Of Four-ish "So Far" being prime examples of the catchy-yet-challenging sound and unique vocals (it's refreshing to hear a female vocalist that doesn't just sound like a carbon copy PJ Harvey, Debbie Harry, Rachel Goswell, Patti Smith, or Karen O, and can bring something new to the table) that brought me to the band in the first place. This will stay in your CD player for a long time to come.
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Music & lyrics © Walking Bicycles. Content from this site may not be reused without permission. |
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