CityCop Home base: Ashtabula, OH Players: Max Adams-Guitar, Vocals Eddie Gancos-Vocals Cody Mikesell-Drums Todd Thompson-Bass Steps up to the mic and what comes through: Screamo Skramz Festival’s farthest traveling music makers, CityCop are in a similar position to bill-cohorts, Brightside, in that they are no neophytes to the road, the record or the raucous and have embraced some of what comes along outside of the total DIY space. However, none of their label-like alliances have lessened the punch that accompanies the songs. Nothing sounds overly produced. In fact, when diving into the start of “Loner,” CityCop’s newest record (released just this past November) the composition itself creates the setup for a perfect “sonic punch” because the first 30 seconds feature a singular acoustic guitar playing some very tranquil overtones and patterns laced with perfect intervals. This all sounds very serene until the simultaneously drop in of Adams’s shouting vocals, a three beat snare drum hit with subsequent full kit barrage and subtle but audible bass line. Once everything has come into play, the second style of punch listeners experience is born from the mix itself. Parts are all cleanly recorded but they also sound as though they were mixed to sound very upfront–especially Adams’s shouts. (The mix makes the recording sound as though the band could be standing right there with you in the room, not “well recorded but off somewhere else.”) The acoustic guitar is also no one track gimmick as it appears with notable significance in every track and with each song, the instrument with the most innocent timbre becomes the most fierce, holding its own against sheer band volume –particularly a percussion part often found playing equally respectable rhythm patterns that could be easily put in a marching band. Probably the most intriguing piece of CityCop’s puzzle is the fact that the acoustic guitar presents a classical style very much akin to both the Latin flavor and rapid but precise style of Rodrigo y Gabriela. CityCop avoid potential style staleness though, as some of the tracks have Adams offering partially sung vocals as opposed to solely shouted. The record also caps with a (gruffly) spoken word vocal and mildly stripped down instrumental arrangement that brings out a heavier shade of indie and emo rather than the more aggressive emo and post-hardcore pairing thrown forward to that point. Track to listen to first: “Suburban Nightmare” Excerpt From throwthediceandplaynice - By Kira Grunenberg
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 00:23:55 +0000
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