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Anime Aliens - ​Sucker Punch

2/27/2018

2 Comments

 
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Anime Aliens

​Sucker Punch
self-released; 2017

3.5 out of 5

By Jamie Funk
​
Anime Aliens are a band from Sacramento, CA comprised of Charlie Passarell, (Guitar/Vocals)  Zack Wheaton,  (Bass) and Phillip Towles  (Drums). They released an album entitled Sucker Punch.

The songs felt like frivolous fairly ironic “nerdy” rock songs that contained trivial thoughts ranging from “not understanding minecraft” to having to go to the bathroom which is what I think the topic was about on “Pee Monster”

The song are so short that you barely have time to start rocking out before it ends. It’s like fleeting ideas that never get fleshed and it ends before it even gets started. Suffice it to say listening to album sequentially was a lot more of a gratifying way of experience the songs rather than individually.

The band's plays into the garage rock of early Weezer or band like Wavves. It's fairly straightforward garage rock that blends in the traditional elements of distorted guitar, bass and drums.

Up first is “intro” which is a short lived guitar pattern that goes into “Horsemen” which is the four chord style garage rock that you can expect from the majority of the songs. Half the song has vocals followed but a short lived guitar solo. The garage style songs start to feel interchangeable fairly early on dispersed with pieces like “Skit 1: In Flux” which felt like experimental art pieces that felt unnecessary.

I don’t have anything against band's writing about topics that don’t have much lyrical emotional resonance but some band's are able to off both. At their best bands like Weezer and Wavves have songs that can do both by interjecting what might be considered trivial topics and themes and connect it to emotional states like anger, sadness, joy, etc. I’d like to see if the lyricist can do something similar and connect to songs to larger ubiquitous subjects which in turn could make the audience more emotionally connected. Food for thought.

The album definitely felt geared for a younger audience from the style to the topics to the general bohemian punk irony the seems to be interwoven into the music. There is definitely an audience for this style but feel like the band is their embryonic stage right now and have to admit I would love to hear something with better production value and more meaty songs at some point.

Overall, this is a solid start and feel like they are onto something. I look forward to hearing the band's progress.
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2 Comments
Vinnie Guidera
3/4/2018 10:06:17 am

Jamie Funk is a writer and critic for Divide and Conquer who published a review of Anime Aliens' record "Sucker Punch.

While the writer's command of the English language is adequate, their attention to detail could use some work. Mistakingly referring to the band as "Anime Animals" was a bold choice, but ultimately, I think readers would connect more to the material if the writer paid even a slight bit of attention to what they were doing.

The writer seems to have a comprehensive understanding of the term "garage rock" and band names that start with W, but perhaps exploring music a little bit further would help in formulating an informed review. Famed W-band Weezer achieved great success with songs about an unraveling sweatshirt and a crowded icebox, and I'm sure that's due to the emotional connection that fans felt with the lyrics. Recommending a band write about topics that are already ubiquitous is the best advice for a group looking to blend into the crowd. Besides, I'm sure there are one or two more people on earth who would be similarly disappointed that "Pee Monster" isn't followed by an emotionally-charged ballad.

Overall, I think this review was a great start for a blossoming writer, as it definitely had words, and those are a crucial component to any written piece. Jamie is really onto something.

3.5/5

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David
3/4/2018 11:16:42 am

The band is Anime Aliens, not Animals. Please check your posts for errors before publishing them.

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