ARTIST: Loose Lips Sink Ships
TITLE: Puptent
LABEL: Science Is Fantastic Records
GENRE: Instrumental Rock
BITRATE: 189kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 54m total
RELEASE DATE: 2008-05-09
RIP DATE: 2008-11-01
Track List
----------
1. Ok, I'll Brainstorm 8:25
2. My Ego, My Little Dwarf 4:03
3. Intro To Jello Junction 0:41
4. Meth Is Fun 5:20
5. Out To Dinner With Avocado 5:27
6. Who You Calling A Jive Turkey? 1:00
7. Everything (After A Gasp) 4:20
8. Fire Burns Squash 3:13
9. It's Raining In Chernobyl 1:12
10. Holy Hot Flash Batman! 4:32
11. Linear Musical Thought 16:45
Release Notes:
http://www.myspace.com/looselss
If you were to judge what a band sounds like based on the genre they chose when
creating their myspace account, what would you expect ôZouk / Hawaiian / Death
Metalö to sound like? I, for one, would hope that this is a band which either
has a sense of humor or doesnÆt take myspace descriptions too seriously.Loose
Lips Sink Ships do have a bit of a comical side to them, with goofy song titles
such as ôHoly Hot Flash Batman!ö and ôOut to Dinner with Avocadoö. It turns out
they are also a tough group to pin a single straightforward label to.
Puptent is the Illinois quartetÆs full length debut and is made up of eight
songs and three interlude type tracks. The eight and a half minute opener ôOk,
IÆll Brainstormö is a great preview of whatÆs to come over the course of the
album as it jumps through many different styles and sounds. This track glides
between twin guitar and bass instrumentals, heavy hard rock grooving, spurts of
math rock riffage, droning Middle Eastern flavored sections and intense
outbursts of noise that is conjured up by effects pedals. The well-structured
composition of the song has the band sounding relatively fluid, even while
jumping through all these styles.
The second track ôMy Ego, My Little Dwarfö doesnÆt go through as many musical
gymnastics. It fades between loosely played clean harmonized guitar parts to
tight, nod your head, rock out riffs. Both sections are underscored by frenetic
drumming and occasionally disturbed by noise freak outs. One thing that plagues
Puptent is the randomly interspersed bursts of effects pedal noise. It serves a
minor purpose the few times it is used as an interlude between songs, but sounds
immature and pointless when it pops up out of nowhere in the middle of calm
melodic guitar parts. My other gripe is with the drums, which seem to always be
of the spastic math rock variety. Although this works extremely well for math
rock and parts with looser tempos, when the band starts rocking out and
following a stricter tempo, the drummer needs to as well.
The three interlude tracks on the album are all pretty pointless and detract
from the flow of the disc. ôIntro to Jello Junctionö sounds completely out of
place with its glitchy electronic drum beat and music seemingly out of an 8 bit
video game soundtrack. ôWho Are You Calling a Jive Turkey?ö has some guitar
noodling with heavy reverb, accompanied by the sound of your girlfriend playing
with the whammy pedal while you're trying to jam. The dismally named ôIt's
Raining in Chernobylö reminds me of a tradition encountered while camping as a
little kid. On Sunday morning all the kids were corralled and had a big parade
around the campground while banging pots and pans called the ôPots and Pans
Paradeö. IÆm sure glad I havenÆt had any sleepy Sunday mornings interrupted by
this, but I can now play this track to bring back the memories.
One of the highlights on Puptent is ôMeth Is Funö, which has plenty of
fuzzed-out rocking, tapped guitar parts in odd meters and what may be the
albumÆs catchiest riff. ItÆs the one that has the really awesome warble sounding
effect on the left guitar. On tracks like ôEverything (After a Gasp)ö where the
band is completely focused on just the music, they really shine and sound
confident and experienced. There are moments during the heaviest parts on the
album where Loose Lips Sink Ships come close to the level of Hum, the retired
space rock band also from Illinois. During their loose instrumental meanderings
,they are more like a This Is Your Captain Speaking (lite). If this young band
can maintain their unique sound while learning some restraint and writing
stronger melodies, they could quickly become a (post rock) household name.