Dance Hall Crashers
Purr
Pink & Black
As soon as the Dance Hall Crashers made, for the most unfathomable reason, the ill-fated decision to forego their horn section, the band’s been on a consistent downward spiral. Aimlessly searching for a home in the most lucrative genre, this latest incarnation is only a few notches above rock bottom. Thankfully, the charming and original female vocals that have been at the forefront of the outfit from the get-go are still guiding the band through this collection of desperate tunes. But that’s about where the praise stops.
Purr incorporates more distortion pedals than a Screeching Weasel album, and their half-hearted attempts at pop-punk rock sound almost mechanical, lacking the inspiration or directive that makes the genre worth anything in the first place. Their hooks do stand out, making the windy songs somewhat tolerable, but with about 30 collective seconds throughout the entire album of a ska up-beat and a audibly lackluster job of painfully squeezing energy out of their instruments, the “new” Dance Hall Crashers sound has never fit them more uncomfortably.
Pink & Black Records, P.O. Box 190516, San Francisco, CA 94119
