Red Animal War
Red Animal War
Deep Elm
Wow! This is great stuff, very Jawbox-ish. I’m usually not all that excited about stuff on Deep Elm, but this CD is really well rounded and powerful. To tell you the truth, I’d never heard of these guys before I got the CD, so this was a new experience for me.
Let’s start with the cover art: gorgeous. It’s a very strange greenish, fade to blackish color, with a silhouette of a sword blade and handle, with the band name in white in the middle; very simple, yet quite beautiful.
The music itself is highly angular and mathematical; very much like Jawbox. Come to think of it, the lead singer of Red Animal War wounds quite a bit like J. Robbins. The drums on this record are high up in the mix (thank you!). The bass is ringy and propulsive. The guitars are high pitched, yet fairly warm, similar, again, to Jawbox’s guitars on For Your Own Special Sweetheart and the self titled record.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that Red Animal War is like a Jawbox cover record, but the songs are originals. I honestly don’t care how bad Red Animal War rips off Jawbox, because I sorely miss that band, and Burning Airlines just doesn’t do it for me. This is a truly fun record of angular emo that Jawbox fans will drool over.
Deep Elm Reocrds: http://www.deepelm.com
