Waxwing
Nobody Can Take What Everybody Owns
Second Nature
Those of you who like to see music critics come off looking like schmucks should enjoy this one (and don’t kid me, I know you’re out there.). Here’s the deal. There’s this band called The Waxwings. I saw them open for Adventures In Stereo a few years ago. Their material was strong, well sung and with a good sense of pop craft.
There is also a band called Waxwing who (and I’m quoting from the record company bio) “is doing something here that can only be compared to something done by Jawbreaker in their early years.”
You see it coming, don’t you? I mixed them up, thought one was the other and requested an album for review from a band I do not know in a genre I do not like. Now, leaving aside the fact that there ought to be a law preventing bands from having names that similar, there’s no reason why a perfectly innocent band who as far as I know has never done any harm to anyone should suffer for my mistake.
Therefore, what you are going to get here is the most descriptive, least opinionated, briefest review I have ever written.
This is unencumbered rock with the kind of thrashed-voice singing John Lennon defined on “Twist And Shout.” It has the petulance of adolescence and a droning sound not unlike the hum of machinery, It is almost pure energy.
And I have no use for it. But for those of you who like this kind of thing, this is the sort of thing you will like.
PS: If anyone knows what happened to The Waxwings (plural), let me know.
Second Nature Recordings: http://www.secondnaturerecordings.com
