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Blotto
Singles Collection 2004-2007 |
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Tracklist |
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01 - The Lightning
02 - Everybody Has the Devil On The Inside
03 - Goodbye Yesterday
04 - World
05 - A Cross Of Sadness
06 - No Fantasy
07 - Crimson Sky
08 - Rainbow Rainbow
09 - Thousand Of Snow
10 - Crime And Punishment
11 - I Believe
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Review |
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It's hard to play punk rock in 2005's version of Japan. Just ten years ago there were only a handful of these sorts of groups carving up Tokyo and getting big. It was a golden era of "big fish in a little pond." Skip forward a decade or so and it's a post-Top 40 world. The success of Hi-Standard, Softball, and Mongol800 has spawned more pop punk and melocore acts than you would could shake a Ten Foot Pole at. Nowadays it feels more like "there's plenty of fish in the sea." It doesn't really help that most of these modern bands settle for "fun" rather than innovating or even finding a niche to work with. The ocean of hegemony in punk rock rolls on and only a few bands try hard enough to make an impact and create waves. It would be easy enough to capsize in all this mediocrity, were it not for a few lighthouses along the way, guiding the listener to buried treasures of punk rock bliss.
Like Me First And The Gimme Gimmes' second album "…Are A Drag," Hawaiian6 match classic show-tune melodies with modern day punk rock speed and fury. There's one slight difference though: Hawaiian6's "classic" melodies are all original. The quality of the juxtaposition still sticks though; the classic sense of melody ripped cleanly from George Gershwin or classic Disney movies works surprisingly well paired with the fierce guitar tone and speed of Hawaiian6's melodic hardcore. Each part has its own strong melody, happy or sad, that acts as the thick, lumberjack legs the band's sound stands itself on. The three piece plays perfectly in unison and their ability to weave three those three parts together is much more developed than most of their contemporaries (except WRECKing CReW of course). Despite this, there are a number of complaints to lodge; the terrible English pronunciation (think Hi-Standard, their most obvious influence), for example, hinders those grand show-tune melodies. Additionally, much of the music is overly similar, but for those accustomed to punk, it shouldn't be a problem. In the end though, it's the songwriting, melody, and cohesion that keep this band afloat among the endless waters of similar acts.
Beginnings picks up right where Hawaiian6's 2002 debut, Souls, left off. In fact, there's almost nothing different about the music at all. What has improved though, is Clutch's singing and songwriting. The songs presented here seem to have benefited greatly from the extended break between albums. The catchiness that first won Hawaiian6 their audience is still fully intact, but now there is much more diversity in the songwriting, allowing for new types of hooks, tempo changes, and better intros. While there aren't any individual efforts that tower above the rest of the album as "An Apple Of Discord" and "Church" did on Souls, but there is also not as much filler as on that album. Nothing here on Beginnings truly tops the peaks that the band reached in in 2002 and 2003 but the quality on average is much higher here than before. There are some early favorites; "Rainbow Rainbow" and "A Cross Of Sadness" stand out almost immediately, but each song eventually reveals its magic. It seems, at the most basic level it's that the band just has more ideas and they spent a good deal time polishing the songs till they were perfect.
Of course, I can't recommend Beginnings to everyone. If you're not already a fan of the band or the melocore genre, you may find Hawaiian6 a bit abrasive or even unremarkable. Hawaiian6 is surely a one-trick pony, but it just happens that they do that one trick better than almost everyone else trying. I would even consider it a strength that the band tries to improve their music rather than expanding it. There isn't any genre blending or softening at all. The band has realized their strengths and are content to leave that sort of tomfoolery to Foot Stamp. For fans of Japanese punk, the unique melody scheme and efficient song structures will be a godsend. Beginnings is a delicious improvement over Hawaiian6's early releases. The band has effectively established themselves in the upper echelons of melocore, a shining beacon broadcasting above the vast sea. |
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