Paint It Black seem to be up to something currently. A few months ago, they announced that they would be releasing 7"s on various labels for the "foreseeable future." Not long after that, they announced that the first of these EPs was going to be released on vinyl and digital only by Bridge Nine Records, the fine lads who have released records from recent greats like Crime In Stereo, Verse, Have Heart, Polar Bear Club, and even the most recent album from NY's own H2O. Just yesterday (June 16, 2009), "Amnesia" was released. My vinyl hasn't come in yet, as I only ordered it last night, but it's available in three colors (300 in muddy rainbow, 700 in grey marble, and 1000 in white) and there is a free download when you order the vinyl.
The second I placed my order, I downloaded the EP and loaded it into iTunes, and my, oh my! THIS RECORD IS QUITE POSSIBLY THE MOST EVIL THING DAN YEMIN HAS EVER MADE!!! I'm not even kidding. For all intensive purposes, "Amnesia" is to Dan Yemin as Skewbald/Grand Union is to Ian Mackaye. The songs are grittier and louder than anything PIB has put out so far.
As soon as the EP's first track, "Salem," comes on, you're hit with one of those eery sounding, distorted bass lines a la "Atticus Finch." Dan's voice, in this song particularly, sounds so shredded and abrasive that you may think that it isn't Dan, but it is. His voice certainly dragged me in on this cut.
"Homecoming" is a fun sounding major-key jam. It reminds me of a few of the songs off New Lexicon. This is my favorite track on side 1.
"Nicotine" continues in the fashion of "Salem" with it's bass-heavy riff and it's slow, doomy meter.
Side 2 comes out swinging with the record's title track, which is probably my favorite on the record altogether. It's probably going to end up being a good crowd-pumping song in PIB's live show.
Anyone who's checked Punknews.org in the past month or so will remember reading that the band described the last track "Bliss" as "Fugazi having a 3 way with Jawbreaker and Nirvana." You know? That's about right. Only complaint I have about this song is that musically, there's a lot going on, and the vocals are quite droning in comparison. Before I end up getting e-mails or whatever, I realize this is hardcore but Andy Nelson is a pretty good singer, and his voice has been on quite a few sing-alongs in PIB's catalog, why couldn't he have done anything here?
That's really my only complaint about the whole record, there's no "sing-alongs," which every Paint It Black record has at least one (actually, way more than that) of. It's still a good cut, but that's one thing I noticed during my first listen.
I'll admit, I'm a HUGE fan of Dan Yemin's work. Whether it's Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, PIB, Armalite or even Resurrection, I've always been a fan. If you're as much of a Dan Yemin devotee as I am, I think you should get this record. If you're a vinyl nerd, you should get this record. If you're an EXTREME vinyl nerd, you should get all three colors. If you're going to get this record at all, I recommend you do it soon before B9 runs out.
Get on over to b9store.com right away to get this, you won't be disappointed.
I'll give this a 4 out of 5
B9store.com
Bridge9.com
Paintitblack.org
Myspace.com/paintitblack
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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