Heartsrevolution – “Switchblade EP” (2008)

Genre: 8-bit

Sounds Like: Crystal Castles, Adventure, nails on a chalkboard

Listen To: 1 – Switchblade -  An oddball track full of a variety of synthesized sounds and rhythms but it be very fatiguing to listen to.

Innovation is cool.  Dance-techno is cool too.  When Polysics threw a recorder, a synthesizer, english gibberish, and poppin’/lockin’ into the tradition J-Rock band, they created a new breed of high energy pop that gave them the fanbase to tour with high profile bands like the Kaiser Chiefs.  When Hellogoodbye crafted a niche of their own with synthesized beats and cutesey lyrics, their first real album debuted at  #13  on the US charts.  When Heartsrevolution mixed harsh synthesized melodies with atonal yelping and a variety of distortion filters, they created noise… and not much more.

I might as well come out and say that I don’t like this EP and if you do, stop reading now because you will be offended.  This CD is actually physically painful to listen to if you’re listening to it on sound system capable of reproducing the piercing treble mixed into this album.  The title track, Switchblade isn’t too bad of a song except that each audio track is subjected to the gauntlet of oddball filters that create a harsh overall tone that actually makes it difficult to concentrate on anything (although music like this will probably be played in dance clubs where you really shouldn’t be thinking about anything but dancing anyways.)  The second track, “Wolves and Libertines” has “Lo” yelping atonally (or maybe just singing offkey) “run baby run baby run baby run” every other line for the length of the 2 minute track.  The third track is an experiment in vocal filters and sci-fi sound effects gone wrong with monotonous melodies, monotonous rhythms, and the nagging feeling that a 6 year old with a delay pedal is just mashing keys on his dad’s synthesizer.  The forth track is perhaps the most mellow and trance-like although my same gripes with the previous tracks apply to this one.  It’s monotonous with the same depressing phrases repeated over and over in a roboticized voice.  The fifth track… just read the previous paragraph over.

This CD was created by two people who spent too much time playing with audio filters and not enough time thinking about the headache it would cause its listeners.

Grade: D-   Reviewer: Andrew Huang