The Family Curse - White Medicine
Review by Nick DeMarino (StonerRock.com)
Fainting Room Collective
Release Date: October 2009
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Seattle’s The Family Curse have a good thing going. Their baffling approach to rock renders des c r i p tion of their sound fairly difficult. As a hack reviewer, it’s tempting to describe a band by genre (garage plus early industrial plus pop plus glitch plus noise rock) or comparisons (AIDS Wolf meets Kraftwerk or Björk meets Arab on Radar), but the results of those tactics are too convoluted in this case. Instead let’s simply state there’re guitars, electronic drums, keyboards, distorted vocals, and plenty of post production, all put together by three individuals.
The group’s sophomore effort White Medicine is a mixture of earnest pop hooks (see “Big Black Mark,” and “Sewing Box”), noisy punk ejaculations (see “Teen Challenge,” “Like Lightning,” and “Laughing My Way to the Bank”), and industrial ballads (see “Back in the Water” and “Bodies in Rooms”). Megan Tweed’s vocals are all over the place, at times singing sweet melody, at others screeching indecipherable gibberish. She’s the crazy ex-girlfriend who once snapped a record in half and tried to stab you with it. A violin and French horn eek into the mix every now and again, most overtly on “Back in the Water” and “Bodies in Rooms.” The pair of songs offers the greatest variety of structures and dynamics and at a combined twenty minutes, makes up over half of the album. However, the best bang for your buck is the morbid, pint-size waltz “Laughing My Way to the Bank.” Anyone who wants to dance to this should probably be committed (or perhaps in a committed relationship with someone of like mind). If ultraviolent art rock is what you’re seeking, look no further; The Family Curse is waiting with open arms.
URL: http://www.myspace.com/thefamilycursemission
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