POPDOSE on Microtia "Spacemaker"

http://popdose.com/cd-review-microtia-spacemaker/


I was bound to review Spacemaker no matter what genre the band was thanks to the intriguing information that Microtia create their own instruments and that this album cover and artwork is made out of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Marlboro Light boxes. That’s rock ‘n’ roll right there folks. Or at least that’s broke-unsigned-artist. Thankfully, the disc (which unfortunately is not made out of the beer that was inside the PBR boxes) contained a sound that fits the nature of the artwork pretty well.

The name of the final track on the album describes Microtia’s sound perfectly – “Pocket Full of Bee Stings”. The sharp, jagged guitar riffs sort of poke at you until you’ve given in and accepted the fact that that many different rock and metal genres join forces on this disc to create a loving family. The overall sound is a post-something – maybe post-rock, more certainly post-hardcore (one day I’m calling something “post-music” and seeing if it sticks) with some spacey moments, some stoner riffs and some good old fashioned RnR tossed in for good measure. And you know it has to be post some kind of genre with song titles like, “That’s the Problem with Owning Half the State of California”, “Tone Mountain vs. The Body of Riffage” and “I’ll Fight Harpsicord” (would have been better with a comma after Fight – just sayin’).

Cave In fans and stoner dudes would probably like this album a lot, which means a lot of people should like Spacemaker. Interestingly enough, after going through this, it made me pull out the debut album from The Used though. I keep hearing “A Box of Sharp Objects” (maybe the aforementioned bee-stings) from them in many of the Microtia tracks. I hope that’s considered a good thing at this point, because the disc is quite solid, especially “1000% Sure” which is certainly going to remain in my rotation for a while.

Now maybe just like the Used, Microtia can have their singer have sex with some member of the Osbourne family and they also can get their 15-minutes of fame! Wait – that won’t work anymore. How about Gene Simmons’ kid? They’re still on TV.