Mixtapes - How To Throw A Successful Party Review
In a notoriously samey genre Mixtapes stand out with a twinge of being unique.
rating:4
I dont want to write this review. This isnt some general statement or some protest against reviewing this release. No, this is just me being a miserable prick on a Sunday afternoon. Feel free to blame it on the lack of alcohol to hand, next to no sleep, a hangover or woe just simply being me. Whatever the reason, I dont want to be writing this right now. Thankfully though, that feeling is being alleviated by the very subject matter of this review. Said subject matter being the (almost entirely) acoustic How To Throw A Successful Party by Mixtapes. For those not familiar with them, Mixtapes are a Cincinnati based pop-punk four piece who have been doing the rounds a wee while and offer up duelling male/female vocals. Now, you may say pop-punk is dead but its more alive than you might think. The old guard (New Found Glory etc.) are still going, blink-182 are back and have been in full swing since, Motion City Soundtrack continue to rise with their indie meets pop-punk and theres plenty of young bands too Mixtapes being one such example.
Initially intended as a free bonus download exclusive to pre-orders of last years Maps & Companions, his year sees How To Throw A Successful Party getting a release in its own right available both digitally and as a 500 limited vinyl press in three different colours (yellow, green and blue if youre curious). Coming in somewhere between an EP and an LP, is it worth the release and purchase? Simply put yes. I say somewhere between EP and LP because whilst it sports nine tracks, HTTWASPs two longest songs are two minutes and forty six seconds, with the shortest being fifty three seconds and the general rule somewhere around one minute and twenty seconds. Anyway, the songs themselves, however short, are little mostly-acoustic pop-punk gems, the kind that have brought me out and about of my melancholy indulgences today. Leaning to a more tender and gentler sound than normal the overall effect brings to mind Alkaline Trio on their first album Goddamnit but minus the borderline alcoholism and plus the topsy turvy emotions of coming to terms with growing up. This in itself has a little flavouring of Brand New as they were on Your Favourite Weapon, a fact the band nod to themselves with a lyric in 2 p.m. (how to end something good) Ive driven for hours and slept in the flowers, I woke up feeling brand new, and Jesse dont you know the truth I spent all those nights just thinking of you or and possibly their name as Mix Tape is a track from Your Favourite Weapon. http://youtu.be/aHN6fSt4fls The song titles progress through times in the day from 10am through to midnight at two hour intervals, with brackets offering a bit more of a clue to each individual songs theme. Combine this with each songs short run time and it presents a flow between the EP/LP as a whole that could almost have it play out like one long and lovely song. Though, thanks to each tracks distinct melodies each track is very much an individual working as part of a collective. Songs aside, perhaps the strongest aspect of Mixtapes is the joint vocal work between Ryan Rockwell and Maura Weaver. Working well when each takes lead on a vocal, but really shining when they play off of each other and harmonise, adding a certain sincerity to the already tender songs on offer here. Not just that, but in a notoriously samey genre Mixtapes stand out with a twinge of being unique. Have a listen, download it, buy it on vinyl. Whatever you prefer, just have a go it cheered me up, and what more can you ask for from an acoustic pop-punk EP/LP? Now to get miserable again reading Edgar Allan Poe with a couple of drinks, and then get angry throwing myself about watching Every Time I Die in Cardiff later. What an emotional Sunday. website bandcamp facebook twitter