Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts

Ello mates! We got a bit topsy-turvy with our scheduling so here's my choice today. Tomorrow we will have a not-music-related post of Hipster's choosing and on Sunday we will have Hipster's choice. Oh, and if we have enough time we'll try to throw a requested review in there!

With love,

HaF

P.s. I almost forgot! Let us know what you think of the new layout and whatnot. We have a chat box now, woo! Alright, I'll leave you alone now.

Paul's Choice:

Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts

Friend Review:

Doot do do… doot do do dooooo… Oh hi, I didn’t see you there. Alright, so my pick for this week was Nothing Hurts by Male Bonding. I first heard about these guys on XM radio because the album’s first single “Years Not Long” gets quite a fair bit of airtime on Alt Nation and XMU, those lucky ducks. Anyways, I then Youtube’d “Years Not Long” and witnessed the single’s video. Wow. It is the gayest things I’ve ever seen. And I’m not even using the connotation of gay to mean “lame”, I mean this is a very homosexual video. But that’s beside the point. The first thing you’ll notice when first opening this album is how short it is. The 14 songs whirl by in just under half an hour. As sad as it is to say, I’m glad this album was that short. The album has a punk rock feel to it mixed in with lo-fi sound. Almost all the songs are fast-paced and filled with energy, however many times it is hard to discern one song from the next. It’s hard to explain: there’s really not a bad song on the album. If I were listening to my iPod on shuffle and any one of these songs came up, I don’t think I would ever skip. However, listening to them all in a row is a bit draining. Whenever a song takes a break from the album’s typical sound, it is a breath of fresh air as is the case with “Franklin”. The instrumentation on the album sounds good, the drums are creative while simplistic and the guitar reminds me of Tokyo Police Club which is a good thing as far as guitar goes. The vocals are a bit drone-y and bland however. This band has all the right elements to be good, they just need to clean themselves up a bit and add in some more dynamics.

Friend Rating:

6.7

Hipster Review:

Mixing various styles of punk and indie rock, Male Bonding's debut Nothing Hurts creates an interesting blend of fuzz pop music. While there is a dizzying multitude of Lo-fi buzz bands these days, many of them lacking originality or distinction, the thing that makes Male Bonding an interesting group is their bleeding-heart sincerity; the passionate, albeit distorted, vocals convey heart and soul. And while close inspection may be needed to decipher what each song is about, the listener can still make out the underlying tone. The other quality that makes Nothing Hurts a distinctive experience is the musical performance of the group; while most Lo-fi bands pride themselves on their minimalist, lack-of-proper-instrumental-ability approach, Male Bonding plays with a pop mentality, crafting jumpy mini-anthems that explode instead of crash. And the album's short length makes it plenty easy to take in if you happen to be one with short patience. While it's not the brilliant work that some critics have hyped it up to be, it's still a fine album in its own right by a promising new band.

Hipster Rating:

8.4

Coming up tomorrow, tea!