V2
2006
Young Machetes
About This Album
Before the release of Young Machetes, the Blood Brothers mentioned that the album would return to the harsher, more frenetic sound of their earlier work. This is true -- especially of the opening song, "Set Fire to the Face on Fire," which immediately commences to shrieking and shredding -- but it doesn't mean that the band completely did away with the overtures they made toward a more accessible sound on their previous album, Crimes. Instead, the Blood Brothers find sneakier ways of incorporating their twisted pop skills into the fray. There's no denying the hooks on "Rat Rider" nor the jaunty keyboards on "Laser Life," while "Camouflage, Camouflage"'s breakdown recalls the noise-meets-glam-rock flair of Johnny Whitney and Mark Gajadhar's side project, Neon Blonde. Nevertheless, Young Machetes' more challenging tracks are some of the most satisfying, especially "Spit Shine Your Black Clouds," which begins as a song so sneeringly catchy it seems almost disdainful of its own hookiness, and then shifts to subversively melodramatic, ultra-melodic parts that suggest a long-buried past in musical theater. "We Ride Skeletal Lighting" is that song's flip side, making relentless atonality seem downright accessible.
Track List (try tracks 7,9 and 15)

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