CIVIC MINDED FIVE / SWING DING AMIGOS:
Split : 7"
Live, the CM5 kill. On record, I don’t know what it is, but they’ll have a perfectly good song and then do something “funny,” like add chicken sounds or say “ickyickyicky” over and over again. It’s okay on first listen, but it gets irritating. I understand the need to mix things up, and bend two poles together that aren’t usually touching – much like the Fleshies do with classic rock riffs and Cows-like weirdness – but I’d really just like a CM5 record to blast me all the way through, just once. It’s even harder to say because I know these dudes, they’re really nice and they’re talented as fuck. Swing Ding Amigos: although I’ve never seen them live, I’ve heard great things about them, and met a couple of them in person but when they go for the falsetto, singing “Slowride,” I wish they’d just keep on kicking the hell out of massive jams instead of pushing the weird button or relying on the chemical imbalance that seems to by a byproduct of living in the high desert. That all said, no, I don’t really recommend this 7”, but I’ll definitely listen to what both bands come up with next. –Todd Taylor (Recess)