Let's try going with impulsive. If I can't immediately overreact with music that's new to me then I feel like what's left of my impetuous anticynical youth will perish and my transformation to bitter old man will be complete. Seriously, new music is like my brand new toy on Christmas day or, if I were a credulous college co-ed, my new set of Hello Kitty key chains. I'll play (with) it for days, but, in my advanced years, by the time I'm ready to show it off to my friends I'm either over it or worried that they have had that toy for months or even years. Then I'm just the nerdy poor kid bringing a bucket to the sandbox while everyone else is playing with their Star Wars figurines. Or worse, I make a reference to my 80's childhood Star Wars toys when everyone else is globally interconnected playing The Old Republic. So we're gonna stop with the second guessing, the over analyzing, and the "will this be relevant?" Who cares It's blog. I'll be like the rest of you who post another person's thoughts or images and reblog faster than a lonely match.com spinster refreshing her inbox (yeah, you can take it that way, too). I'll be impulsive.
So, let's get impulsive with Shapes. From Birmingham, UK, Shapes started off as an aggressive math rock band with quite of bit of shout-alongs mixed in among the buried, and most of the time absent, singing. They focused more on the loud and sometimes disjointed rhythms of technical indie music. They had that kind of Dischord Records feel going with the tones of Fugazi and the technicality of Faraquet.
On their second record, The Pasture, The Oil, Shapes looked to beef it up and tech it out some more even taking a page right out of The Fall of Troy's playbook. Actually, the slightly ugly truth about Shapes is I could exhaustively list bands that they sound like, but they never let any of their influences fester around long enough to allow themselves to be deemed copy-cats. They're more of an amalgamation of technical aggression that sounds strangely familiar while still maintaining some freshness. It's never quite clear what direction they're about to swerve towards so if their music doesn't allow you to tap your foot or nod your head for an extended period of time then at least Shapes keeps the listener guessing. With this release, they also moved the vocals up in the mix though they are still sparsely used.
With their latest effort, Monotony Chic, they take a more conventional approach to heavy rock music. The technicality and speedy spastic changes are still there, but they also play with a little bit of space. On this record, Shapes sound like they are dragging their guitars through the mud creating a dirtier and slower version of themselves. It's similar to that underground Louisville rock sound, specifically Young Widows. This style allows for more layers and fleshed out songwriting ideas rather than sledding down the Matterhorn hoping the next line they jump to continues the flailing journey rather than bringing it to a messy and abrupt ending. Another interesting addition are the lower cleanly sung vocals which add even more depth to their new rock 'n roll leanings.
weareshapes.tumblr.com
facebook.com/weareshapes
weareshapes.bandcamp.com
bsmrocks.com
Where They Started: 2008's Get Your Learn On
Where You Should Start: The Pasture, The Oil is probably the most interesting musically, especially technically, but Monotony Chic shows a lot of growth and is the most accessible. It'd be a coin flip if all of their material wasn't available for streaming on bandcamp.
Time for Some Songs:
