steering clear of the mainstream
since 2001

june 2010

review
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info opinion

Abner Trio / Man At Arms

Split CDEP

Joyful Noise Recordings / Friction Records

Genre: noise rock, indie rock

August 2007

this eight-track split ep pits abner trio's melodic noise-rock against man at arms' more abrasive song fragments. i'm really digging the hooky indie rock of the former, which is sort of like a mashpash of dismemberment plan, cap'n jazz, and three mile pilot. especially great are the urgency of "the spotlight" and the melodic build-up of "the hysteria", though the 3mp bittersweetness of "the victim" is pretty gnarly as well. man at arms is considerably more impulsive, shedding the poppier end of matters for a much noisier method. they sound very, very similar to an old band by the name of fiesel. minute-long "the drooling" is my favourite.

mp3 (from suburbansprawlmusic.com): abner trio - the spotlight, man at arms - who died and made you the voice of reason?

80%

youuuuuuuutube!: abner trio video for "the chair" (not on this cd), man at arms video for "the forseeable future" (not on this cd)

Fun Fact: Abner is a minor character in the Bible.

Matt Shimmer

[Vitals: 8 tracks, 24:31, distributed by the labels, released Nov 14 2006]