***Click on 000list to see the full archive of album reviews (includes links to the reviews & stand out tracks)***

~~~Click on Thrift Store Music Player to hear all the stand out tracks on Youtube
~~~

^^^Click on Art Gallery to browse the album covers^^^

Blog Archive

Friday, August 1, 2014

Kisses and Hugs - Positive Youth 1994!!!

Name: Kisses and Hugs
Album: Positive Youth 1994!!! (or) Nothing Has Changed
Year: 1994, 2002
Style: Scream-o, Hardcore, Death Metal
Similar Bands: Die Kreuzen, Bleed
"One-Word" Review: Attention Deficit Screaming Death.
Based Out Of: Allentown area, PA
Label: Raw Sugar, N=K Record Conglomerate
 Positive Youth 1994!!! - Cover & Record
 Positive Youth 1994!!! - Back & Record
Positive Youth 1994!!! (2002)
  1. CIV Lied 0:34
  2. Genital Ban 0:29
  3. Bad Blood Is Not What It's Cracked Up To Be 0:42
  4. Under the Rug 2:33
  5. Holy Shit 0:19
  6. Old Hag 0:29 /
  7. Fuck You Speclogics 1:25
  8. Misplaced Suicide Notes 1:35
  9. Giveaway 2:54
  10. Upper Half Skin Pride 3:01
  11. Kiss Me, Kill Me 1:26
  12. Why Do You Insist I Need College to Validate My Life, Fucker? 0:16
Album Rating (1-10): 4.5

Members & Other Bands:
Bob - Bass,Vox, Kazoo 
Dug Polgardy - Guitar, Vox, Mandolin, Sax (Burning Ambitions)
Chris Strunk- Drums (Burning Ambitions, Fate of Icarus, Crucial Unit, Heathen Shame)
Gina - Engineer
Matthew Berland - Cover Help

Unknown-ness: I’ve never heard of this band. At least, I don’t remember hearing of this band, although I might have heard or even seen them at some point in my high school years. But probably not. It turns out that at least two of the members, were senior to my freshman in high school, and would have recorded this material a short time after their graduation. Funny thing is, I did not pick this record up at our local Q-Mart or other (non-existent) record store; I had to travel all the way down to New Orleans on vacation to find this in a dollar bin. It makes sense, because a quick read of the liner notes on the back explains how this was put out by a NOLA based label. Also explained on the label is that this is scream-o style music before that style was ever created to differentiate types of hardcore. So, sorry if you are reading this school mates, but I don’t predict that I’ll like it much, nor do I have a strong musical basis to compare and review this. So consider this a shoddy, naïve review to the genre and album at best.

Album Review: Let me just start out that this entire albums clocks in at right around 16 minutes. With many of the songs just screaming the lyrics you see written as the title, there is not much room to embellish this live listening review. I will cover most of the review here by saying it is loud, fuzzed out guitar and bass played under fast, sometimes unintelligible somewhat high pitched screaming. Anything different will be noted.
“CIV Lied” machine gun drums.
“Genital Ban” lyrics screamed in short burst segments.
“Bad Blood Is Not What It's Cracked Up To Be” two sets of vocals, second is deeper. This song is darker than straight scream-core.
“Under the Rug” has time breaks where, for 3 second pauses there is just bass playing a slow plodding melody. The pauses are longer toward the end, and a marching drum beat accompanies them. This is followed by a scream solo, and ends chaotically.
“Holy Shit” starts off with a nice build, and stops before it can even get started.
“Old Hag”
“Fuck You Speclogics” actually has the lyrics screamed in repetition in actual intelligibility. This is more death metal than scream-core.
“Misplaced Suicide Notes” has a slowed down stomping mid-section that is still full of energy, but is not as speedy as the start and end. This might have the most diversity per song length on the album.
“Giveaway” starts with a nice build and is a blend of screaming and growling. Intermixed with the screams are spoken word lyrics that punctuate the music with feedback pauses.
“Upper Half Skin Pride” is the longest track on the record, right around 3 minutes. The song is disjointed, made of sections and different time signatures, and it showcases more heavy hard core playing than the screaming vocals. Toward the end, there are electric waves of feedback that sound like light sabers.
“Kiss Me, Kill Me” is just relentless speed for about a minute and a half, with vocals that seem to tire themselves out. Then suddenly it breaks into a short mandolin section before throttling head first back into the speed.
“Why Do You Insist I Need College to Validate My Life, Fucker?” is a short, heavy stomp of just the title. The music does not even last as long as the lyrics.


Links:

No comments:

Post a Comment