Shiema - Make Them Swing Till It Hurts (EP) First impression for me came from the artwork that was supplied with the promo CD I instantly thought it was going to be one of those DJ Sharkey, DJ Mumble-Bumble-Whatever, etc. happy-hardcore compilations purely because those animated cartoon characters on the sleeve reminded me on of old nineties tapes my brother owned. However, it turns out that appearances are quite deceptive in this case as Shiema sound absolutely nothing like the glow-stick waving, ecstasy popping, dance-a-thon that I was expecting. Instead this is; whisper it, very emotional rock - yes people Emo. Now I'll be the first to admit I don't really have any time or patience for the Emo movement, or lack of movement so I instantly know I'm not going to be up to the task of reviewing this release because I don't want to depress my speakers. They'll never forgive me! What to do, what to do? Ah I know! Play it on someone else's stereo and make them suffer the backlash... ta-da! So what do we have here, well four songs that all sound very My Chemical Romance and Jimmy Eat World based on what I've heard of those bands (which isn't) much. Generally the playing is good on all the tracks and even some of the beats and rhythms I quite enjoy such as on 'Second Time Under Fire' but I can't stand the griping and whining that lyrically accompanies every track, especially on 'Hard Touch'. It's just generic Emo and I feel moved to smash the stereo I've been playing it on (is that the reaction I'm meant to have?). Turning it off and hyperventilating into a paper back calms me back down and I can go and put on something more calming that will cheer me back up. I was thinking the new Britney Spears album, anybody concur? Nah. Who am I kidding? I've been musically raped enough for one day. |
Re: Shiema - Make Them Swing Till It Hurts (EP) First impressions of this review was to question the purpose of it. Why would anybody take their time to review a band in a (incorrectly labelled) genre that the reviewer doesn't even like? ("Now I'll be the first to admit I don't really have any time or patience for the Emo movement, or lack of movement") And then go on to liken the music to bands whom he hasn't listened to (if he did, he would discover little similarity except perhaps that the play guitar, and breathe)!? After giving the cd a listen, I decided to scan google and find out what other people thought about it. The first result was this page and to be honest, if I'd read the review before listening to the CD I would never have wanted to listen to the band...ever, particularly because I really am not a fan of the direction both MCR and Jimmy Eat world are persuing, or whiny vocals, but after giving the CD one more listen and liking it even more than the first 2 experiences, I realy felt compelled to write about how ridiculous and to be honest, bollocks almost everything the review above talks about. Just read again the comment, "Instead this is; whisper it, very emotional rock - yes people Emo". Now I have never really grasped what the genre of 'emo' really is. I mainly think that it's a derrogatory term used by an outsider to identify a collective movement or style that he or she particularly dislikes and/or doesnt understand. I enjoy music for what it is and if it is negative for music to have emotional content, then tell me this; what music would a fan of music like, if it evokes nothing - i.e no happyness, sadness, love, hate or any other emotion. Music is (in my opinion) better at doing this than anything else on this planet. Plus, this guy has Bon Iver listed as one of his favourite bands, what the fuck!? If there wasn't music to depress your speakers, then I don't know what could provoke a razor blade to the woofer... (btw, I fucking love Bon Iver). Just listen to the CD, make up your own mind and you never know, Shiema could just be the easy access, relatively small gig band that you have been waiting for to take up a Saturday night rocking out with your mates in the new year... I for one will be checking them out. Greg Taylor |
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