Despistado The Emergency Response Release Date: June 22, 2004 Label: Mordam Records/Jade Tree Rating: Andy doesn't dig rating stuff.

The first note I have written down here is "jumpy emo punk stuff," which, while not a very eloquent journalistic observation, is pretty on the mark. The music bounces along with a pleasant flow, and the band exhibits some great harmonies, as though the entire group is singing at once. "Bubbles" has a section where there's yelping going on from many different members. The sixth track, "Lipstick", is definitely the most interesting track on the short, six-song EP, with some cool riffs and happy-sounding handclaps, and this silent breakdown that ups itself again afterwards with transitional yelling. It's fun when bands like this yell. They do have a few bland moments on the disc, where everything slows down and sounds like they did nothing to attempt to make those parts interesting. There are some choppy verse-to-chorus transitions that are a little disconcerting (like in "Can I Please Have An Order Of Girl With A Side Of Confused?"), but this may be an attempt to do simply that - catch you off guard. There is a chant near the end in that song that's pretty cool though. I realize I know very little about this band (such as how long they've been together), but if they've struggled, I can see why to a point. It's fairly generic for this genre right now. Good structure though, and certainly one to watch the development of.

Lyric of Choice : Difficult to say. The singer tumbles through his words a lot, there were no included lyrics with the advance disc, And at the time of writing I couldn't find a website on the band to save my life (gotten a heads-up since). But it's hard to beat that song title "Can I Please Have An Order Of Girl With A Side Of Confused?"
Song Of Choice : "A Stirstick's Prediction"

-Andy Scheffler

Elsewhere

Published : April 22, 2004.