You guys have heard of Martin Sorrondeguy aka
Martin Crudos right ?
Born in Uruguay but growing up in Chicago, Martin has managed to
become, during his couple of decades of involvement in the American punk
scene, a major figure of both the Latino (with
Los Crudos) and Queercore (with
Limp Wrist) scenes. He also sang in other furious hardcore punk acts like
Needles
or
N/N
(to mention only those starting with a N), he is a
photographer, a
teacher, a regular contributor to
Maximum Rock'n Roll
(at least when the paper version still existed) and even directed a short
documentary about the
U.S. Latino punk scene. Yes the guy likes to keep busy.
Anyway Canal Irreal is the latest musical project of
Martin (it features members of
Sin Orden
as well, Martin released their first EP on his label
Lengua Armada
back in 2000) and sounds quite different from his other past projects
(which are often made of the same dough). To be honest I've never been a
huge fan of Martin's singing (too shrill, too high-pitched and not
powerful enough for my taste) but I was quite curious to see what it could
sound like in a different kind of punk.
No time to waste, these guys have nothing left to prove and have decided
to skip the demo and EP phases to start straight with a full length.
Featuring nine brand new tracks, Canal Irreal's debut record was
released a few days ago on the very good Richmond based label
Beach Impediment Records.
Pestes, the first track which appeared on bandcamp a few months
ago, led us to imagine a distinctly mid-tempo album and that's exactly
what we got. The Chicago punk veterans deliver high quality tracks
swimming in a kind of post-punk / darkish melancholic vibe which
recalls two things to me: first the 2000s Portland melocholic scene
that I've mentioned many times (The Observers,
Red Dons etc...) but with way harsher vocals and second the great
80s Colorado band
Dead Silence. Indeed the same kind of mid-tempo punk with ripping, shredding vocals
can be found on tracks like Knockdown, Si Somos or even
Glaze whereas tracks like Pestes, Not Tomorrow or
Emergencia
have a much more modern construction built of subtle melodies which could
make me think of a jam session between bands like
Isolation,
Generacion Suicida,
Crosta
or
Los Monjo
if the vocals were not so "hardcore" oriented.
With the unavoidable Jonah Falco at the mastering control desk,
the band benefits from a superb quality of sound which allows to give all
the depth
necessary
to this kind of songs, it does sound great.
I've listened to this album many times for the last few days and in the
end I'm not sure what to think of it. Yes it's pretty cool but it's not
mind-blowing either, the tracks are well built and well written but I feel
like there is something missing to make them really striking. And there's
the vocals of course... they don't sound bad and go surprisingly well with
a "softer" side of punk than the usual fast and furious
Martin's hardcore bands but I still have mixed feelings about his singing style
and it blocks me to really get into it, but that's really a question of
personal taste.
Anyway you should definitely give it a try I'm sure most people will love
it!
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