lundi 28 juin 2021

Canal Irreal

 

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!







You can listen to Canal Irreal on RAF#21.
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

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