So I put this in my computer’s CD drive, and I get a video of the Icarus Line, who I’ve never heard before. The video is a good edit job of the band playing at a couple of different clubs. One looks like Emo’s in Austin, Texas. The other might be LA or something. I think the actual song is a studio recording dubbed over the video. Anyway, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get my computer to play anything but the video. The CD packaging lists 12 songs, but they are nowhere to be found, as far as my computer’s CD player is concerned. I even tried taking out the CD and flipping it over, to see if there was anything on the other side. This works on my turntable, but apparently the same laws of physics don’t apply to laser technology. So it looks like I’ll only be able to review the video and the CD packaging. The song being played in the video, “Feed a Cat to Your Cobra,” rocks pretty hard and reminds me of Ink and Dagger, with maybe a little less heaviness and a little more “rock.” I liked this song a lot. It was pretty damn catchy and had good dynamics. If the video is any indication, this band also goes off pretty hard when they play live, and I would definitely go see them if they came to Philly. The artwork that comes with the CD is pretty cool and looks like photos or video stills that have been painted over, kind of like that movie, Waking Life. The lyrics seem to revolve around themes of despair and deceit. This is the best thing this label’s ever released. Sorry I couldn’t review the whole album. Next time, don’t make it so hard for the technologically impaired. –Dan Yemin
–guest (Crank!)