Noise rock, boys and girls.  The sound of planned chaos.  Technical musicianship strapped to a hard core and kicked, spinning, across the playground.  It's not all frantic, though; they do slow it down and give you a slow-strum melodic breather every so often.  Lots of tempo changes, stop-and-go distortion, both semi-clean singing and weird shouts - this is definitely a possible source of joy for Roadside Monument and Frodus fans, but a source of ear-bleeding pain for anyone else.  Phaedo also cites Murder City Devils and The Locust as influences. 

I don't know what the heck the musical philosophy is behind this, unless they're trying to reflect the conflicted sound of all the voices in the world today competing for attention.  The lyrics don't shed any light, although there's a common reference to "the end" in three of the five tracks. "Hitch Hike" muses, "things i thought they seemed. left to me. it'll all end anyway.", while "The Oblong Box" proclaims "in the end it's all over, though it's just begun.", and "Shallow Grave" wraps things up with "it's all over and we're all gonna burn."  Speak for yourself, buddy.  Maybe this EP is supposed to be the sound of encroaching indie hell.  In that case, it'll be interesting to hear what the next album sounds like.... 

Josh Spencer     10/15/99