Band Name: Boss Tweeter
Album Name: I Was the MotiveEP
Best Element: Finally discovering their sound.
Genre: Fractured Indie-rock/Surf-punk
Website: www.bosstweeter.com
Label Name: n/a
Band E-mail: bosstweeter@hotmail.com
Every time I review Boss Tweeter, they have a new member. I reviewed a set of their first demos two or three years ago when they were a duo, and then last year they sent me their Disillusioned and Aware EP as a trio. This new EP entitled I Was the Motive sees them as a quartet. And as they have grown in numbers, they have grown in talent, as I Was the Motive is lightyears ahead of where they were in their last EP.
Boss Tweeter has always had their own sound- careening liberally between surf-punk, fractured indie-rock, and jam rock, they’ve never been quite sure of themselves, but they put it out there anyway. With I Was the Motive their efforts finally coalesce into a sound. They’ve dropped almost all of the jam influence of their sound and honed in on the fractured indie-rock/surf-punk interactions. The fervent, manic spoken word/yelled vocals that showed up occasionally on Disillusioned and Aware EP show up again here, cementing themselves as a genuine part of the Boss Tweeter sound. The two best tracks are the ones where Michael Ball rants in this spoken word/yell style- opener “Fashion and the Facsimile” and closer “Untitled”. These two brilliant tracks are explosions of vitriol and candor, sounding like the aural equivalent of a Jackson Pollock painting. “Untitled” actually appears on Disillusioned and Aware as the best track- and it first perfectly here, showing just how all of their previous efforts lead up to this one.
“Hellbent” and “Path of Enlightenment” both focus more on the surf-punk side of the band, which is good, but not great. “Insomnia Jam” takes the passionate indie strains of “Fashion and the Facsimile” but puts sung vocals over it for a different take on that sound. “Failure at the Borderline” is the bridge between the indie-rock and the surf-punk- their nearly six-minute epic combines Weezer-esque surf vibes with a toned down version of the mad strumming and flailing of their earlier brilliance, making a song that is definitively Boss Tweeter.
I’ve always believed in Boss Tweeter, and they haven’t let me down yet. They’ve got a great, unique indie-rock sound going on, and they just keep getting better and better at it. Pretty soon they’ll be making waves in the indie scene- just you watch. They’ll say that they sound like the Pixies, but don’t you believe them. There is some Pixies, but this is all Boss Tweeter. Rant on, my men. Rant on.
-Stephen Carradini
independentclauses@hotmail.com