PERALTA
self-titled (Atarms Mechanics)
Reviewed by Holly Day

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You know, I was really hoping this was skateboard legend Stacey Peralta's dirty little secret of a band, that in between Vans showcases he was composing little ditties in his, um, van. It's not true, though, although maybe the band was named after him? Whatever the case, I like this, for the most part. The instrumentation is super tight, and super fast (when it needs to be), and super discordant and noisy and perfect for playing very loud to drown out the omnipresent Britney Spears marathon next door on Saturday nights. It's frustrating, though, because while I just love the arrangements, I'm not overly fond of the vocals. The band is just so strong musically, taking the genres of math rock and power pop simultaneously and making them work - Stan Wood and Charles French are masters of the dueling crazy guitars on just about every track here - but the vocals are just so-so, making me wish that this was just an instrumental disc, or that perhaps Stacey Peralta would step in and offer his services as singer-guy - couldn't hurt.

[Pick this up at www.smallbrownbike.com.]

© 2002 - Holly Day