Heard a lot of talk buzzing like pissed off yellow jackets about Dance Gavin Dance. Some good, some bad. Most centered around their immensely talented, but immensely self-absorbed former vocalist Jonny Craig. Like my childhood hero Nate the Great, I decided to do my own sleuthing, except with less pancakes.
Looking at DGD's 2007 release Downtown Battle Mountain, the only record to feature Craig, I now get the duality. There is a lot to love and a lot to hate. If you want to stick your metaphorical music thermomenter into their post-hardcore brew, the best test would come from lead track, the obligatorily long and random titled, "And I Told Them I Created Times New Roman".
Craig's vocal acrobatics and Will Swan and Sean O'Sullivan's face-melting riffs, which slide into mid-tempo grooves before gandering back again, anchor the best chunks of the song. Jonathan Mess's screams wobble back and forth between complementing Craig's sensation clean vocals and becoming undecipherable mess (no pun intended). Nonetheless, I'm digging the song, and a couple of others on the record. But, hey, check it out for ya self and if you're a fan of Craig's pipes, check out his new band Emarosa. I'll probably be posting some thoughts on them in the near future. Get the DeLorean prepped...
Buy Downtown Battle Mountain
Dance Gavin Dance on MySpace
"Without ever letting go, I knew you had gone astray..."
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