Unicycle Loves You – S/T Review
Unicycle Loves You is a band out of Chicago, Illinois. They are said influenced by music from the 50s, the psychedelic 60s, and rock of the 80s but to be honest I think my experience with those times are limited so I can’t vouch for those comparisons.On their myspace, they use “ghettotech” as a genre and because I don’t think I’m going to have much to say when reviewing this album…let’s talk about what “ghettotech” is. I’ve seen a few bands with this label on their myspace and I don’t use myspace genre labels as actual genres because half the time it’s supposed to be funny. Straight from wikipedia: “It combines elements of Chicago’s ghetto house with electro, hip hop, techno, and grafts the perceived raunch of Miami Bass as the vocal stamp of the music. It is usually faster than most other dance music genres, at roughly 145 to 170 bpm, and features often pornographic lyrics.”. Okay…
I think I went back and forth and ultimately decided to blog about Unicycle Loves You (I hand pick bands I like from e-mails and this was under what I liked but at times I was very unsure). What makes them good is that they do a good job of adding a variety of sounds and influences and instead of being mess they’ve made some great. It’s a mix of power pop and punk and some songs end up being very enjoyable. My favorite tracks are the ones with the good guitar intros like Kiki Bridges. The weaknesses on the albums lies on them slowing down the pace and going back and forth (which annoys me).
As much as they are pretty good as molding different styles, I can argue that everyone song on their release is pretty good…it doesn’t flow that well due to lack of continuity.
Rating: 3.75 out of 5.
A pretty decent album overall, not sure if other blogs/magazines will pick up this album and give it some press like it deserves. They have a lot of extra instruments which makes Unicycle Loves You stand out more then a typical band.
Kiki Bridges by Unicycle Loves You
Dollars + Cents by Unicycle Loves You
Woman Bait for Manfish by Unicycle Loves You
Buy the album at: Highwheel Records
STRAIGHT FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Hooked on Phonics is a commercial brand of educational materials, originally designed for reading education through phonetics.
Developed in the late 1980s and first marketed widely in the 1990s, it used a particular instructional design to teach letter-sound correlations (phonics) as part of children’s literacy. The program has since expanded to encompass a wide variety of media, including computer games, music, and flash cards in addition to books in its materials, as well as to include other subject areas. The target audience for this brand is primarily individuals and home school parents. The product was advertised extensively on television and radio.