Gutter Pop Records, April 10, 2020
The Evil O’Brians throw together a bunch of old stuff to see what sticks.
The Evil O’Brians come from Germany playing a sort of Ramonescore. Sure, I can hear that in there from time to time. But I also hear some melodies that are more melancholy than most of the Ramones stuff and harmonies sung that sound weirdly like Bad Religion. This collection, Cleaned Out The Basement, isn’t their best stuff, but it throws a bunch of stuff at the wall from various 7-inches, EP’s, comps, and splits and to see what sticks.
As I made my way through Cleaned Out The Basement, I found a few songs that hit well and kind of stuck. “Little Monster Babies” is a playful song with some old fashioned 50’s sounding backing vocals and a hooky chorus while “Overloaded” sounds like music ripped from a Riverdales record. “Blinddate With The Invisible Man” has a bit of a different song structure and some bass lines that really pop. Later, “Monster Rehab” has a nice melody and once the vocals come in on this one, I dig the tone and melody and backing vocals and I even like the key shift near the end. Elsewhere, “Monster Love” feels like it’s working with the most fan-pleasing pop hooks on here, with some stops and gos and a vocal melody that stays a while. And “(I’m In Love With My) Record Collection” gives up a great (and obvious) guitar progression and the vocals sound pretty wonderful here, kind of reminding me of Bouncing Souls somehow. The lyrical phrasing is a for sure earworm, and any song about loving my record collection surely hits home. This one’s my favorite.
But Cleaned Out The Basement also has a few songs that don’t land right. Sometimes melodies don’t do it for me, or maybe the vocals sound too close to a croon for my tastes. Whatever the case, I find my head wandering a few times. For instance, “Cassie” is a high speed buzzer, but the melody reminds me of an old folk song or something. No matter, I can’t quite figure it out and it just doesn’t register with me. “Roller Girl” and “On The Hunt” are similarly difficult for me. On both, the vocals just feel off from the music and I end up losing interest, leaving me with a couple songs that I skip past each time I listen. But I suppose that’s pretty typical for a hodgepodge collection of past material.
The Evil O’Brians know what they’re doing and they mostly do it pretty well. Cleaned Out The Basement is pretty par for the course when compared to other odds and sods collections, with some good stuff and some stuff that doesn’t drag me in. Far from perfect, but Cleaned Out The Basement is an okay collection of stuff from their early years.
You might like this if:
- You like your Ramonescore stuff with some different, sort of off-kilter melodies and backing vocals
You might not if:
- You struggle with hit-and-miss odds and sods collections and don’t like digging through a record to find the good stuff
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
