Reviews
Ad Astra Per Aspera
Catapult Calypso
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2007-02-27
When first told of Ad Astra Per Aspera, the word pretentious immediately came to my lips. Having never heard so much of a word of the band’s previous two EPs or their current release Catapult Calypso, this was actually rather pretentious of me, when you think about it. I apologize; that band name elicits this type of response, fair or not. Was it warranted? Depends on the set of ears listening to the album.
Ad Astra Per Aspera (rough translation: “From the Stars with Hardships”) will from now on known as AAPA. They’re a spirited five piece, consisting of two females and three males, hailing from Lawrence, Kansas and signed to the consistently stellar, Sonic Unyon Records. Who does what on the album is unclear; what is clear is that they want it to be that way. I like that actually -- a band that isn’t worried about specifically staking claim to each individual part that makes up a song is more of a band than a group of individuals choosing to play music as a whole. This is especially true within the genre of noise rock, of which AAPA are certainly a part.
It begins the instant you set your eyes on the vibrant, somewhat weird accompanying album booklet, and crystallizes as you start to leaf through the apparently random choice of words that are pieced together inside, that what you are about to listen to isn’t going to be safe. It shifts from what I would call screamo into post-punk dance before nestling into indie rock, only to suddenly swift into the world of ska. Add that all up and what you have is something that is ridiculously easy to write off, and a helluva lot harder to appreciate.
Even I am not entirely certain the extent to which I enjoy Catapult Calypso. “Voodoo Economics” eerily begins the album with an ominous plodding drum beat and some haunted organ. From there the song becomes more typical instrumentally -- that is, until it ramps up and becomes a cross between a punk song and a straight screamo tune. The male vocals are straight screamed, juxtaposing the poppier female vocals. And just when you start to hit a comfort zone it mutates one more time into a punkified chant that wouldn’t be all that out of place on a Liars record. One song in and the majority of listeners, I’d guess, wouldn’t even venture any further.
The weirdness continues with “Scatter Baby Spiders!” -- the gem of the album, if you ask me. What are they saying? Who knows, but it sounds something like “Save the world” and then an addictive high-pitched male voice responding with something ridiculous like “We’ve got your pickles baby!” I honestly could not possibly care less what they are saying, because it is all so infectious that the lyrics are inconsequential.
The band even has a song there to reward all you crazy kids who persevered through and gave this album a shot. “Everybody Lets Me Down” is not going to be mistaken for a Justin Timberlake track, but compared to these others songs it is a pleasant change of pace to just get your cracked up yokel on and jig down to these three minutes.
The inconsistency of Catapult Calypso is impossible to ignore. Sure, they get points for always managing to sound completely invigorated by what they are doing, and that definitely translates through to my eardrums when I listen. Alas, this doesn’t make songs like “The Romantic One,” “Flannery’s Coming Home” and “Nothing Else is the Real Thing” sound any better to me. Remove the weird from this band and you’d be left with something I would never want to hear, but there are times when they could ease up on that weirdness pedal just a bit and let the talent this band possesses come out a bit more.
I can’t complain that much, because this is a worthwhile debut full-length from a band that seems to be busting at the seams with energy. When/if they manage to fine tune and focus all this energy they might be a force to be reckoned with. But I’ll still be seeking out their next release, even if it maintains the status quo.
Score: 7.4
- Dan