I don’t quite know what to make of The Sweathogs — and I sure
\nain’t talkin’ about the ragtag group of misfits that were featured
\non
\nWelcome Back, Kotter<\/i>.<\/p>\n
No, this time I’m referring to a collective of musicians based
\nin Staten Island, New York. Their latest EP,
\nHappy Anarchy<\/i>, dares to fly in the face of musical standards
\nand established beliefs, mixing rock, funk and pure disrespect into
\nfour songs. It’s kind of a lot to take in during one sitting – yet
\nit’s not quite enough to really form a solid opinion about vocalist
\nMatt Ryan and crew.<\/p>\n
It’s not that this CD is bad in any sense of the word; these
\nfour tracks show off a band whose potential is clearly shown. But
\nthe difficulty will be getting people to give this crew a chance –
\nand the amalgam of musical styles they bring to the table, if not
\nto each song, might frighten some people.<\/p>\n
Take the title track of this disc. Running from swing-jazz with
\ntouches of folk to harder, ska-tinged rock (thanks to the
\nutilization of a horn section) to a more powerful rock-fortified
\nbridge (why does the tempo drop a notch here?), even daring to go
\nto a pop-rock close… I mean, that’s a lot to digest in
\nfour-and-a-half minutes. It’s impressive that a band can accomplish
\nthis without everything going to pieces, but it might be a sign
\nthat The Sweathogs are trying too hard to impress their
\naudience.<\/p>\n
Simplicity, indeed, might be the key for this band – and the
\nvery next song, “Do You Remember,” illustrates this. A slight
\nmixture of funk-rock with a swinging beat to it, this is the kind
\nof groove that could assure this band would be remembered by its
\naudience, and is a definite highlight of the disc. Likewise, “Glass
\nBox” is a pleasant slice of pop sensibility that is satisfying on
\nseveral levels. If I had to pick one song for a single from this
\ndisc, “Glass Box” would be it.<\/p>\n
The final track of
\nHappy Anarchy<\/i>, “Whatever,” gives The Sweathogs the chance to
\ntotally cut loose after two songs of relative self-control. This
\ntime around, though, that giving in to abandon works well for the
\ngroup, going from funk-based rock to an all-out speed-rock jam. In
\nthe end, this track turns out to be a lot of fun – and you end up
\nliking the track, despite your misgivings.<\/p>\n
So why do I feel the jury is still out for The Sweathogs and
\nHappy Anarchy<\/i>? Simple: I’d like to hear a little more
\nconsistency from this band, preferrably in the form of a longer
\ndisc. (Memo to the band: Yes, I’m aware you have a full-length disc
\navailable on CDBaby… and there’s your free plug.) There is great
\npotential I hear in this group, though I think, like a fine wine,
\nthey need to age and mature (musically, I mean) a little bit before
\nthey’re ready for the big-time. That’s not meant to be a knock
\nagainst them – and I think in time The Sweathogs will most
\ndefinitely be one of the bands in the New York area to watch
\nclosely. Until then,
\nHappy Anarchy<\/i> offers a small glimpse of just what might be
\nto come from them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6470],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-36859","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-sweathogs","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36859"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36859"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}