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IPX
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Stay Tuned [EP]
Sickboy Records
Release: 9/14/2004
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Rated:
Review by:
Jason Warner
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IPX is a young band out of Utah. They recently released
their Stay Tuned on Sickboy Records. First off
I have to say these guys sound pretty good for being young.
But, that said, they aren't breaking any new ground here.
The band makes up for their lack of originality with solid
performances and decent songwriting, but still at the end of
the day they come away sounding like a cross between
Thursday and every other emo/screamo type band out
there. I don't understand the desire for all younger
musicians these days to aspire to this level of mediocrity. It
is obvious from the sounds on Stay Tuned that
IPX knows what they are doing musically. The playing is
solid. The guitars sound good, the drumming is rock steady,
and the bass is good. The vocals are what miss the mark
for me. According to the band, all four members share in
the singing duties, so it's hard to say who is the offender.
There are moments when the vocals are tolerable, even
enjoyable. Those moments for me happened when the
singer stayed in his range. Unfortunately the majority of the
time he strayed from that formula and ended up sounding
like he was straining too hard to reach notes that are utterly
unattainable to him. The result is that he (whoever he is out
of the four fellows), comes out sounding like a young child
throwing a temper tantrum. It is a whiny annoying sound.
It's a shame too because all the while the band is making
good music. The fact is, not everyone is able to sing well.
There are some good moments, for instance the lower
register singing on the closing track, "The Actor," but these
moments are too few.
What I long to see in music is musicians using their energy
to make good original music rather than trying to attain
some image or benchmark set by an already existing band.
Everyone who makes music is influenced by music they
have heard before, this is unavoidable. However, when we
create music that takes on our influences, we should add our
own special touch and come up with a new sound. IPX
obviously feels strongly about their influences, and that is
not a bad thing. I just feel like their influences are a little
too much on their sleeve with this release. This is a band
with solid potential. Their album is called Stay
Tuned, and I believe this means that the band has
plans for more writing and recording. I plan to stay tuned
because I feel like IPX has more to offer than they have
here, and I believe that they will - all in good time. I would
compliment them on the sound quality of the record, as well
as the tastefully artistic album art. This is a professional
package that shows IPX is serious about what they are
doing.
Stay Tuned is not all negative, and I don't want
to sound like it is. There are some great things going on
here that could be a great foundation for future output from
IPX. The playing on this EP is exceptionally tight. There are
syncopations and stops/starts that come at just the right
moments. The instruments are locked in with each other,
the obvious product of many hours of laborious practice.
The drummer is great, and though the guitars fall into some
emo cliches, they sound good, and are played well. The
bass player locks well with the drummer to give the guitars
and vocals a nice place to live.
Overall Stay Tuned is an EP showing a band in
their infancy. IPX has a lot of talent, and I hope they keep
that talent going in whatever direction they feel like. After
all, that's what music is all about, and no snobby critic is
going to change that. |
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