Here's something different, a disc i bought on Ebay a while back, it looked really good, though the Band name is a bit naff, but this is how i delve into a lot of new music, if it looks really good, then i'll buy it and give it a spin, it's hard to pinpoint their genre, but i would say a sort of Punk Rock, maybe an EMO Band, it's short on quantity, nearly 34 minutes, but it's made up for in quality, a good dose of something different today.
Tennis are a sort of an Indie Band, with some Punk leanings, maybe we can call them IndiePunk, they brought this album out in 2003, i'm sure they're American, there is another American band called Tennis as well, but don't get them mixed up, they seem more popular, this is a 3 piece Band [Greg Tuohey = Vocals & Guitar, Kris Bauman = Bass, and Jochen Ruekert = Drums], their surnames sound Dutch, like i said, i bought the disc because of the front cover, it's an excellent concept [photography by Joet T], pictures throughout are of a Laundromat, including close-up pictures, all couched in a fluorescent green lighting, the Band logo is excellent also, a great visual product.
The two tracks i enjoyed the most were 5 & 6, here's a synopsis of each,
5 Friend With Benefits - Nice Drum & Bass vibe at the beginning, the drums are nicely complex, and well recorded [0:00-0:22], but it's only further into the track that the lead guitar comes in [1:12+], which helps to open out the track nicely, with only a trio Band you're always going to have a limitation of instrumentation, but it works well for Tennis, i like the way that the opening returns towards the end [2:04+], best lyrics - 'I just fell like a bitter man into the slippery arms of a lie', some inventive guitar work, and the track develops quite an intensity towards the end.
6 Pure Evil - A more poppy track, fairly heavy guitars, the lead Vocalist isn't a perfect singer by far, there's a slight tendency to sing out of tune, i only notice the excellence of the opening when it returns for the second verse [1:26-1:39], a nice infectious bass vibe [1:53+], and the intro comes back at the very end as the outro [2:48-3:15], yes i admit that it's not a great album [at least not on this first listen], but i excited me enough to enjoy and Blog it today.
You can hear the first 30 seconds of each track on the AllMusic website.
5 Friend With Benefits - Nice Drum & Bass vibe at the beginning, the drums are nicely complex, and well recorded [0:00-0:22], but it's only further into the track that the lead guitar comes in [1:12+], which helps to open out the track nicely, with only a trio Band you're always going to have a limitation of instrumentation, but it works well for Tennis, i like the way that the opening returns towards the end [2:04+], best lyrics - 'I just fell like a bitter man into the slippery arms of a lie', some inventive guitar work, and the track develops quite an intensity towards the end.
6 Pure Evil - A more poppy track, fairly heavy guitars, the lead Vocalist isn't a perfect singer by far, there's a slight tendency to sing out of tune, i only notice the excellence of the opening when it returns for the second verse [1:26-1:39], a nice infectious bass vibe [1:53+], and the intro comes back at the very end as the outro [2:48-3:15], yes i admit that it's not a great album [at least not on this first listen], but i excited me enough to enjoy and Blog it today.
You can hear the first 30 seconds of each track on the AllMusic website.
