Album Details

• Artist: Honey Claws
• Album: Honey Claws
• Label:
• Year of Release: 2008
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: tosnob on 2009-03-27

The beats on the record tend to be heavy, their is a dance vibe that flows throughout. But it's unlike the music at any dance club you've ever been to. Imagine a club crammed full of scruffy indie uber-hipsters standing against the wall slowly nodding their heads along to the latest drone-fest from Animal Collective. Honey Claws is the soundtrack that gets that dancefloor booty shaking.

The songs are built around funky basslines and beats that are topped with some of the most suburban sounding rapping since Tom Green's Organized Rhyme was checking the O.R. The results are playful and whimsical rather than hardcore. That renders the f-bombs that spike the lyrics every so often even more effective.

Several other styles are used as accents to give a fresh and diverse feel to each track. "E-sticker" makes one wonder if this is what indie reggae would sound like. "Zookeeper" has an irresistibly jazzy upright bassline running through it. Spanish guitar samples punch up "Lone Hollow", while "Numbers On the Wall" can almost be described as ambient industrial.

From time-to-time on the album one can hear influences within the music. However, those influences have been morphed or grafted onto to make something brand new. The ethereal atmosphere of "Giant Town" is Air pushed to the extreme. "Frozen Chinchilla" would be the result if Stereolab decided to take up rap. "Ambulance" could be mistaken for 80's New Order on crystal meth. The plodding noise of "Rabimal Beating" could be what Tom Waits comes up with if he stumbles into Radio Shack for his next found sound.

Honey Claws is a solid record. It's fresh, fun, and most of all, damn entertaining.

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