Streetlight Manifesto
Everything Goes Numb
Third-wave ska never really interested me. I occasionally listened to
Less Than Jake a few years ago, but they were never one of my favorite musical acts. Ninth grade begins and this kid's in my English class and he's a total ska nut. He recommended
Streetlight Manifesto to me, and I downloaded not expecting much. Boy was I wrong. Streetlight Manifesto is one of the coolest bands that I have ever heard. Period. Streetlight Manifesto formed from the remains of Catch 22's former line-up. The lead vocalist and lead-guitar came and invited a few others from
Catch 22 and
One Cool Guy. They began this musical project, and it's quite spectacular. It has really changed the way I look at ska. I used to find it loud and obnoxious, but now it's turning into one of my favorite genres.
Everything Goes Numb is Streetlight's debut album. It begins with the typical ska intro, horns blaring. The musical work on this album is simplistic when you look at the guitar's perspective. The horns on the other hand, boy are they good. They really drive the songs throughout the album, so if you're not into the trumpet-thing, exit this browser window right now. The drums are also insane; they carry the songs like no other. I guess it's applicable to call Tom Kalnoky a music genius. The lyrics on this album are some of the best that I've seen in a while. They are deep enough to make a point with some great detail and they're not just lines of over-analyzing a single topic, as we see with many artists today. Some say Streetlight Manifesto are
too fast. Well, my response to that is "Well, you're a donut". I've made a few of my friends listen to them, and sometimes I get blank stares. This one kid read the lyrics, and was anticipating hearing it, but shuddered at the horns. It made me sick how someone could resist the awesomeness of this album.
Point / Counterpoint
I've got a gun in my hand but that gun won't cock
My finger's on the trigger but that trigger seems locked
and I can't stop staring at the tick tock clock
and even if I could I would never give up.
With a vest on my chest, a bullet in my lung
I can't believe I'm dying with my song unsung.
And if and when I die won't you bury me alone?
'Cause I'll never get to heaven if I'm singing this song.
Now that I mention "Point / Counterpoint", I've got to say that it's my favorite track from this album. It's incredible. It begins with the line above in-front of some acoustic guitar. Before you can grab your hat, you're tossed into the track at 60mph. The horns come in and it's truly magical. Though I recommend reading the lyrics while you listen the first time, it seems to be more enjoyable then guessing every word, because the song is extremely fast. It's also the 2nd longest song on the album, so that works out for me very well. If I were to recommend one song from this cd to someone, this would most likely be it. After a slower bridge about four minutes in, you may just hit the repeat button before the song is done. Such a beautiful anthem should never go without massive respect.
As with everything in life, there are actually downsides on this album. I make it out to sound perfect so far, but I've got to mention a few things that I don't really like here. Well, for one, the vocals are kind of raspy at times. It's a typical punk voice, and a lot of people don't really familiarize with that kind of sound. Another thing being that while all of the songs are rhythmic and catchy, they tend to get repetitive at times. It's like "Well, how long can I head-bang to the same song?" After about the seventh or eighth song on the album, it gets a little old. But thank God that the ninth track is slow and is a huge variation on the past tracks.
A Moment Of Silence
A moment of silence, please, for those who never get the chance
They show up to the party, but they're never asked to dance
The losers, the liars, the bastards, the thieves
The cynicists, the pessimists,
and those that don't believe in nothing
"A Moment Of Silence" is the slowest track on the album, and one of the best in my opinion. It opens with some really dramatic horns, and precedes into the lyrics above. To quote Kithkin in the other review on this album, Tom was a bit of a music nerd growing up whilst in Catch 22. The song doesn't pick up speed, which is the case for a few "slow-song impostors". After all is said and done, this is the song that you'll be singing when you're stuck in a traffic jam. It's that catchy, and the lyrics are incredible.
In the end, Streetlight Manifesto are a love or hate thing, based on what I've seen with my listeners. In my opinion, they are fantastic. With very few negative features, and a bunch to love, Streetlight are here to stay and will hopefully keep making music. I am really looking forward to a future release from them. If you like ska, Streetlight Manifesto will do things to you that you never thought possible before. If you don't like ska, the same usually applies.
Recommended Tracks
Point / Counterpoint
A Moment Of Silence
A Moment Of Violence
Everything Went Numb
Also:
The follow-up to this
Keasby Nights was a re-make of a Catch 22 album. It's a good rendition of it, but I was looking forward to NEW music. To me, it was a bit of a let-down.
