Saturday, May 18, 2013

Band Review: Freakhouse


I know about Freakhouse because they followed me on Twitter.
My first impression was that they reminded me of an 80’s hair band – not through their hair styles, but with the sound. And that’s not a pejorative, because I’m into that, but it didn’t sound exactly accurate either. Other thoughts that came through my head were Iron Maiden and Slade, neither of which I would categorize as a hair band, and Slade isn’t really even 80’s.
I guess that means their music is built on a solid foundation of classic rock, with its varied history and aspects, but the vocals are often doing that growling thing which I associate with more contemporary bands.
Honestly it would be a mistake to try to hard to confine Freakhouse to a specific genre, because they cover some interesting ground. Yes, there are the more traditional songs, leaning mostly towards hard rock. However, then you find “My Brain Is Bigger Than Yours”, which granted was mixed by Lazy Rich, so there is another influence there, but it is pretty straight techno funk. “Motion Sickness” is a psychological experiment more than a song, and “Tommy’s Revenge” and “Palindromes” are gentle and melodic, with an emphasis on piano. Also, they do a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” that is totally distinctive, with interesting rhythms and subtextures.
I think this broad scope is a good explanation for their popularity on soundtracks. Looking at Spotify specifically, they don’t have many albums, but they are featured on multiple soundtracks, and that makes total sense, both for the breadth of their ability and their ability to create mood.
Personal favorites for me are “Plowed”, which just rocks, as well as “Dream” and “No Way Down”.
Music is available for purchase via Amazon.
http://freakhouse.fanbridge.com/

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