Hidden by the Grapes & Lambda - Split 7'' (2010)

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I'm a bad, bad man. I have been contacted by Martin from Sooder Records ages ago about this split and although I was listening to it intensively I completely forgot about the duty to post it up here. Basically, I avoid posting non-screamo stuff on the blog, not because I don't like anything else, but because of the fact that I tend to write lesser quality reviews for such bands. I don't have so much "musical education" as far as other genres go (which I listen to less) and I hate giving good bands sucky reviews. Guess that makes me a bad critic then, so I'll try and correct myself in the future. Anyways, sorry to Martin and these bands for the wait.

So, what we have here is a nice two-way split made by bands hailing from Graz, Austria. The record opens with the song "Blowout" by Hidden by the Grapes, carrying a little bit of postrock/punk a little bit of indie sound. Imagine Interpol being sad on a rainy day, but playing a bit faster, something like that. This three piece creates great balance with different tunes, composing a song with equal amount of slow, depressive, atmospheric melodies with faster flowing tunes. Hidden by the Grapes definitely has quite an interesting style, setting you in some specific mood from the first moment you take a listen. The vocal exceptionally goes well with the instruments, since it melds well with the rest of the band, so the whole song just flows by you. I would definitely like to here something more from this project, they definitely have talent.

After four minutes dedicated to Hidden by the Grapes, follows Lambda and their song "Weiter Geht". The quartet greets us with sounds of drumsticks and very interesting guitar playing. I have to admit that the guitar was the center of my attention during the nearly four minute song, constantly shifting between various effects, almost acoustic here, distorted here a la "Queens of the stone age", indieish there. (go go retarded description) Like their split partners, Lambda plays a combination of indie, postrock and postpunk, though they are purely instrumental and a bit more intense and turbulent. Quite excellent fast pace music, with vast differences in melodies throughout the song, incorporating buildups, tone drops, start-stop playing and flowing melodies.

All in all, this is a really great split. Only two songs, but with eight minutes of excellent tunes. Due to the fact that the bands carry various elements within themselves (as far as genres and song structure go), sometimes you have a feeling of actually listening to more bands or more various songs. There is one important thing must be told near the end. This review and above download link is for the said 7'' release which has two songs by both bands and is limited to 300 hand-numbered vinyls, 150 colored ones. There is also a digital release by Sooder Records, which has two bonus tracks and you can find it here. Also, check out Hidden by the Grapes on myspace here and Lambda here as well as Sooder Records here.