Another day, another post-hardcore album that is supposed to redefine the way I listen to music. I fail to see how things can be labelled as ‘innovative’ when The Pixies and Fugazi did all the innovating that OMAHD have ever considered.
‘Party People’ appears fairly eclectic, taking in the indie stomp of ‘Counting On Five Fingers’ and the frustratingly juddering ‘Indianapolis’, but the sub-At The Drive-In rock has already been done with a lot more confidence. I’m struggling to find a single moment where OMAHD bring something new to the table, or even reinvigorate a flagging genre, but when the vast majority of ‘Party People’ slips away without you even noticing, it’s very hard to form an opinion on something irrelevant. Introducing an electronica angle on ‘Chet Baker And Me’ is, if nothing else, a diversion. Swallowing it up amongst the familiar spiky guitars and waif-like vocals is just pointless – no matter what direction OMAHD seem to point themselves in, it all sounds the same. For bands who are good, that’s not a bad thing: for OMAHD it is.
But when OMAHD deviate from the template, they show themselves to be a band capable of some quite interesting ideas. ‘This Is Training’ is a low-key acoustic ballad that supports itself on its own merits without reverting to stealing something from ‘Relationship Of Command.’ And on the genuinely touching closer, ‘And You Could Give Your Cat A Better Name’, they strip away the musical adornments to leave a few electronic sounds to compliment a simple riff – the end effect is much more confident and honest.
Unfortunately, 80% of ‘Party People’ is derivative and boring, except for post-hardcore purists I imagine. OMAHD need to leave the electroclash aspirations behind them (the intro to Read The Manual is horrendously bad) and instead concentrate on writing songs that don’t sound exactly like every other fucking CD I get sent. I’m going to finish with a general plea – will all the bands out there stop writing albums that sound exactly like other albums? The originals were far, far better.
Ben
www.defiancerecords.de
