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"GIVE ME MORE." [30mileshigh: EP1 review]
I want more of 30mileshigh. I got this EP from them... it makes all of my industrial/electro-rock dreams come true. It's the 4 course tease.
We have the strong opener, 'I Will' - It grabs you and demands you listen. No one person I have given this EP to listen to has looked at me 30 seconds in and said, 'What's the next song sound like?' We just sit there, mouths agape, wondering where the hell this band CAME from. We have the skinny puppy of the next generation. We have Love and Rockets, but GRANDER. Now, I'm giving the name of older groups...but we're witnessing the evolution of this style. Strong roots, but heavy influence. I smell a wide audience. This song is such a strong opener, I wasn't expecting the full-on tweak oceanic breakdown. Very ballsy to leave the vocals out for a second, friends. Ballsy indeed. Good show fellas. Hard to listen to this and keep myself from opening Logic and going on an industrial rock bender.
Now, 'Daylight'. Sparser, and I'm not expecting the strength of the chorus to equal 'I Will'. The verses are very conversational and when the chorus hits, and we are given a beautifully rendered, richly produced chorus... well, I sit here and just say, in the most respectful manner, '@$% you, 30mileshigh!' They have once again not only surpassed my expectations, but have lit a fire under me to get off my ass and get writing. It's been hard to get this review finished, because each song on this EP gets multiple listens. Funny thing about this song... I burned my dinner listening to it over and over. I didn't even smell that it was burning. I was that into it.
Then there's 'Leave in Pieces'. We're given a nice vectorized synth, spare beat, and meat. meat meat meat. Listening to this album is like having a four course steak meal. We have the Fillet Mignon, then the Kobe beef, and now we get.... a nice Skirt steak with some kind of super fancy garnish. What I mean is, this is the closest to electro we're gonna go. Even though it has the octave bass line of the electro scene, 30mileshigh cannot resist the audio equivalent of a Cecil B. DeMille movie. We're given the driving beat, the torchy chorus, but the production is god-like. You know, I can't stand this. If this is what the album sounds like, what are they gonna do live?
Ok, now 'Grey'... This is waaaaay more ethereal and sounds like they... I keep saying 'they', but I get the feeling that the vision of this album is too clear. It has a 'singular vision' kind of sound to it. The reason I say this, is that 'Grey' takes us into a psychoacoustic apocalypse that all of a sudden turns all acoustic and pizz string/lightly bowed strings. I keep listening to this song over and over again, because I was the kid who rewound the videotape of the apocalyptic movie 'Threads' and watched it over and over again. This song sort of embodies that strange mix of grandeur in the 'with a bang and not a whisper' way.
You see, most industrial/electro bands get so into the programming and textures of the genre that they forget to write SONGS. This group has remembered to tell us a story that has emotional dynamics, and gives us some real hooks to hang our imagination on.
The vocals are emotive, but not whiny. You have any idea how annoying it is to hear these ballsy new industrial-rock groups that have some little twink fronting them? It drives me mad. Now with this group, we're given a Peter Murphy-esque MAN. It's so gratifying to me.
My stodgiest industrial partners in crime have listened to these songs with the most cynical ears on the planet and although they are frowning, I know it's only the frown of envy. 30milehigh has programming skills, storytelling skills, emotional intensity, and is unafraid of the unabashed monster chorus. I'm keeping a VERY VERY watchful eye on this group.
-David Earl - Director of Audio Production, Pyramind
SAN FRANCISCO, JUNE 2008
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