Influences:
The corner of Mission and Highland, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, The Minutemen, Wu Tang Clan, The Dead Milkmen, The White Stripes, Curtis Mayfield, Otis Redding, Stax Records, Booker T. and the MGs, Public Enemy, Iggy Pop, The Slits, Beck, The Butthole Surfers, Erase Errata, Sun Ra, Les Savy Fav, Prince, Devo, Kraftwerk, Public Enemy, Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Bukowski, Funkadelic, Lee Scratch Perry, King Tubby, Noise, Sound, Gang of Four, Herbie Hancock, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Psychedelic Cumbias, Calle 13, Bollywood, Mr. Bungle, Bill Withers, Sugarhill Records, Gil Scott Heron, Sesame Street, The Dead Kennedys, DJ Shadow, Johnny Cash, Fuzz, Distortion, Wah Wah, Feedback.
Sounds Like
"Blackout is my favorite song when im nervous with a guy. i know its lame but its true." - Creeperella Thuggalette
"I wanna black out with you," goes the chorus of the opening track: a love song for the jilted generation. The name Pinched Nerve is a reference to the back injury that kept Kris Vieira bed-ridden during the recording of his first EP. For someone who wears his demons on his sleeve, Vieira's music - a synthesized stew of post-punk and hip-hop - is surprisingly playful.
Bad vocals can totally thrash a release. It’s a sad fact, but it’s also a very true one. You have to either make the vocals work for you or make your music absolutely brilliant to cover for the bad vocals. In Mission and Highland by Pinched Nerve, neither happen, and an album full of enjoyable beats is nearly run into the ground by odd vocals.
Pinched Nerve plays Beck-ian hip-hop with beats that are vaguely reminiscent of many bands: Aphex Twin, Beck, Nine Inch Nails, Black Eyed Peas. Those widespread influences do result in beats that are creative and interesting. Synths play in a lot of the beats, and although they occasionally devolve into meaningless noodling (“Trashstorm”), Pinched Nerve usually knows what he’s doing with the synths. “In the Street” melds a heavy bass synth with cowbell, tambourine, handclaps and NIN-style creepy melodies to great effect. Accordion-esque synths and a good drum groove anchor “Pigeons,” while the various pieces of shaken percussion fill out the beat well.
Where the beats are mostly good with an occasional error, the vocals are the opposite. Pinched Nerve frustratingly employs a variety of vocal tones, never establishing one home tone. On top of that, the lyrics are strange. Chronicling “life in the ghetto,” Pinched Nerve creates raps that occasionally don’t rhyme or have rhythm. It gets really confusing when there’s no rhythm or rhyme at the same time (“In the Street”). The lyrics are observational and bizarre -“Scabs and Mice” is a dialogue about scabs and mice, while “Vicodin, Act V: Judge Judy” is a song about Judge Judy. I would laugh, but I’m not sure if I’m supposed to. Right now I’m just kind’ve confused.
I really don’t know what to make of this release. I really like the beats, but I can’t stand the vocals or the lyrics. Liner notes might help my confusion, but there are none, really. Myspace is minimal, as well. The only thing to do is go to this page and listen for yourself.
Pinched Nerve Has Self-Released Four Albums.
You Can Download Them Below For Free:
Vicodin A four-act operetta chronicling the hopelessness, fear, addiction, violence, crime, and voice mail associated with back pain.
Mission and Highland The chronicling of life on the corner of Mission and Highland in the Deep Mission of San Francisco
Pinched Nerve "A synthesized stew of post-punk and hip hop." according to The East Bay Express. A self-titled album recorded while taking a year off from working for The Man.
Live on KXLU Live recorded performance of Pinched Nerve performing as a full band with Casiotone, Bass, and Drums on KXLU's Demolisten on 8/8/8 while all the hipsters were watching the Boredoms play drums at the La Brea Tar Pits.
Este viernes 17 de Abril por la noche!!! Los Fancy Free, Las Comadrejas y Jessy Bulbo !!! Tomaran el Centro Histérico de la Ciudad de México!!! La cita es en la Faena!!!
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Hi Hi Hi...
Remember when we used to make a video every week?
We took em all down last year. Some fans got pissed. We put back some of the faves.
And now...
We're gonna do it again! Not once a week, for god's sake, that was STOOPiD. But every once in a while....
Next up? "I'm BiPolar Cuzz Of You". Should arrive some time in the next week.
Peace!
-Obedient Waves