BLOODSONGS
Gil Mantera's Party Dream
Audio Eagle
Gil Mantera's Party Dream is a pair of Youngstowners who have built
up a healthy and very loyal following by being like no other band in
the area.
On the new album, Bloodsongs, the sibling team of Gil Mantera and
Ultimate Donny use danceable mechanized rhythms and synthesizer sounds
from cheesy '80s synth pop, thick layered '70s beats reminiscent of
Kraftwerk, and skittering postpunk rhythms mixed with plenty of
slashing guitar and shameless use of vocoder for a sound that is both
retro and current.
That description may sound pretty dry and could be applied to any
number of the glut of young bands using ``vintage'' synth sounds as a
musical foundation. But where many of those bands take themselves
deadly seriously (Interpol, we mean you) and pretend publicly that
they've never heard a soundtrack to a John Hughes film, GMPD embraces
both the cheesiness as well as the innovation of the era, using both to
make catchy tunes laced with humor.
But to get the full experience one must see them, where the duo may
start the show in gold lame evening dresses and ski goggles and end it
traipsing through the audience in thongs and moon boots. Most folks
either become immediate fans or back out the club door nervously,
making sure neither man is going to follow them home.
Without the visual aspect (and it is important to fully appreciate
the band), listeners are left with the songs, which turn out to be
pretty darn catchy. Ultimate Donny sings with a fervor that borders on
delusional, especially when he's wailing lines such as ``All these
fools that try to diss the Ultimate, aw man, about to get served,
sooner or later you're going to learn every little dungeon has its own
curve,'' in the vocoder-laced Shadow Grip.
Donny's a pretty positive guy, who states on the synth-poppy
McCoojah & Kizmet that he fears ``nothing but love lost'' and
``just wants to live.'' Most of the songs are ostensibly about love or
self-reliance, or are just cliches held together by Donny's unwavering
dedication.
Other pogo-inducing songs include Super Plus Ice Festival, in which
Donny assures the listener that it's all ``going to be all right,'' and
Bunz Therapy, in which we're told how much fun water slides are (with
vocoder, of course), and Gil Mantera whips out a jagged guitar solo
worthy of early Cure. It all might seem a bit self-conscious and
cloying, but though they play it completely straight, there is an
overriding wink that makes the proceedings fun.
Bloodsongs is the debut release on Audio Eagle, a local independent
label owned and operated by Black Keys drummer Pat Carney and Jamie
Stillman (Teeth of the Hydra, Party of Helicopters, Houseguest). It's
officially slated for a February release, but is available at Square
Records in Highland Square, online from Fat Possum Records and of
course at the raucous shows, where the dream of a party is always
brought to reality.
