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‘What’s wrong with Keepin’ 6?

Skeletor’s Picks By Brodie Birt

Artist- Keepin’ 6

Album - Uncensored (debut album)

Label - Stereo Dynamite Inc. (www.stereodynamite.com)

Myspace - myspace. eS eren

Bandsite - keepin6.com

I anxiously arrived at the Cadre office awaiting the usual Tuesday evening meeting and delicious free pizza from Domino’s.

I greeted Liam, the editor, with a wink and a smile (Ill do anything for free pizza).

“Here,” he replied, handing me a shiny new album complete with a band biography.

My immediate thought was, “What record company is shoving this down my throat?”

My attention quickly shifted towards pizza. After stuffing my face with cheesy, meat covered — dough, the once shiny and new album re-appeared beside chunks of pepperoni, beef, and ham.

I decided to investigate little fur- ther.

The label guilty of interrupting my lovely meal of pizza was Stereo Dynamite Records.

Their weapon of choice was Keepin’ 6’s debut album Uncensored.

The band consists of four young artists: Jason Wilford takes lead with his guitar, bassist Dan Renwick backs Jason up while Bryan Hotchkiss sings/tongue rolls, and Matt “Phatty” Wilkinson bangs on the drums.

The album contains 11 so-called “ska-punk anthems,” known to most of us as “songs.”

My first listen yielded surprising- ly optimistic potential. A heavy - Travis Barker-inspired drum roll segued into a catchy Sublime/Billy _ Talent like verse, and I was begin- ning to look forward to what may come. ;

The album continues with this same feel through the first three enjoyable tracks, “Illusion,” “Scapegoat,” and “LT (Stop Tellin’ Me Lies).”

However, when the fourth track, “Forget It,” hits your ears, nausea sets in. The album begins to sound generic and repetitive.

The fifth track, “Look @ Whatcha Got” has good inspiration behind it but is poorly executed.

The same can be said for the next song, “EndZone v.11.”

This is when I notice a mistake. Grinning in astonishment I investi-

gateed using the cae given as a guide.

What is said to be track 6 is actu- ally track 8, track 8 is track 9, and

Wintersleep only

getting bigger

Music By Kirk Avery

After reaching the end of the fourth track Weighty Ghost, from Wintersleep's new album, Welcome to the Night Sky, I

thought to myself that this could

very well be their best album...and this is coming from a guy who really likes their other albums. I puess the difference here is that their appeal was much easier to recognize after only one listen, because it took longer for their last two to grow on me.

The first four tracks, Drunk on Aluminum, Archaeologist, Dead Letter & The Infinite Yes, and Weighty Ghost all have great pppeal for different reasons, and they really pull you in.

The next track though, Murderer, isn't as strong to me. When you place it after such great songs, it ust seems to pale in comparison. It could begin to grow on me, as songs and albums often do, but for now it strikes me as one of the

‘album's weaker tracks. I'd still

rather listen to a weak track on a preat album than, say, listen to Simple Plan at all though. Ugh, I feel terrible even mentioning their name.

Other songs that may not be as

to a lesser extent than Murderers, Laser Beams, and the final track, which takes some time to get mov-

ing.

& better with third album

Nova Scotia natives, Wintersleep, pose in this file photo. album, Welcome to the Night Sky was released Oct. 2 by Labwork

strong as the rest of the album are, .

Lead singer Paul Murphy's singing voice seems to have really grown on this album, as you find if suiting the music really well and evoking a lot of emotions.

Dead Letter seems to be the best example of this. In addition to finding the album much more accessible, songs like Weighty Ghost are much more upbeat which is a little different for the band.

This was actually the first song I heard from the album, and thought to myself that if it was any indica- tion of the other songs, it would be a big departure.

The overwhelming feeling I'm left with about this album is that if you weren't much of a Wintersleep fan before, you might be after: lis- tening to this, and I think the album will finally solidify them as one of Canada's premier rock bands. I see a trip to the Junos in their future.

Strangely, for such a popular band that is from this region, I haven't seen them yet, but am told they are amazing to see live.

They are currently touring all across Canada and will be hitting the Maritimes in late November. Unfortunately there is no Charlottetown date at this point, and that could change, but if it doesn't, they may just be one of those bands that you need to make a trip to see, before they're off wowing more and more crowds with their new songs.

track 9 is where track 6 was.

This awesome display of organi- zation and editing put the icing on my pizza (I’m not much of a cake eater).

Anyway, the correct name of track 6 is “Step Back” and, in short, it sucks.

The seventh track, “Handle It,” begins with a bright light in an otherwise dim song.

All verses in the album up to this point, seem to be backed by the same reggae guitar riffs and no vocal diversity.

It isn’t until “Endzone v. 11” that, Bryan tests his boundaries, shifting to a softer, more emotional direc- tion. It’s not the best display of vocal range and doesn’t fit well with his choice of lyrics.

The next track, “TFY 634” is one of their more higher energy songs on this album and is about sticking it to the “pigs” for ruining all their fun times. Damn those pigs.

“Breakdown” is painfully birthed into the tenth spot on the album.

As it grows it gains clarity but dies at a early age do to lack of song writing talent.

The last, finally-it’s-over track is called “1086.”

Aside from having horrible lyrics, the catchy guitar riff verses and solid drumming choruses makes up for it.

The final three songs, “TFY 634,” “Breakdown,” and “1086” all show glimpses of rockin’ guitar riffs which don’t really stand out unless you listen to them over and over.

With this being said, they still don’t quite match up to the first three songs on the album and leave you with a sour taste in your mouth that screams mediocrity.

The album starts off well, but is filled with a repetitive sound that turns you away from listening to the entire album.

I give it a 6.2 out of 10 on the Skeletor Scale.

Purchase this album if you are interested in hearing a punk Sublime sound or a rapping Billy Talent with downgraded lyrics.

They can also be heard on their Myspace site if you don’t feel like spending any money at all.

Keepin’ 6 Genre: Punk/Ska

Members:

Jason Wilford - guitar Dan Renwick - bass Matt Wikinson - drums Bryan Hotchkiss - vocals