Remember – if you send it, it will get reviewed. That’s the City Slang promise. It doesn’t matter what genre the music is – as long as it has a Metro Detroit connection, it’ll get in. Preferably, we’d like to concentrate on new releases but, while we’re getting warmed up here, feel free to send back catalog material too. Send CDs, vinyl, cassettes, demos and 8-tracks to Brett Callwood, City Slang, Metro Times, 733, St. Antoine, Detroit, MI 46226. Email MP3s and streaming links to [email protected].
Magnanomus is a rap outfit from Detroit and Mt. Clemens and, on their Facebook page, they describe themselves as, “a Higher self. MAGNANOMUS is The Garden of Eden just before the first snake showed up. It's All metaphor. The illusion is mistaking the physical, the honey trap, for the Truth.”. Sounds about right. No Measure of Health (Beadneck) is their tight, smart album, and it’s worth checking out, if for no other reason than they have a jam called “Hooray for Medication”.
The Royal Hoax are an interesting little trio. The alt-poppers self-titled album is available now and can be sampled at their website, and, while the Maximo Park and Interpol references seem to be pushed a little hard (even if it’s indirectly), the tunes are fantastic.
Awesome funky rockers The Science Fair sent me some pre-album tracks that play heavy on the ‘80s vibe but still manages to sound contemporary. "Tired of Sleeping" is the pick of the bunch, though there’s much fun to be had with all three tracks.
Even better is the new single from the Prime Ministers. Helium voices and suave riffs – imagine Queen jamming with, umm, the Jam. Missed You Again / True Believer (self-released) is the single, engineered by Eric “Beats” Hoegemeyer at Rustbelt Studios, and it’s fantastic.
City Slang received an advance download of the new Otto Vector EP, which seems to be called EP604 right now. Whatever, this is a band growing into themselves beautifully. The balance of the pop-electro beats, the riffing and the powerful female vocals is pushing this band forward into the “serious contender” category. The songs here sound a little less forced than this band has in the past. The songwriting and production is spot on, and the passion isn’t sacrificed at all. Great stuff.
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