Thursday 17 July 2014

SWEETHEART

BandSWEETHEART
GenresPunk / Rock / Emo / Post-Hardcore / Screamo
Related artistsN/A.
CountryKent, Ohio USA
Years Active2004-2005
Song: "This Song is About Arms"
Album: "Art is Dead is Dead"
Year: 2005
Label(s): Perpetual Motion Machine
This post's artist is from the June 2014 Mix. This is track #11.
You can download the July Mix#7 right here or get the new August Mix#8 here.
For fans ofGaff, Hot Cross, Serotonin, Secret Arms, Yaphet Kotto, Kodan Armada, For Want Of, and I'm having trouble thinking of more - think partially out of tune emo vocals with spastic screaming over post-hardcore/screamo instrumentals.

SWEETHEART are a pretty obscure band that released at least one album that I am aware of back in 2005 called 'Art is Dead is Dead'. The multimedia enhanced cd was released on Perpetual Motion Machine (mad respect!!!) and then the band seemed to dissolve into nothingness. The 6 songs are definitely of the two-headed variety. That is, they jump (usually quickly) from post-hardcore/emo with clean singing and straightforward rhythms to abrasive and screamy hardcore with some riffs that would have worked on Hot Cross' later records and venomous vocals that are spat in your face with extreme ferocity. Does it always work? No, but most of the time it does and it makes for a really interesting listen for those who can handle poppier emo music but also love aggression and screaming when gettin' down. It borders on cheesy and dark at the same time, which I thought was impossible to pull off. I was wrong.

"Am I Saying 'Tight' Too Much?" is a song that is directed much more at alternative/emo rock music with almost all clean vocals save for the middle lull in the song with the other vocalist spitting out a few lines. "Oh - Snap / Martyr Monday" sounds like For Want Of if they slowed shit down and delved into the 'is that singing in key or not? eh, I don't care cuz it works' vocals. The instrumentals also remind me of Gaff and their Hot Cross-esque riffs, and the screamer (aka bassist) makes an appearance during the last half of the song to really close it out on a really engaging note. "Don't Flatter Yourself, I Just Write Songs" is a perfect example of the scathing to soothing style. At 46 seconds the screamer takes a seat while the clean vocalist takes a stab at some really emo lyrics with an emo delivery until 1:20 when the clean fella starts straining to sing (aka near-scream) to fully round out the track. "This Song is About Arms" was the song I chose for the blog mix because it's on the heavier side and reminds me of bands like Secret Arms, Kodan Armada and perhaps even Yaphet Kotto (but not as good as those bands). The song has a nice lead in, and at 1:15 it gets really heavy over a trippy space riff with both vocalists doing their part to make this one killer song. "Fast Times at Right Now" is on the longer side (almost 4 minutes) and is passable, in this reviewer's opinion while the final song "I Truly Love You But I Cannot Sing..." ties for the strongest track on the cd. It's a 4-minute, driving, noodling instrumental song with some catchy riffs and palm-muting. There are no huge breakdowns or death-defying solos, but this is an amazing song.

Honestly, this band is kinda hard to pin down because the two styles mix pretty well and not a lot of other bands have tried this particular mix. Test those vids below and download the discography if ya dig.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2005 - Art is Dead is Dead cdEP + media (download here)

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(2005) SWEETHEART - "This Song is About Arms" (from 'Art is Dead is Dead')

(2005) SWEETHEART - "Don't Flatter Yourself, I Just Write Songs" (from 'Art is Dead is Dead')

(2005) SWEETHEART - "I Truly Love You But I Cannot Sing..." (from 'Art is Dead is Dead')

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SWEETHEART out-of-print discography mp3 download / additional links

(download here)

Last FM


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