Blood on the Wall - Blood on the Wall (Social Registry, 2004)

Blood on the Wall
Blood on the Wall
Social Registry
2004

Rating: 6.5 reruns of "The Shining" out of 10

I’m not really sure what to make of this release, but I know I like it. Blood on the Wall owe most of their influence to Sonic Youth, but some how a lot of it got filtered through some sort of fanciful machine that makes them sound like a punk-influenced Violent Femmes, even down to singer Ben Shank’s voice. There are a couple of exceptions to this sound though, most notably “On the Mouth” where Ben’s sister (and fellow band mate) takes over vocal duties and produces what sounds like a Jesus & Mary Chain outtake, and it’s probably the best song on the record. An extremely interesting debut, highly listenable and quite catchy, and just “out there” enough that even the cool kids should like it.