Crackjaw – Giants From The Stereo (CD)

With a band name like Crackjaw, what first hits individuals during “Giants From The Stereo” is confusing, to say the least. What the band starts the disc with is “Cameo”, and the song shows Crackjaw as a band that mixes emo with a hardcore brand of screaming. Crackjaw may be a “Giant From The Stereo”, but the band has the ability to create interesting music in a musical genre that has been overran by talentless acts that are trying to make it big.

The band has their influences down, as individuals can hear hints of old Goo Goo Dolls, Samiam, and Sunny Day Real Estate. The band might be playing in 2006, but their hearts are definitely back in 1993 at times. The band is very solid and provides a bottom line in which individuals know that they are going to get something from the band. “The King’s Inn” uses a few different time signatures to pull itself up from this bottom line, as well as the driven guitar lines during the track. What Crackjaw does with “Giants From The Stereo” is create an entirely different sound for I Scream Records that moves the label from its hardcore roots. The songs on “Giants From The Stereo” may work on radio stations, but they do much more than create an immediate response for individuals listening in. During tracks like “Spent Time Milkshaken”, the entire mindset of an individual listening in will change, as the vocals and the controlled distortion on the guitars will make individuals remember their lost loves, creating pangs of pain in each heart.

The tracks on “Giants From The Stereo” all stretch out to the degree that Crackjaw can create something important with their tracks. This means that songs like “The Giant Warmup” may be less than a minute, while “The King’s Inn” may near four and a half minutes. Crackjaw is a band that hits individuals with a wide brush, and it is with thousands of colors of paint that the band hits their fan base. While some people may love the melodrama present in “Giants From The Stereo”, others may like the complex interplay between the different instruments on the disc. At some point, practically anyone who listens in to Crackjaw will hear something that they like and pick up the disc. Give the disc a listen before Crackjaw blows up, probably some time in the near future.

Top Tracks: Kristen Karisma, Spent Time Milkshaken

Rating: 6.0/10

Crackjaw – Giants From The Stereo / 2006 I Scream / 11 Tracks / http://www.crackjaw.com / http://www.iscreamrecords.com / Reviewed 25 May 2006

[JMcQ]