Posted on: December 8, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

I didn’t want to like this CD at all. However, the catchy beats (think The Rapture meets Electric Six and Deadsy) just make one want to get up out of their seat and start dancing. The lyrics aren’t anything to be proud of, but with beats like this, I’m pretty sure that listeners are not paying attention to what Nathan Halpem, the lead singer, is saying. Raising the bar for the new wave of rock meets dances with “Foes”, The Flesh mix together ultra lo-fi synth beats with The Cure/Depeche Mode style vocals. Seemingly cognoscent of the fact that longer playing discs in this vein usually tend to grate on listeners’ nerves, The Flesh have put out this disc containing four tracks. This decision was most likely made after noticing all of the critical praise that Electric Six received for their Danger! High Voltage EP, and all of the open attacks for the Fire full-length.

Calling back r&b and older rock styles (The Doors, anyone) from their long-untouched grave, The Flesh really are innovative in the sense that they can incorporate these old styles with newer influences and make it work. “Death Connection”, “Love”, and “Foes” all feed into the same general style and work well together, but “Copticon” reaches too far, experiments too much and has too long of a runtime (over five minutes) to fit in well with the rest of the EP. Chances are if you have been in any hip NYC dance club in the last few months, you have heard “Death Connection” and probably wrote it off to some forgotten dance act. The Flesh are very much alive, and will probably be turning the dance world on its ear as soon as more individuals are turned onto them.

With the emergence of such acts as Junior Senior, it may only be a matter of months before The Flesh find their rising star and find themselves on a more national level – whether it be play on MTV2 or wider discussion in magazines. The music that The Flesh puts out is just too catchy, too much of a difference from what is considered mainstream to actually be disregarded for long. Make sure that the Death Connection EP is something that is put on your grocery list, and I am sure that you won’t be depressed when you get a chance to hear it.

The Flesh – Death Connection / 5 Tracks / 2003 Kanine Records / http://www.kaninerecords.com / http://www.putontheflesh.com / Reviewed 27.07.03 / Released : 08.07.03

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