![[img of demo tape]](demo.gif)
In my experience as a reviewer of independent music, instrumental projects are fairly rare. And there's a reason for that: not very many performers can do it well. The Evil Agents do it well. Now, for the most part, it's a curse of any instrumental band to be labelled as "surf". Fortunately, Evil Agents consider themselves surf, so they don't mind. Myself, I don't find The Stranger to be totally surf. There is most certainly a surf influence, but to just call this "surf" music would be too narrow, because there's much more. On the other hand, anyone who's a big fan of surf would more than likely enjoy this tape.
Two-thirds of the band are from Space Opera, and it shows (in fact, 2 songs on the tape are derived from SO tunes). In fact, I personally consider this demo to be a part of my SO collection. If you have and like any SO music, you must get this one. And if you ever have a chance to see The Evil Agents live, it's a pretty impressive show.
contact c/o:
Ryan Hutchinson, 147 Spring St., Summerside, PEI, C1N 3G2
Dresssed to Kill - Flaming Inferno
As far as I know, Dressed to Kill are still PEI’s only ska band, but if they weren’t they’d still be the best. Their ska is the ska that has as much lounge influence as it has punk, and the result is sacrilicious. Wise-ass stage names, an onstage presence that demands dancing, and songs about stalking, drinking and dying (not necessarily at the same time), are a formula for success that someday may include world domination (Queen Sarah Von Hollywood... I like the sound of that).
12 songs is a good number for a $5 demo, but it was still somehow shorter than I expected. And, as is the case with most demos from great live bands, the studio work doesn’t quite match the live energy. However, these two points are not enough to kill a good thing, and pretty much anything from Dressed to Kill is a good thing.
Check out their amazing web site at http://www.whitelands.com/dtk, or email them at dressedtokillpei@hotmail.com
Various Artists - GigZilla The Album
This CD serves as a souveneir from GigZilla ‘98, the first annual independant music festival hosted by Generation XX, a fairly new youth club here in Summerside, PEI. With the incredible saturation of punk bands around here, it’s refreshing that this CD only has 4 punk songs. Among the rest of the songs are 1 rap song, 1 ska song, and various other modern rock mutations.
As an album, it’s not really cohesive, and a few of the songs are substandard at best. But overall, it’s a good compilation, and any local music fan or serious indy rock collector should get a copy while they’re still available. For one thing, I’m betting that at least one of these bands will be signed within the year, and it would be nice to say you knew about them "before they made it". Plus, it’s an opportunity to support a positive community project. $12 pp
Generation XX, 328 Notre Dame St., Summerside, PEI, C1N 1S5
Space Opera - the Bestest
With 27 elections from their previous 5 tapes, including my personal favorite, "Bull by the Horns", this is a good overview of Space Opera's music. But attempts to describe their music are always incomplete and inadequate. With bits of psycedelica, surf, and punk, among many others, Space Opera make some of the most ecclectic music this side of They Might Be Giants. For more info, go the Space Opera page on the demolisten site.
contact:
Ryan Hutchinson, 147 Spring St., Summerside, PEI, C1N 3G2Send music and comments to:
demolisten po box 20006 summerside, pei c1n 5z3 canadaemail demolisten
