By snoadmin
Something is a bit off here in Long Beach. A new 23-song compilation CD, pieced together by Long Beach’s Fidotrust Records, “Trust Us,” reflects that – and it’s not too cool.
Long Beach is often found in a much too drab condition. The city is patchy, weaved by a polychromatic blanket of ghetto, suburban, beach and college living, spinning the atmosphere into a whirly, undefined mess. The music scene, as “Trust Us” captures, is no better.
With “Trust Us” you get the full spectrum of Long Beach’s stench-filled music bubble.
From the really sloppy, standard background music that could hang (and should only hang) at any dingy bar dotting Fourth Street, to the really boring, repetitive, this-is-rock-en-español alt-rock music, unfortunately, “Trust Us” really leaves one to question: Trust what or who and why?
The record company’s website renders no elaborate story on who to “trust.” Its only FAQ message gives enough insight as to what type of Long Beach bands it follows: “And no, we do not accept unsolicited demos so don’t even try. Build up a following and then we might hear from you.”
But if this were a compilation dealing with Long Beach’s most thriving and thrilling bands, or the “baby bands and big-brother bands,” as music writer Chris Ziegler defines in the liner notes, where are We Barbarians and Cold Wars Kids?
They’re definitely not on this compilation, which is somewhat inconsistent to the raw, urban aesthetic glossed all over the cover with photos of a port container and other obscure graphics.
The Fidotrust owners, instead, chew a chunk off this disc to showcase themselves. The record company’s two owners, Jackie Ojeda and Oscar Rey, both Long Beach musicians, feature their own rock bands, Knives of the Official Disappointment and Bella Novela.
This compilation is worthy if only because of a handful of songs – songs by the Crystal Antlers, Year Zero, ForceField ON, Free Moral Agents and Dios (Malos).
These Long Beach bands are not quite the Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol, but the songs featured by these artists make a good impression all while demonstrating their unique promising sounds.
Crystal Antlers are red-hot with their smoldering psychedelic “Arcturus.” Year Zero is almost silent with its sparkly little tune, “New Day Dawn.” ForceField ON is slow and lushly hallow with voluminous layers of horns and sleepy vocals on “Adios Victrolas.” Free Moral Agents play with Kim Gordon-esque vocals on “Dragon Prow.” Dios (Malos) get trippy and hypnotic, with bells and other otherwordly dings, on “Don Be Efrey Du Die.”
On just a few of these 23 tracks, Ojeda and Rey earn my trust.
With everything else, it’s not a clear exchange.
And with everything that Long Beach is made of – the port, narrow roads, bridges, the ocean, hipster spots, art houses – you might expect the music outpour to sound different than what “Trust Us” puts out.
The idea would be fun to envision a community of musical talents living across the street from the other, bumping into each other at the recording studio and suddenly bringing out this huge musical movement. But as “Trust Us” is showing that won’t be happening to Long Beach anytime soon.
