Review
Days N Daze
Show Me The Blueprint

I love it when music takes me to places. In my mind there’s two ways a record can do that. First is the kind that is linked to certain events in my life. Sometimes as simple as a book I read at the time of listening. There are albums that transport me to the fantasy worlds I read about when said records were in heavy rotation. The second kind is a record that just brings a certain atmosphere or sound that transports you to a certain scene. A good example of this is the latest record by The Claudettes that still transports me to a dark and smoke-filled pub.

Usually it is a very positive thing for me to be transported to a different place or time. I can congratulate Days N Daze for being the first band to have evoked a negative experience with their music. That also explains why this review is so long overdue. I have tried and tried again to listen this record in one sitting. I just can’t. Why on earth would somebody listen to this voluntarily? I can’t answer this question. You can imagine my surprise when I found out there are loads of reviews online that praise the hell out of this record. I highly suspect they listened to a different record than me. Anyway, I have listened to this album two or three times now. In about 20 sittings or so. Which has to be enough to tell why I think this record stinks.

When I first listened to this record I was transported right back to one of those awful cartoons in which the main character is basically a jerk. The kind that was in vogue twenty years ago. It reminds me of the overactive tunes you would get to hear before and during those shows. The kind that really, really get on your nerves. Now get rid of the electronic influences that would be in those tracks, instead add bluegrass on speed and imagine Applejack or the chipmunks as a singer.

Yeah, the singing, we need to talk about that. The music is nervous as hell most of the time, but the singing… There’s two singers and both have their own awful sound. The guy is most of the time trying to fit way too much lyrics in a song. The girl’s voice is just not in my alley. And to add insult to injury both just can’t decide what voice they want to sing with. Sometimes it is clean(ish), usually it’s some sort of forced gruff voice. The main shock came when I listened came to track three “LibriYUM” during which one or both (I don’t know and really can’t care any less) do a feeble attempt at a crust-grunt or scream. I can’t tell really. Let’s just say that if they would have been able to pull it off it would have sounded horribly out of place with the music. Unfortunately they can’t pull it off. It sounds as if someone is choking. This experiment is repeated in a couple of other songs. Everytime the experiment goes horribly wrong (the start of “Show Me The Blueprints” might be an exception, the effect here is passable, not good, but passable. Mind you, only the start sounds okay-ish, the second attempt is horrible as ever.). When I first heard them do it I didn’t know if this was serious or that they were trying to make me laugh. Probably not the effect they are after.

Anyways, I think I have wasted too much effort on this band already. If Days N Daze aim was to move people it succeeded. I was moved. In a very negative way. I am glad I can now leave this sonic torture behind me and advise you to stay as far, far away from this as you possibly can.