TAXIDERMISTS
“Honesty Box”
(Telegraph Harp)



There’s an “All the Young Dudes” reference to be made in here somewhere. This is the best you’ll get out of me, though. I’ll let you write an alternate review of this tape in your head with a really great zinger that incorporates Mott the Hoople or Bowie. You can share it with your friends if you like, or post it to Taxidermists’ Pissbook page. Up to you.

Taxidermists is a guitar/drums duo whose members are both twenty-one. The neo-grunge vibes are strong with these two. Lots of quiet guitar/loud guitar. Lots of stops and starts. The pace is glacial (have these cats listened to Seam?). It’s like “Lithium” stretched over and over but without the big payoff chours. Or a really slow Silverchair song. The label is begging us to mention Polvo and “classic Sonic Youth” for some reason, and I’ll say them here to be nice I guess, although I don’t hear it. Honesty Box is warmed-over stuff, underedited (oh the drum fills…), and could use a few years of maturation. At least Silverchair had “Tomorrow” when they were this age, and to go further, Modest Mouse also had “Dramamine,” so we can’t necessarily pin failure on age and inexperience.

These two young dudes certainly know their indie rock history, I’ll give them that. Let’s hope they apply it to greater effect in the future. Telegraph Harp is an interesting label, so let’s not hold this one against them too much.

--A GHOST