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Hamster Dragster

Songs of Loss and Despair

(Metal Postcard; US: Available as import; UK: 26 Nov 2007)

I’m not entirely sure what would convince someone to release an EP like this. Songs of Loss and Despair is passable musically, if a little on the patchy side, as they piece together sampled chunks of “In The Year 2525” by Zager & Evans, “Pissing in a River” from Patti Smith, and Woodie Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” along with abrasive electronics into something like covers or reimaginings. As simple and disjointed as they are, there is a kind of logic to those instrumentals. However, all the vocals are provided by a demonic but monotonous Speak & Spell, which kills the EP as a whole. While the picture of a future dystopia as painted by the lyrics of Zager & Evans works in its own way, the vocals don’t make any sense for the other two songs. I respect the effort of trying to do something original, but let’s be honest; this is rubbish. You need to up your game, gentlemen.

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Ranta is a music geek from East Vancouver. He spends most of his time researching, procuring, listening to, and writing about music. Since 2004, his work has appeared in such publications as Exclaim!, CBC Music, Tiny Mix Tapes, and PopMatters, and he has been a Polaris Music Prize juror since 2010. He graduated from SFU's Contemporary Arts program with a BFA in music in Summer 2011.


Tagged as: hamster dragster
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Hamster Dragster - In the Year 2525
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