Applicants claim to be punk, as in proper punk with all the ideals that come with it. They say they are unique, they don’t just take other peoples ideas and make them their own. That’s a big claim to make, but I think they have every reason to make it. Their music is riff heavy and very strange: It sounds like their guitars are fighting one another in a battle to the death in a custom made computer game for the Sega Game Gear (if you don’t know what a Game Gear is then where were you in 1990?!) The whole album sounds very raw, it is intense noise, almost bordering on hardcore at times. It sounds kind of like Fantômas if they had actually structured their songs into concise two and a half minute pieces. Oh, and without the screaming… and better.
It’s only when you get to the second half of the album that it starts to calm down a touch. They keep the rough sounding guitars and computer game backing tracks, but it’s got a slightly more indie edge to it. With this different sound they even bring different instruments to the forefront at times; ‘They Wrote Gone Fishing on His Grave’ has a hint of harmonica in it, and ‘Since Porn Took Over eBay’ features a recorder solo. Applicants are going for an open minded, witty way of creating music. Their songs might be intense but they all have a comedy edge, whether it’s lyrically or musically. It’s great to hear, and extremely refreshing. 9/10
http://www.myspace.com/applicants
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