“Understanding Orange” from BM LINX was a track that caught my attention when it appeared on the SXSW 2007 website, mainly because of it’s intrinsic modern rock appeal, the likes of which I would pool with Fischerspooner and The Faint.
What’s come out of their new album Black Entertainment is quite a surprise. Basically, this album has once again taught me that you can’t judge a band by a single. But I for one love being taken aback from something musically unexpected, since so much of what comes out of the studios these days plays like the button’s stuck on “repeat” or “remake.” For those of us who have a myriad of genres in our music collection, it’s refreshing to be taken on a wild ride down the rails where we don’t know where the next turn will take us.
The modern tendencies still exist in songs such as “Clean Dirt” and the electro-heavy “123Cat,” but the musical of depth of BM LINX goes far further than 808, computer-managed stylings.
The acoustic guitar work of “White Limousine” is head turning, complemented by heavenly strings that expand on the band’s glittering facets.
Then all around high intensity of “Outlaw Jimmy Rose” hits you in the gut with a clenched rock ‘n roll fist; and “Red House Been Empty” could run circles around the drunken butt rock legends of the 80s. The desperate, intense vibration of “Kids on Fire” could push anyone past the marathon finish line (and will definitely be added to my running playlist).
The various personalities meet on the melodic and moody instrumental “Defender” that ties space-age travel to dusty roadtrips. And then there’s the acoustic version of “Understanding Orange,” which turns that original track on its ear while spotlighting the lyrical side of BM LINX, “There are many mistakes / A boy has to make before he becomes a man / And begins to degenerate / There’s a fire in his eyes / That gets crushed with pride / And the man he wants to be / Isn’t even real.”
The New York band will be making its way to SXSW again in 2010, according to the BM LINX MySpace, and I expect some pretty lively performances after getting an earful of Black Entertainment.
{rokbox title=|BM LINX :: Kids on Fire Video| text=|Watch the Kids on Fire Video Here| thumb=|../images/bmlinx-black-entertainment.jpg|}http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlr6n68meVs&feature=player_embedded{/rokbox}
RCRD LBL
