The latest Royce record got lost in a small pile of envelopes, amongst bills and fliers, and it wasn't until I was cooking dinner one night and on the prowl for somethng I'd never heard that I finally listened to Tuff Love. I'm a fan. All I had to go with was the cover art and press photo, and whereas in most cases those two factors will NOT solidify a pre-conceived notion of a band's sound, I fell victim to it this time.
So when I put it on and it turned out to be a warm, electronically saturated record that balances the thick-framed, sweater wearing bass lines of indie rock ("Milwaukee") and the hip hop influenced sound-of-summer funk spin on melody ("Ebbs & Flows"). The latter reminds me so much of when pop and hip hop were in bed together in the early 90s - the kind of stuff that everyone now under the drinking age was too young to know about. The record is comforting in its awkward variety.
It seems promising that their live show would push one over the edge to fandom. Too bad they're only playing the Chicago area for now...
Audible: Royce - "Milwaukee"
Audible: Royce - "Ebbs & Flows"
Website: http://www.roycelove.com
1 comment:
Royce is a hot group. There's something special about their sound and I hope they push out this way.
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