ALBUM REVIEW: The D.A. release unpolished, original 'You Kids!'
The D.A. does not sound like a band from El Paso, Texas.
Their music is extremely influenced by the funkier side of British post-punk acts like 23 Skidoo and A Certain Ratio, and at first listen it would be hard to think that this band wasn’t based in London.
With the addition of trumpet and synthesizers into the standard guitar/bass/drums setup, The D.A. craft a very psychotic and eclectic mix of post-punk and funk for their album "You Kids!," but how much craziness is enough?
The most particular aspect of their music is it’s quite subdued in volume. Rather than sounding like some avant-garde jazz band flying off the handle, throwing notes around like it’s going out of style, most compositions actually fall on the more calm and collected side.
This creates a weird dichotomy as the volume is safe and the instrumentation within is crazy. A good example of this is the track “We Hungry,” as it never really gets heavy or biting, but all the progressions (especially the change into the chorus) are just puzzling and hard to wrap your head around at times.
Every so often the boys from El Paso do kick up the noise with tracks like “Big Woman,” where each instrument just gives it their all for this big, zany dance party. It’s undeniable that when The D.A. wants you to move, they have the chops to do it.
Sometimes all their wackiness can get the better of them. Tracks like “Tigers” sadly just comes off as odd sounding, and lyrics like “I’ll eat toothpaste/And rub it on my face” do not help their cause. “Tenderfoot” also suffers from being a little too strange at times.
The “problem” (quoted because it’s a stylistic choice, not really a problem) is they have all these instruments and are constantly using them; this happens most noticeably with the trumpet, as instead of being used more as a spice, will have lines throughout the entire song. Once again, sometimes this works, but sometimes it sounds like they are trying to cram so much in such little space.
Sometimes the vocals are just a little on the wacky side. Much like every other aspect, sometimes they fit the music great and sometimes they sound just kind of odd. Going back to that chorus change from “We Hungry” (and honestly most of the song) the vocals just sound a little strange; not strange enough to destroy the song or anything, but definitely odd enough to be noticeable.
The D.A. are doing something very crazy and fresh, and while most of the time it works, occasionally you can hear parts that sound zany. If you are looking for something original, The D.A. definitely delivers in spade, but some more polish in songwriting could have been used.
As it stands now, "You Kids!" is a total trip that has some missteps along the way, but makes up for it with uniqueness.
Genre: Post-Punk Revival Rating 3.5 out of 5
