Spare Parts for Broken Hearts
Spare Parts for Broken Hearts
https://www.facebook.com/sparepartsforbrokenhearts
A little late with this review, perhaps — the EP's been out for nearly a year, for a start. But Long Beach's Spare Parts for Broken Hearts have been revving up a bit for the journey to Texas for SXSW and as with any band hoping to get greater attention we have to wish the trio all due luck, because it can get crazy out there. And that's just the food lines. They've been playing out a few local shows to get ready but if you've missed them there's always this as a quick three song dose.
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But what do you get when, as they do, you call yourself experimental grunge, though?
There's a weird sense of flashback on the EP's songs — it's not
that any number of bands aren't looking back these days to early
nineties KROQ and going “Hey, wait a minute,” it's that Spare Parts are
throwing in some of the moments that aren't always as well remembered.
So “Stories” sounds like the funk-metal that wasn't the Red Hot Chili
Peppers, while “Sleeper” mixes murky guitar snarls and a bit of a buried drum part from Tosha Jones, a little bit of brisk cryptic energy.
Sarah Green and Laurita Guaico's vocals are in ways the key of the band,
though, at least on these recordings, cutting through and over the
music in a strong fashion; call it the antithesis of someone like
Maynard Keenan when he's in Tool, looking almost to bury himself in the
arrangements. That kind of controlled bravura on their part might almost
shortchange the music a bit — the first part of the solo on “Sleeper”
is almost too murky — but when they cut loose on the peppiest of the
three songs, “January-July 1998,” it's a pretty sharp mix they've got.
Let's see what happens next after they escape from Texas.
The EP can be found via iTunes and Fingerprints; Spare Parts for Broken Hearts will also be appearing on kbeach.org via CSULB this upcoming Tuesday at 3 pm.
