Do kids still have LAN parties these days? I remember being invited to one way back when, but I abstained because it would have entailed lugging a huge-arse CRT monitor across town.
Do kids still have LAN parties these days? I remember being invited to one way back when, but I abstained because it would have entailed lugging a huge-arse CRT monitor across town. Also, I’m not a HUGE NERD. Anyways, I’m at a loss making a connection between Melbourne’s Lan Party and their name. They sound like jazz nerds? Some glitchy samples are shoe-horned in? I dunno.
Personal Low starts off promisingly enough with some soaring 10cc-style synth action, which abruptly dissipates into some balls-out, prog-rock majesty of a Mars Volta vein. It’s like the point in Paul McCartney’s Live And Let Die where the schmaltzy piano ballad explodes into a firestorm of strings. It’s this quiet/loud dynamic forms the foundation of Lan Party’s sophomore release. Sometimes it works. More often than not, it feels a tad overbearing.
Revisionist History could have proved to be a standout track if it weren’t for its stupefying payoff. The song powers along with some sweet riffage, which eventually builds into some ridiculous rave-synth action. If this blemish had been left out of the mix, we would be left with a satisfying slab of rock goodness.
Each band member displays a great amount of proficiency with their respective instrument (violin in particular). It’s just that they’re often plying the tracks with musical Spakfilla – multiplying the same melody with different instrumentation. This leads to much of the album being weighed down and bereft of breathing space.
There are a few shining moments throughout Personal Low, but these are often atypical to the album’s motifs – the charmingly sparse, minute-long Interlude for example. Given a little more direction and more rounded production values, I’m sure Lan Party could come up with something special. But for now, there are moments when the tracks veer towards nu-metal. Which I assume is unintentional, because who on Earth would want to sound nu-metal?
