It's Casual
The New Los Angeles
6.1
"Los Angeles: There's too many people. I want them to go away." So says Angelino Edward Solis, vocalist, guitarist and bassist for the two-man band It's Casual. As much as I want to disagree, it's true. There's too many damn people here. How does one argue with this? In another song, "Too Many Kids," he quite brilliantly states, "You got too many kids." Someone please slap me. I think I've found my soul mate.
Supposedly, this album, most easily categorized as blistering, very punk-influenced hardcore, was inspired by Solis's frequent bus trips from East L.A. to Hollywood, during which he would observe the city's colorful patrons and even more colorful neighborhoods, from the "decorated" to the "distressed." While I admit that this is a decent idea, I had my reservations about something so seemingly pretentious. Would this be the musical version of Crash? Fortunately, the lyrics are so inane, simple and obvious that pretension is nearly impossible, and the music behind the words lend the whole affair an almost tongue-in-cheek quality, however true some of The New Los Angeles may be.
For anyone who drives any of the infamous freeways that canvas the many areas of LA, "The Red Line" will be of particular interest. Not only does Solis make a point of saying, "The freeways are not so nice," but he specifically names the ones that cause him the most grief. Genius. I have to think that The Red Line, LA's first modern subway in the downtown area, is also a key subject, but we only hear it mentioned in the chorus. What a tease. I will say, though, the one thing that this band does well is stick to its guns and deliver one condensed, humorous song after another. It is consistent, but almost to a fault. After 4 or 5 songs you kind of know what to expect, and the joke wears a little thin.
In case you were wondering, the music itself is actually fairly good. It's not mind-blowing by any means, but it's well-done simplistic hardcore with an obvious punk edge and an above average production job, which is more than I can say for most in the genre. I could easily see most of these songs going over extremely well live, and as I take a look at their upcoming shows on their MySpace page, I see that they're opening for Pelican in San Diego and playing with Black Cobra in LA, none of which surprises me because they'd fit in well with both crowds, especially the latter.
I've got to give The New Los Angeles above average scores across the board. Most listeners will go through it a few times before discarding, never to return again, but it's high energy and fun for the time being. If you live in LA, bump the songwriting score up because you have to relate to at least half of what is being said here. While I am not shitting my pants in anticipation of the band's next release, I'll at least bother to check it out from recognizing the name.
