Burn Planetarium

Burn Planetarium are a rockin' little four piece from Guelph, Ontario that specialize in a very hip sounding teenage punk sound. This is the type of music that I would've devoted all of my time to in the late 90's, but only have a mild fascination for these days. That doesn't mean that it isn't worth a listen though. The album is called Valse Mechanique, and despite sporting a plethora of spelling errors, there are some very catchy tunes contained on this 30 minute disc. There's definitely plenty of room for improvement but their enthusiasm and lyrical prowess certainly made me pay more than the usual attention. They remind me of another local band that I really enjoyed about 10 years ago called The Pettit Project (who apparently are still around but now call themselves Love You To Death. Huh, who knew?) If you've heard of them, and you like them, then spend some time with this one. Some of the standout tracks are Werewolf By Night, which boasts a slight dance groove, and a funky bass line accompanied by an infectious dual shouting vocal. New Way To Love dabbles in the new wave, sounding a bit like early Police crashing a Bloc Party. And We Were Stenographers is the most adventurous track on the CD, sporting a pretty spastic groove for the first 3 minutes before taking an acoustic turn in a different direction for its conclusion. I'd like to hear more songs like this from them in the future. In short, the potential for greatness is here and this is still a pretty solid first album. - It's Not The Band I Hate, It's The Fans

I love it when a band is so exuberant about what they’re doing that the feeling somehow translates through their record into the listener itself. This happens live regularly enough, but doesn’t happen on record nearly as often.

Burn Planetarium are a four-piece indie-rock band based out of Guelph. They’ve been on my radar for a while now, as I’ve been paying attention to their recordings on MySpace in anticipation of eventually hearing the record that I am now reviewing. They also happen to be playing Rancho this coming Saturday as part of a really neat line-up put on by TWM.

Screams and shouts accompanied by some thrashing guitar and drums kick off “Death! Death! Death!” which is a completely wicked opening track for Valse Mechanique. Burn Planetarium are one of those bands who will take some flack because Sean McKee and Ben Landau aren’t about to change the world with their vocal skills. I, for one, say while it may be a tad limiting for the band on Valse Mechanique -- and especially “Death! Death! Death!” -- it actually enhances the recording. This song is so full of piss and vinegar it’s impossible not to bounce around your apartment like an idiot whenever it comes on.

My intro to Burn Planetarium was “We Were Stenographers” and it still ranks as my favourite song, even though I just had to actually ask Terri for clarification as to what a stenographer is. I see this song as potentially becoming Burn Planetarium’s signature. It has everything that should be on a checklist for a kickass song:

Attribute:
Killer chorus x
Catchy guitar riffs x
Nifty interlude x
Strong songwriting x
Epic song ending x
It’s just a bit of a shame that this wasn’t the end of the record. The last three tracks -- “New Way to Love”, “Red Army Fighter” and “City Wings” -- don’t build on the awesome momentum created by the first six. They aren’t bad songs, but a nine-song record like Valse Mechanique is somewhat in no man’s land anyhow -- is it an EP or is it a really short record?

What I do know is that Valse Mechanique would have made a phenomenal six-song EP, one that I probably would have scored somewhere in the 8.5 range. As is, it’s a solid record loaded with potential, and one you ought to look into acquiring.

Score: 7 - Two Way Monologues