Reviews

Rotten Princess

Paradise Cleaners Peformance Revue cassette

At first listen to Portland, Oregon’s PARADISE CLEANERS, all I could think was that I wish they had used their cleaning skills to tidy up whatever dubbing set-up was used to duplicate their cassettes. Upon further inspection, it seems that the recording itself is what requires the polishing. Wildly lo-fi, mid-tempo, plodding noise rock. There are some very cool synth licks and some super heady HAWKWIND-esque bass walks throughout the recording, but they get a bit lost in the combination of the recording and tape dubbing quality. PARADISE CLEANERS really shine when their songs stay under three minutes long; the five-and-a-half-minute flanger dirge is a little too out there for me. Normally, their proclamation of being “goth FLIPPER™” would drive me out of my mind with rage. However, after noticing that the last song on the tape has almost the same riff as “Ha Ha Ha” but with added vocal noise and a less catchy performance, perhaps that assessment is more self-aware than I had given them credit for.

The Downstrokes The Furious Hours LP

West Coast to Third Coast, Rotten Princess puts out a terrific variety of punk, noise, hip hop, etc. that seems to always, at the very least, keep my attention all the way through, and at their very best, doesn’t leave my stereo for weeks to months. The DOWNSTROKES are a mid-tempo, Northern East Coast garage/punk/power pop band with hooks by the handful. Personally, I wish the production was a little muddier, but that’s a me thing. I can’t help but feel like there’s something lacking. Follow me here—the music is tight, the lyrics are thoughtful and tuneful, and all together, the songs are melodic and have tons of catchiness, so maybe the delivery of the whole feels like it’s lacking conviction, and moreover simply plodding through. Most of the songs come close to or over three minutes. I think this could have been a top-of-the-charts summer banger if the songs would have been capped at two to two-and-a-half minutes each. However, by the end of the third time through The Furious Hours, I am more in tune with where they are going in terms of setting up the longer-structured songs and giving the melody time to sink in. Maybe somewhere in the middle would be best? I guess I’m the jerk here (shrug emoji).