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Wheels On The Bus
In The Loop
2005, independent
You have to love when this happens: a band in a really crowded, competitive genre and from a crowded, competitive geographical area emerges with a terrific album made with little money on an unknown label, besting ninety percent of their contemporaries at their own game. Following a well-received EP last year, Brampton, Ontario‘s Wheels On The Bus have roared ahead of the pack with In The Loop, ten songs of precise not-quite-screamo that further builds the case for Brampton as one of the top scenes in the country(Moneen also call the white-bread Toronto suburb home). A fairly new band, Wheels have played as many shows as they can, touring out to eastern Canada as well as playing a coveted slot in Toronto for Canadian Music Week earlier this year.
The acclaim is deserved. In The Loop excels in terms of production, vocals, instrumentation and songs that are eerily listenable; from opening instrumental slash breakdown exercise ‘Point A‘(the counterpart, no doubt, to the previous EP‘s ‘Point B‘) through album highlight ‘Clueless and Careless‘, WOTB display a knack for combining heaviness and unforgettable melody into fusions that work so well you wonder why a ton of other bands aren‘t plying the same trade. ‘Sluts and Buff Dudes‘ goes from a mid-paced rocker into a drawn-out ending, the twin guitars scaling in a stately manner, while ‘The Devil‘s Fabric‘ incorporates a SoCal double-time rhythm before dissolving into more glorious guitar histrionics, and the entire record features tasteful double bass by a drummer who knows his business well.
Moneen is a comparison point where the rambunctious spirit of the music is concerned(vocalist Kenny Bridges appears on ‘Diagnosed Excited‘), but WOTB are far more controlled in their attack, balancing killer riffs with unconventional rhythm changes. The vocals are a particular highlight; Wheels possess three talented singers for this genre, and some of the harmonies are insanely addictive. With superior production and some mono-stereo studio tricks just to keep things interesting, In The Loop is a standout.
[Wheels On The Bus] [Summercamp Productions]
-Mike Postma
Copyright ©2005