Audio By Carbonatix
To close out the year, Crossfade is picking out its favorite albums by 305 artists. Read the full list of Miami’s Best Albums of 2010 here.
Beings
Beings
(Amnesian Records)
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Miami’s reigning power trio, Beings, doesn’t waste a single second on its eponymous mini-album. While the official stats (8 tracks in 15 minutes) might leave you thinking this is some sort of tech-metal grind outfit, the reality is much less gore-obsessed, and strikingly multi-genre in influence and execution.
The mélange of spartan, no-bullshit composition and obviously deep record collections has produced a ripper of a record completely faithful to the taut, momentous energy of the group’s live show.
None of these songs last a second longer than necessary. The longest track is barely three minutes long. And yet they still manage to draw from a multitude of sources.
“Naysayer” is a stick of extra chewy bubblegum, a thick summer jam that draws a tidy pop ven diagram featuring the Ramones on one side, Beings tourmates Torche on the other, and our heroes smack dab in the middle. “The Climb” and “Anomalies” dips into the liberating (and often delightfully confusing) post-punk gene pool, with the former recalling the hard-but-funky grooves of the Wipers, and the latter channeling the art school shout-punk of Wire.
“Last Word” and “Metro Zoo” — two tracks of mid-tempo, reverb-heavy powerful pop — are the kinds of songs responsible for the oft-applied “-gaze” suffix. (As an aside, the Miami music community, this author included, owes music journalism a hearty apology for the proliferation of the term “punk-gaze.”). And hey, these folks get straight up punk with it too, like on the runaway train, “Tattletale,” and the epically speedy crescendo of “Fire Goddess.”
— Matt Preira
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