Family Average: 3/7

What is up you crunchy nuggets? The time has finally come for another rip snorting Family Review. This week It is the noisiest of the noisy shogazeiest of the shoegazers VLLY! Hailing from the land they call Seattle, Washington this band is breaking into the scene in a big way. Who could think of a better way to welcome them, than by a nice and wholesome family review.

Listen along on Their Bandcamp and read on to find out:

Alright look. I'm 26 now, almost 27. I'm not throwing myself into mosh pits filled with men with sweaty hair and staying out until 4 am anymore. And by "anymore" I mean I used to do that maybe once every 6 months. And within the first few seconds of "Seedling" I realized that this song is much more catered to this group of people. It's built for the regulars of basement shows, with stiff un-showered hair and a bone still to pick with their ex. For that audience, this is perfect. This is meant to be a compliment—I sometimes feel frustrated I can no longer manifest and relate to this version of myself. I've stepped to deep into the land of early bed times and scrabble before bed.

Keep on living the high energy angst, VILLY, cus someone has to. 

3/7

Oh yeah baby give me those mournful fuzzy tones. I am loving this tune. A spectacular collection of organized chaos. The noise is heavy, I mean really heavy, but never feels like a dissident mess. Instead it comes off as a calculated decision. My favorite things going on here would have to be the drums and the vocals. I love how the two contrast one another. While the drums are pounding away throwing in fast rolls, and destroying the cymbals, the vocals do this great drony wailing. It’s like a haunted house that is equipped with a machine gun. Solemn, but thrashing all the way down into the dark depths.

6/7

God awful just God awful. Muddled, distorted, dribble, you could not make out one of the lyrics or any of the instruments. Were they trying to sound hideous or did it just happen like weeds just happen? Seedlings are best left in the dirt without water or sunshine. Yikes!

1/7 because it slightly resembled music

Hello noise, fuzz, distortion.I was waiting for a migraine to manifest but was surprised to find I actually enjoyed this mess. It’s scraping, jarring, and rough, yet well-balanced and tempered. And somehow, there’s a narrative trajectory to it all that just transports you. All the instruments begin by bashing each other’s heads in to lead, then it fades to this affective, choking guitar. Then bam, it’s lifted up into a chaotic melody by heady drums, the vocals waft in, and suddenly I was completely immersed into a grating, distorted world that all made sense. I don’t know how. And then, there’s that delicate taper at the end, when it all goes a bit quiet and ebbs out into an ether...it was actually all a bit beautiful.

5/7

Seedling by VLLY Make it stop! There were no redeeming qualities to this work. Lots of angst and feedback. There was no composition, production value or musical value. At least not to me.  There may be an audience for this music but it is definitely not me.

1/7

I’m not really sure what they were trying to do with the beginning part, with the messy wailing guitar and the bell-chiming sound. It was all kind of a mess of fuzz until the song finally starts a minute in. But even then, the juxtaposition of the slow, somber singing and the noisy loud music just didn’t work for me. There were no high or low points, the whole thing was just flat. And the song segued in and out of cohesion and changed up at weird times. Like, I can hear the core of the music and follow it throughout, and that part I can dig, but it gets muddled a lot.
It’s not a scene I’m familiar with, so suffice to say the whole thing was just loud and confusing. Too obtrusive to be background music and too much a cacophony to enjoy outright.

3/7