Nightlife Casualties
© Copyright-League of Bureaucracy
(652836000220)
Record Label: League of Bureaucracy
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"Hello? I'm on the list." In an ingenious effort to get on guest lists everywhere, Blue Period formed in 1996 in order to avoid standing in line to get into nightclubs.
With their closets full of vinyl and glitter, this turned out be a fairly easy accomplishment for the five San Francisco musicians.
Ready for a more challenging mission, the group vowed to bring a bit of drama and style back into the dirty, ugly world of rock 'n' roll.
And so as grunge gasped its last breath, Blue Period appeared on the scene, just in time to fill the void with glamour and glitz.
Picture The Cars and The Cure rearranging the furniture in David Bowie's hotel room, just as Motley Crue crashes the party.
Okay, so that's not QUITE what Blue Period sounds like -- but it's close enough.
Androgynous, fiery-haired singer Adrian Roberts brings a glittery sense of drama and theatrics to Tommy Vaux's old-school guitar heroics, while keyboardist PF, raised on techno-pop, contrasts sharply with bassist Swirly Rat Jr.'s punk upbringing.
Holding it all together is the raw power of Matt Chaikin's massive drumming, with the end result being a feverish soundtrack for a night of pent-up sexual energy, dramatic confrontation, and reckless abandon -- experiences no doubt familiar to the sort of nightclub denizens described in the songs of the band's new album, Nightlife Casualties.
Both a celebration and an indictment of nightclub culture, Nightlife Casualties is a sonic bar crawl from the trendiest hot spots to the darkest dives.
Over the course of ten songs, one meets a cast of characters culled from the band's nightclubbing experiences: the wild kick-ass party girl, the club kid who only lives for the night, the shallow scenester obsessed with fame, the sexpot who can drink you under the table.
Not unlike the scene it portrays, the music sounds fun and flashy on the surface, but can at times harbor a sinister complexity.
Renowned for covering stages with glitter and confetti, Blue Period's electrifying live sets have garnered the band a sizable following in California.
Their 1998 debut album, Product, caught the attention of Bay Area audiences and helped establish the group as one of San Francisco's premiere glitz bands.
With the release of Nightlife Casualties, Blue Period aims to continue its mission to make the world safe for glamorous kick-ass rock 'n' roll.
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Beautifully catchy, deceptively complex, glam-fueled rock
author: Alicia Rownmonek
Blue Period's "Nightlife Casualties" will simply NOT leave my CD player! Everytime I listen to it, I seem to hear something that I didn't catch the first time, whether it be one of PF's dazzling little keyboard noodles, or a really great Swirly Rat Jr. bass line, or a double-entendre lyric that Adrian sings.
While this CD might, at first, sound like a bit of a throwback to the party-hearty rock 'n' roll days of yore, it's actually WAY more complex than that. First of all, the music is considerably more interesting than most '80s pop metal or new wave bands, to which BP always seems to be compared to. It fuses together elements of rock, pop, glam, metal, punk, goth, even lounge! In the end, BP sound like a mix of their influences, but without sounding like ANY of them -- they just sound like Blue Period!
Tommy Vaux's guitar crunch and Matt Chaikin's huge-sounding drums keep it all in the "rawk" realm though, but what's wrong with loud rock 'n' roll? I've found that this is the perfect album to play while putting your make-up on to get ready to go out to tear up the town! After all, isn't that the whole theme of the record anyway?
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More than Meets the Eye - Glam Rock with Sparkle & Depth.
author: Tammy Galas-gray
~ Written November, 1999 ~ Jam packed with killer guitar riffs and attitude, "Nightlife Casualties" brings its own unique flair
to the theme of sex, drugs & rock 'n' roll. More importantly, this album is FUN with enough pop
sense to be catchy, yet heavy enough to be an all out, kick-ass glitz RAWK album. Even still,
there's more to "Nightlife Casualties" than meets the eye, for beneath the fun & glamour of it all
lies a sense of depth & complexity. As a whole, this album is strikingly different from Blue Period's first full-length effort, "Product".
Not only have they progressed musically, they are tighter as a band & have found their sound,
while continuing to blend various influences - glam, punk, hard rock, pop, techno & electronica
(just to name a few!) - into their own unique style. To add icing to the cake, the dynamics of
Adrian Roberts' vocals stand out even more so this time around, both in style and range. On top
of all this, unlike many, the album works well BOTH live and on CD. Definitely well worth the
wait! Racing in on track one is the infectious "Go Go Happy Girl". Opening with the Blue Period
cheer-leading squad, it quickly transforms into one hell of a bass-heavy, fist-pumping, hip-swaying
anthem fit for any cool rocker chick with spunk. Although penned in just 10 minutes, it's
definitely one of the album's stars. And if an immediate urge to dance, sing, jump up &
down and be silly doesn't strike you upon hearing this song, you're either dead, comatosed or too
damn drunk! Its opening spot on the album is far from coincidence. "She's Hello
Kitty with a razor blade" indeed... *** To read full review, click on over to http://www.blue-period.net. ***
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