One bite isn't enough.
author: Austin Chronicle
With an appetite for destruction and a storyline that falls somewhere between Night of the Living Dead and Grease, the Unbearables' soundtrack to Just One Bite, staged last year at Austin's Dougherty Arts Center, does zombies proud with their very own rock opera. For starters, the local quartet expanded to 14 members, which includes the Zombie Girls Choir, whose grandiose vocal arrangements add to the epic proportions, especially those of leading lady Amanda Walker, who portrays the character of Amelia. The horn section also gives a much-appreciated symphonic lift, à la Polyphonic Spree or Sufjan Stevens, and Erik Wofford's production pulls the whole thing together. Most importantly, the band doesn't forget to rock in the process, unfolding the two-act play through a series of danceable, garage rock gems led by Ian LeClair's Orbison-inflected croon. One bite isn't enough.
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f you have ever enjoyed a good catchy song, the Unbearables are an extremely nec
author: Independent Clauses
Everyone has influences. Some people have influences that are obvious. The Unbearables have so many obvious influences packed into one album that the obviousness of the influences is completely irrevelant in context of the greater package. I mean, really - does it really matter if there's a little too much Weezer influence on an album that is named Just One Bite: Selections from "Bitten!: a Zombie Rock Odyssey"?
Yes, you read that correctly. This CD is a concept album about zombies. But wait, there's more! These songs are only selections of a greater amount of songs that comprised an entire stage show. That's right. The Unbearables sat down and wrote a rock musical about a zombie invasion.
Not only did they write a musical about zombies, they outfitted the arrangements with much more than your normal rock ensemble. From the Zombie Girls Choir (which makes several astounding good - and astoundingly amusing - contributions to the album) to jubilant trumpet and trombone parts to spacey synths to tambourines, flugelhorns, farfisa and much more, this album is chock-full of intelligent arrangements that bring to mind more of a Sufjan Stevens style than pompous and kitschy musical theatre arrangements.
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