Maccogallo
I have never been to Indiana but for some reason I imagine is is pretty much like, say, Kansas but more liberal. While I realize that is a pretty stupid statement I needed to make that comparison so I could say that while I delved a bit into Maccogallo's latest full length "Hounds" my immediate impression was, "Mommy, we're not in Indiana anymore." Just take the opening track Anzioo that has a musical punk onslaught that had me thinking of early Pixies until it shifted into a more smashed Black Flag sound or the effusively beautiful Hellcat that feels ever so slightly in that Cannanes vein. Feral punk on one hand and indie pop punk (with twee pop filters) on the other. The musical chasm here is smile inducing. The Tale of the Pagan Ware is screaming punk with heavy metal fibers and Sean Smith's hoarse voiced wails. The dark goth rock affair that is Pamplamoose that could be a car crash of Nick Cave, PJ Harvey and Nico with a daring and pretty vocal performance by Lilly Ullrich.
Now I only make these vague comparisons in order to clearly make the easy observation that there is a bipolar nature to Maccogallo shifting between the more punk side of Sean Smith and the more indie sort of neo punk side of Lilly Ullrich. Both aesthetics are so bloody good but put them together on songs like Contrition Hymnal (which I reviewed prior here) and the appropriately titled The Balancing Act with the boy girl, girl boy vox trade offs and it is a heavenly punk thing indeed.
Now to be completely honest, this was supposed to be a track review but this 7 piece rock band out of Indianapolis, Indiana is just too stellar to merely talk about one song even though that "one" song maybe the standout for me on this collection of songs or (in truth) one of many standouts. The track Split Shake / When You Go sort of feels like a musical diorama divided in two sections. There is the sweet / bittersweet kind of sock hop punk side and the jagged proto punkish side inter-playing back and forth. Both sides graced with Ullrich's beautifully pained doe eyed vocal performance. The song cuts back and forth with the last third a moving / cool post punk crescendo. I know I spent a lot of time focusing on Sean and Lilly but kudos to the other talented young musicians Isabelle, Jackson, Griffin, Zach and Peyton.
I can't say enough about Maccogallo. Their creative trajectory is pitched at such a steep angle and ready to take off in a big way. You can hear it in "Hounds" in comparison to their creatively charged "Micromegas" EP which I reviewed here.
Upon first and second and third listens of Split Shake / When You Go I was so blown away I had to pose some questions. I got to converse with Sean via email (AP (moi) in RED):
I was just kind of taken aback because this song in particular, at least, to me (who have not heard all your material) felt not only vastly different but I think the fidelity, maybe the vocals sound better (recording wise). So while, I am sure you are not moving in different directions IS this song in your mind different for you?
WOW. Thank you so much. Your support is off the fucking charts and we appreciate the time you take to give us genuine feedback. You rule. We recorded Split Shake (along with the rest of our album) at Postal Recordings in Indianapolis. We are not moving in a much different direction, just exploring! LOL. This song was the first one written for the album back in January of 2019. It’s different in the sense that it sort of set the tone for this particular writing cycle that we found it hard to adhere to any genre trope at the time. Too many influences and interests flooding in at one time. We just play it by ear I guess.
Do you all write the songs together?
Who wrote this one? I am guessing Lilly (?)
Typically Lily and I write the bones of a song and then everyone throws in their splashes whenever we all hang out. A couple of the songs were written by all of us collectively.
Split Shake / When You Go: It has a kind of Tropical Punk meets Twee Pop tone at the beginning and then feels jammy (proto punkish) also has Brit pop tones (to me) Was it inspired by certain artists??? The Lyrics are so interesting (solar sneeze?? coffee tastes like pencil shavings?? and on and on) -- stream of consciousness stuff or carefully crafted about something??
We have been very into Britpunk lately, ya caught us ahahahaha. We are really into Idles, Goat Girl, and some early clash-type stuff rn.The lyrics for Split Shake are mostly just combinations of words that go well together, bleeding in and out of carefully-craft real world experience and total jibberish.
And finally, do you guys realize how fucking talented you are???
THANK YOU again you are the kindest soul. Enormous ups.
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Robb Donker
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