Band: Stem
Title: 2 track demo
15/09/06
So it’s a sunny, sunny day outside. Strange considering its September and last night was the rainiest evening I have seen in Scotland. Currently blasting through the PC speakers is an Edinburgh based band who go by the name of Stem. They submitted 2 tracks from their newest demo recorded at Chamber studios in Edinburgh. The reason I mention the PC speaker thing is that I’m not a huge fan of having to form critical opinions of music based on mp3’s. I think I speak for any reviewer when I say that it’s much easier to form an opinion on a band when you have a ‘real’ product in your hands. A CD or record with carefully thought out artwork and some time, effort and passion put into it is so much more satisfying to listen to! Anyway… crack on!
The first track is named ‘Peaches’ and is an aural assault of saturated guitars and vocals with attitude. It kicks in loud, with drums pounding before the HUGE main riff. It’s heavy stuff, but punky. The chorus is brimming with attitude but I feel the verses let this song down a little. Not as confident or aggressive as the rest of the song, and with that ‘vocal melody follows the guitar line’ thing which I’m really not a fan of. Nevertheless, there are some very cool ideas in here, and I will stand by the fact this is a demo and therefore not criticise the playing too much. There are a few late snares and kicks here and there, but not enough to spoil the flow of the song.
Second track, ‘What I Got’, starts with guitars reminiscent of the whole ‘tech punk’ thing. Then the vocals start and it turns into a poppier punk number. There is a little chorus section leading into a bridge, all of which I think is awesome and very much like Hot Water Music, but the rest of the song doesn’t appeal as much. An acoustic guitar (simulator?) comes into play here and sounds, to me, a little cheesy, but as with everything personal taste comes into play. Throughout this, as well as ‘Peaches’ the guitar work is interesting but seems a little awkward at times, and sometimes a bit too obvious. A lot of ‘stock chords’ and palm muting to be found.
So now I’ve listened to two songs. And that’s it. I can’t tell you about how awesome the packaging is, or much else. I don’t think it would even be fair to give this an ‘x out of ten’ mark, because I only got to listen to a few mp3s. Stem are by no means a bad band, and show a lot of potential. However, they aren’t really special enough to make me keep wanting to listen to these tracks. There are a few moments that hint towards something memorable, but then they go back to something not quite as appealing again. I’m sure natural progression and development will see these guys become a very promising band, but for the moment, more practising, more gigs and more writing would do a world of good.
They can be found, as always, here:
http://myspace.com/stemmusic where one of their 2004 demos songs “Ilya Kuryakin” can be heard. I don’t know why they didn’t submit this one, as I much prefer it. It strikes me as a kinda gruff UK indie rock number along the lines of my favourite co-pilot + the little explorer. More interesting guitars, drums, vocals, everything.
NJW
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