Fever Sleeves, Pleasure Device, and Hocus

Artist: Fever Sleeves
Song: “Maximum Castles” (from the CD Soft Pipes, Play On)
Heard by: Andy Parish, City Heights
I liked it a lot. It was a little mathy but in a good way, a little screamy but not unbearably so, and really technical but still driving. They remind me of another local band, Sleeping People. It was guitars, bass, drums but not simple. They were doing a lot with it. I don’t know if they were a three- or four-piece, but they sounded impressively big. The singing was so-so, but everything else was really top-notch. I think they could definitely have a local following. I’m sure local shows on 94.9 would be all about it. That might make good music for riding [your bike] because it’s interesting, intense, and driving. I’d give it a 7 out of 10.

Artist: Pleasure Device
Song: “Contentment” (from the CD The Spectacular Miseries of Re-Entry)
Heard by: Sam Peirce, Oceanside
It was an interesting piece. I thought the bass was a little too much. It kind of drowned out the vocals. Other than that, it had a catchy beat to it. It was not necessarily techno but synth-beat, I guess. It sounded like it had a lot of keyboards, synthesizers, and drum machine. One artist I might compare it to would be a band called Andrew Jackson Jihad. It did have enough catchiness that it would get play, if not on a national level then on a local level. As far as creativity goes, it’s nothing really leading or cutting edge. It’s kind of a repeat of what everybody else is doing right at the moment. It’s been done better and worse before.

Artist: Hocus
Song: “Jimmy Stones” (from the Love Hurts EP)
Heard by: Martin Tapia, City Heights
I thought it was okay. I think there are certain kinds of music that are more fun to make than they are to listen to. These guys sound like they are having a lot of fun making this music. It’s rock music. They had a pretty ripping guitar solo in the middle. I don’t know who to compare it to. There was this one rad part where there was a low vocal and some dude was, like, “hanging out with Jimmy Stones.” If they were playing live in a bar, I think it’d be a little more fun. I read that the lead dude is named Fat Lando. I was imagining Lando Calrissian as the front man of a band but a little fatter, and if that was the case, I think I might enjoy seeing them onstage at some bar.