Earth Eighteen – Review

Earth Eighteen

(Futurist)
by Chaz Thorndike

The five songs on this Futurist EP are impossible to lump together into one “signature sound.” The members are from diverse backgrounds individually and collectively, so bear with the seemingly inconsistent info to follow.

The band’s bio was littered with charming captions such as “Captain’s log, star date 1994 AD: No sign of intelligent life on this planet populated by greedy grunge rockers, pompous punk metalheads, and ridiculous rap gangsta jerks. Get me some meaningful music or beam me the fuck up.”

Earth 18‘s fingers are dipped deeply into non-retro Beatlesesque orchestration gone futurist, punk-metal guitars chugging with breathy glamboy vocals, slick pop synths with angelic choirs, country rock jams and finally, a remix with Cheap Trick 2010 harmonies and percussion Mr. Reznor would appreciate.

Individually – Bubba DuPree (vocals, guitar, programming) influenced punk, hardcore and grunge guitar-playing with his chops in Dischord harDCore band VOID. Graham McCulloch has secured bass foundations for Touch & Go’s Negative Approach, The Meatmen, and Danzig’s Samhain (well, for a few weeks, at least). Marc Kermanj beat skins for The Meatmen and also worked with NY tribal synthcore ragers, Chemlab.

During an impromptu interview from their kitchen in DC, we chatted about the transition from glam punk to electronic. It sounded so natural – the progression of technique and production – that I failed to notice how W.A.S.P. worked into the formula and, I think, my brain just shut down after the phrase “isolated suburban retro cyberslackers” was casually uttered. After intense therapy, I’ve come to terms with the fact that you don’t have to understand AT ALL how they hell they come up with the music, you just listen and enjoy. That much I can handle.