Funbox

523 (Onefoot)
by Austin Nash

…starts out in a dreamy, thought-provoking mood before jumping full on into quick, light-handed punk. I emphasize “quick,” not as in speedmetal, but “quick” like a dozen marbles shot across a dry icy surface with a slingshot. I emphasize “light-handed” in that the production is a bit cold and thin while the musicianship is exceptionally tight and the changes intricate.

Funbox is a Canadian band. What does that mean to me? To you? Well, not shit actually. I’m always surprised when I get something from Canada. It generally neither gives nor asks for much. I forget it’s there most of the time. I’ve been there and can say that it smells like horse crap in the summer and they don’t have much interest in road signs. You can drive two or three hours in the wrong direction before you realize it.

Please excuse the paragraph about Canada. I was listening to the disc and pondering complex issues. Funbox is a guitar band: the hyperactive squawking chord changes backed up by the equally proficient percussion are the stars of 523. The vocals are rather monotonous, in much the same fashion as g-pig’s in SNFU. The vocal lines stay relatively still in pitch while the music moves around them. This strikes me not as talent, but as a substitute for the real thing. The voice is the most difficult instrument of them all and, like in most bands, in Funbox it is unpracticed and underdeveloped.
(PO Box 30666 Long Beach, CA 90853)