12 Rods – Split Personalities – Review

12 Rods

Split Personalities (V2)
by Chris Adams

The idea behind these guys is that they combine good ol’ fashioned guitar rock with the techno-ambient-electronic pulse of the fewtcha. Sounds more like a novelty idea, than a novel idea, but the thing is, on Split Personalities (fairly obvious title, boys) this hybrid actually gels pretty nicely. The album gets pretty futuruistic-sounding at points, but not in the ultra self-conscious way that, say, Human League usta. Trouble is, despite their unique approach, there’s something about this album that just screams “dork central.” Same way that Eels album did, if ya remember that clunker. And somewhere there’s a hint of none other than Gene Loves Gezebel – maybe it’s just me, I dunno – but, in 1998, that’s a memory I can do without.
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