Cassette Review: BANAL ANML "I Did it for the Sound"

[$7 // Edition of 100 // http://banalanml.bandcamp.com/album/i-did-it-for-the-sound]

As someone who listens to music it seems rather easy to decide whether or not a band is instrumental: are there or are there not vocals?     This may work for the majority of bands out there in terms of trying to place them but with BANAL ANML I feel like this has more vocals than not and so it shouldn't be completely ruled out as not being instrumental.   If I had to assign to a category the way I would any other category it might go to I'd call it instrumental even though vocals do make appearances.

"I Did it for the Sound" begins with a group chorus of vocal harmonies but spends most of Side A in an instrumental state.    Space laser drones take us into hypnotic guitar note loops and sharp frequencies.    There are beeps and synth combined to form some sort of almost dance quality I simply cannot place but do stand by the fact that it could be danced to without much effort.  (Because really, anything can be danced to if you try hard enough and want to look funny)

As the vibe of the cassette up until this point seems to fuse electronic with ambient the vocals reappear to bring us into something  a little bit dreamy, a little bit High Pop and quite a bit of bedroom telling us not to go to college.  (Which is good advice in a lot of ways really, but it's a story for another time or at least just not here)

On the flip side we have something to start off between Cake and They Might Be Giants, but that quickly finds its way into psychedelic light saber guitars.   Shots are fired within space and this goes back to one of my original theories about this being 8bit or some sort of video game related music.

As the sounds of panting and barking trade off back and forth there are waves and then the vocals once again come back before the end.    It is only when you truly reach this point though that you can begin to see that BANAL ANML has taken you on a journey much like that of Flaming Lips only completely in a voice that is true and unique in and of itself.