Cassette Review: Painted Faces "Hermit of Bushwick" (Already Dead Tapes and Records)

[$5 // Edition of 70 // https://alreadydeadtapes.bandcamp.com/album/ad209-painted-faces-hermit-of-bushwick]

What do you think of when you see the name Painted Faces?  I suppose it can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people.   Juggalos have painted faces, do they not?   Clowns, things of that nature-- mimes.   But I also like to think of lucha libre and how some of the wrestlers I've loved growing up watching Mexican wrestling did not wear masks but instead painted their faces.   And it happens in Japan as well.   It's just one of those things which you can relate to a number of different sources, sure, but I always think of guys like Sting, Great Muta, Vampiro and Chessman.

The sounds of "Hermit of Bushwick" begin with an acoustic guitar plucking notes and singing.    It's nothing typical though as it can be immediately described as a twisted Dylan.   Drones take us into casio-tones and there is more singing.   It might not be in the particular sound but this has the same feel as Dead Western to me for some reason.   It doesn't sound the same, but if you're a fan of one you should be a fan of the other as they both seem to give off the same sort of vibes.

From what I can call weirdo rock to the sounds of whirrs which remind me of an animal crying- that primal scream, but not the band- female vocals begin to "sing" along with the male vocals.    Guitar twangs put this somewhere in the same place as Vagina Missile Crisis (Whatever happened to them??) but it can also be thought of as Illegal Wiretaps meets They Might Be Giants, which is a reach in terms of the spectrum but both are still ultimately some sort of "rock band", as Painted Faces seems to be at its core.

There are instrumental portions on this cassette, organ drones and electronic whirrs.   It just has that mashup sound of different rock genres all combined to form something new and original.    When such things happen it becomes difficult for me to accurately describe them because it is unlike what I have heard before- or what you have likely heard before- and so it just seems whatever I type makes little to no sense.   I've often felt this unique rock sound has been found in artists like BBJr. and most recently Erases Eraser.

I've always said that creating music in 2016 should be easier than it has ever been before if you're good at such things.  Instead of taking, say, 60% of The Beatles and combining it with 40% of Nirvana to make your sound, you could now- literally- dedicate 1% to each artist and have a hundred influences in your sound, creating something new and unique.   I feel like more artists simply aren't doing this because they lack the talent, but whenever I hear someone such as Painted Faces it just makes me so happy as I know that one day music will eventually evolve until most rock music (the good parts anyway) sound like this.