HORSE the Band are clearly the founding fathers of the ‘nintendocore’ genre, and their latest creation, ‘Desperate Living’ proves it. Upon first listen, it sounded much like a soundtrack to a myriad of Nintendo games, from ‘The Legend of Zelda’, to the classic ‘Mario Brothers’. The entire CD, from start to finish, makes one believe that they should go on a quest to fulfill their inner video game character. The album is exactly that though. A quest. It was written based on their experiences with the music industry, and while they were out touring the world. Yes, the entire world, from Minsk to Kuala Lumpur. ‘Desperate Living’ features many guest vocals by many who may not be well known in the music community. ‘HORSE the Song’ features an underground rapper called K-SLAX, while ‘Shapeshift’ features Jamie Stewart, best known for his work as the front man in Xiu Xiu, contributing vocals and his production work to the track. Also, Lord Gold and His Purple Majesty appear on ‘Lord Gold Wand of Unyielding’, and some may recognize Lord Gold from a previous HTB track, ‘Lord Gold Throneroom’. The band also features a classical Ukrainian pianist, Valentina Lisitsa, on the track ‘Rape Escape’, which incorporates heavy screams, riffs, and beautiful piano music. This track by itself is the most moving song on the album. ’Science Police’ is one of the more fun tracks on the album, with techno beats that echo Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’, but reworks them in a way that makes them much better than anything Britney could create. This track had me up and dancing when I heard it, and is almost like a glimpse of the future with “science and technology” haunting over everybody, with the “science police” monitoring people and their DNA. However, ‘Desperate Living’ did have a major downside to the amazing tracks. ‘HORSE the Song’ is repetitive, and the band does a good job of stating who they are. The world does not need to know who the band is on their sophomoric album. With the exception of this song, the rest of the album is well, brutal and keeps listeners waiting in suspense track after track. HTB have done an amazing job paving the way for future bands that may want to venture out into the ‘nintendocore’ genre, and it is this album that these bands should keep on repeat when it is slated for release on October 6th, through Vagrant Records.
Top Tracks: Rape Escape, Cloudwalker, Science Police, Desperate Living
Strange News From Another Star by Blur
