CONTEST! - Win a copy of Shout Out Out Out Out's Latest Release!!!!!

SHOUT OUT OUT OUT OUT - REINTEGRATION TIME

If you're walking around the city on any given day, it's not unusual to see a few people in the artsy area of Queen Street sporting a Shout Out Out Out Out t-shirt. The reason for this of course, is that this dance-rock electro outfit from Edmonton have built up a very solid reputation based largely on the strength of their amazing live show. Their debut album, Not Saying / Just Saying was certainly no slouch but many felt that it did not hold a candle to their live show. However when it comes to dance music, I assume that this is generally always going to be the case since enjoyment has a lot to do with the overall vibe in the air, if you know what I mean. In other words, it probably has a greater impact if you're dancing, and you're surrounded by others who are doing the same. That having been said, the band's sophomore release Reintegration Time is likely to suffer from the same problem, if you're going to compare it to the live show. However as an album unto itself, like its predecessor, it's definitely a solid relase.

Their music is very interesting in the sense that it takes some rather dark subject matter, and incorporates it into a very uplifting mix of beats and synths. Pretty much all of the vocals are run through the vocoder creating the typical robo sounds that are all the rage these days. Admittedly that grows a bit tiring after a while, which is what makes Cadence Weapon's turn at the mic on Coming Home a very welcome distraction. Some of those songs are quite enjoyable though, and they do stand well on their own, most notably on the cleverly titled Guilt Trips Sink Ships, which is an obvious choice for a single. The album's greatest moments however are on the more Krautrock inspired progressive numbers. In amongst the beats you can actually hear traces of Tangerine Dream or Alan Parsons Project in songs like Run, How Do I Maintain and the outstanding ten minute title track. The mixture of shorter accessible numbers and longer artistic instrumental material gives Reintegration Time enough variety to keep things interesting throughout the course of the album. I'll bet it sounds pretty amazing live though!

Shout Out Out Out Out will be at Lee's Palace on April 25th.

Myspace: Shout Out Out Out Out
Download: Guilt Trips Sink Ships mp3

CONTEST: Courtesy of Six Shooter Records, I've got two physical copies of Shout Out Out Out Out's Reintegration Time to give away. If you'd like to win a copy, simply send an email to quadb2001 [at] gmail [dot] com with "I Want To Shout Out Cubed" in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body.

Contest is now closed. Congrats to Erin S. and Carrie M. Thanks to all who entered.

Above photo is on myspace.