so punk planet finally got around to reviewing our cd. it's a mix of good and bad. i'll give you the exerpt, then i'll give the whole thing.

the exerpt:
"The Inkwell Collective delivers with its beautifully crafted folk-inspired indie rock, braiding a cello and viola seamlessly into rock band standards like the guitar and piano."

sounds good, right? ok, here's the rest:

"But the lyrics, my goodness, the weak sauce lyrics! Listening to words distracts from the music; you can't help but think that the "wordsmith" behind it all is trying too hard to achieve the kind of lyrical finesse of the likes of the Weakerthans or Neutral Milk Hotel. Vocalist and guitarist Steev Baker's voice is strong and capable, but you just can't get over the words spilling from his lips. Baker says so himself, "lately I've learned to think and speak in cliches" ("My use of metaphor"), and he continues in the same song to treat us to this: "You were the miracle and I was the skeptic / I was the gash and you the antiseptic / You are an animal and I'm a carnivore / You are the oxygen but I'm afraid I'm underwater [sic]." There are times when you can't help but feel as if you're listening to words he wrote in his high school poetry journal."

so there you have it! i don't have any comment except to say that i'm glad to finally get an outside view of the album. and now back to my high school poetry journal. . .

steev

post-rock wisconsin

we're playing a show on february 25 with west bend-based rock band canyons of static. they're an instrumental post-rock band like others you may have heard of--explosions in the sky, mogwai, godspeed you black emperor, mono, etc. etc. i've been poking around the internet, looking for other such bands from wisconsin. it turns out there are currently quite a few. so here are the bands with links (mostly from myspace):

wooden robot is an all-acoustic act with upright bass, saw, dulcimer and other traditional instruments.
canyons of static combines guitar, drum, and bass with violin and piano and also project original films over the band while they play.
wood & wires are from madison and they have a viola player!
frail by design augment their sound with samples and electronics.
sounds like braille has a traditional 3-piece rock line-up. and they rock.

pillllars caffe
225 S. 5th Avenue
west bend, wi
25 february
7pm $4 cover All ages!
with singer/songwriter dan klotz and post-rock band canyons of static