Calibretto Mercury Radio Theater

Item: All of These Things Do Not Belong
Author: Conrad

All of These Things Do Not Belong

(2004)

Reviewed by Conrad

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Label Standard RecordingDecapolisDecember 2004

garage rock punk surf rock

Well Calibretto is dead. But before they died they recorded one last EP. Unlike their previous EP this one is a split EP with Mercury Radio Theater. Now normally I don't like split EP's because they just feel so disjointed. Not so with this EP. Even though MRT has no vocals, their musical style is very much like Calibretto's - dark surf punk.

Now, I have to say that I have some connections to these bands. Not only am I friends with a bunch of members of these bands, the drummer of Calibretto is also the drummer of my band, Divebomber. So if we were in court, you'd call that a conflict of interest, but since we're not in court, you don't care do you?

So how does this stack up to Calibretto's previous releases? It's not dark like their Into The Woods EP, and much more of their typical previous sound. They did keep the organ, which was a good idea. So it's pretty much what you'd expect from Calibretto. So there's no new ground here. If you liked Calibretto before, you'll like this. If you didn't like them before, well, you can keep on not liking them. They won't care, they're done.

And Mercury Radio Theater is that instrumental dark surf rock with some sci-fi feel to it. I don't know what that means either so don't ask. Fortunately they got better than the last review I did of them. They had a great concept with very sloppy execution. This recording is as tight as they should have been. They're basically that 60's band, The Ventures. If you're into guitar, then these songs should do your body good.

So what you got is basically what sounds like a Calibretto EP with a bunch of musical interludes. And the musical interludes happen to be by a different band.

The production is good. I always thought it'd be pretty tricky trying to get MRT's sound right, and they got it right. The Calibretto stuff is right on as well.

So if you like either Calibretto or MRT, you should pick it up. If you've never heard of either one of those bands, and if you like Dead Milkmen or Violent Femmes or The Ventures, then you might want to check this release out.

3/4