A new album release from a Bunko delivers a very unique breed of honesty in the form of a garage rock soiree that blends in progressive, bits of industrial, bits of new wave, punk rock, and plenty more all rolled up into this one fat record that has this strange science fiction style underbelly to it and this is part of why it's so damn addicting and interesting as well.
The Short Stories from The Future album is packed with this sort of quirky and fun, animated vocal approach that does indeed remind you of certain punk rock bands from the mid and early '80s. It's just bursting with this sort of personality and character which is something you also get very attached to pretty quickly.
The guitar work across this record is outstanding and each track has its own set of tonalities and textures that really help deliver an atmosphere which is super fun because by the time you get halfway through this record, you really begin to expect the unexpected.
For me, this was quite refreshing because not much about this was very cookie cutter although it did give me bouts of nostalgia at times. After all, I did indeed grow up with those genres. From classic punk to new wave, a little garage rock, and more, this record held a certain spot in my nostalgic heart because they nailed that aesthetic so well that it felt like this is a record I've been missing out on for decades in a way.
You can tell that this entire project and everyone involved was having an absolute blast because that colorful and edgy blend of vibes comes through lively and awake.
The energy level across the board is ridiculous. It almost feels like some of these songs were recorded live on the floor to a certain extent so that all involved could feed off each other's energies. The cool thing about that is that there's one man that kind of puts a lot of this together and that man performs a lot of stuff on the record as far as we could tell.
This is a band, and it does include about four members, some of them performing a bunch of stuff. But I feel like no matter what, this is a band where every element pushes the next.
It doesn't matter if one person comes to the rest of the band and tells them about a song idea. What matters is that they have a love for the craft of putting songs together and releasing something into the world with fewer boundaries than you may be used to.
This to me, is what speaks the loudest.
A beautiful combination of edgy and heavy alternative pop, industrial, rock, and so much more that all feel very thriving and alive is something that should be noted.
Each of the aesthetics and genres they go for are always completely nailed, but also have these experimental and almost psychedelic undertones to them at times they give them a deeper set of layers and an even more atmospheric and vaster feel.
This is also part of why the record is so damn fun.
However, there's also a lot of truth to the record lyrically. Although it feels like a Sci-Fi book with each song being a new chapter, the tracks actually speak a lot of truth about the world today and what the future might be like.
I mean look at the title of the record again; Short Stories from The Future.
That kind of says it all if you think about it.
To me, the record dives into existential undertones that have to do with AI taking over, people becoming drones and worker bees, and how the electronic and computerized era of mankind could be its downfall.
Of course, that's just my take on it but if you really listen to this record all the way through then you get the stories.
That reminds me. This is indeed an album that you should be listening to from beginning to end because if you only listen to one or two tracks, although you may get a gist of what you might expect, you will not get the full spectrum of what the album has to offer as a whole.
There's a ton of layers here and it's super fun to be able to peel those back but, you can only really do that properly if you listen to the whole record.
The album is 10 songs and spans just under a half an hour and it is almost like watching a short film or reading a good book.
This was a lot more than I expected it to be but these guys really managed to push the envelope in a very unique way and create a staple sound that's pretty much their own but they did this also by bringing in influences from all over the place and really making it work in a forward moving flow.
An excellent record from Bunko, listen to Short Stories from The Future.
You will soon see exactly what I mean. Remember where you heard it first.
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