Cardiac Party

It's no small source of stupid pride for me that there are a million cool anagrams for my name, everything from Mr. Iodine Scene to I Sneer Demonic to No Dicier Semen. Any one of these would make a natty album title. But apparently, it's equally no small source of stupid pride for Cardiac Party that their name does not translate into any desirable anagrams, yet they insist on using one for an album title anyway (ignoring even better alternatives than the one they used, like "cry at acid rap," fer instance). Disgruntled Junior Jumblers aside, you can't dismiss R Cacti Yard, PA for not being well-thought-out obversion, the kind R.E.M. used to practice when they'd make an album cover out of the corner of a candy wrapper. They merge sparse kinetics with an odd fascination for polyphonic Moog sounds and hysterical caterwauling that gives them their "melodramatic popular song" sound. Take a track like "In Yr Inner Industry," which starts off as an atmospheric instrumental, meshing into pleasant folk sounds, and eventually reaches a feverish pitch, with the entire cast blowing on kazoos and barking. All this would be totally meaningless if it weren't for a deliberate lyrical obscurity that would make Yes fans drool. Who among us hasn't said "Oligarchic, given to temper" and then immediately followed it up with "I've got gauze that I bought in December"?

- Phoenix New Times

Fittingly, Cardiac Party is a band with some serious heart, a band you can’t help but smile at, even with lyrics that are as silly as the album’s title is stupid. Spoiler ahead: R Cacti Yard, PA is an anagram for their band name. Ouch. The cover art reminds me more of a Salad Fingers background than a rock band, but either way, I can’t help but rock out with at least a few of these joyous and noisy tracks.

“Busy Bodies” opens and closes with a guitar riff that effects the inquisitive bustling tone that I’ve only previously come across in three other places: Vampire Weekend’s “Oxford Comma,” Maxis’ Simcity games, and Nickelodeon’s Doug. This song takes a potentially ridiculous chorus, “This is a song/ And if I’m wrong/ Then I am wrong, But it’s still a song,” and casts it in a Head of Femur “let’s pop out with our cocks out” light. I’ve already added it to Papa B’s dance party mix.

It’s no coincidence that the goofy aesthetic on R Cacti Yard, PA is best used sparingly, so while the bubble from “Busy Bodies” resurfaces happily a few tracks later in “Doorbell” (“Knock, knock, knock/ Doorbell!”), this gets old fairly quickly. From there, it’s a seamless transition into “Noodle’s Root” and ironically a transition into the album’s weaker half, as the same affected vocals and drum breaks begin to wear thin. “Cactus Needles On My Tongue” and “Urban Desert Make Up Dress Down” are alright, but predictably predictable, making the tracks wear thin after repeated plays.

Cardiac Party still have some maturing to do. But there are certainly gems among this mixed bag, and for that, there’s no doubt that these Tempe boys will have a luminous future ahead of them.

1. Ice Pack For Head Wound
2. Busy Bodies
3. The Only Thing
4. Doorbell
5. Noodle’s Root
6. Cactus Needles On My Tongue
7. Urban Desert Make Up Dress Down
8. Lunar Fly
9. Veek Voo
10. In Yr Inner Industry
11. Give A Shake To The Bend

by Benjamin Bernstein - Tiny Mix tapes

"Original" is probably the most overused word in the music industry right now, so much so that most 'unique' bands are just more of the same slop we digest on a daily basis, with a different name (and the same flavor). Always a fan of the raw, unmixed, guitar driven indie pop song that no one's ever heard of, we're constantly on the hunt for freshness, often failing miserably. Sometimes, it just plops into our open ears. Lets hope we don't have a heart attack before we hear more from Cardiac Party, because they might just put the sizzle back in buzz band.

Ok, so they aren't revolutionary. They don't break down harmonic structure or sing like shamans. They don't make incomprehensible noises. But they do write a twitchy, chopped up sing-along tune with kick, sass, and lyrics/song titles/sentiments straight from the book of strange. After all, they named their album after themselves (not in the conventional sense). Cardiac Party R Cactus Yard PA, the latter half of which, most clever music aficionados will note, is an anagram for the band name (first half?). We'd also like to note that "Noodle's Root" has a great ring to it (both literally and musically). While the track we hosted is the opener to the record, and is fairly straightforward, "Noodle" has an almost Neutral Milk Hotel nuance to it, with the signature incredibly distorted thingy, and an off-the-wall lyrical playground.

If Titus Andronicus can gain cred with low-fi wailings and fuzz, then this guys might be next. And with the announced hiatus of former Arizona favorites, (i.e. The Format), we need a new choice band from the desert state. Not that these guys sound anything like Dog Problems; their jittery uniqueness isn't a bad thing at all. These guys might be something to keep an eye on. While we wait for fests like CMJ to notice them, we'll scratch our heads and try and dechipher what exactly "When I stencil on your brain, it brings surprises" means. -joe puglisi - BableMusic.com