With that in mind, Bugs & Flowers is a nice walk in the park...perhaps not my first choice, but a choice nonetheless.

I don't mean to get down on Skating Club, because they are a decent band. I find no faults in their music except the all too familiar, slight case of uncreativity. It's not really their fault. And it's no fault of theirs that this CD probably won't be a full-timer in my rotation. Nothing personal. I'd just rather not eat chocolate ice cream when there are a plethora of flavors available to me.

I'm actually a bit surprised by this indifference. Bugs & Flowers has a slight taste of Neil Halstead (Mojave 3) minus his catchiness. The disc starts off with "Empty New Bedroom," a slightly bouncy and light piece that's probably one of the tastier songs on here. Mostly vanilla follows until the 8th track of this CD.

"Here Before" is actually a fairly outstanding song, expanding texturally, and actually has the ability to stay in my head once it pries itself into this stubborn noggin of mine. Nice trumpets and keyboards make for a hauntingly beautiful ending...this really should have ended the disc. I would have been happier that way. If it were so, Bugs & Flowers would be a nice sandwich, well, you know, if you really liked bread.

posted 10.11.03

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We once had a photo of Matthew Stone holding a bunch of bananas. Think what you will. E-mail him at kingmatthew76@hotmail.com