Release Date: Jun 16, 2017
Genre(s): Pop/Rock
Record label: Epitaph
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The latest offering from Glassjaw's frontman. Having established a legendary legacy in both Glassjaw and Head Automatica, Daryl Palumbo's influence casts a long shadow across our world – from letlive. to Bring Me The Horizon and Don Broco. This is his new project and, unsurprisingly, it's brilliant. 'Living Arrangements' is all '80s Los Angeles sun and shades, crazy basslines and killer, sugar-sweet hooks. 'I Need A Parasite' drips with sass, 'Small Town' rattles along like a freight train and 'Restless Summer' features one of the best choruses of the year. An elder statesman of the scene he may be, but Daryl's creativity still knows no bounds.
ROCKS LIKE: Duran Duran, Heaven 17, Yazoo WHAT'S DIFFERENT: The debut album from this kaleidoscopic new-wave project featuring Glassjaw's Daryl Palumbo and ex-Men, Women & Children bassist Richard Penzone (both in the somewhat comparable Head Automatica) certainly has its differences from the pair's respectively best-known bands. It's a throwback to the mercurial and wild nature of '80s new wave, pop and a touch of funk, loaded with synthesizers, samplers, horns and more, but also the many moods that scene could encompass. WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: This long-awaited unveiling isn't the easiest of listens, with consistently busy-sounding fare ranging from the manic, laser show hyperactive ("We'd Kill Each Other," "I Need A Parasite") all the way to slower and sultry new romantic nods ("Springtime Of Our New Love," which could actually pass for the '80s uncle to Glassjaw's "Ape Dos Mil").
Arriving with a heavy dose of new wave synths and sprinklings of jagged art-pop guitar, New York duo Color Film offer their debut full-length, Living Arrangements, via the SideOneDummy label. Formed in 2012 by Daryl Palumbo (Glassjaw) and Richard Penzone (Men, Women, & Children), Color Film pools the two musicians' combined influences into a vibrant amalgam of early-'80s pop forms with a contemporary indie attitude. Historically speaking, this project is more in keeping with Penzone's electro-pop past than with the gritty post-hardcore of Palumbo's earlier work, but Living Arrangements does have some heavier elements poking out between the frenetic John Taylor-esque bass lines and bright, chiming guitar grooves.
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