Album Review :: Bike Tuff :: Into Shore
Written by: Andrea Janov, CC2K Music Editor
I know, I know, I am a bit behind the curve on this one. Into Shore, Bike Tuff’s debut full length has been out for a few months and it is pretty damned awesome. It is an album about music and having a good time making it. I don’t know how many of you go to the links in these reviews, so I am going to shove Bike Tuff’s bio in here, because it tells you everything that will make you love the band before you even hear the record. “Hailing from the ‘farm belt’ that rolls across Southern Michigan, we don’t have an elaborate agenda for Bike Tuff. We have beards because we can’t always afford razors, we play fast because half the dudes are from Jersey, and we love playing in basements because there’s no stage for us to fall off of.”
Into Shore is a punk rock record that manipulates elements of pop punk, indie, and emo, constantly bringing together contradictory elements to create a style of music that is pretty striking. One track can go from hard fast punk rock to a melodic sing along or a slow emo track that gains intensity and passion or the tracks where the music is heavy but the vocals are slow and delicate.
I could talk about each track because they each have their own style and personality. Oak Street Market is a super catchy pop punk / indie hybrid that is over flowing with energy. This Canada House Is Not a Home has a great voice – a bit strained and a bit snotty and the music is fast and aggressive, this is the most classic punk sounding track track. Black Book is a slow emo track with powerful music behind it. Baby, You’re an Anarchist is a pop punk track that progresses into one huge sing along. The Matlock Expressway is fast, a bit thrashy, and a bit strained. Los Plantanos has great heavy music with the greatest layered vocal seconds that you will be singing along to.
The album ends with VincereVel Mori a slow creepy song with heavy music and a hook buried beneath it. You may not notice it before it takes hold of you.
This album is one that gets better with every listen, the more it seeps into you, the more you feel it, the more you understand it on some visceral level.