DESCRIPTION:
Alright, second video of the day. So a few days back, I got a package from Scott Jenner. He's that one dude in all those bands up in Toronto, one of 'em is a personal favorite of mine. What's it called again? VHS? I don't know, it's been a real long time since I've last listened to them. If only I had their cassettes to listen to so I can jog my memory (nudge nudge, Balberoni). Anyways, the package had three tapes, all of which were bands that contained members of VCR--er, I mean VHS, and The Boys. Again, both Toronto bands. This is Scott's way of saying "hey man I gave you free stuff now you're obligated to share it on your channel". Well played, Scooty Batooty. Well played.

Of the three tapes I received, this was my favorite; it was a difficult choice though, with Prom Nite coming in a close second, partly due to the tape's presentation. It's cute as heck (I'll get to posting that soon too, Bolbi). Speaking of presentation, this tape's presentation threw me for a major loop. I saw that geometric background and thought "aw hell yeah, techy-punk stuff". Little did I know, this was actually some of the hardest-hitting hardcore that's graced my ears in a while. I've listened to Conman in the past, but I never sat down and got really into it. Having actually done that within the past few days, I can safely say that Conman rips in more ways than one. Now look, I hate drawing comparisons between bands, I really do. I think it's a lazy thing to do on my part. But fuck me, as soon as I popped this tape in the deck, the vocals gave me major American Hate vibes (actually, after just listening to them, it's not that strong of a comparison, but hey, the thought was there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjmarVOSyIo). Then I took a look at the tape's cover: "Vox: Rita". This band's got a female lead, I would've never guessed that, ever. It's insane, I can totally see it now! I mean, I wouldn't have guessed it based off of the sound, not because a female can't front a hardcore band. You get what I mean, don't antagonize me, dude.

I'd say that the vocals are probably the best facet of this band, but I wouldn't be saying that with confidence. Every member pretty much nails their role to a tee; you gotta play back the first twenty seconds of the tape and admire that entire segment, the guitar-work especially. They all know their way around their instruments, it definitely shows throughout the more complex-structured songs, like "Faces". That's easily my favorite track on this entire five-track demo tape, it's such a jerky experience that's constantly varying its intensity through masterful progressions. It displays how dynamic and deliberate hardcore can be, and that it can accomplish a hell of a lot more when it's not restricting itself to a single ass-blasting tempo. The best part is that it's all achieved through straight-forward means, not through gratuitous distortions on neither the instruments or vocals, thankfully. Guitar distortions and vocal reverb is fine with me, but damn, hardcore can get fucking abusive without it. It's impressive, it really is. Conman's great, and I'm pretty damn grateful that it wasn't the "techy-punk stuff" that I anticipated, because this is so much more enjoyable. Oh, right. And I'm grateful that Scotty-2-Hotty sent it to me, thank you, thank you, blah blah blah. Enjoy your publicity, cheeser.

That's me teasing, by the way. For real though, thanks. You're a talented dude, I admire all of your work so far. Kissie kissie.

TRACK LIST:
Straight Shot - 0:00
Catching Flies - 1:18
Faces - 3:19
Tracking - 4:35
Steam - 5:40

DOWNLOAD: https://conman-to.bandcamp.com/releases