Miami's the Waterford Landing has just given music lovers
an amazingly thoughtful gift. The band's new double album, In the Heart of Zombie
City, is up for free download now. Eventually, it will be a double 12-inch
gatefold, and this album is too rich, too
glorious, and too enthralling to exist only in computers and telephones.
Without delving too deep into Waterford Landing's personal
struggles, the album was made during what guitarist Ed Matus calls "crazy bad
times." The passing of family members and friends and all of life's regular
shitty struggles were eating at the band during the making of this album. Despite
this, their time spent in their home studio and Ferny Coipel's the Shack North
Studio in Hialeah was extraordinarily fruitful.
Contrary to what the title might suggest, this album isn't a
slasher flick homage but more like a primal scream heard from the alleys of
14th Avenue while the club kids and promoters across the street are
doing coke off each other's iPads. Lead vocalist/synth programmer Alex Caso has
done his share of graveyard shifts in Downtown Miami's dance clubs, as he's
been DJing at them since before they ever existed.
Needless to say, there's a nice amount of heavy, dark new
wave on this record. Bassist/vocalist Richard Rippe, from Swivelstick, adds soothing
bottom end with both his bass and his voice. Beyond that, there's aggression,
sorrow, and depth -- this record is deep, bro. Although the album is so dense and
layered that it's kind of hard to tell where Caso ends and Matus begins, we feel it's
safe to assume that Matus was responsible for a lot of the record's harder edges.
Take a listen to his work in Cavity, Subliminal Criminal, or the Halo Vessel if
you want to feel just how loud and beautiful noise can be -- or, really, just
listen to this album.
This is a classic album -- it holds your attention and flows
perfectly from static-age chaos rock to clever danceable songs. "Zombie Stomp"
sounds like a Sega Genesis came to life, and it came to party. "Bullet Park"
sounds like Fugazi playing disco, and "Blue Flames" is one of the finest slices
of shoegaze wall of sound we've heard in a while.
Waterford Landing doesn't shove anything in your face or
down your throat, but man, does this record get in your head.
