MP3 My Life in Black and White - Bottles our Breakdown

Punk/Western/Rock n' Roll

10 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Punk, ROCK: Roots Rock



Details:
"[HARDASS COUNTRY-ROCK] I spent a good portion of my life drinking whiskey to songs much like those on My Life in Black and Whiteâs sophomore release, Bottles, Our Breakdowns. You know, raspy-voiced, punk-country songs that make it OK for tough guys to get sensitive. Songs like Social Distortionâs âStory of My Lifeâ or Against Me!âs âSink, Florida, Sink.â Songs that inspire hugging as much as punching.

Unfortunately, Bottles also leans toward that brand of predictable, heavy, dude-rock thatâs made modern rock radio unlistenable for years, if only on a couple tracks: namely, âDear Friends:,â which gets a little thrashy/screamo at times, and occasionally on âGood Night Gracie.â Though vocalist and main six-string wielder Dylan Summers comes off a tad contrived at times, he certainly has a penchant for Mike Ness-ish gnarling, which is hard not to find endearing. When Summers applies his tough-guy stylings to stripped-down, acoustic-guitar-based ballads like âBury Me at Seaââwhich begins with Summersâs gravelly voice declaring, âBloody and on my knees/ Is a bad place to be/ But Iâd find my way to heaven/ Just to fall down at your feetââhe takes on that sort of been-through-some-shit-and-survived quality that makes Lucero frontman Ben Nichols so freakinâ awesome. âCork City,â likewise, is a rollicking, Pogues-ish number led by plenty oâ picking and Summers beckoning listeners to sing alongâclassic rabble-rousing, beer-swilling behavior.

The aptly titled Bottles, Our Breakdowns offers a few surprises, as well: âGunslingerâ starts with snappy, almost ska, drumming and launches into a super-fast, Irish folk-tinged rock jig that rescues itself from redundancy with the slowed-down, punchy delivery of ââCause thereâs a/ gun-slinger/ in the hall-wayâ at the lead of each chorus. Sure, the themes on Bottlesâdrinking, travel, drinking, odes to dead friends, drinkingâare par for the course, but damn if âLike a Soldierâ (with its constant, unexpectedly shrill electric guitar part and gratifying brotherhood-themed and power-chord-fueled chorus) couldnât inspire impassioned group yelling.

Of course, there comes a time in oneâs life when trashing hotel rooms and guzzling Jim Beam becomesâwhatâs that word?âimmature. But My Life in Black and Whiteâs latest actually makes me want to sink to old levels. And Iâm guessing that if Bottles can do that, this quintetâs live show just might have enough black-wearing, grimace-making charm to strip Portland of a little of its coolâor at least get it drunk enough to spill some whiskey and punch a few best friends. AMY MCCULLOUGH."

"MY LIFE IN BLACK AND WHITE colors their roots-punk palette with shades of country and western (to paraphrase an old joke) to evoke noir-ish images of a harsh past and bleak future. The [Portland] quintet, however, bears quite a similarity to Bay Area literate-punk legends Jawbreaker, particularly its singer, whose raspy, slight vocals are hauntingly reminiscent of Jawbreaker's Blake Schwarzenbach. But the songs' singalong choruses and stomping western feel give them their own character, as well." - DAVE CLIFFORD, writer for the Willamette Week

"I imagine that the Alkaline Trio crowd would eat up a band like My Life in Black and White, a band that meshes the self-deprecating lyrical side of said trio with its own blistering party punk and obsession with all things Irish. The band was personally recommended to me by a door guy at the Funhouse (Seattleâs oldest surviving punk club), who then proceeded to smash some bottles with a shovel, a practice he referred to as âpunk-rock baseball.â If that guy says My Life in Black and White is punk, then it is definitely punk." - CASEY JARMAN, writer for the Willamette Week