I wrote about Tailings when they first came out (Well, at least when their demo recordings first made their way onto the interwebs) so I find it in special interest to cover their first, and what will be, their only album. I enjoyed Tailings. I consider all of the members of the band to be my friends and I've actually been in musical projects with 2/3 of them. I'll get right into it. I think what Tailings did musically for the scene of Syracuse, NY was very important. But sadly, i think it went unnoticed for the most part. Syracuse is a very big hardcore/metal town. fast beat. breakdown. chug chug. sXe. militant animal rights. "EARTH CRISIS!!!" etc. This is what our underground scene is based off of. And no matter how many bands come out of our scene that DO NOT conform to that standard, and try their hardest to do something else musically that ISN'T hardcore or any sort of core, it doesn't seem to change anything. Tailings were the one of the only indie bands in recent times in Syracuse, and i think historically they are the ONLY indie band to come out of Syracuse to play music in that style. Their music, for me, is reminiscent of bands like June Of 44 (and other ex-Hoover & Rodan "post rock" bands) while the guitar also has a lot of influence from more "pretty" guitar oriented indie bands like American Football and Sharks Keep Moving. Overall, the band's style screams a Chicago/DC bone session. In any given Tailings song, here is what you will find. The guitar playing some sort of pretty, reserved chord arpeggios with lots of reverb, the drums playing something interesting and different while still holding it down, and the bass acting as a anchor with heavy hitting straight away basslines that only so often deviate into lines. I liken the vocals to Sinaloa and that sort of shouty real "screamo" style of singing. Safe to say I LOVE this band and was very sad that they were calling it quits. Even though I think the members were skeptical when I told them. Oh well, they can believe whatever they want. I know how I felt watching them this last time and i know how I felt when I came home that night from their show and listened to this album. The recording quality of the album is okay. The whole thing was recorded pretty quickly a few days before their final show. I'm glad they recorded but am sort of disappointed that the recording isn't of higher quality. Just because with music like this, i enjoy hearing everything crystal clear. I was also bummed that they didn't rerecord all of the tracks from their demo. But these are just minor complaints of a fan. I'm definitely glad they recorded this stuff overall. There are 8 songs all together and only 3 recorded tracks that appeared on their demo. A few of the songs on the album even I was unfamiliar with. And I think I can say I've seen them live more than most (this is a band who's past shows can all be counted on one hand). So safe to say, definite pleasant surprises. And simultaneously, very heartbreaking. Hearing what a band created and where they were going musically is hard when you realize its suddenly over. I'm just glad I got to experience them while they were around and that they existed in the first place.
