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Review: Cubismo Grafico Five’s “Life Is Like A Season” 7″

Seeing that Cubismo Grafico Five’s new album Double Dozen drops this Tuesday, reviewing the group’s “Life Is Like A Season” 7″ release a scant day before the official LP release is like writing a blog post about a fancy restaurants breadsticks before the main course. I love breadsticks, though, so consider this a super-tiny preview of Cubismo’s latest full-length.

With it’s surf-rock guitars leading the charge, it’s pretty easy to see why the band chose this as the album’s lead single. It’s an insanely catchy mess complete with moments seemingly built specifically to be mimicked back at the band during live performances…the hand-clap bridge and shout-worthy lines “oh yeah we are gonna get on top!” Like other advance song “Chukit,” though, the track carries a surprisingly strong emotional heft with it. Specifically, the chorus, where Cubismo manages to squeeze a lot of feeling out of just the song’s title. It doesn’t last long, but “Life Is Like A Season” makes its presence felt in a short run time.

The 7″ also features fellow Double Dozen track “Insanit L.Y.” Even more raucous than “Life Is Like A Seaon,” “Insanit” clouds frantic guitars and drums over the vocals. It’s pure energy compared to the title tracks swaying pace…it even manages to last even less than “Life Is Like A Season.” Divorced from the LP, it feels a little too scant, but chances are it works within the album’s confines.

Cubismo also includes a remix of Double Dozen (and not available at the moment) track “Catcher In The Riot!” done by Signals, aka three dudes who used to be in sadly missed LA outfit The Mae Shi. Having not traveled into the future to hear the original mix, I’m guessing Signals are responsible for this take’s hip-hop vibe and the glitchy feel of the vocals. It’s a stuttering track that does its job (fill up the back side of a 7″), though it makes me less excited about Cubismo Grafico Five and more about Signals. Fair enough…only one day away from getting the Five’s latest album, plenty of time to be pumped then.