Jersey Beat reviews Wagemaker’s Twegen

Paul Silver at Jersey Beat reviewed Twegen by Los Angeles’ Wagemaker. Check out the review here:

“What was once a solo project is now a duo, featuring bass and drums. LA’s Wagemaker play guttural music, driving and tough, joining a history of bands that focus on bass and drums. They mix distortion and grit to turn the bass into something massive and melodic, the drums now joining in to propel these songs forward. Lead vocals are no longer processed and covered up by various effects; they’re clear and front-facing. Some of the songs are pretty upbeat, with a nice groove. Most of these are in the front half of the album. ‘Back Ache’ is one such song, distorted bass playing the melodic line, gruff shouted vocals powering out the lyrics. Another is ‘In an Hour,’ a nice mid-tempo loper, gritty as hell, but also melodic. ‘Mazie Mask’ reminds me of '90s alternative music, with a mix of hard rock and ‘rapped’ lyrics. But things start to get more experimental toward the end of the track, with sections of silence punctuated by double pulses from the bass and drums. From there, the record starts to veer into some free improvisation, with more focus on creative instrumentals than on ‘songs.’ ‘Short Lived County’ gets more and more abstract as the track progresses, And ‘Phil’ mixes metallic dirge with the avant garde. We go full-on Sabbath with songs like ‘Chestnut,’ super heavy and full of dark dirge-like metal. And the closer, ‘Hoof and Foot,’ is similar. One thing I should mention, too: this is a benefit record. The band is donating all proceeds from digital sales to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights.”