Inconvenience Store-Our Ambivalent Everything

Self-Release/Independent
2013

Inconvenience Store is a relatively young project with ties to experimental rock band Cynic The Old Man who, faithful readers may well recall, I covered here the past. Here we have former Cynic The Old Man member Jonah Asher Feintuck (guitar, vocals, visuals) teaming up with ex-Awesome Express member William Maranci (drums, vocals, keyboards) for what is, for lack of a better term, more experimental rock/alternative rock by way of post-punk rock and progressive hardcore. Now, while Inconvenience Store can trace their roots back to the fall of 2011 things didn't really start cooking until March 2012, when, as a full-fledged band, the group played at the Plugged In Teen Band Program in Needham, Massachusetts. By that point this young band had already had more then it's fair share of line-up changes with the current line-up being rounded out by bassist/backing vocalist Ossian Pages. "Our Ambivalent Everything" is the group's debut EP which falls under 30 minutes and feature 4 tracks of slightly off-kilter "punk rock". Pinning down the group's actual sound is a tough call/straight-up challenge as the material here really follows no even course, but instead leads with it's heart. With influences running from The Velvet Underground to Mr. Bungle it's quite the interesting trip although it's easy to get lost within these 4 cuts. You do have to give them props though for doing their own thing and not being afraid to let those creative juices flow freely. That's both good and bad (free-form creativity) you could very well argue when it comes to what this Needham, Massachusetts' 3-piece is trying to say with their music. It's good in that these tracks forge their own identity early on and the group seems much more confident in their delivery then with Cynic The Old Man, but it's bad as the obvious noncommercial nature of their music (which I would usual celebrate) could leave these three with a very small but niche group of fans. In the end it will be up to Inconvenience Store where they wish to see themselves going. Do they trim down the abrasive nature of the band to appeal to more listeners or do they stay the course and play music for themselves? They'll have to see how their music eventually evolves, but the promise is there and musically this one seems heads above Jonah's old band so they are headed in the right direction. In the end this is another one of those group's where you really need to give it a listen for yourself to see how it fits (hence the link to the group's YouTube channel below) and how it feels as my descriptions do leave a lot of vague in between space I realize....

http://www.youtube.com/user/SilhouetteJudas?feature=mhee