Videohippos

Unbeast the Leash (Monitor)

By Chris Pacifico
Published: August 9th, 2007 | 3:07pm

Known for their frantic multimedia live shows with video collages that wrap themselves around their frantic music, Baltimore duo Videohippos drop their full length, Unbeast the Leash, which does unleash a beast. A cacophonous conundrum from the very beginning, Unbeast is a frantic and blazing array of heavy sugar-spun shoegaze pop that’s goes into panic mode while the vocals remain calm and three quarters of the way buried while channeling the vibes redolent of early Ween, the Spinto Band, and My Bloody Valentine all at once.

Videohippos have an intrinsic impression of gumption that follows the album throughout the fuzzy organ barrage–meets–helium inhaling vocals of “Take It”, the weeble and wobbling spazz out on “Kool Shades,” and the espresso Atari pop that is “Sick Dolphin” with a looped dolphin squawking through it. Videohippos seep in frolicsome vapors into their heavy fuzz, which is kind of like what it would be like had the Teletubbies formed a band and cut a record on the Creation label. However the album’s flow tends to get a wee bit too recurrent throughout its duration even though it clocks in at just over 29 minutes.

The back of the CD case lists tracks 1-7 as “Side A” and 8-13 as “Side B,” which is welcoming to see that some bands still aim for the album form in this day and age of iPods and mp3s. The first half is more sweetened, for lack of a better term, while the second has drummer Kevin O’Meare becoming one with the feedback as he goes apeshit on the skins in a fashion akin to the likes of Lightning Bolt, but still tolerable to the indie pop loving masses. However, if Videohippos could’ve just trimmed some of the fat, Unbeast the Leash could have been one of 2007’s best EPs.