All People
Communicate
Community Records The cover of the All People's new release alternates between images of nature and urban landscapes. This dichotomy is present in their music as well. The opening of the album has a subtle bass line, female chanting, and spoken word that begins, "It is the very act of struggling...that results in our strength." (Don't worry, this isn't New Age coffee shop fare.) But then things pick up and get chaotic, with crashing guitars and a quicker tempo. One can detect infl uences of reggae, fi rst wave ska, Black Flag, and even some artsy experimentation on this album that throws everything into an auditory gumbo. It works, for the most part. You're never bored when listening to the album, since it alternates paces without seeming jarring. The mellower parts are smooth and the raucous sections are enough to get even the oldest jaded punk pogoing. The middle of the album is when things get the heaviest, almost approaching doom metal territory (AP admits they enjoy "abrasive hardcore"). Occasionally it feels like too much is going on and you can get lost in the band's infl uences overwhelming their music or direction. But generally what keeps AP from sounding like a Bob Marley-tinged rip-off of Dillinger Escape Plan is how the disparate elements fl ow into each other. With airy vocals echoing in the background, the sound will settle out, slow down, then pick back up into frenzied screaming, with a lovely saxophone, drums, and quirky guitars to keep things from ever getting too bleak.
