Mechanical Canine

Reviews

Mechanical Canine 7 Dollar 7 Song 7 Inch EP

Philly emo outfit with a teaser EP for their LP To My Chagrin, which has since been released. The three tracks on the A-side all appear on the new LP, while the B-side has some one-off releases and two live tracks. While emo isn’t my taste, I can appreciate the musicianship and recording that are both a little rough, dirty, and loose. I also find James’ voice endearing, rather than cloyingly whiny. It looks like they formed back in 2018, and have been putting out quite a bit of music since, three LPs now and a few singles and EPs—their first recording, from what I can tell, is MAN OR ASTRO-MAN?’s “Jimmy Neutron Theme Song” from the Nickelodeon cartoon (they seemingly lifted their band name from a line in the song). I don’t know if this context is important, but it may paint a picture of the aesthetic they’re going for. If it makes you happy, long live emo?

Mechanical Canine To My Chagrin LP

Perhaps it’s because there are so many ways to interpret the genre, but emo has, beyond all expectations, shown itself to have staying power after decades of misunderstanding and permutations. Maybe it’s unfair to just hang the emo cap on a band like Philadelphia’s MECHANICAL CANINE, but as a longtime defender, I mean it as a compliment. These songs connect threads of everything from poppy mallpunk to more plaintive touchstones like the WEAKERTHANS, and yet it all comes together in its own mold. One impressive element of note is the runtime of some of these tracks, which regularly clock in around or even under a minute. It shows off the band’s ability to pack in hooks and get their point across quickly. Tracks like “Hey Buddy” get in and out but leave you feeling like you traveled somewhere, deftly hopping melodic ideas and genres in a way that feels cohesive. Overall, the band reads as bristling with creativity, which is always refreshing regardless of genre. Then they go full opus for the closer, “Watercourse,” which builds impressively to several emotional payoffs before ending with a classic twinkling, clean tone Midwest emo outro. I don’t want to paint this crew into a corner with genre signifiers though, and ultimately it’s just damn good songwriting on full display. But when the band itself jokes through the song title “Mechanical Canine Saves Emo,” it doesn’t leave everything to the imagination.

Mechanical Canine Walls Covered in Mildew CD

This album starts out with a pretty boring guy singing over an acoustic guitar part, which had me doing the ol’ eye roll/groan combo, but then the rest of the band kicked in. From there it got better…thankfully. This is pretty catchy. There’s a lot going on musically, like synthesizers and such. I don’t know what to say about this. I don’t hate it. Like at all. I just can’t see myself listening to this. It’s like a punk version of the RENTALS or something, I guess. The singer kinda sounds a little like a mix of both Jon Ginoli from PANSY DIVISION and John K. Samson from WEAKERTHANS to me. Not really my bag. Seems like something young kids would go apeshit to at shows. Like twenty years ago, I would have probably gone to see this band because a girl I liked was into it. I probably would have had a good time, too. Now though, it seems like something I’d be annoyed by. What with people having fun and such.

Mechanical Canine Good Photography CD

From Philadelphia, this band has a ’90s college rock feel. A mix of VIOLENT FEMMES, ARCHERS OF LOAF, and CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH. For the most part on the noisy side but there is jangly pop at times as well. There’s some decent stuff on this, and although it’s not a punk rock rager, I can see the guitar indie rock crowd liking this.