Artist: Toxine
Label: Independent
Release: 2009
Rating: 3.2/5
When I got this thing in my hands, I smiled. Why? Because the demo tracks are recorded on cassette. A proper, honest-to-god audio cassette. Who’s still sucker enough to own such ancient tech? Well, I’m definitely that sucker. “Play me if you can”, a wonderfully witty title for a demo tape, is playfully scrawled across the “cover” and reflects the soul of Toxine perfectly: these guys aren’t just fantastic musicians, they’re also funny and sharp lyricists.
The Koper crew haven’t been together long (the band has been active since 2006), but they boast a decent pile of quality ideas, some more fully realized than others. The tape is only the beginning of putting down everything they’ve so far shown off only at gigs; “when the funds come, a record follows,” they say. Which means there’s plenty of material (anyone who’s caught one of their shows can be more than sure of that), it’s just that the wallet is a little too dry. So for their most loyal fans they put together demo recordings that will have to tide us over until that payday.
An audio cassette isn’t exactly a synonym for great sound quality, but we listeners don’t (yet) care about that; since this is just a “preview” of what the band can do, we can live with somewhat worse quality. The tape kicks off with “Ever Wordless?”, a track that immediately shows which direction the band is heading. It builds on the vocals (the lyrics) as much as on the melody, and tries to carry us through the song on a genre-free harmony of sound, which it pulls off brilliantly. If your English is solid, you’ll enjoy the song even more. If the first track radiated the huge energy the band can pour into making music, “Everbirth Overlap” shows a completely different face. It’s a calmer song, with just enough filled-in space that it never fades away, sung in English again, and again the lyrics carry a lot of meaning. “No Adventures Today” returns to the mood the musicians created with the opener. The sound rests mainly on guitar effects that lead us, a bit dreamily but with enough energy that we don’t doze off, into an otherworldly ambient space, which the vocals only crank up further until the very end. “Bow Down Comedy” (the opposite of Stand Up Comedy, as singer Tomi Toth quipped at one gig) is the high point of the demo tape. The outstanding groove from bassist Jaša Hedžet and Samo Turk’s funky guitar playing tell us that, if we’re hunting for influences, their music is looking for itself (and finding itself) in funk and fusion. The demo closes with “Popthing”. It’s a duet between Jaša Hedžet on the mic (Tomi Toth sings everything else) and Samo Turk on acoustic guitar. A fitting ending to the band’s promising “studio” debut.
Toxine presents itself in the best possible way: with a high-flying demo that leaves us hungry for something more substantial. With their genre-free attitude and fusion-style surfing across musical dimensions, they’ve opened countless doors for what comes next. If they time their “form” right and pick the right material, the future record will surely earn more praise than slams.
Lineup
Tomi Toth: vocals
Samo Turk: guitar, vocals
Jaša Hedžet: bass
Gregor Brajkovič: drums, vocals
Production
K.M.P.L. (Jan Baruca)
Tracklist
1.Ever wordless?
2.Everbirths Overlap
3.No Adventures Today
4.Bow Down Comedy
5.Popthing
